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By Ed Palattella ed.palattella@timesnews.com and Kevin Flowers kevin.flowers@timesnews.com The FBI on Friday zeroed in on a 46-year-old Erie man who described himself as "a person of interest" in the bombing death of pizza deliveryman Brian Wells. The man said he had nothing to do with the Wells case, and said he had never spoken to Wells. The man's live-in girlfriend said she is Wells' cousin. "I will be 47 in December, and I have never known this man in my existence," the man told the Erie Times-News in an interview at his apartment at East Fourth and Ash streets. The...

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - A man who says his girlfriend is a cousin of the pizza deliveryman killed after a bank robbery by the explosion of a bomb locked to his neck says investigators seized his tools and computer, but he denied Saturday that he ever met the dead man. "There is no relationship. I don't know Brian Wells," Jimmy Johnson, 46, of Erie, told The Associated Press on Saturday. Wells, 46, was arrested and handcuffed Aug. 28 following a PNC Bank robbery near Erie, but was killed when the bomb attached to a collar locked around his neck exploded...

<p>The FBI on Friday zeroed in on a 46-year-old Erie man who described himself as "a person of interest" in the bombing death of pizza deliveryman Brian Wells.</p> <p>The man said he had nothing to do with the Wells case, and said he had never spoken to Wells. The man's live-in girlfriend said she is Wells' cousin.</p>

Wells demanded $250,000 Carrying canelike gun, robber waited his turn in line at PNC Bank Brian Wells, an unassuming, 46-year-old deliveryman who authorities say robbed a bank before a bomb clasped to his chest by a locking metal collar exploded, killing him last Thursday afternoon. (Associated Press) By Ed Palattella ed.palattella@timesnews.com and KARA RHODES kara.rhodes@timesnews.com Brian Wells wanted $250,000 from the bank. He was willing to wait. He was also prepared to come back. Wells, with a live bomb locked around his neck and a canelike gun in his hands, walked into the PNC Bank branch on upper Peach Street...

<p>Brian Wells wanted $250,000 from the bank.</p> <p>He was willing to wait.</p> <p>He was also prepared to come back.</p> <p>Wells, with a live bomb locked around his neck and a canelike gun in his hands, walked into the PNC Bank branch on upper Peach Street shortly before 2:40 p.m. on Aug. 28.</p>

Note told how to disarm bomb By Chris Osher and Karen Roebuck TRIBUNE-REVIEW Friday, September 5, 2003 The bank robber killed by a bomb locked to his body had a note directing him to three locations where he would find instructions on how to disarm the sophisticated explosive, a law enforcement official said Thursday. Police stopped Brian Wells, 46, a pizza delivery man, about two minutes after he robbed a bank Aug. 28 outside of Erie. The bomb exploded as the handcuffed Wells sat on the ground, surrounded by police as they waited for the bomb squad to arrive. Wells...

FBI Raids Erie Home After Man's Bombing Death Man Robs Bank, Dies With Bomb Strapped To Body Gina Redmond POSTED: 5:35 p.m. EDT September 5, 2003 UPDATED: 5:42 p.m. EDT September 5, 2003 PITTSBURGH -- Late Friday afternoon, the FBI raided another house in downtown Erie in search of answers in a pizza delivery man's death. And there's another bizarre twist to the death of Brian Wells, who was killed by a bomb that blew up after he robbed an Erie bank last week. Police said Wells was carrying a second customized weapon during the bank robbery. The transcript from...

<p>ERIE, Pa. -- As they continue to search for the maker of the unusual neck-clamp bomb that killed pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells, investigators are also examining an equally unique gun found in Wells' car to determine if it was made by the same person.</p>

Brian Wells Lisa Sadowski is struggling to understand how a man so fun-loving, yet timid, could have wound up robbing a bank with a bomb strapped to his body. Sadowski and her husband, Jim, got to know Brian Wells when the three worked together at Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria in Millcreek Township several years ago. "Someone said he was kidlike. I tend to agree with that," Sadowski said of Wells, who was killed last week when the bomb he was wearing exploded about 40 minutes after he robbed the PNC Bank branch in Summit Towne Centre. While investigators pursued theories...

Posted on Thu, Sep. 04, 2003 Man with bomb also had odd weapon ERIE, Pa. - The mystery of the pizza deliveryman turned bank robber who was killed by a bomb around his neck deepened Wednesday as investigators said the man had a gunlike weapon in his possession before he died. Authorities described the weapon as "unusual" and "unique," saying it appeared to have been homemade or custom-made in a machine shop. One official said it was shaped like a walking cane. Investigators also said that the locking metal collar used to attach the bomb to the neck of the...

<p>The Pennsylvania pizza man who robbed a bank and died when a bomb locked around his neck exploded was carrying another weapon at the time of his death, adding more intrigue to the odd tale that has made headlines around the world.</p>

<p>Brian Wells left Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria, 5154 Peach St., Thursday afternoon on what seemed to be a routine delivery of two sausage-and-pepperoni pizzas.</p> <p>Less than two hours later, the 46-year-old Millcreek man lay dead in an upper Peach Street store driveway, killed when a bomb strapped to his chest exploded.</p>

FBI appeals for help after pizza man 'forced to rob bank' is killed by bomb fixed around his neck By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 03 September 2003 The FBI has released pictures of a metal collar that was found fixed around the neck of pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and then died when a bomb that was locked to the collar exploded. State troopers arrested Brian Wells shortly after he robbed a bank outside the town of Erie in Pennsylvania last Thursday. He told the officers that he had been forced to rob the bank and that he was...

(CBS/AP) The FBI on Tuesday released photos of a metal collar found around the neck of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and then was killed when a bomb strapped to his body exploded. FBI Agent Bob Rudge said the bureau hopes that by releasing the photos of the collar and locking device, someone may come forward to help law enforcement solve the strange case. A preliminary exam performed on the collar showed that it was likely not commercially manufactured, Rudge said Tuesday. "We do not believe it has any legitimate industrial use," said Rudge. "Its most likely purpose...

<p>Brian Douglas Wells, 46, was killed Thursday when the bomb attached to his neck detonated while he and police were waiting for the bomb squad to arrive.</p> <p>Police probably could not have saved Wells from the bomb if it was armed with a timing device, FBI special agent Ken McCabe, whose agency is helping in the investigation, said.</p>

Blast that killed robber leaves police mystified He died after a bank holdup. He told police another person had forced him into the crime. Associated Press ERIE - Investigators spent Labor Day plotting out a course for solving the bizarre case of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank, then was killed by a bomb strapped to his body. An autopsy was completed yesterday on a coworker of the deliveryman who was found dead at his home, but police awaited toxicology tests to determine whether the deaths were related. Federal investigators and police were expected to discuss the case at...

The FBI is investigating the death of a pizza delivery man who said he had been forced to rob a bank by someone who had strapped a bomb to his chest. Brian Wells had entered a bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, and given staff a note which demanded money and said he had a bomb. When he left the bank with stolen money he was surrounded by police and told them he had been forced to rob the bank after someone had started a timer on a bomb under his T-shirt. As the police waited for the bomb squad to arrive...

<p>The bizarre case of Brian Wells' death is still marked by more questions than answers.</p> <p>But clues that could point to how and why Wells robbed a bank before being killed by a bomb strapped to his body are slowly filtering in to the local FBI office.</p>