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American Morning
Interview With Ken McCabe
Aired September 03, 2003 - 07:21 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI and authorities in Erie, Pennsylvania asking for the public's help right now as they investigate that strange death of a pizza delivery man. They've released photos of the metal collar used to secure a bomb to the neck of 46-year-old Brian Douglas Wells. Wells was arrested last week after a bank robbery. He told police he had been forced to commit the crime and a short time later the bomb on his back exploded. He was killed.
Ken McCabe is the FBI's lead investigator.
He joins us now live today from Pittsburgh, the special agent in charge.
Good morning, Mr. McCabe.
Thanks for your time today here on AMERICAN MORNING.
KEN MCCABE, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: "USA Today" is reporting already this morning that there was a gun in possession of Brian Wells. Was that the case when he was blown apart last week?
MCCABE: Well, we're not going to say that it was a gun. He had another weapon and we may release later in the week what exactly the type of weapon it was. It was a little bit unique and we may release that information for, also for the public to see what he was carrying and maybe that may help with this investigation.
HEMMER: That's a rather intriguing answer. Are you saying it was not a gun?
MCCABE: Well, it's not what people traditionally think of as a gun.
HEMMER: Could it have been a knife?
MCCABE: No. I can say no, it's not a knife. But I'm not going to go into the specific detail of the weapon because it was unique and we want to release that maybe later in the week when we need more help from the public.
HEMMER: Tell us where he was holding it. Where was he carrying that on his body?
MCCABE: If I tell you that, you'll be able to quickly identify what kind of weapon this was.
HEMMER: How does this complicate your case, sir?
MCCABE: Well, it really doesn't complicate our case. We've had that information from the very beginning and it is just helping us -- it's another fact in our -- and piece of evidence in our fact pattern that's leading us into these different theories of did he do it by himself? Was he a co-conspirator? Or was he forced to do this, like he's alleging?
HEMMER: Yes, I want to put up on the screen for our viewers the two photos you released yesterday of this metal locking device and the metal box that was attached to his back. Have you seen these devices before?
MCCABE: The bomb itself is something that you can get instructions off the Internet to make. The collar is what makes this whole device unique. And, no, I have -- I am familiar with a necktie type of bomb device that was used in Colombia a number of years ago that resulted in the death of not only the victim that was wearing it, but the two bomb technicians that were trying to render it safe. But this is unique and that's why we released that photo. We need the help of the public, and we have been recognizing help as a result of releasing that picture.
HEMMER: You mentioned something there in South America, in Colombia. Is that the only place you've seen something like this before?
MCCABE: Yes, that I'm aware of. Yes.
HEMMER: What would that tell you?
MCCABE: It tells me this, the individual or the individuals that may be associated with this are pretty skilled and independent thinking. They've seen...
HEMMER: Was the collar homemade? Go ahead.
MCCABE: Yes, it was -- it is not commercially made and that's why we released it, is we're hoping that somebody either saw somebody making this in an industrial shop or in their home shop.
HEMMER: There were two notes found on Brian Wells when he went into that bank. One apparently had instructions for him and the other one was for the bank itself, perhaps the teller. Were those notes written by Brian Wells?
MCCABE: We're still trying to determine that. Those notes have been sent back to our FBI laboratory, which is the world's finest laboratory, and they're analyzing it. It's not like the CSI -- in fact, they're better -- where when the notes go in there, we do a number of different tests and there's a lead examiner that is assigned to the evidence and then they farm that evidence out to the different units back at the lab where for DNA evidence, fingerprint, handwriting analysis, trace hairs, fibers, and the behavior science also get it to do an analysis of the handwriting to come up with a profile of the writer.
HEMMER: We only have a few seconds left here. Are you saying it's still a consideration that he may have written those notes?
MCCABE: We have not eliminated that yet.
HEMMER: On Monday, you told Soledad you had five working theories. Today, how many are you down to?
MCCABE: Well, we have three main theories -- he did it alone, he was forced into it or he was a willing co-conspirator. And then within each of those theories, we have investigative teams assigned to investigate different avenues that are being developed by the facts and evidence.
HEMMER: Great to talk to you.
Come on back tomorrow, if you can.
Ken McCabe, thanks, in Pittsburgh.
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 3, 2003 - 07:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI and authorities in Erie, Pennsylvania asking for the public's help right now as they investigate that strange death of a pizza delivery man. They've released photos of the metal collar used to secure a bomb to the neck of 46-year-old Brian Douglas Wells. Wells was arrested last week after a bank robbery. He told police he had been forced to commit the crime and a short time later the bomb on his back exploded. He was killed.
Ken McCabe is the FBI's lead investigator.
He joins us now live today from Pittsburgh, the special agent in charge.
Good morning, Mr. McCabe.
Thanks for your time today here on AMERICAN MORNING.
KEN MCCABE, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: "USA Today" is reporting already this morning that there was a gun in possession of Brian Wells. Was that the case when he was blown apart last week?
MCCABE: Well, we're not going to say that it was a gun. He had another weapon and we may release later in the week what exactly the type of weapon it was. It was a little bit unique and we may release that information for, also for the public to see what he was carrying and maybe that may help with this investigation.
HEMMER: That's a rather intriguing answer. Are you saying it was not a gun?
MCCABE: Well, it's not what people traditionally think of as a gun.
HEMMER: Could it have been a knife?
MCCABE: No. I can say no, it's not a knife. But I'm not going to go into the specific detail of the weapon because it was unique and we want to release that maybe later in the week when we need more help from the public.
HEMMER: Tell us where he was holding it. Where was he carrying that on his body?
MCCABE: If I tell you that, you'll be able to quickly identify what kind of weapon this was.
HEMMER: How does this complicate your case, sir?
MCCABE: Well, it really doesn't complicate our case. We've had that information from the very beginning and it is just helping us -- it's another fact in our -- and piece of evidence in our fact pattern that's leading us into these different theories of did he do it by himself? Was he a co-conspirator? Or was he forced to do this, like he's alleging?
HEMMER: Yes, I want to put up on the screen for our viewers the two photos you released yesterday of this metal locking device and the metal box that was attached to his back. Have you seen these devices before?
MCCABE: The bomb itself is something that you can get instructions off the Internet to make. The collar is what makes this whole device unique. And, no, I have -- I am familiar with a necktie type of bomb device that was used in Colombia a number of years ago that resulted in the death of not only the victim that was wearing it, but the two bomb technicians that were trying to render it safe. But this is unique and that's why we released that photo. We need the help of the public, and we have been recognizing help as a result of releasing that picture.
HEMMER: You mentioned something there in South America, in Colombia. Is that the only place you've seen something like this before?
MCCABE: Yes, that I'm aware of. Yes.
HEMMER: What would that tell you?
MCCABE: It tells me this, the individual or the individuals that may be associated with this are pretty skilled and independent thinking. They've seen...
HEMMER: Was the collar homemade? Go ahead.
MCCABE: Yes, it was -- it is not commercially made and that's why we released it, is we're hoping that somebody either saw somebody making this in an industrial shop or in their home shop.
HEMMER: There were two notes found on Brian Wells when he went into that bank. One apparently had instructions for him and the other one was for the bank itself, perhaps the teller. Were those notes written by Brian Wells?
MCCABE: We're still trying to determine that. Those notes have been sent back to our FBI laboratory, which is the world's finest laboratory, and they're analyzing it. It's not like the CSI -- in fact, they're better -- where when the notes go in there, we do a number of different tests and there's a lead examiner that is assigned to the evidence and then they farm that evidence out to the different units back at the lab where for DNA evidence, fingerprint, handwriting analysis, trace hairs, fibers, and the behavior science also get it to do an analysis of the handwriting to come up with a profile of the writer.
HEMMER: We only have a few seconds left here. Are you saying it's still a consideration that he may have written those notes?
MCCABE: We have not eliminated that yet.
HEMMER: On Monday, you told Soledad you had five working theories. Today, how many are you down to?
MCCABE: Well, we have three main theories -- he did it alone, he was forced into it or he was a willing co-conspirator. And then within each of those theories, we have investigative teams assigned to investigate different avenues that are being developed by the facts and evidence.
HEMMER: Great to talk to you.
Come on back tomorrow, if you can.
Ken McCabe, thanks, in Pittsburgh.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
