Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong is best known for her role in the chilling plot to strap a bomb to a pizza deliveryman and force him to rob a Pennsylvania bank in 2003, but she also murdered two of her boyfriends — and stuffed one in a freezer.
NetflixMarjorie Diehl - Armstrong masterminded the infamous 2003 “ pizza grinder ” incident .
In 2003 , the bizarre “ pizza grinder ” event in Erie , Pennsylvania , becharm the country ’s care . A pizzeria employee mention Brian Wells had walked into a savings bank with a bomb strapped around his cervix , demand $ 250,000 in immediate payment , and then inform the law that he ’d been forced to carry out the crime . The bomb set off before Wells could reveal more , and investigators begin a years - long search for the mortal creditworthy for his dying . That hunt ultimately moderate them to Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong .
Diehl - Armstrong had been the valedictorian of her high schoolhouse class and was a musical prodigy , but she struggled with her genial health . She was diagnose with bipolar disorder , and beginning in her 20s , she grow increasingly deceitful , manipulative , and even tearing at times .
NetflixMarjorie Diehl-Armstrong masterminded the infamous 2003 “pizza bomber” incident.
In 1984 , she shoot and killed her beau , but she was assoil after she claimed that she was defend herself from his abuse . Her lawyer at the prison term say that “ it was only a matter of time ” before she did the same affair again — and he was correct .
Before she was connected to the pizza pie bomber robbery , Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong was arrested for kill another boyfriend in the weeks leading up to the incident . It was while she was behind bars for this law-breaking that the accuracy about her involvement in Wells ’ dying do out , contribute a surprising remnant to the perverted case .
Who Was Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong?
From a untried old age , Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong was known for her intelligence and academic accomplishment . She was a skilled musician and had a love for astrology and poesy . She had a hopeful future — but then mental illness take hold of her .
NetflixBefore Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong was an “ vicious ” manslayer , she was an attractive , extremely thinking unseasoned woman .
Diehl - Armstrong was name with bipolar disorder , and she also have from paranoia . Throughout her 20 , she became more and more manipulative , particularly toward men , and she often used her good looks and charm to get her own elbow room .
NetflixBefore Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong was an “evil” murderer, she was an attractive, highly intelligent young woman.
Jerry Clark , an FBI agentive role and the pencil lead investigator in the pizza pie bomber face , told theErie Times - Newsin 2018 that Diehl - Armstrong was “ rightfully very , very bright , manipulative ; get hoi polloi to do thing that you could n’t believe that she could do . ”
Her first skirmish with the jurisprudence come in 1984 when she fatally shot her boyfriend , Robert Thomas , as he sit on their living elbow room couch . In courtroom , she successfully argue that he was opprobrious and she ’d killed him in self - defence . She was assoil in 1988 — but it was n’t the last time Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong would stand trial for murder .
The ‘Pizza Bomber’ Plot And The Murder Of James Roden
On Aug. 28 , 2003,Brian Wellsentered a PNC cant in Erie , Pennsylvania , with a dud strapped around his neck and a scattergun mask as a cane in his manus . He handed a Edward Teller a note of hand demanding $ 250,000 , but he give with just $ 8,702 .
NetflixBrian Wells inside the bank with a bomb strapped to his neck .
Then , as Wells exited the bank and was surrounded by police cars , he dropped to the ground and began begging for assist . He claim that three people had catch him while he was delivering a pizza pie to them , interlace the bomb to his cervix , and given him nonindulgent instructions to hook the cant . However , before he had a chance to tell the officers much more , the twist detonated , and a fist - sized jam was blown in his chest .
NetflixBrian Wells inside the bank with a bomb strapped to his neck.
As investigators searched Wells ’ cable car after his expiry , they found the handwritten orders he ’d mentioned . The directions were addressed to the “ Bomb Hostage ” and detail a pack rat William Holman Hunt he must make out after fleece the coin bank to get the code needed to deactivate the bomb . However , experts by and by determined that it would n’t have been physically possible for Wells to finish up the necessary tasks before the bomb exploded .
Erie Federal Courthouse / Erie Bureau of Police viaWiredThe scavenger James Henry Leigh Hunt note found inside Brian Wells ’ car .
The police realize that Wells had n’t plan the heist himself . But if he was n’t the genius , who was ?
Erie Federal Courthouse/Erie Bureau of Police viaWiredThe scavenger hunt note found inside Brian Wells’ car.
They get their first clue just three weeks later when a man advert Bill Rothstein bid them and severalize them there was a consistency in his garage deep-freeze . When detectives arrived at Rothstein ’s house , they found the fixed clay of James Roden .
Rothstein told the constabulary that he felt guilty . He had n’t remove Roden , but he knew who did . He confessed that his ex - girlfriend , Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong , called him asking for help getting free of Roden ’s body . Rothstein had then clean up the scene , engender rid of the gun Diehl - Armstrong used , and shroud the corpse in exchange for $ 2,000 .
Erie Federal Courthouse / Erie Bureau of Police viaWiredBill Rothstein , the adult male who work in Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong for vote out James Roden .
Erie Federal Courthouse/Erie Bureau of Police viaWiredBill Rothstein, the man who turned in Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong for killing James Roden.
The next day , Diehl - Armstrong was charged with killing Roden . She ultimately pleaded hangdog — but mentally ill — to third - point slaying , claiming she ’d frivol away him during a dispute about money and a purported robbery that had taken place at her house . However , as the probe into the pizza bomber pillowcase unfolded over the next several age , public prosecutor came to believe that Diehl - Armstrong had really polish off Roden because he knew about her unbalance patch and threatened to release her in .
Then , two months after pleading guilty to down Roden , Diehl - Armstrong tell a police officer that she had information about the Wells grammatical case .
Was Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong The Real ‘Evil Genius’ Behind The Bank Robbery?
In April 2005 , Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong meet with FBI agent and recount them that she would confess everything she acknowledge if she could be transfer to a minimal - surety prison . Then , she admit that she was take in the plot , though she say that Bill Rothstein had masterminded it and that Brian Wells had been part of the preparation , despite what he told the police before his death outside the banking company .
NetflixMarjorie Diehl - Armstrong maintain that she was n’t the mastermind behind the pizza bomber plot .
subsequently that class , a piece contacted the police to say that his sidekick - in - police , Kenneth Barnes , had told him that he was also involved in the pizza hoagy case . When Barnes was questioned , he told investigators that Diehl - Armstrong had previously ask him to kill her Father-God , who she trust was rich , because she needed money . Then , a month before the bank looting in August 2003 , Diehl - Armstrong had asked Barnes if he knew how to build up a pipe turkey .
NetflixMarjorie Diehl-Armstrong maintained that she wasn’t the mastermind behind the pizza bomber plot.
It seemed that Diehl - Armstrong ’s motive for plotting the pizza pie bomber heist was fiscal , but if Wells really was involved in the planning , why did he match to wear the bomb ? He on the face of it trust that it would n’t actually go off , but the other plotter likely require to make indisputable he die out so that he could n’t shop them out .
Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes were in the end indicted in 2007 for their roles in the banking concern robbery and the dying of Brian Wells . Barnes sustain that Diehl - Armstrong was the mastermind behind the plot of land , and she was convict of armed bank robbery , conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery , and using a destructive gadget in a offense in 2010 .
NetflixMarjorie Diehl - Armstrong believed her conviction would one day be tip over .
NetflixMarjorie Diehl-Armstrong believed her conviction would one day be overturned.
Because of the testimonial that Wells was a Colorado - conspirator , she was n’t charged with his slaying . Still , she was sentenced to life in prison house to be serve consecutively with the seven to 20 years she was spending behind bars for Roden ’s murder .
Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong fought her sentence for the residuum of her biography , but she died in prison house after a battle with tit cancer in 2017 . For that grounds , it ’s impossible to recognize if her condemnation would have ever been bring down or if she was truly the mastermind behind the whole plot . As far as the legal system of rules is touch on , however , everyone involved got what they deserved , one way or another .
After reading about how Marjorie Diehl - Armstrong engineer the pizza bomber heist , get wind aboutScott Scurlock , the flakey mastermind behind nearly 20 Seattle bank robberies . Then , go inside the story ofBrian Brown - Easley , the former Marine who was kill while holding a bank hostage .
