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Pennsylvania Bank Robbery Mystery Deepens
Aired September 02, 2003 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin again this hour with the pizza delivery that turned into robbery by proxy, apparently, and ended in gruesome death. It happened in Erie, Pennsylvania, where the FBI today released a photo of the steel collar that held a bomb to the doomed deliveryman's neck.
CNN's Mike Brooks helps us sort through some of the details worthy of Hitchcock.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Very bizarre.
But earlier today, the Pennsylvania State Police and district attorney's office held a news conference. And they said that, No. 1, they were talking about a second person who was involved or possibly involved in this robbery. It was a co-worker of Brian Wells. And they said that he was found two days ago in his house dead. They thought of natural causes. They came back and the district attorney's office said today that, in fact, he died of possibly a drug overdose. There were some traces of methadone and Valium in his system. They couldn't say whether it was an overdose or not. These were preliminary tests. But they believe he died of natural causes and had no connection with the bank robbery involving Brian Wells.
Then we move on to the big piece of news in the news conference. And that was the collar around the neck of Brian Wells after he was caught. They talked about the collar and its uniqueness during the press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB RUDGE, FBI: We feel that this device was made uniquely for the incident at hand. And we are hopeful that, by showing a picture of the device, someone may have -- or may recognize the instrument, the metal, the locking material that is used to secure it to the neck and certainly call us with that information, so that we can further examine the details of its construction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now, they believe that this collar device was not commercially made, that it was made specifically for attaching the bomb to the neck of Brian Wells. They don't know who made it. That's what they're looking into.
They're hope that, by showing this on TV, that people will recognize this, maybe recognize some of the components of this, and call police and let them know some additional information about this. They -- again, some of the leads. I've heard from a law enforcement source yesterday. Some of the leads that they have been getting, they have been playing these out and they are going nowhere.
So, again, they are asking for the help here of the public and hopefully some of the -- and showing the pictures of this strange device will also help solve this case a little quicker.
PHILLIPS: FBI agents thinking this is a little strange, maybe this could have been a suicide? Are they leaning one way or..
BROOKS: They are not really leaning one way or the other. They are still keeping their options open, whether or not he was involved in this by himself, someone put this on him and sent him to the bank, whether he was, as they called it this morning during the news conference, a bomb hostage. They are still leaving these options open.
They have created a task force with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, Erie Police -- they are using their bomb technicians -- the district attorney's office. And they are waiting for leads. They are getting leads, they said, by the hour. And they're going out to check these out. They said they have been working around the clock nonstop to try to solve this bizarre case.
PHILLIPS: All right, our Mike Brooks, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 2, 2003 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin again this hour with the pizza delivery that turned into robbery by proxy, apparently, and ended in gruesome death. It happened in Erie, Pennsylvania, where the FBI today released a photo of the steel collar that held a bomb to the doomed deliveryman's neck.
CNN's Mike Brooks helps us sort through some of the details worthy of Hitchcock.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Very bizarre.
But earlier today, the Pennsylvania State Police and district attorney's office held a news conference. And they said that, No. 1, they were talking about a second person who was involved or possibly involved in this robbery. It was a co-worker of Brian Wells. And they said that he was found two days ago in his house dead. They thought of natural causes. They came back and the district attorney's office said today that, in fact, he died of possibly a drug overdose. There were some traces of methadone and Valium in his system. They couldn't say whether it was an overdose or not. These were preliminary tests. But they believe he died of natural causes and had no connection with the bank robbery involving Brian Wells.
Then we move on to the big piece of news in the news conference. And that was the collar around the neck of Brian Wells after he was caught. They talked about the collar and its uniqueness during the press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB RUDGE, FBI: We feel that this device was made uniquely for the incident at hand. And we are hopeful that, by showing a picture of the device, someone may have -- or may recognize the instrument, the metal, the locking material that is used to secure it to the neck and certainly call us with that information, so that we can further examine the details of its construction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now, they believe that this collar device was not commercially made, that it was made specifically for attaching the bomb to the neck of Brian Wells. They don't know who made it. That's what they're looking into.
They're hope that, by showing this on TV, that people will recognize this, maybe recognize some of the components of this, and call police and let them know some additional information about this. They -- again, some of the leads. I've heard from a law enforcement source yesterday. Some of the leads that they have been getting, they have been playing these out and they are going nowhere.
So, again, they are asking for the help here of the public and hopefully some of the -- and showing the pictures of this strange device will also help solve this case a little quicker.
PHILLIPS: FBI agents thinking this is a little strange, maybe this could have been a suicide? Are they leaning one way or..
BROOKS: They are not really leaning one way or the other. They are still keeping their options open, whether or not he was involved in this by himself, someone put this on him and sent him to the bank, whether he was, as they called it this morning during the news conference, a bomb hostage. They are still leaving these options open.
They have created a task force with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, Erie Police -- they are using their bomb technicians -- the district attorney's office. And they are waiting for leads. They are getting leads, they said, by the hour. And they're going out to check these out. They said they have been working around the clock nonstop to try to solve this bizarre case.
PHILLIPS: All right, our Mike Brooks, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
