On August 28, 2003, pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells robbed a PNC Bank near his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, United States.

[1] In conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), the FBI investigation led to Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes being charged with the crime in 2007.

The investigation determined the plot was masterminded by Diehl-Armstrong to receive an inheritance by hiring Barnes with the money from the bank robbery to kill her father.

[7] Before her mental health deteriorated in her twenties, Diehl-Armstrong was an "exemplary student" in high school and earned a master's degree from Gannon College.

[14] Rothstein was a handyman and part-time shop teacher, and was part of a group called the "fractured intellectuals"— intelligent people who were not well-adjusted.

[18] Immediately after his death, investigators searched Wells' house and found a list of people he knew which included the names of two prostitutes unknown to other members of his family.

[19][20] According to law enforcement reports, Wells participated in the planning of the bank robbery the day before and was aware of the complex plot; he believed the bomb would be fake but would serve as exculpatory evidence if he was caught.

The owner could not understand the customer and passed the phone to Wells, who received a call to deliver two pizzas to 8631 Peach Street, an address a few miles from the pizzeria.

[23] The details of events at the tower that led to the bomb being attached to Wells' neck have never been firmly established, but evidence suggests there was a struggle and that Barnes, Diehl-Armstrong, Rothstein, and Stockton were all present at that time.

[32] Inside Wells' car police found nine pages of handwritten instructions addressed to "Bomb Hostage," directing him to rob the bank.

The instructions also included a scavenger hunt, listing a series of strictly-timed tasks of collecting keys that would delay detonation and eventually defuse the bomb.

[6] Wells was instructed to "quietly" enter the PNC Bank at Summit Towne Center on Peach Street and give the teller an affixed note demanding $250,000, and to use his shotgun to threaten anyone who did not cooperate or attempted to flee.

He was proceeding with the second task when police saw him standing outside his automobile and promptly arrested him, handcuffed him and left him sitting on the ground in the parking lot.

Wells said three unnamed black people had placed a bomb around his neck, provided him with the shotgun, and told him they would kill him unless he committed the robbery and completed several other tasks.

[6][37] Traffic congestion in the area delayed the bomb squad's arrival but personnel from the ATF still considered their response appropriately quick.

[35] WJET-TV, Erie's ABC affiliate, broadcast the event live on the air, but did not show the moment of the detonation due to a technical problem.

The footage was subsequently leaked to shock jock Elliot Segal of DC101, a radio station in Washington, D.C. who posted it on his website in September 2003.

[24] On September 20, 2003, Rothstein, who lived near the television tower, called police to inform them the body of a man, James Roden, was hidden in a freezer in a garage at his house.

[14] Rothstein was an unindicted co-conspirator in the pizza bomber case because he was dead when a federal grand jury handed up the indictments in July 2007.

[41] In January 2005, Diehl-Armstrong pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third degree murder and abuse of a corpse for killing Roden and was sentenced to between 7 and 20 years in prison.

[42] In April 2005, Diehl-Armstrong told a state trooper she had information about the Wells case and after meeting with FBI agents, said she would tell them everything she knew if she was transferred from the Muncy Correctional Institution to a minimum-security prison in Cambridge Springs.

During a series of interviews, Diehl-Armstrong admitted to providing the kitchen timers used for the bomb, stated Rothstein masterminded the plot and that Wells had been directly involved in the plan.

[50] She asked for a change of venue, arguing extensive media coverage of the case prevented her from receiving a fair trial in Erie.

[60] Fox's America's Most Wanted featured the story three times and publicized newly released evidence in hopes officials could obtain new clues in the case.

[6] In 2012, investigator Jerry Clark and journalist Ed Palattella published Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery (ISBN 0425250555), a true-crime book detailing the events.

[62] In May 2018, Netflix released Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist, a documentary series about the case.

[64] The 2011 American comedy film 30 Minutes or Less depicts a pizza delivery man being forced to wear a bomb vest and rob a bank, with the mastermind seeking the money to hire a hitman to kill his father and receive his inheritance.