Thursday, September 04, 2003

By Cindi Lash, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A device similar to the neck-clamp bomb that killed a pizza delivery man last week in suburban Erie also has been used by Colombian terrorists, but investigators have no evidence to link the cases.

Federal, state and local officers who are investigating the death Aug. 28 of Brian Douglas Wells also are aware of an episode of the CBS television show "CSI: Miami" in which a bomb was fastened around a character's neck.

But again, investigators said they had no indication that the episode inspired the creator of the device that killed Wells after he held up a bank on a busy commercial street. That bomb was connected to a metal ring -- similar to a handcuff -- that clamped around Wells' neck.

Investigators have not determined if Wells was a willing participant or a hapless victim who was forced to rob the PNC bank branch in an effort to save his own life. They searched his home over the weekend for handwriting samples, metalworking tools and other items that could signal his involvement in the bomb's construction and the bank robbery but won't say what they found.

Longtime acquaintances, however, said they found it incomprehensible that Wells would have gone along with such a bizarre scheme, or that he had the technical knowledge to build or handle a bomb.

For most of the last decade, Wells worked as a delivery driver for Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria, a tiny shop nestled in a strip mall on Peach Street. Co-workers there said he was content and unconcerned about making more money or acquiring possessions.

"He was happy with $20 in his pocket. He was happy if he had $5 or $1 in his pocket," said a man who identified himself as the owner of Mama Mia's but refused to give his name. "He was a good guy. We don't know anything about how this could happen."

The "CSI: Miami" episode, which first aired last September, opened with the death of a police investigator who was trying to defuse a bomb that had been fastened to a victim's neck. The episode aired again in December and on July 7.

Nor have investigators found a link to cases reported in Colombia where rebels affixed bombs to the necks of victims in order to extract money from the victims or their families.

Earlier this year, Colombian rebels were accused of using that type of bomb to try to extort money from a Venezuelan rancher. Police were able to disarm the bomb, but a woman and a police officer were killed when a similar bomb exploded in 2000.

In an interview yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America," Kenneth McCabe, special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh division, said that, prior to Wells' death, he'd only heard of a neck-clamp bomb being used in Colombia.

McCabe was aware of the device because of his previous assignment with the FBI's Operational Response Section. The section is responsible for the FBI's evidence, hazardous materials and crisis response units and its bomb data center.

Investigators have declined to identify the explosives used in the bomb that killed Wells but have said the bomb itself was not particularly complex. They will not say if a timer or a remote control was used to detonate it.

Special Agent Bob Rudge of the FBI's Erie office said, however, that investigators believe the bluish metal clamp that fastened the bomb around Wells' neck was made specifically for that purpose. They have made public photographs of the device in an effort to identify its maker.

A telephone hotline, set up this week to take calls from tipsters, already has generated more than 50 calls, said FBI spokesman Bill Crowley.

The hot line number is 1-866-219-2008; photographs of the bomb and its neck clamp also can be viewed at www.fbi.gov.

"Some have generated leads, so we are encouraged," he said.

Also yesterday, FBI officials said they found a "sort of gun" used by Wells in the bank robbery before he died. Crowley would not describe the weapon, other than to say it was unusual, and declined to say where it was found.

Wells, 46, of Millcreek, robbed the bank in Summit, about a mile south of Erie, at 2:40 p.m. Thursday after telling employees he was carrying a bomb. Witnesses telephoned state police, who stopped Wells' car a short time later on Peach Street, a busy commercial strip.

As troopers handcuffed Wells, he told them that a bomb was attached to his body and would explode soon. He also insisted that someone else had forced him to wear the bomb and hold up the bank.

Camera crews from Erie television stations recorded Wells as he sat inside a ring of police cruisers, saying the bomb was about to go off and begged police to help him. Erie's police bomb squad was on its way when the device exploded at 3:18 p.m., killing Wells instantly.

A native of Erie, Wells was single and lived alone in a tiny white cottage behind the home of a former Mama Mia's co-worker, LaVerne Payne, on a dead-end street near Erie International Airport, west of the city. He kept in touch with his mother and siblings and often watched movies with them, said Payne's wife, Linda.

"He was helpful if I needed anything," she said.

"He helped me put out the garbage when [her husband] broke his leg. He read, he did his word puzzles in the newspaper and he listened to his CDs. We felt like his family."

Wells doted on his cats, puttered with his green Geo Metro automobile and was always prompt to work, Payne said.

Material goods were so unimportant to him that he removed the hubcabs from his car after he bought it because he thought they were too flashy.

"He wouldn't rob a bank. He wouldn't make a bomb," Payne said. "He probably would be an easy mark for someone. I think [someone] used him, and it's scary now to think there's somebody out there who would do that."

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