The TV show Very Scary People doesn’t hold back when it comes to showing what the most evil criminals in America are thinking. Don Wahlberg hosts the show, which goes into great detail about the lives of infamous people such as Charles Manson, Aileen Wuornos, and John Wayne Gacy. The fifth episode of Season 6 is called “The Man Eater,” and it offers a more in-depth look at Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. This woman was involved in one of the strangest crimes in U.S. history: the murder of Brian Douglas Wells, better known as the “Pizza Bomber.”
The Shocking Plot Behind the Pizza Bomber Case
Brian Wells, a pizza deliveryman in Erie, Pennsylvania, walked into a PNC Bank on August 28, 2003, with a bomb around his neck. It was a scary event. He was carrying a shotgun that looked like a cane and gave the teller a note demanding $250,000 in cash. Wells quickly got caught by police in a nearby parking lot after leaving the bank with $8,702. After that, a terrible scene happened that shocked the whole country. Wells was killed before the bomb squad could get there because the bomb, which was tightly wrapped around his neck, went off.
At first, the event seemed strange. Who would plan a crime that is so cruel and dangerous? Over time, investigators figured out a creepy plot with a group of characters—each one scarier than the last. At the center of it all was Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, a woman who was once thought to be very smart but whose life fell apart because she had a severe mental illness.
Who Was Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong?
Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. She was smart and talented from a very young age. As a 1967 graduate of Erie’s Academy High School, she looked like she was destined for great things. On the inside, though, her life was very unstable. By the 1980s, her mental health had gotten a lot worse, which made her act in strange and violent ways.
Bob Thomas, Marjorie’s boyfriend, was found shot six times dead in their home in 1984. Marjorie said it was self-defense, and in 1988, she was found not guilty. Even so, her life kept getting worse and worse. Over the years, her ties to several deaths, strange plans and hoarding habits showed that she was a deeply troubled person.
By the beginning of the 2000s, Marjorie was involved in a plot that would forever change the history of American crime.
The Crime That Shocked a Nation
The plan behind the Pizza Bomber case was both scary and hard to understand. Marjorie, Kenneth Barnes, and Bill Rothstein came up with the plan to rob a bank and pay for another murder with the money they stole. What is their main goal? So Marjorie could get his money, she hired someone to kill her father.
At first, Brian Wells was reluctant to take part and was said to not know the full extent of the plan. He thought the bomb around his neck was fake, according to the evidence. But it was too late when he saw that the bomb was real.
As the police put together the clues, they found a disturbing pattern of manipulation. James Roden, who was dating Marjorie at the time—was killed so he wouldn’t tell anyone about the plan. His body was found at Bill Rothstein’s house in a freezer. Later, Rothstein called the police to say he had hidden the body but denied having anything to do with the bank robbery.
What Happened to Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes?
Marjorie was arrested in 2003 and, after a long court case, found to be mentally fit to stand trial in 2009. During her trial in 2010, she said that Bill Rothstein was the one who came up with the plan. But Kenneth Barnes lied in court against her and said that Marjorie was really in charge. She was found guilty of armed bank robbery, plotting to do it, and using a destructive device after the fact. She was given a life sentence plus 30 years in prison in 2011.
Kenneth Barnes’ Role
Kenneth Barnes, who used to fix TVs and sell drugs, was very important to the story. He admitted that he helped plan the theft and was given a 45-year prison sentence in 2008. His sentence was later cut to 22 and a half years because he helped with Marjorie’s trial.
In the end, both Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes met terrible deaths while serving their sentences.
Marjorie fought breast cancer for her last few years in federal prison. She tried to get her conviction overturned several times, but she stayed in jail until she died on April 4, 2017, at the age of 68. She died at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. This is a place where female prisoners can get medical care.
Kenneth Barnes also died in prison. He was 65 years old and died of natural causes on June 20, 2019. He was serving his shorter sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, which is for prisoners who need special medical care.
One of the strangest and most haunting crimes in modern American history is still the Pizza Bomber case. People are still fascinated and scared by the twisted details of the crime thanks to documentaries like Netflix’s Evil Genius and episodes of Very Scary People. People who knew Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong will remember her sad story as a terrible example of what can happen when mental illness is not treated: terrible things can happen.
The narration in Very Scary People by Donnie Wahlberg reminds viewers that the case of the Pizza Bomber isn’t just a story of a single crime, but a scary example of how deeply people’s lives can fall apart when darkness takes over.
Where is Esteban from Beast Games Now?
