The baffling death of a deliveryman

A violent end to a quiet life

By Edward Walsh, The Washington Post, 9/7/2003

ERIE, Pa. -- He lived a quiet life in the shadows, apparently content at 46 to be a pizza deliveryman who went home at night to a small, white cottage and the company of his three cats. No one took much notice of Brian Wells as he maneuvered his green Geo Metro through traffic on busy Peach Street, which was all right with the anonymous driver.

Wells did not like to attract attention to himself, once removing the hubcaps from his car because, he told a neighbor, he thought they were "too flashy." His friends could never imagine him doing anything illegal.

But ever since his quiet, unnoticed life ended violently last week, Wells has been the center not only of attention, but of a mystery. How did this man end up with a bomb strapped to his body, sitting in a parking lot, his hands cuffed behind him desperately telling police officers surrounding him that things were not as they appeared?

State police apprehended Wells in the parking lot of Eyeglass World, which is in the same large outdoor shopping plaza as a PNC bank branch that he had just robbed. Wells walked into the branch on the afternoon of Aug. 28 and handed a female teller a lengthy, handwritten note. He said he had a bomb.

It was under Wells's shirt, attached to his body by a sophisticated metal collar around his neck. But when the police caught him, Wells told them that the robbery was not his idea and that the bomb had been hung around his neck by someone else -- he did not say who -- who had forced him to commit the robbery. As wary state troopers waited for the bomb squad to arrive, a local television station recorded the scene.

"I'm not lying," Wells can be heard saying on the video. "Did you call my boss? This isn't me. I'm not doing this."

The bomb squad arrived too late. The device detonated, killing Wells instantly.

Since then, the mystery has only deepened. Police found a second note on Wells's body with instructions on how to conduct the robbery.

FBI agents disclosed Wednesday that Wells also had a weapon, which an agent described as "sort of a gun." Law enforcement authorities scheduled a news conference Thursday to provide more details about the weapon, but then abruptly canceled. FBI and state police officials said that they have not ruled out anything in the bizarre case and still do not know whether Wells was a bank robber or, as he claimed, an innocent victim. But those who knew Wells say it is inconceivable that the timid, almost "child-like" man could have concocted such an elaborate scheme or that he harbored a secret desire to obtain money by robbery. They think Wells was the primary victim of the crime.

"He would have been as easy mark," said Linda Payne, who rented the white cottage in her backyard to Wells for about four years. "He wasn't very physical. He wouldn't have fought back."

The portrait that Payne and others draw of Wells is of a friendly but private man who lived an uncomplicated life. While he got along with co-workers at Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria on Peach Street, neighbors and others, he apparently had few, if any, close friends. Payne said that visitors to the cottage included Wells's mother, godmother, and a brother, but that she knew little else about his family or friends. Wells's family and the owner of the pizza store have declined to talk.

The Erie Times-News reported Thursday that Wells grew up in Erie, one of seven children, and that his father died in 1990. He dropped out of East High School in 1972 at 16 "for reasons of work," according to school records.

Anthony LaRocco, the high school principal, said Wells was "a pretty average student . . . Nothing stands out about him and the teachers couldn't remember him," LaRocco said.

The Erie Postal Center is located on one side of the pizza parlor and is owned by Curt, 43, who would not give his last name. He said Wells, who was "just a nice guy always willing to help out," sometimes stopped at the center to buy stamps or a 50-cent lottery ticket, but that he was so timid that he would hesitate to enter the store if there were other customers inside.

"He worked enough to support himself and his cats and that's all he cared about," Curt said.

"He was the kind of man who easily could be taken advantage of. He was a meek, mild, quiet man," he said.

In between deliveries, Wells would often sit at one of the pizza parlor's four tables, working on a crossword puzzle.

In the morning, Payne said, Wells often would wander out to buy the local newspaper and stop at a fast-food restaurant. He kept little food in the cottage, she said. She said he liked to go to concerts, "especially if they were free," played music on CDs at home, sometimes rented movies, and watched television, with "Survivor" being a special favorite. Payne said Wells called all of his cats "kitty," apparently not bothering to give them their own names.

"I always wondered what would happen to him because he didn't have any goals except being Brian and delivering pizza," Payne added. "By 46, you should have your life in gear, but he didn't mind."