The Mystery of the Bomb Collar Bank Heist

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Pizzabomber website: pizzabomber.com/
Wired article: www.wired.com/2010/12/ff-coll...
Buzzfeed Unsolved Video: • The Bizarre Collar Bom...
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[@Wendigoon]

Click my link to get a 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D3K2 & 5 travel packs FREE with your first purchase! www.athleticgreens.com/wendigoon

[@committi]

hurray

[@lilsoviet7933]

I’m in your walls

[@aidanconrad6117]

@@lilsoviet7933 Im in ur closet

[@trout2]

Yippee!!!!

[@Gravel_TheCart]

Thank you.

[@angiadcock8196]

Somehow the saddest detail of this whole thing is that the only time Brian was late for work was when his cat died. That just broke my heart.

[@Jahsizzl9]

What a shitty story

[@Karvosh]

I'm amazed he even came into work that day.. a guy that dedicated to his work, and sounding so kind, did not deserve such a horrible fate.

[@angiadcock8196]

@@emred4653 no you idiot. I feel bad that they chose to use the kind of man that only misses work when his cat died. That little detail show what kind of man he was and gives way more context to the entire story. My comment was never about the goddamn cat. It’s really sad that for years people thought he was involved when he was clearly just a sweet, hardworking dude who loved his cat. I want people to remember Brian as the kind of guy who took a day off to mourn his pet not as some dastardly co-conspirator.

[@ualarga]

@@emred4653 i think you're misunderstading something, but im not telling ya

[@zentheris8276]

@@emred4653 you're telling a random person on the internet that their feelings are invalid and then twisting it for no reason, you should probably rethink who should get a grip

[@spagandhi]

My funny theory is that Bill called the cops because he was distraught nobody was solving his "evil genius" scavenger hunt

[@KawaiiKittenDoll]

Honestly he sounds to be enough of a loser that he would do that.

[@-psilo-9071]

he likely remoged the clues himself cause of the missing note in the final jar when they followed the clues

[@aliasfakename8076]

Thats... actually a plausible theory. The guy was full of himself. Maybe he dropped the police a hint cause he thought he would still not get caught and wanted to tease them

[@40kanon]

Hi Spag :)

[@lydellb]

Clout is one helluva drug lol. He really wanted everybody to know it was him.

[@icetide9411]

"After eight months they searched the skeleton pile, only to find it was full of skeletons" Actually the greatest way to explain how it feels to research these cases sometimes

[@Winasaurus]

Especially annoying for the almost countless cases of "A person was brutally murdered, here's the months of research that happened, and all the forensics, yada yada" *30-60 minutes pass* "Then detectives looked at the partner, who had recently taken out a life insurance claim on the person, had recently started acting strangely and was particularly friendly with someone new, and had started a new relationship within days of the victim's death, turns out their DNA was on the weapon, the end. :)" Like bro why'd you waste an hour of my time for the most obvious answer that there was already DNA evidence for?

[@NoTime2Explain676]

The overcomplicated nature of this whole heist and how it all fell apart makes me envy that one guy who would steal artwork from museums by just taking the paintings when guards weren’t looking

[@3redstreeter256]

Guard: What happened to the Renoir?! Guy with suspiciously painting shaped stomach: What painting? That wall was already blank when I walked in. Yep! No paintings in here no sir.

[@toribug1899]

That would be an interesting video actually

[@jeremiahbaugh8195]

I'm pretty sure Jacob Geller has a video on it

[@NoTime2Explain676]

@@jeremiahbaugh8195 he mentions it in one, which is where i heard about it, but that video's primary focus is the dude that stole a fuck ton of dead birds for fly fishing lures

[@ianr7014]

@@NoTime2Explain676the ending of this sentence is like a kick in the throat

[@Kaiji...]

"The only time he was late for work was when his cat died" has got to be one of the saddest sentences of all time. Implying he _still_ went to work afterwards & never missed a day otherwise.

[@sasaki999pro]

Sometimes wageslavery doesn't cut you bereavement leave. I remember working through the death of my own parents, living paycheck to paycheck, I was so emotionally repressed that when I approached the 1 year anniversary of their deaths I finally had a complete breakdown.

[@Anton-qc1fk]

@@sasaki999pro fuck that is terrible man; I am so sorry. I hope you’re doing better.

[@211212112]

When I was 14 I walked out to go to work and my cat that I had for 13+ years was dead and I still went to work. I wish I wouldn’t have now cause that cat was really something. It literally ruined me on cats cause for all that time the only cat I really knew was mine and it was awesome. I’m not saying that cause it was mine. Like it kept the area free from rodents, moles, etc, but would bring the young home alive. It went out at dusk and came back in at dawn. It didn’t need a litter box, food, or water. It used the bathroom outside, and got water and food from outside. We kept it a bowel of food and water but it would get old and we’d have to throw the stuff away and clean the bowels. It followed me around almost like a dog, but better since it didn’t do the annoying dog thing of getting under a person causing them to trip or stumble trying to not step on dog. When ~3-4 I’d tote her around with one arm wrapped around just under her forelegs. Her body would hang loose with her back paws almost on the ground. In the pictures she has this look on her face when I’m holding her like that. I look so proud of my cat tho. However, she would run to me after school or whenever and assume the position for me to pick her up and drag her around. Or sometimes she rode laying or sitting on my shoulders or around my neck. I regret it but being young we also used her to see if cats always land on their feet and the answer is this one did every time but two and it took extreme circumstances for it to not land. Again tho it would run right back to me at the top of the stairs for us to run another test even the one time one whole side of her smacked the tile floor hard from the sound of it. She was basically the best features of dogs and cats with none of the bad ones except she shed white hair so good luck wearing black when she was around. After her I tried to get other cats but they suck. The bad behaviors cats often display comes from too many people accepting subpar cats. You treat them like bulldogs IE put down any that show aggression towards people and before long the small kitten trying to kill you for feeding it would be history.

[@CharacteristicLizard]

@@211212112 so im not nickpicky but "bowel" is your colon, "bowl" is what you put water and food in. One letter and it completely changes the meaning

[@Newvega3]

​@@sasaki999prolol imagine

[@Winston819]

45:25 "And after years of searching, the key information to the case was discovered in a police officers desk in a folder labeled snitch notes" is somehow even more hilarious and outlandish then the skeleton pile joke.

[@luap121]

Atimyogiuu I go 30:11 ff

[@7thboss931]

“Hey boss, is this folder full of valuable information valuable?” “Nah, just put it back in the desk and forget about it”

[@jexwu]

Oh man, a friend of mine was the court sketch artist for this case. She said Marjorie kept mean-mugging her the whole trial, like she was absolutely concerned about how she was going to be portrayed in those sketches. Definitely a narcissist.

[@smartfella7914]

That’s an actual sopranos joke, Uncle junior mean mugged the artist the whole time too

[@Mophony]

100% a clinical narcissist

[@imgoldenguy]

100% a lie

[@vez3834]

That's really funny :D thanks for sharing!

[@TheRealZazaExpert]

@@smartfella7914 gabagool

[@robynstopped]

I think Rothstein said he wasn't responsible for Brian's death because he actually thought somehow Brian still had a chance to take the collar off. Obviously Brian wasn't able to because of the time limit and police detaining him, but it shows how cruel Rothstein was. He basically built a device that kills but blames the victim for their own death for not playing along and following impossible rules.

[@Winasaurus]

So actually Jigsaw because he makes traps that just kill people then blame them for not getting out.

[@samuelschmitt853]

@@Winasaurus at least in SAW the victims had dogshit reasons for being kidnapped instead of none at all

[@ElimGarakSpoonHead]

Hmm someone with Stein in their name being manipulative and cruel to those he considers weaker than or less than himself????? Color me shocked!

[@marhawkman303]

@@Winasaurus yeah, seems like his logic was that it was the victim's fault for not figuring out the way to escape something allegedly inescapable. Which makes me wonder.... was it actually escapable? Like the Jigsaw example... he would put weird stupid tricks into the "traps" that while not immediately obvious... would let a person who thought about what they were doing... sidestep the whole trap. this guy's smarter than you attitude... makes me wonder if he got a chuckle out of having a secret get out of bomb free switch somewhere hidden.

[@ZorotheGallade]

@@marhawkman303 One of the Saw sequels has the villain being busted out by the successor of the original killer because they create no-win scenarios where the victim has no chance to escape instead of giving them a chance to solve the riddles.

[@Lazysupermutant]

I think what sells me on Bryan's innocence is when he asked the police to call his boss to let him know that he's got a bomb on his chest and not slacking. That's not something someone says when they're in on the heist, that's what someone who's panicking and shooting off the first thing that comes to his mind, like his job.

[@TheHuntsman-qe9iz]

That's a really good point!

[@juliatheejawn2297]

And it's bolstered by his only day being late was due to the death of his cat and him allegedly asking for the money upon delivery. He was just a really diligent worker and it makes me so sad

[@djg4534]

What if that was just a ploy or a way to let pinette know the jig was up , can’t remember if he was working that day honestly but I definitely could be just a ploy

[@joshmorgan5933]

@@djg4534 that doesn’t make sense with their story that Wells struggled at the radio tower because he somehow found out the bomb was real. And all of his behavior after being caught by police showed he was afraid for his life, believed the bomb was real, and believed they would detonate it if he didn’t complete the steps. So, why would he want to let them know to detonate faster when the bomb squad was on its way?

[@joshmorgan5933]

Also, how would Wells randomly know the bomb was real on the day of the heist? Why did they say he waited for the money? Why would he desperately want the police to complete the steps if he was in on it? Why would they set up this elaborate plot only to have the “bomb-hostage” know all their identities?

[@RobertZabulonian]

The detail about Brian dancing when he got happy made me immeasurably sad. This is such a tragic case overall

[@norawhite1200]

@@Thatguy55595 never say never

[@dravenocklost4253]

I know a guy who is kinda like that. He's innocent, like a child. One guy threatened him randomly when he was waiting in a parking lot for his job. Apparently he likes to walk around the parking lot looking for change on the ground, and this guy yelled at him claiming he was trying to break into cars or something and threatened to call the sheriff/police. I stayed with him to calm him down. Kinda made me mad, some baseless claim made against someone minding their own business.

[@lurkinhehe]

High IQ has been related to depression So the opposite could be true, on a personal note I have never met someone more stupid than me and i feel great even tho I know my life is falling apart

[@ActuallyAudacity]

@@lurkinhehe ignorance is bliss

[@seangleason8674]

I totally agree with you I share the same exact sentiment and the fact that the FBI and the government hasn't come out and cleared this guy's name and said that he was a victim and he got murdered is absolutely Beyond shameful in my opinion the stress and the heartache and the pain if they've caused this guy's poor mother and the rest of his family is just disgusting

[@joeymckinney]

The jar being empty when the police go to follow the trail is especially interesting. If the clue had been in there, but they came and got the clue idk why they wouldn't just grab the jar with the clue. But if it was meant to be empty from the start, that's just pure evil.

[@radonsmith4386]

Also I wonder if they ever did a hand writing analysis for who wrote the notes. I only know about this case from this video and Wendy didn't mention any of this...

[@FlashHawk4]

What I personally think is important to note, which he didn't mention, is that the trail went cold at the stop immediately after the place where he was supposed to stash the money in a dead drop. I think the idea was that Wells would definitely get the police after him at some point in this, and by having him ditch the money early on in this insane scavenger hunt and then keep moving, he would draw the police away. Everything up to dropping off the money was important to them. Everything AFTER him dropping off the money...wasn't. They just didn't expect the cops to catch him that early in the process.

[@TheTrueDskizzel]

IMO it was going to end with Brian dead no matter what because either way like the FBI said there was no way to make all the stops in the amount of time for the bomb to go off that’s why they were watching him so when he died they just take the money and run! Also their reason why they was planning it so Brian didn’t make it is because IF everything went as planned Brian couldn’t identify the people that practically forced him to rob the bank…

[@abc-wv4in]

@@FlashHawk4 I agree.

[@luxborealis]

@@radonsmith4386 It was Rothstein, most likely. Despite everyone in the case being baby boomers, the note was not written in cursive, suggesting it was written in typeface to hide the handwriting. However, Rothstein seems to have tested the pen on some of the pages as traces of his handwriting were found on some notes.

[@joeah99cr21]

The most insane part of this is that after all the extensive planning the criminals took in this heist, they failed to realize that their hostage would basically need to have the nerves and intelligence of James freaking Bond to pull it off for them...AND THEY DECIDED A RANDOM PIZZA DELIVERY GUY COULD DO IT. rip though, this is anyone's worst nightmare.

[@abc-wv4in]

I don't think he was involved in the planning, and I think they knew he couldn't complete all the steps. They wanted him killed so he couldn't be a witness. Once the money was dropped they didn't need him any more.

[@tVt2000]

Fucked up, poor pizza guy.

[@chrisb4131]

The reason the FBI was so clueless on this case is because they didn't have 11 informants involved in the planning and implementation of the heist.

[@tonyfriendly4409]

Nice! Remember the good old days when the FBI tried to solve crimes instead of set them up.

[@Sammy-dushi]

@@tonyfriendly4409 it always bin like that only now people see stuff dont trust them or the goverment anymore

[@fastestfail2645]

​​@@Sammy-dushi no. The old FBI did that back in the 20-40s the moment the cold war started they turned bad

[@TheTiredPirate]

@@fastestfail2645 government has always been bad?

[@ladyjaysindeore1113]

They were clueless because the local agent was a cocksure moron and local and federal authorities were in a pissing match.

[@arloe7240]

Wendigoon should definitely do a diagram like a paranoid detective with the red yarn connecting everything

[@simonsoupshark8009]

he should do that all the time frankly

[@orang9134]

with the thumbtacks yeah

[@Pamven]

Would def be right up his vibe!

[@0xyP0xy]

I think he would unintentionally recreate the charlie day meme

[@thescarecrow897]

degenerate pfp

[@vonathenbrod8498]

I swear wendigoon discovers something, goes on a hyperfocused deep dive into it, and then shares his findings like a proud kid talking to you about how cool his favourite superhero is

[@themightylog2169]

Hence why so many feel a parasocial connection to his content & approach I suppose

[@sasha1mama]

This case has it all. A bank robbery, a bomb collar with a timed scavenger hunt before it goes boom, an abandoned radio station that may or may not have been the temporary lair of a pair of schizoid wingnuts with severe antisocial disorders who built the bomb - it's like something out of Fallout. Also, 29:50 - perfectly cut. XD

[@2ndTooth]

Sounds like Erie... Pennsylvania has a very odd assortment of characters, as much as I dislike living here it's never boring lol

[@catboy6451]

It's literally out of Fallout. There's a New Vegas DLC where a bomb collar is slapped on you and you're forced to do a heist

[@HydraLlamas]

There's also a movie called 30 minutes or less that is incredibly similar though people who worked on it claimed not to know much about the case

[@captain6545]

@@HydraLlamasi was thinking of this movie while watching this video, it makes sense how they didn’t know much. I haven’t watched it in a bit but I think most of the plot is just a pizza driver gets a bomb vest strapped to him and he’s forced to rob a bank. Which is like 80% of the whole case but it’s like the general information so it makes sense they didn’t know much about it

[@HydraLlamas]

@@captain6545 yeah the main villain of the movie is also trying to kill his father but overall seems mostly coincidental.

[@BigYosh]

This story has always freaked me out, the idea of having a collar that is impossible to remove that will surly detonate just fills me with dread.

[@GoobleryKu]

dont play dead money lol

[@enragedbear]

its a saw trap irl

[@almond3066]

It's really scary to think about the fact that he was basically already dead the minute the collar went on, and he had no idea

[@grilledcheesehater44]

Guys I think wendigoon commented on their recent video.

[@speed9553]

If the bomb would detonate if there was any tampering, doesn’t that mean the key going in would’ve set it off? There was no surviving this.

[@walkingexistentaldread3079]

i’ve always felt so terrible for Brian. he did not deserve to die like that, alone and on live TV.

[@MrGrandure]

This is why pizza delivery people carry guns today

[@ironicstatement]

Not to mention having his death portrayed in a shitty Hollywood comedy movie

[@shitnipples942]

@@MrGrandure How exactly would a gun have helped him in his situation?

[@C6urier]

@@shitnipples942 ya know maybe he could defend himself against the people strapping a literal bomb against his chest just a thought tho

[@carmirhodes6851]

@@C6urier Or die with them, you know a gun against a bomb wouldn't do that much damage compared to the blast that would have taken all off them.

[@Only_Sleep]

I can’t believe the FBI didn’t try to manipulate Bill by playing on his “smarter than you” attitude. “Oh, you didn’t have anything to do with it? Figures. You didn’t seem like you could anyways. I bet you wouldn’t even know where to start.”

[@ironidol]

Underrated comment

[@rolandtowen2595]

Whether or not Brian was in on the heist, he was still definitely a vulnerable adult that was manipulated and taken advantage of. Thanks for another great video.

[@anubis63000jd]

Dang... "Brian was dumb. He did a dance when he was happy.." "He was late to work once when his cat died." These people are monster for putting a bomb on that guy.

[@litmatch7249]

If my cat dies in taking the whole day off.

[@Mench2007]

@@litmatch7249 week*

[@burningpottedplants1500]

@@Mench2007 month*

[@Mench2007]

@@burningpottedplants1500 year*

[@ajdrig]

@@Mench2007 Burn my job to the ground*

[@robinchirps1775]

I’ve always hated the idea that Majorie was a smart mastermind. She obviously wasn’t. She got caught. She got caught many times beforehand. She told the police everything for no reason. She was just a sick woman.

[@standpire]

She was smart, but not very bright Y’know?

[@alanwatts8239]

She was so stupid that the meter broke and pointed towards her being smart.

[@Gemini-Lion]

@@alanwatts8239Integer underflow

[@XXMatt0040XX]

She's stupid. She's just smart to all the even more stupid people out there. Intelligence measuring is all relative. She might honestly be so stupid that it confused people so much to the point of believing her to be smart...

[@ericwilliams8420]

She did get away with possibly murdering 2 of her partners, but this was back in the 80s or whenever. Forensic work wasn't as up to snuff, and since CCTV, computers & cellphones weren't as common place there wasn't the paranoia of leaving a huge paper trail. Her power is being able to mobilize simps, criminals, crackheads, and other needy people living on the fringes to do her bidding, like a bipolar bizzaro Nick Fury. Doesn't really take smarts to get these type of characters to commit murder since they all thought they were getting a piece of the pie.

[@Prizm17]

The best part in my opinion is the “this has nothing to do with the Brian wells case” i was dead when that M. Night Shyamalan level twist hit me in the throat

[@cozyoni1425]

The cut-off anguished scream of frustration is my favorite part of this video. It's so relatable

[@MrTeteu200]

I feel so bad for Brian. Even if he somewhat collaborated with the heist, he was clearly the most vulnerable one pushed by a bunch of insidious psychos. Jessica threw him to the wolfs in one way or another.

[@enterpassword3313]

Lol what? U think he was in on it?

[@jackunknown1692]

​@@enterpassword3313 they said "if he somewhat"

[@yrantiquebrand]

I found her on fb. She looks terrible.

[@BryanJohnson4891]

Yep. Poor guy. Also, the “AG1” advert was the most painful thing I’ve ever heard. People, don’t fall for the billion dollar supplement market. They are useless and that’s a fact unless you have a diagnosed deficiency. Same with probiotics. There’s actually evidence to suggest they’re bad unless you’ve been on antibiotics. “But they work for me!” Yes. It’s called a placebo. This is why the efficacy of drugs is “percentage more effective than placebo”. The placebo effect isn’t something only idiots fall for, we all do and you will have many times during your life.

[@snazzyjovialwyrm3314]

@@enterpassword3313 Some-what collaborated in the sense that he was most likely coerced into it and wasn't told at all that the bomb on his chest was actually real, so he didn't realize just how dire the situation was for him and everyone else around him until the collar started beeping.

[@rigormortis9881]

I can't IMAGINE the fear and dread that Brian felt in those moments before the explosion. Poor guy!

[@stevebanning902]

..yeah.. i bet he lost his mind

[@OrionDawn15]

@@CrungleFunk I like dark humor but the two jokes were awful, come on now.

[@OrionDawn15]

@@CrungleFunk That he did, what an awful way to go.

[@romulusrealist16]

I imagine he had a few moments of clarity about the life decisions that led him there,

[@mattweiman5144]

@@romulusrealist16 So it's his fault for being... a pizza delivery guy?

[@Hushed_puppies]

I was 11 when this happened and we lived a few hours away in PA. My older brother was a pizza delivery driver and my mom absolutely forbade him from ever returning to that job.

[@kman9884]

Bill was likely pulling one over on Marjorie this whole time. Even as a “follower” of her plan he didn’t give Brian enough time to complete more than one task, likely dying in the woods, where Bill was rolling up in his van.

[@jean14256]

I think it's possible he planned to get the money from Brian in the woods and then leave him to try and get to the next clue, which wasn't there, at which point the bomb would have detonated already. But it's clear the his and Marjorie's goals didn't align and I wonder if they really talked too much about what Rothstein was planning, where it's obvious he focused on making it into a game to show how smart he was and didn't really care about making sure they got the money.

[@GippyHappy]

Often times we hear about supposed "unsolved mysteries" and come to the conclusion some killers are simply to clever to be caught, but the real serial killer was police incompetence all along.

[@JoseHerrerawl]

It’a crazy how often killers are caught and then released…

[@TimPool.BeanieCivilWarlord]

Biggest problem is that a lot of people either don’t cooperate with investigators or they just make stuff up to get attention and clog up the investigation. It’s really hard to get reliable witnesses with viable info that contributes to or is a solid lead.

[@KelgorothTheFinalShape]

Police aren’t incompetent

[@KelgorothTheFinalShape]

@@JoseHerrerawl no there not, serial killers end up with life in prison

[@mimilopmemes7915]

@@KelgorothTheFinalShape what world do you live in?

[@bobbyhill3340]

You really shouldn’t apologize for getting into the weeds and your videos being so long. My brother in Christ, THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE WATCHING! We love you, Wendigoon.

[@ther0ach28]

I prefer the longer videos tbh

[@Necromancer0225]

Amen 😔✊

[@noahjones9833]

Same. I love them

[@cleoh666]

Long-form content 🫶

[@CommentFrom]

I like hearing the majority of the information instead of short summarised versions of stories people often put out.

[@JannaJackson1021]

Something I believe is mentioned in Evil Genius but wasn’t covered here is that Brian was known for loving puzzles/scavenger hunts. He strikes me as a vulnerable adult who was manipulated into something horrible.

[@irishzepher]

bro just drops 400 pounds of butter without laughing

[@thomasfryer5706]

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Robert’s overdose was actually a suicide. Survivor’s guilt can be a hell of a thing, and the possibility of him having it due to thinking that on any other day that it could have been him that died, plus the stress of the investigation and the bad mental state that comes with drug abuse could very well have been too much for him.

[@-psilo-9071]

You're probably right that makes me sad

[@CloverCutieASMR]

Robert was there as a delivery driver the day of the incident. So it would more be if he went out instead of Brian.

[@XXMatt0040XX]

Yeah, guy could easily have thought he deserved to die instead and practically wager it just to feel okay. Almost a subconscious suicide if that makes sense. It's a hard feeling to describe. To keep it short, survivor's guilt really is real as fuck... Everything I hear about Brain makes me think I would feel like, no matter how illogical, it was my fault. Especially if he was, in the nicest way, dumb.

[@charlietango9523]

The saddest thing is that Brian only was late to work once, when his cat died. I feel bad for him, he must have truly loved his cat.

[@daskamu]

😢

[@Pipsqueak-]

I swore I remember reading somewhere that he had some sort of special needs. Really unfortunate.

[@JokersD0ll]

⁠@@Pipsqueak-ovbs I can’t speak for all special needs people but I was diagnosed at 9 that I had adhd and autism, 15 now) and it does seem he carry’s traits of it being so vulnerable is a lot more common ) w special needs people being taken advantage off, we can believe so quick what somebody is saying is true. Again this isn’t a diagnosis and sorry if my wording is wrong.

[@bigbadlara5304]

​@@JokersD0llif doesn't automatically make you vulnerable to being exploited. I have ADHD and I can stand my ground well.

[@JokersD0ll]

@@bigbadlara5304 like I said it’s different for everyone for me (I have adhd n autism it’s easy to take advantage of me, proving that by the fact I’ve been groomed b4

[@bloomsux69]

I remember seeing the documentary when it first showed on Netflix. I was blown away by the sheer complexity of the crime and just how many people were involved. The footage of Brian getting blown up is still seared into my brain. Thank you for doing a full length video on this !!

[@M8V3N187]

One thing I wanna point out is, if Brian, sitting on the ground with a bomb strapped to his neck & minutes away from dying was still concerned about his boss thinking he was “goofing off” and trying to get cops to call him instead of focusing on the problem at hand I see how it could be very easy for all parties involved to manipulate him. They could’ve simply said “do as we say or we’ll kill your other cat” or something like that and that would be enough to make him comply, sad

[@theproplady]

Note to yourself: if you're going to plan a crime like a bank heist or kidnapping, don't jerk around and make it an intricate multi-step cat and mouse game because if one of the steps goes wrong (and it will,) then your entire plan falls apart. It sickens me to think that the criminals had probably intended Wells to die all along. The guy was vulnerable and socially awkward and the perfect fall guy. Margery looks like a demon in human skin that slowly lost its ability to disguise itself as a human as it got older. She didn't get breast cancer. Breast cancer got her.

[@blckk_croww]

this is the hatred that i have for that thing but i could not have said it better in 300 lifetimes

[@reiphas]

This comment reminds me of that meme with a guy looking at his shoe going "Ew, I stepped in shit!" and then there'd be a closeup of Marjorie Diehl's photo on the shoe. By all means, she deserves to be remembered as nothing more than a pos.

[@mrcuccob6386]

Holy shit Margery is an alternate lmao

[@luanfonseca5179]

For me is just so silly. These guys had time for all the jigsaw,arg easter eggs but couldnt rob a bank on their own and didnt plan to a person just pulling him over at all. Like wtf they thought this was? A fucking mel gibson movie or something

[@luanfonseca5179]

@@mrcuccob6386 Bad decision, Brian

[@aesthetic4829]

I’ve always felt so bad for Brian, his name and reputation was dragged into this investigation and sadly will always be, on paper, a willing participant in this bank robbery. Brian being involved in it all doesn’t make any sense. I feel bad for the guy since as you state, he seemed like a really nice guy who just wasn’t the brightest and was taken advantage because of it. It’s a genuinely sad story that unfortunately will never have a definitive answer.

[@bgee461]

It really doesn't sound like he was a willing participant

[@jonfoulkes3160]

If you feel bad for him, why not just say, "that is bullshit" and defend him!? I mean 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

[@jonfoulkes3160]

Stay true to your beliefs

[@gotho-oc5bo]

@@jonfoulkes3160 that doesnt change any of what occurred or any slander towards him

[@emmapoole691]

it makes me happy that when you google his name now he’s titled as a “victim” of the case

[@MustardMouse8288]

29:47 You're welcome, I know you wanted to see this clip again

[@theafterqlow9582]

I grew up in Erie and this case is always incredibly interesting to me. My grandparents knew the guy who built the bomb REALLY well. I don’t want to say too much to reveal personal infromation, but he helped them with electrical work in their house. It’s crazy to hear people outside of Erie talking about this case, because there’s so many little stories you can hear from locals.

[@twistedthe1]

What 👀

[@themightylog2169]

If this is true then goddamn this case has some lore

[@luxborealis]

@@themightylog2169 There’s also another Erie commenter saying he used to be a shop class teacher at the local high school and used to date her mother’s friend.

[@PR0MAN01]

Yeah the 4th stop being empty and the instructions to go out to the woods screams that Brian was dead the moment that collar went on him. The heisters were probably waiting for conformation from the McDonald's ribbon that he had the money. Once he went to the isolated woods, they would've detonated the bomb, took the money and buried the body somewhere to cover their tracks. Such a tragic case. Edit: Also, completely unrelated. But if they ever make a movie about this, they gotta get Benjamin Byron Davis to play Rothstein. Their resemblance is uncanny.

[@-Nihilus-]

The game was rigged from the start

[@-WhiskeyAndSteel-]

They weren't going to detonate it, they were going to wait until it detonated. It was rigged to kitchen timers. It turning out to be pipe bombs on a kitchen timer. 50 minutes would be more than enough to take that bitch apart. What ashame.

[@I_Like_Ike53]

From where he's kneeling, it must seem like an 18-karat run of bad luck

[@pineapplesonpizza7726]

I have a feeling that the perpetrators took the 4th instructions because it had incriminating details. Like perhaps, the 4th instruction detailed how Brian will kill Margery's father.

[@Wicked061]

i thought it was weird that there was a jar, but no instructions in it. why leave the jar?

[@yesipan]

Man what a poor guy, I can't imagine what it would be like to have those be your last moments. My hear goes out to Brian.

[@simply_based]

👂

[@playdoughmaster808]

@@simply_based it’s the right shape

[@pootispickle4482]

I send my hear too

[@quezchinmark1022]

@@pootispickle4482 i too give my listens to this guy 50% half deaf

[@thatguyintherain3168]

H e a r

[@pouncypupper8782]

as someone who's worked for several years at multiple different assisted living facilities. I genuinely think the characteristics and behaviors of Brian Wells, those you described, sounds extremely similiar to traits common in those with unspecificied developmental dissorders. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but it would explain why he was targeted, such people can be extremely vulnerable to being manipulated and exploited. He might not have found anything strange about delivering pizza to an abandoned place or seen the signs of dangers as suspicious for example.

[@mileenamana1685]

Whether he was involved or not my heart still feels for Brian. I watched the Netflix documentary, and the footage of Brian Wells sitting on the ground with the giant collar around his neck with the bomb beeping and eventually exploding is so incredibly haunting. The Netflix series states that Brian had to have a closed casket at his funeral because his head was cut off, and I really just feel sorry for him and his family that there won’t be any definitive answer towards this case.

[@gluedtothemouse]

I think Jessica Hoopsick stayed silent for so long because she may have felt responsible for the death of someone she considered a friend. She didn't know he would die, BUT she might feel responsible since she was the one who volunteered Brian Wells. So, it might just be that she was so scarred by the guilt that she just held onto it, but maybe coming face to face with the kind of monster that took advantage of Brian on the last delivery of his life shook her enough that she spilled her metaphorical beans.

[@Hello___there]

Obviously don’t know but a part of me feels like whatever fight they had was about Brian and possibly Marjorie blaming Jessica for his death or something similar

[@SanktaLo]

@@Hello___there i think you're right on the money with why jessica came out. it sounds like something someone like marjory would say; i doubt she could keep quiet when faced with jessica

[@joonlovescrabs]

that’s exactly what i thought

[@zerker08]

Jessica was an addict before she went to jail with Marjorie. She's rehabilitated.

[@rosiehawtrey]

@@zerker08 That might well be a factor - addiction can squash guilt and other emotions very effectively - and depending on the drug it can screw up your judgement, mind you, toxoplasmosis can do that. I hate to imagine what that kind of guilt can do to a person, even if she dropped him in it without knowing the depth of the it she was dropping him in.. But the scavenger hunt/deathstar run should have clued him in, screaming around an American town at 60mph is going to draw smokeys like rotting meat draws flies.. An all around evil bunch of bastards..

[@detestsleep]

the thing abt the "three black guys" detail is it could be that brian was told to say that if questioned, and bc he still had the bomb on him and no way to know if they could detonate it remotely on top of being overwhelmed with fear he likely went along with the lie, brian was never questioned in a safe environment and didn't have the time to fully flesh out his involvement, and all we have is the word of his tormenters to say otherwise. They were trying to get out of a kidnapping and murder charge and brian wasn't around to say otherwise, which they likely counted on

[@r-pupz7032]

Yep if I have a bomb strapped to me you're damn sure I'm trying to follow through exactly what my captors told me to do, even if I'm caught by the cops. Especially if the captors told you that no one else would be able to remove it without it detonating, and especially if you're easily manipulated and not the sharpest thinker. But I don't think even super smart people would necessarily do anything different to Brian. You're in a pretty desperate situation and giving the cops accurate descriptions is unlikely to help you right then, where as it could harm you if they are somehow listening in - or if you send the cops after them and they detonate the bomb.

[@XXMatt0040XX]

​@@r-pupz7032 A single cop in my general area is a bigger threat to my life than any animal I've encountered, regardless of me following the law. I am *not* going to be able to think very clearly after being taken hostage, being forced into robbing a bank while wearing a bomb on my neck, and cop's guns aimed on me.

[@lonelyloser9376]

@@XXMatt0040XXI don’t know ever encounter a polar bear, those are pretty scary

[@TheStripeTailedFiend]

@@lonelyloser9376 Norway moment

[@tyfalagan]

He was most def told to say that

[@rachelfogleboch9147]

I'm from erie, this case was insane. We never ordered mama mias pizza again. The hooker implicated herself; took advantage of brian for years. The dead guy in the freezer was a creepy peekaboo. My husband was stuck in traffic for hours when Brian blew up. Brad Folk was a good guy. The guy that built the bomb was a shop teacher at my high school and dated my moms friend before he looked like a hillbilly in coveralls. Oh yeah and the super genius shot her ex-husband reloaded the pistol shot him some more and got off on self defense or something like that lol

[@luxborealis]

This comment contains many certified Erie moments, you only need someone to repair your car while eating a corn dog dipped in mayonnaise to really round off the story.

[@Cinematoast23]

​@@luxborealisyou guys dip corn dogs in mayonnaise? You guys are truly awful

[@issan7]

I watched this episode on Forensic Files. They even showed the moment when he got blown up and I was so horrified that I stopped watching crime docs for awhile

[@Aleph-Noll]

wendigoon was very kind in how he said it, and of course i dont know brian closely or anything but from what ive seen and how i understood things happening it seems very clear that he was mentally deficient in some ways and was taken advantage of in this situation.

[@cooldude5947]

Bill Rothstein was a substitute teacher at the high school I attended. I can remember students calling him "santa-clause." Of course, this was well before the pizza bomber incident. Crazy times.

[@LizLuvsCupcakes]

Man, that's gotta be like, "finding out your elementary school teacher wound up the dictator of Italy during WWII" in terms of weird shit that happened to your teachers.

[@capricehollis1372]

He was my shop teacher back in the days.. 814

[@Necromancer0225]

That's crazy

[@kylienielsen6975]

I was wondering what he did for work, giving I imagine being a hoarder isn't cheap

[@anusername8350]

@@kylienielsen6975 depends on what you hoard

[@JadeEyes1]

My brother lived in Erie for three years while he did his residency. He and his co-workers regularly ordered from the pizzeria where Wells worked; he said if you ask them about Bryan Wells, they'll ask you to leave. My brother also personally showed us the television tower where Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes put the bomb collar around Wells' neck, and the parking lot where the explosion happened. (The bank is now an outpatient clinic of some sort.)

[@G_FRE]

I live about an hour and a half east in Warren, where Bryan was from. Nobody really likes to talk about it here.

[@HeatherHolt]

I’m surprised a lot of people remember it after all this time… maybe if it’s a small town and that’s the only really big thing that’s ever happened there? But seems like people forget stuff real quick. I live in Nashville and people have already forgotten about the guy that blew himself up in an RV in the middle of downtown around Christmas just a couple years ago while playing a weird announcement over an intercom a half hour before the bomb went off. They fixed the buildings and road where it happened, and it never gets brought up anymore. Maybe in this case, people are divided on the who and why and so it almost becomes an urban legend as to what happened to this Brian guy.

[@seunoo]

why do they ask you to leave ?

[@chettlar212]

@@seunoo you serious?

[@livirich1]

@@HeatherHolt I remember that happening. None of that story made a lot of sense..

[@JeElRoJello12]

The whole being paid for the pizza thing could be another way to clear his innocence should the bomb fail. He could say “why would I take the money for the pizza if I knew this was going to happen?”

[@Winasaurus]

That wouldn't make sense considering the only people who knew he tried to take payment was the co-conspirators.

[@finnl6887]

​@@Winasaurusyeah but he was fully aware that after said heist he would still be in police custody, they had him on camera robbing the bank. He was going to need an alibi no matter what... well, almost no matter what. The bomb going boom solved that issue

[@Winasaurus]

@@finnl6887 Yes, my point being that "I thought I was just delivering pizza, my proof is that I asked them for payment" doesn't work as evidence because that's literally just saying you did something. He could say he asked them to solve a rubik's cube and the police have exactly as much proof of that as they do for him asking payment. The only people who could back him up on that claim are the people who he would claim put a bomb on him, who would obviously have 0 incentive to play along with what he says.

[@abc-wv4in]

I think Brian was an innocent victim. @@Winasaurus

[@lordpumpkinhead265]

I firmly believe Brian and Robert were innocent people wrapped up in a horrible crime. Brian seemed like a good worker who wouldn't ruin his life for something stupid unless he didn't know beforehand. Robert was definitely not a part of it though.

[@lyras.9161]

I remember BuzzFeed Unsolved covering this case. It's so... weird. Whatever theory turns out to be true, it still feels like something out a b-level heist movie.

[@kirbyis4ever]

Reality is stranger than fiction! You really can't write this stuff - an inevitable bomb, a bunch of the people not talking about it for YEARS, a treasure hunt, and a dude dead in a freezer.

[@tehfoxxy9630]

That twist on the Unsolved video was such a nice drop

[@dantallionmccrews3822]

That's probably why people actually made a b movie heist movie out of the story.

[@shrekingwald]

"30 minutes or less" 2011 Seems like this is based on this case to me: Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a pizza deliverer who lives a fairly ordinary, boring life -- until he crosses paths with two aspiring criminal masterminds (Danny McBride, Nick Swardson), who kidnap him, strap a bomb to his chest and force him to rob a bank for them. Nick doesn't get much time to pull off the difficult task, so he enlists the aid of Chet (Aziz Ansari), his estranged pal. As time ticks away, Nick and Chet face many obstacles, not the least of which is their volatile relationship

[@lalalarose8197]

Rather rude to say considering an innocent man ended up dead.

[@MrTsiolkovsky]

Former EOD tech here. This case is famous within the bomb disposal community. There have been similar devices used in South America by narco terrorists as well. We discussed these types of devices at length but concluded that these types of devices are essentially a death sentence for any bomb tech to attempt hand entry (basically not doing things from a distance but up close and by hand which is super dangerous). Some Delta guys had intel on them from work in South America, but once again, in general we did not have a good solution for them.

[@neonicon8500]

So you really think the bomb would have went off if they simply forced the neck piece open? The way he describes it makes it sound like just two pipe bombs hooked to a timer with a bunch of extra stuff added to mess with whoever attempted to disarm it. Seems like there was really only one key needed to release the neck piece. And it doesn't seem they had the know how to make it go off by the neck piece breaking

[@samuelleal6149]

specifically you're reffering to the case of a woman held hostage by the FARC who ultimately died

[@cykablyat2969]

@@neonicon8500 When you're defusing a bomb like that, you can't know that it won't go off from a forced removal, so you have to assume that it will.

[@scottyb8392]

Thanks, I am much more terrified now 😭 I guess we’ll have to build a robot for this too…

[@neonicon8500]

@ButylFox Oh yeah definitely not all cases, but the looks of this particular one, nothing looks like it's actually connected to the neck piece. Looks like it's just keeping me attached to the bomb. Plus the fact that the entirety of the neck piece looks metal and not electronic in any way.

[@FirstnameLastname-sx3wg]

I moved to erie a few years ago and heard about this many times through my school years. I am now a young adult who has just started a family. This is the first time I actually heard the full case through and I find it wicked that I essentially live just down the road of the abandoned radio station where it all began and have visited the pnc, the McDonald's, and the eyeglass store involved many times.

[@KennedyKay88]

I grew up there and moved away as soon as I was 18 in 2006, what would ever make you choose to move there??

[@KennedyKay88]

Additional question: what year/age were you when this happened as opposed to the year/age you were when you moved to Erie?

[@KennedyKay88]

And just to reiterate my initial question; WHY TF WOULD YOU EVER CHOOSE TO MOVE TO ERIE PA?!?! It’s called “dreary Erie” and “the mistake on the lake” for good reason

[@KennedyKay88]

I live in Hawaii now, for about 5 years, and I’d legitimately rather be homeless here than ever move back to absolutely anywhere in the same time zone as Erie Pa or even the entire state of Pennsylvania, like can we all just agree it’s a depressing af place to be where no one should ever want or have to live

[@FirstnameLastname-sx3wg]

@@KennedyKay88 if it were my decision, I would have my family move down south instead. But, my parents were so keen on moving to Erie because of Pennsylvania's special needs education and erie had the despicable Barber Institute (very over-hyped and scandalous institution). I was about 14-15 ish when we moved over and I'm 23 at the moment.

[@mikenormandy9250]

Mr. W. Goon, I am new to your channel and have to commend you for being so detailed and informative. I never thought watching a furry-faced dude, talk into a camera, would be so enthralling!! But what I greatly appreciative is how loud and clear your audio recordings are and how well edited!!! I listen to your vids on my way to and from work, 140 mile round trip, daily (luckily this isn’t forever, I am an electrician on a big project far from my house lol) but, I enjoy having my windows open when I drive the hour and so, there and back, and I am able to not have to struggle to hear your videos on full blast in my truck! Thank you and please keep doing what you’re doing!

[@luxborealis]

How do you have an internet connection on such a long trip? I don’t think I could drive 140 miles in any direction without dipping outside the grid at least a few times. Also oof, that much 4G gotta be expensive.

[@Polymathically]

I remember watching reports about this on the news back then. It's still the most insane case I've ever seen. I was in the banking industry for almost 20 years, much of which as an operations supervisor, vault keeper, and auditor. Over the years, people have asked me if I was ever tempted to do a bank vault heist, given my knowledge of how the security and logistics would work. I always said no; pulling off a heist like that is hard enough, and _getting away with it_ would be even worse. I've written whole essays about how it would fail miserably. Lesson of the day, kids: Don't try to do a vault heist. The movies lie to you; it's nowhere near as easy as it looks. If you ever want to see the most realistic vault heist in movie history, watch Dog Day Afternoon; they fail almost _immediately._

[@TrippyTheShroom]

Yup, my first job out of school was working at a local bank. I actually worked the computers at night and from 7-9pm I was the only person on the entire property. The vault had two codes, one which was a fake and another that was legit. I knew both. I went into it almost every day, saw the money, etc. One day I went in and counted 10 million dollars in $100 bills while they locked it behind me. EVEN WITH ALL THIS... I would absolutely never consider it and not even once in the entire time I was there did the thought even remotely cross my mind. The amount of security even at that bank, which by no means was state of the art, would result in issues almost immediately.

[@rainer8137]

Hmm that’s just what the banks want you to think🤨

[@chaoticcatartist]

Isn't their like a number code on the money anyway makeing it useless. I oy know about it cuz of the guy who hiested a plane and jumpped out with the money

[@bl00dlikewayne]

if the government will send IRS agents to your house to shoot your dog and grandma because you owe them a quarter, imagine what lengths they'd go to to find you if you intentionally stole $250,00 from them.

[@devonesq.7533]

@@chaoticcatartist yup, the bank documents all that, even if you did get away with it, you wouldn't be able to spend the money, unless you laundered it in a third world country, or something else silly like that.

[@hatrisfan]

My interpretation of as to why Jessica suddenly contacted the documentary makers about Brian not having involvement is because perhaps there was a genuine threat that existed from Margerie or somebody else that if she were to tell the truth she would suffer, and that that threat would no longer exist now that Margerie is dead.

[@zerotakis]

My interpretation is that Jessica is on crack. Crack doesn't always lead to the wisest decisions.

[@sakiamira]

I dont blame her knowing Margarine is such a crazy b+ch. And yes I spelled her name that because her name keeps saying margarine in my mind

[@haileyjohnson6534]

true i agree

[@stalinsoulz7872]

Margerie may have some dirt or would wail enough to drag Jessica in. Jessica is still guilty of pitching brian or the last person to See him well. And since margerie was still alive and would flail around to drag anyone to save her ass that was a genuine dirt to be flung at Jessica the moment she spoke. Margerie is basically having the American Psycho Syndrome. If you have elaborate murder you have they bragging rights that you wanna scream but can't. So when bill died she wanted the cathartic sensation of Telling how you got away with it.

[@m.k.738]

The police showed more compassion towards the bomb than they did Brian Wells.

[@garrisonnichols807]

I remember hearing about this story before. I didn't know the whole story of what happened but thanks for making a video about it. There's some seriously evil people in this world.

[@oskarrasmussen7137]

The Perfectly Cut Scream at 29:54 is probably an accurate representation for the investigators for the entire duration of this mad house.

[@Nick-ur6jw]

This legitimately scared the S*** out of me. Terrified

[@easongoldman1011]

Wendigoon jumpscare

[@JulioHernandez-wy8nh]

@@easongoldman1011 typical Wendigoon W

[@thatpedanticcommenter5847]

It cracked me up so much for no reason that I replayed it four times.

[@gwgh]

@@thatpedanticcommenter5847 SAME!!!

[@sdgundum990]

It makes perfect sense that Jessica may want to set things right once everyone involved was dead so that no one would retaliate against her. If she believes she had his son and that he was innocent, why not confess when you know you and the kid are safe?

[@kylienielsen6975]

She's still admitting to getting an innocent man in a bank heist

[@sedmikrasky.]

@@kylienielsen6975 I believe what OP meant with setting things right is clearing up that Brian was in fact an innocent, not her trying to atone personally for involving him.

[@JoseGonzalez-ng5rl]

I can't even fathom the amount of depth and detail that was involved in this case, you did an awesome job explaining it

[@alehgoryregic8817]

Weird how brian supposedly wanted his boss to know he wasnt late mid heist, and was only late once in 10 years for a pizza gig because his cat died. Sounds like a work oriented dude who is the type to prioritize his employment over most other things. The police thought it was nonsense but he was just panicking not knowing how south the whole situation would go. If he was in on it he wouldnt stress over intentionally leaving work, and stressing work before knowing he'd die makes less sense as he reacted completely different when he realized the beep meant it's real and armed. Which leads me to believe he was innocent..

[@ShadowKnight-es3tb]

I think Jessica was genuinely consumed with guilt seeing this image of Brian painted. Who she supposedly had a more friendly relationship with and was indirectly responsible for his death, trying to make up for her past actions.

[@donovincable5842]

So when it comes to Jessica hoopsick she's been in and out of institutions pretty much her whole life she was addicted to drugs at a very young age and if legend is to be believed or rumor she even sold her own daughter to get drugs I don't know how true that is but it's one of the things that I've heard locally the saddest thing about Jessica's part in the whole incident was the fact that at any point she could have warned Brian she could have warned him at any point during them knowing each other because not everything about the case is televised or well known outside of the local people and she knew what she was doing she was corrupted obviously her mind was clouded by drugs and in the end yes she did kind of regret what happened and she did hate herself for what happened.

[@stephenurli2466]

Samsa pfp, hell yeah

[@christopherlowery3797]

@@donovincable5842 hey, just a heads up…there’s this thing called “punctuation”, & this cool facet of it is using this symbol -> . called a period. Without it, your comments come off a little illegible and hard to make sense of. Give it a shot, you’ll likely enjoy the results it produces!

[@donovincable5842]

@@christopherlowery3797 well since you want to comment on my diction and lack of grammar I am using text to speech which makes it very difficult for me to add punctuation and other stuff while I'm at work it'll turn a 1-minute post into a five-minute post adding all the punctuation so therein lies why it reads like a massive run-on sentence thanks for the grammar lesson oh and since you want to let you know, that my grammar you do realize that although it is allowed it is highly frowned upon to use a preposition at the end of a sentence you know like of. So maybe you should try practicing what you preach when it comes to grammar huh bud

[@donovincable5842]

@@christopherlowery3797 as well as I believe the term you're looking for is the cool facet of it is using this cool facet you see that's another grammar mistake you made also in your very first sentence your hey is not capitalized pretty sure it's supposed to be capitalized tho.

[@emilybarclay8831]

From what I’ve seen from this, I think Marg and Rothstein did this as a trial run, planning to eventually make Marg’s dad do it (hence why it was intentionally unsurvivable, she REALLY hated her dad) and because the two of them were full blown narcissists and drug addicts they genuinely believed it would go off without a hitch and they won’t get caught. Rothstein then realise they were in over their heads and chose to cozy up with the police to get off as lightly as possible, and the rest of the group just fell apart

[@dirtydansdirtyhangout7485]

This case really stuck with my mom, she refused to let me work as a delivery guy for my first job. Ended up working somewhere better but always left me a bit confused why.

[@DanielA-no9xv]

R. I. P. Brian he seemed like he was a good guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time

[@thylings]

I'm a lifelong Erie resident, and your commentary on Bill is spot on, specifically the points about the reason for his call to the police. He was genuinely very intelligent and clever - my uncle knew him through Cathedral Prepatory school and that was also his theory pretty early on, in that he had a veryyy specific reason for setting up an unaliving scenario and attaching Wells to him and Marjorie.

[@watchdev9446]

Any other details on the ‘Fractured Intellectuals’ ?

[@collinhudson3878]

Prep grad?

[@dropdeaddrawing]

@@watchdev9446 sorry to butt in but i worked at a coffie shop in Erie that they would meet at perhaps 3 or 5 times. Bill was the weirdest of them for sure. I wonder now where he got clean at cause they didnt smell like a hoarder by any means. THey were all sorta dicks tbh

[@watchdev9446]

@@dropdeaddrawing how would you describe the town to someone that’s never been through PA? Did you grow up there?

[@elijahandrae8012]

@WatchDev As someone who's grown up in Erie, it's not a great town. I've heard it referred to as mini Detroit. Tom Segura has a great take on the 2 bears 1 cave podcast on the town if you want a great firsthand visitor reaction

[@Parzivle]

This reminds me of another case I may have heard from you actually. A dude walked out onto a crosswalk completely legally and gets hit by a city bus. All the eyewitnesses claim that he was jaywalking but when cctv footage was finally recovered it was revealed that he was crossing completely legally. Something about how people want to believe that bad things only happen to bad people so it couldnt possibly happen to them

[@vespernight4236]

It's a baffling response I see to a lot of victims of drug related crimes. Like ppl will think it's 'deserved' bc in their minds drugs are bad and if you do them, od-ing or dying bc of drug related crimes is YOUR fault and therefore you must've been a bad person to 'deserve' that kind of ending. I'm reminded of a crime video that I belive Disturbian covered where a woman who was connected to a lot of shady drug rings, and scammed a dangerous drug lord, was slowly tortured and had limbs chopped of by shears. And the comments were filled with weirdos going off about how 'she got what was coming to her' bc she wasn't a good person and scammed someone she knew was dangerous. It's...scary tbh. See it alot with disability issues too, with pundits going off about why should they care about the state of disability accessibility issues in cities. Like benches being taken away bc of homeless ppl. Or anti homeless/drug abuse architecture hampering accessibility, as if bc they aren't 1 bad car accident away from being disabled themselves (which shouldn't matter as to why they should care but it ties into the hatred and crimilization of homelessness as well)

[@ajjohnson3497]

“I know what I saw!” No, no you don’t. You know what you remember, and that shit is far from infallible.

[@annb8296]

That was great and very interesting. Wow how insane was that! You told this story really well and I can tell you put alot of time and research into this. I don't know how you do it but you relayed the story to us so effortlessly that it's really fun to listen to you tell it. I'm fairly new to your channel and was looking through your past videos and omg I want to watch every single one of them so I have alot of catching up to do. I'm so glad I found your channel 🩵💯

[@willbohland3698]

Just watched the miniseries. It was good. I enjoyed it. I wouldn't have known about it were it not for this channel. So... Thank you Wendi, er, Mr Goon. The part that stuck out for me was the landlady's description of Brian. She had genuine affection for him. No one liked any of the other people. RIP, Brian.

[@RaceTheAce77]

Hey Wendigoon, I grew up in Erie Pennsylvania but was too young to understand what happened when all this went down. Peach Street, Eye Glass World, the McDonald's and even the street where Brian lived are all familiar to me. Its insane to see something like this happen through archived footage and going, "Yup, I've been there" or "Yup, my friend from grade school lives on that street". Its never brought up very often though. Its pretty unanimous that the town wants to forget this tragedy ever happened

[@Notpineapple]

As someone who also grew up in Erie, I totally can relate

[@G_FRE]

I take my dad up there for eye appointments regularly and the Imperial Buffet by Sam's Club is nowhere near as good as the Old Country Buffet that used to be there. It's surprising this happened right in the same center.

[@kylecline5975]

Danm now I miss the old country buffet again

[@wealldead]

Shouldn’t completely forget somthing happens that’s how history repeats it self

[@zeallust8542]

@@wealldead Bro, this isn't the kind of case where "history repeats itself" lmfao

[@ananthropomorphictalkinggo6641]

Ive noticed that whenever law enforcement fails someone, whether it's shooting an unarmed person or not rendering aid to save a life, their first response is to drag the persons name and reputation through the mud for some reason.

[@jded_404]

It's so that they can save PR probably; so that it doesn't look like they murdered an innocent person

[@southkiwi2010]

29:55 Sooooooo are we just not gonna talk about the release of Wendi’s inner demons here or what?

[@MajesticViking]

God damn Wendi, I took a break around the icebergs and look at you go. 2 million+ every video now. I'm so happy

[@alyssad990]

Despite the seemingly scary or depressing aspects of some of what Wendigoon covers, the delivery is so well-done that it makes you feel like he's just informally telling a story directly to you, but at the same time one that has been carefully thought out with interesting takes and full of well-done research.

[@-BUGZ-]

He’s definitely a hardworking, detailed genius. This video was delivered flawlessly!

[@Scythe.502]

Makes his videos great to sleep/nap too :)

[@BrennanCh06]

The biggest argument in favor of believing jessica is that if she's telling the truth she implicated herself. There's just something about that that doesn't make any sense to lie about. There's literally no reason to come forward after all that time and make something up that puts you in legal danger. But if she really felt guilty...

[@handsoaphandsoap]

I think it was probably just weighing on her and she felt she needed to finally come forward. It’s also possible that she’s gone on the straight and narrow and is therefore of a more sound mind, as in not on drugs. She could also be going through rehab where one of the major steps is to apologize for your past behavior, so perhaps she felt like she had to officially come forward for her part in this.

[@casseroledootdoot407]

I even wonder if Jessica’s confession came as a way to “hurt” Marjorie- it happened after a fight (with someone as annoying as Marjorie), and she had the information to suddenly hit Marjorie with a higher charge of murder. She may have kept all this to herself initially due to guilt/implication that could have gotten her arrested, but snapped after the fight

[@intercoursehandguns851]

​@@casseroledootdoot407That's what I thought but if you see her in the confession she's crying the entire time. Whatever the reasoning that got her to initially admit it, payback definitely wasn't the MAIN motivation there.

[@finnl6887]

To paint him in a different picture for their child who would by then be of age to start learning about their past. It's as good a motive as any

[@LordScrambles]

There are MANY reasons she could have lied about Brian’s involvement. Brian was being portrayed as a perpetrator in the crime that got him killed. If Jessica really though of herself as a friend to Brian, it is not out of the question that she could have made up the story to comfort Brian’s family.

[@vulcan7307]

If I’m not mistaken Brian Wells also waited in line at the bank before he started demanding money. Just another thing that makes this case even more bizarre.

[@saltlakeatrocity9771]

Id watched the netflix doc on this many years ago when it first released. When this started by announcing that it was basically retreading the same ground, i didnt think it would hold my attention. But here i am at the end of it. Good job as always on making these.

[@scramjet9101]

Two things that still doesn't sit right with me is: (1) If the plan was to profit from the heist, why make Brian's tasks impossible to complete? Wouldn't that all but guarantee they won't be able to get the money? (2) Originally, the narrative was that they planned the heist to get money to kill Margerie's dad, but if you're willing to go through all this work to do so (part of which involves guaranteeing Brian dies) why not just skip the extra steps and just kill the dad outright?

[@canoaslan1011]

EXActly what I was thinking, BEcause the stroy is told like Margery wanted to kill her dad, so they robbed a bank and killed brian to go forward from there. that bitch would of found a coupla grand to get the hit done no problem.

[@taintwasher3703]

because they were dumb crackheads who learned how to make a pipe bomb

[@southdraw1017]

I guess that killing Brian off would lessen witnesses, and leave him in a location that is easy for them to get the money and leave without problem. The second question is what I can think of as margerie making things more complicated than need be, but idk

[@kristaygayle]

I don’t think they were supposed to be impossible, because the bank changed a policy right before the day of the robbery. Otherwise, Brian would’ve been able to get the full amount he needed and it wouldn’t have taken as long. Also, we’re talking about to extremely self-important people who *need* others to know how smart they are

[@scramjet9101]

@@kristaygayle If you watch the whole video, then you know the impossible part is the steps he had to do after the robbery itself, which wouldn't be impacted by changes in bank policy

[@sannwa900]

One thing that stands out to me and confirms Brian was a victim is all the notes around town and puzzles. Why go through will all that writing and effort when the guy with the bomb was in on it? I guess they could be bored and just wanted to play games with him or something i dunno. But to me thats another thing pointing to innocence.

[@harz632]

The bomb was planned to be a false lead to make him seem innocence, that doesn't really work if there never was any notes for him to follow.

[@sannwa900]

@@harz632 Never thought of it that way. Makes sense

[@soupstoreclothing]

i rarely listen to sponsors or buy anything from them but the sponsor you had for this video is genuinely interesting! i know i don't eat enough vitamins and i eat a lot of stuff i shouldn't that lack nutrients, so i've always tried taking supplements but never seem to stick with them. i'm gonna give this drink a try and i hope it makes me feel better and that i stick with it! thanks wendigoon (also good video)

[@Mtlightning911]

I watched this documentary more than once and I love the way you talk about it and do everything even more than that documentary.

[@letspretendsomemore]

As I recall from the documentary Evil Genius, Jessica came forward because in addition to her friendship with Wells their relationship turned romantic before he died and now she has a child by him (who’d be 9 by now) so I imagine when Margery attacked her probably she said something mean about Brian and the guilt brought out her confession to admit his innocence

[@shadycatz85]

i imagine if she was pregnant at the time of brian's death, she likely stayed silent to stay with her child, but likely lost the child when she [the child] was older due to the drug charges anyway, and then the attack by margery brought it all back and she went 'fuck it'.

[@folklore_of_beth]

Jessica is a prostitute, not a friendship that turned romantic. She was paid for sex and that’s how she got pregnant

[@dayne6475]

I doubt she was that kind of women, I reckon she just did it out of spite for Margery

[@noidentitynoname1256]

As an Erie native I have heard quite a bit about this attack, my father even knew Brian in passing it's quite an interesting in depth case, hearing such familiar names such as peach street and mama Mia's pizza is so cool! Thank you wendigoon

[@IR_Chaz]

Kinda crazy how many times my family drove down that road next to Eyeglass World to bypass the intersection coming out of the Sam's Club plaza.

[@adensavko2374]

Ikr!! It’s not often people even mention our part of the country lol

[@pykeplayer4007]

@@adensavko2374 it’s crazy how everyone in Erie knows it for the weather being shit but the rest of America only knows about the Pizza Bombing

[@jaredcostello9782]

ngl everyone in this story feels like the most western Pennsylvania people to possibly exist

[@gagehagerty3046]

@@IR_Chaz ik weird ass feeling going by there, tho I was born at st Vincent a few months after the incident

[@COFFEEWSUGA]

Ah yes, the Pizza Bomber. As someone from Pennsylvania, I've heard lots about this. I watched the documentary series as well. It's a very interesting, and tragic, case. I'm glad to hear you cover it. :) I live in the Erie area. It's kind of nuts to imagine something like this happened in my county.

[@Chloedasher]

Littlerally like the only thing that's ever happened here

[@land_shark_maw1048]

You mean in your state because if you’re talking about the US then wow I wish I was as blissfully as you

[@COFFEEWSUGA]

@@land_shark_maw1048 No, I do mean... county. Like, Erie County. Like, the sectioned off area of land that separates states further? Lol. Not a typo

[@jak199527]

I wish he mentioned how odd Brian acted before the bomb started beeping. He really didn't seem to care that he had a bomb strapped to him, even taking a sucker from the bank. I think he was very lightly involved. That he was talked into it without any threats of violence then got cold feet and that's why the struggle happened, but then was reassured that the bomb was fake.

[@abc-wv4in]

I agree with the video analysis. I think Brian was an innocent victim. Once he dropped the money he was never meant to survive.

[@jak199527]

@@abc-wv4in oh, i dont think he was meant to survive eaither, but the fact that the dude was so chill until the thing started beeping is weird. like i said, i think they convinced him before the day that it was fake and he was gunna look innocent but he got cold feet. he was just completely relaxed during the robbery and when he was first caught until the device started beeping. thats weird as fuck.

[@DILFDylF]

About the "measuring his neck for the collar" thing... they designed the collar to be similar to handcuffs, in that you tighten it incrementally until it's stuck on as tightly as you want it. It wasn't tailor made for him. Whether he was involved or not, they didn't need to measure shit. If something is reasonably tight around the neck, it's not going to be able to move up and over the jaw and base of the skull. It's like saying you have to measure a noose. It's like that in more ways than one...

[@DILFDylF]

Also why THE FUCK didn't Rothstein get any charges for storing the body of a murder victim and destroying the firearm used to kill them? He literally admits to being paid to commit multiple (what I assume to be) felonies, which I assume is also an additional felony, and the stupid pigs are like "Nah, it's fine." Is the fat, hoarder, pseudo-intellectual really that much smarter than the cops? I guess that's a stupid question. Also one more thing about the cops... When they were told to start looking for black men to arrest, there's some sort of joke to be made about "So... business as usual, then?"

[@LibertyMonk]

Yeah, he covered that in the beginning but never mentioned it again. It's an easy lie to tell if designing the collar to be a snug fit on any neck wasn't a source of pride.

[@sopha985]

I personally believe Brian was on the spectrum or had some other issue - his love for puzzles, diligent worker to an abnormal level, introvertedness, being "dumb", easy to manipulate, dropping out of highschool, etc. which is why he was chosen for the heist.

[@annacastro2855]

I thought I remember that theory being thrown around by something else I watched too. It does make sense. Only being late one time and even asking the cops to call his boss so he didn't think he was slacking off. Not necessarily proof of ASD but the peculiarities are there

[@JDM-is-my-name]

Honestly, as a person on the spectrum, I could see it. Either he might have been on the spectrum or simply have been not neurotypical, because I can hardcore relate to "please tell my boss I'm not slacking off on purpose"

[@GameBearCartridge]

his landlord mentioning that he would "do a dance" when he was happy immediately struck me as stimming, as another autistic person

[@truffleshuffle314]

I feel bad for the guy now. I have a friend just like him, not the brightest, but loves puzzles and works hard and has a sweet soul.

[@skriddle]

@@JDM-is-my-name ​ same here. :( that part broke my heart in two, seriously. i can so easily imagine myself in his shoes, begging cops to tell my professors i didn’t mean to skip class and that my assignments are done but i couldn’t turn them in on time. made me tear up a little thinking of how scared he was, yet he still found the time to be worried he might inconvenience others by perceived “slacking.” ugh.

[@Lunk42]

This one always upsets me the guy was completely innocent hadn't done anything wrong and yet had this done to him.

[@ItsMelatonic]

One of the most terrifying cases I’ve researched, I’m glad you Made a video! You’re my favorite KZbinr, so finding this video makes me so excited (my autism is making me kick my feet rn)

[@Luke-xi2pq]

Wendigoon is easily one of the greatest rising content creators on KZbin. His videos are what this platform needs!!!

[@tobythompson199x]

I highly recommend the channel The Why Files

[@bullseye5202]

He get's at least a million views on every video he uploads, every bit of it well-deserveed

[@Luke-xi2pq]

@@bullseye5202 100 percent! I hope he only grows even more in the future!

[@eugenehatin.420]

Gonna be the next Mr B Allen

[@infesting]

Rising? I think he has risen along time ago

[@Steven-ly9ei]

In Jessica's case let's not discount guilt, something to consider is she did it for crack, and while she was out of prison she would have a supply, people often use drugs to suppress emotions like guilt. Either sober in prison or just generally felt worse about it over time. They were friends right, it's not inconceivable thats a regret. Makes sense to me

[@davidnotonstinnett]

Are you 12 or have you just never done drugs in your life? Like…you described the way people use drugs like someone who had never had real adult emotions

[@pixelatedbishop]

@@davidnotonstinnett ???

[@Steven-ly9ei]

@David Stinnett neither, I'm not describing why all people do drugs, but drugs are often used to self medicate overwhelming emotions, thays the category I fall into. A nuance that 60 people seemed to understand before you came so calm down ;) it's a theory on a video put your chest away big boy Jesus 🤣

[@emstink]

@@davidnotonstinnett Do you think everyone experiences drugs exactly the same way?? It really isn't uncommon for people to use drugs to take their mind off their own mental turmoil. While I never got DEEP into cocaine addiction, when I was younger, I certainly used it far too much to take my mind off the constant impending doom and existential crises I was feeling at the time.

[@davidnotonstinnett]

@@emstink I mean yeah, But they don’t think of it that way. Describe it the way OP did just hits as someone who understands these things in the abstract but has never really experienced it.

[@mierardi88]

I remember how insane this case was! Mastermind was a really good doc but ultimately laid it all at Marjorie's feet by the end, which is fair, she was sort of puppeting everyone around her.

[@settame1]

I disagree. She seemed almost unrelated imo. A terrible person but likely framed by rothstein.

[@null_entity472]

This is fascinating. I remember seeing the footage of the bomb collar going off ages ago, but back then there was basically no info, so it was just this mysterious case of a pizza delivery man being forced to rob a bank and taking all of the secrets with him when it went wrong. Very interesting to have it explained in so much more detail now.

[@imperfect1797]

I need Wendigoon, Shane, and Ryan to go on a an Unsolved trip to find one of the many cryptids among the Appalachian mountains.

[@tethathehuman5861]

I wholeheartedly agree

[@LordMarcus]

The three of them would be the biggest cryptids wherever they go.

[@ishikawa7077]

He's already done this, him and 2 other youtubers go into the Appalachian to learn about the floating light conspiracy

[@dusk4974]

Shane?

[@ishikawa7077]

@@dusk4974 Again, unsure, dont know who that is so I cant say for certain, but its good video where they talk to the locals and all that fun jazz.

[@UnravelingThreads]

Being an Erie native, I felt obligated to watch this lol In all seriousness, I didn't realize how baffling and deep the plot of this incident went. It's bananas. I hear stories from friends about it. Particularly how a couple of buddies of mine had been riding in a car near the bank as kids and recall hearing the explosion from the bomb going off. Really unsettling stuff.

[@user-rt3yu5lw9n]

I lived in Erie for Several years and ended up working at this pizza place as a delivery driver for a few months. It was really sad seeing people come by and take pictures and act like it was some crazy fun thing to document. Like a bucket list wonder or something. We would tell them they were so disrespectful. I hated how people brought it up all the time. You could tell who wasn't a local.

[@fem_crusader]

Nice to see some other people from Erie

[@JadeEyes1]

@@user-rt3yu5lw9n My brother lived in Erie for three while he did his residency. He and his co-workers used to order take out from the place all the time.

[@adambrukardt5455]

I was at working down the street from the incident when it happened.

[@UnravelingThreads]

@@user-rt3yu5lw9n Damn, that is morbid. Sorry you had to deal with those assholes, man

[@kbrock9146]

Dude, this is like my third or fourth time watching this all the way through.... You did indeed make it very interesting. Thanks for that!