American Monsters: Marjorie Diehl -Armstrong and the Pizza Bomber

0:00 Speaker 1: Warning, Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and we recommend you stop listening now.

0:20 Speaker 2: True crime with a dash of the paranormal, the garish, the strange, in the darkly comic. I'm Zevan Odelberg, host of Kind of Murdery, a podcast that's about more than just murder. It's my very own pocket dimension, home to a curated collection of bizarre and compelling stories, the unsolved, the unsettling, and the unbelievable. I cover it all just so long as it's kind of murdery. Indeed, just like it says in the intro, I am Zevan Odelberg, and this is kind of murdery. In a chilling moment of legal assessment, Federal Magistrate Martin C. Carlson didn't hold back his condemnation when speaking about Marjorie deal Armstrong.

1:02 Speaker 2: He did not mince words, describing her as a quote coldly calculating criminal, recidivist, and serial killer. The gravity of those words resonates like a thunderclap, echoing the horrors that unfolded in April twenty fourteen, when one of her appeals was denied. Judge Carlson wrote the following, etching a haunting portrait of Marjorie dial Armstrong's deeds. The words chosen by Carlson revealed the darkness that tainted her actions, portraying them as marked by quote brutality, sadism, cruelty, and the morbid abuse of her victims, both living and dead.

1:39 Speaker 2: These words, dripping with vividness, paint a picture of unimaginable terror inflicted upon others. This is a damning description of a human being, albeit one who, according to both facts and appearances, seems to have been a monster. Although, as I've discussed before, we have a tendency to label those who commit heinous acts as monster and inhuman, as if by denying their human identity, their fundamental humanity, we gain the comfort of firmly separating them from ourselves. And yet time and again we are shown that monstrosity is in fact a uniquely human quality.

2:16 Speaker 2: I should mention that a number of articles were indispensable in putting together today's episode, in particular one entitled the Pennsylvania Pizza Bomber, by a medium writer who goes by the pen name Down the Rabbit Hole All of my sources are in the show notes. All right, let's get down to it. Please join me as we uncover what truths we can and solve what mysteries we may kind of murderies, investigation of some women just want to watch the world burn. Marjorie diil Armstrong and the Pizza bamb Murders starts.

2:51 Speaker 3: Now.

2:53 Speaker 2: Imagine a quiet town in Pennsylvania, August twenty eighth, two thousand three. The stage is set for a chilling tale that will send shivers down your spine. Brian Wells an unassuming pizza delivery driver stepping into a bank. But it wasn't a simple transaction. He sought no, He demanded a staggering two hundred and fifty thousand dollars warning of a bomb with a deadly countdown. His voice trembled as he spoke those ominous words to the teller. Now picture this, Brian, not carrying two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, No, carrying only eight thousand, seven hundred and two dollars.

3:41 Speaker 2: Exits the bank, encircled by the tightening grip of law enforcement. But there's more. A bizarre device is strapped around his neck, a device he claims is a bomb. The situation escalates, hearts racing as the police and media gather. Then, in a slow motion car crash moment, the bomb detonates right before the eyes of the world. Brian Wells, the pizza guy, caught in a nightmarish ordeal, meets his tragic end. The aftermath unveils a twisted puzzle. Inside Well's car, investigators uncover meticulous instructions, a chilling road map that led him to that fateful bank heist.

4:21 Speaker 2: But here's the gut wrenching truth. Time betrayed him. The tasks he needed to complete before the bomb's deadly count down reached zero were impossible to finish. And let's not forget every murder is a story of a life extinguished, not just a tale of the perpetrator. In this grim tapestry, will encounter Marjorie diil Armstrong, a name that sends shivers down your spine, a name that inspired the famous Netflix documentary Evil Genius. But before we delve into diil Armstrong's horrifying web, let's pause for a moment and remember the life of Brian Wells, the pizza man and shackled by a bomb caller.

5:02 Speaker 2: It wasn't an extraordinary life, at least not until the end. Born in war in Pennsylvania, he lived a quiet existence, the child of Rose and Harold Wells. Harold a veteran scarred by the Korean War, Brian's path took an unexpected turn. At just sixteen, he walked away from high school and embraced life as a mechanic, a decision that, like all decisions do, would shape his years to come. Two decades later, in nineteen ninety three, at the age of thirty six, Brian found another job, delivering pizzas for Mamma MIA's pizzeria in Erie, Pennsylvania, a seemingly mundane job, Yet it was this very job that led him down a chilling path, a path he walked for a decade until that fateful day in the bank with a bomb for a necklace.

5:49 Speaker 2: Outside of work, Brian enjoyed music, cherishing the company of his cats. He had three of them. And there was something else, a guilty pleasure, the glow of the TV screen while he watched the original hit reality competition show Survivor. It was a window into a world beyond his own. Despite his solitude, Brian maintained a warm rapport with his neighbors and even shared a few happy moments with their dogs. And then came that pivotal August day, lunchtime, bustling streets, and an order that would change everything.

6:23 Speaker 2: Two large pizza, sausage and pepperoni. An ordinary order for an extraordinary turn of events. The owner of Mamma MIA's pizzeria, Tony Ditmo, handed Brian the phone. The address was a riddle that Brian would need to solve. As Brian embarked on that routine delivery, he had no clue that his life was about to be forever entwined with a bomb, a bank, and a web of darkness. His seemingly innocuous journey along Peach Street would become a chapter in a tale that would echo through time. As the clock ticked toward two twenty eight p m.

6:58 Speaker 2: On that ominous day, Brian Wells stepped into a P and C bank, his presence casting an eerie shadow over the ordinary, A short cane in his hand, an odd bulge beneath his TV collar, the stage was set for a chilling encounter. He slid a note across the counter words that held the bank employees captive in a twisted tale of terror. The demand gather access codes for the vault and get a quarter of a million dollars to fill his bag, all within a tight fifteen minute window. But this wasn't just a heist.

7:32 Speaker 2: This was a sinister dance of life and death. Brian's next move unfurled the horror further. He unveiled a box like contraption, heavy and ominous, hanging from his neck. The notes's threat materialized in front of them, a bomb. Panic and fear danced in the air. As Brian's desperate bid to gang access to the vault hit a wall. The teller explained the impossibility of their compliance. They did manage to fill a bag with what they could and placed it in Brian's trembling hands. A brave woman's call to nine one one pierced the chaos, a life line amid the terror.

8:04 Speaker 2: Just minutes later, Brian slipped out of the bank, clutching not the riches he had demanded, not two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but a mere eight thousand, seven hundred and two dollars and a dumb, dumb lollipop that he'd taken from the counter and was sucking on his escape was fleeting. Within that same fifteen minutes, state troopers had Brian and his Geometro, which was parked in a nearby lot corner. The police swarmed, apprehending him with force and precision. Picture this a tense standoff.

8:36 Speaker 2: Brian seated cross legged in the Eyeglass World parking lot, desperation edched onto his face. He unraveled a horrifying story, a tale of being abducted during a delivery, a bomb forcibly fastened around his neck, a gun to his back, pushing him to commit this unthinkable act. He pleaded with the police, his voice cracking with urgency. He wasn't lying, he wasn't crazy. The bomb was real, and so the stage was set. Police with guns drawn, bomb squad in root, and cameras capturing every heartbeat of this surreal tragedy.

9:11 Speaker 2: For twenty five excruciating minutes, Brian remained calm, a strange juxtaposition against the lethal device around his neck and a demeanor that raised eyebrows among the law enforcement, planting seeds of suspicion. In an uncanny twist, Brian's concerns seemed misplaced. He asked about his job at Mamma MIA's. He asked if they'd called his boss, as if his reputation hung in the balance more than his life. Time ticked away, the device beeping faster more frantically. Brian's movements betrayed his fear, a futile attempt to escape the clutches of the bomb, and then, in a violent burst of sound and fury, the world erupted.

9:52 Speaker 2: The bomb detonated, and the blast hurled him backwards, leaving a gruesome wound in his chest. At three eighteen p Brian Wells took his final breath, a tragic chapter closing in a cloud of smoke. The bomb squad arrived moments too late and were left to survey the aftermath, and so the man entwined in this chilling tale met his end. But as the dust settled, questions arose. Dark corners of the narrative hinted at a complex conspiracy, a tale that led to Brian's demise, A sinister plot that was conceived before Brian Wells took his first step into that bank, and at the heart of it all Marjorie dial Armstrong, a name that would soon carve its own chilling legacy, and one of the questions that arose was whether Brian was truly a victim or instead the most tragic of all Patsy's the sacrificial co conspirator.

10:51 Speaker 2: But before we answer that question, we need to take a step back, shift the timeline and peer a little closer at the master mind mind behind the conspiracy that led to Brian Wells's death, the infamous Marjorie dial Armstrong. Her life began in Erie, Pennsylvania, the same place where Brian's life ended, but when Marjorie was a child, it was a place where her potential seemed boundless. As a teenager, she stood out for her intelligence and refined demeanor, destined, it seemed, for a future in teaching or counseling high school students.

11:25 Speaker 2: Her early years were marked by recognition as a musical prodigy, a gift that continued to shine as she progressed through adolescence. Always well dressed and poised, Marjorie appeared to be on a path leading to a rewarding career and a great life. Academically, she excelled, achieving consistently high grades throughout her school years. In addition to her studies, she held secretarial positions in various offices around town. Her educational journey took her to Mercyhurst College, where she earned bachelor's degrees in social work and sociology in nineteen seventy.

11:57 Speaker 2: Further pursuits letter again in college, where she embarked on a master's degree in education with a focus on guidance counseling, completing it in nineteen seventy five, and then, despite amassing twenty one credits toward a doctorate in education. Marjorie's career never extended beyond office work. The mid nineteen seventies marked a turning point for her as her mental illness bipolar disorder present since her early teens, began to take a firm grip on her life. Her mental well being underwent a distressing decline, leaving her grappling with the demands of ordinary life.

12:30 Speaker 2: Douglas Sugrew, her attorney for the Pizzabamber case, noted the devastating impact of her mental illness, stating that it led to a downward spiral that made it nearly impossible for her to navigate everyday challenges. Her life took a tragic turn as her struggles intensified. In July of two thousand, Marjorie's mother, Agnes Dieal, passed away at the age of eighty three. Despite occasional clashes and her mother's perfectionist tendencies, Marjorie deeply cherished their relationship. In the wake of her mother's death, Marjorie found herself without a strong anchor, a loss that left her adrift in many ways.

13:05 Speaker 2: Her connection with her mother was revealed when she confided to a psychiatrist that, despite differences, her mother was all she had. Her attorney speculated that if her mother had lived longer, it might have made a positive difference in Marjorie's life, offering a stabilizing presence in the midst of her struggles. Marjorie's relationship with her bipolar disorder was complex, marked by a mix of torment and pride. Despite consistently denying any involvement in murder, especially serial killings, she drew parallels between herself and accomplished individuals with bipolar disorder, like artists and politicians who had achieved greatness despite their challenges.

13:45 Speaker 2: This intricate interplay of her mental health and her perception of her own identity added a layer of complexity to her already mysterious character. In a chilling display of her self absorption. Marjorie diil Armstrong once remarked about her bipolar disorder. If there was something that could cure me, wouldn't I take it? You have to remember, I'm not just boasting about it, but it's been linked to genius Lincoln Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, Van go, Beethoven, Hemingway. Some of the greatest artists and writers who ever lived were bipolar.

14:18 Speaker 2: This statement illustrates her ultimate narcissism, highlighting her ability to intertwine her mental health struggles with a sense of superiority. As the layers of the pizza bomber case were peeled back, the truth of the bank heist and Brian Well's death emerged through the efforts of a three headed hydra federal investigation, media coverage, and the court system. The initial narrative surrounding Brian Wells's murder, or more accurately, his involvement in the bank robbery with the collar bomb around his neck, unraveled to reveal a much more sinister motive than just stealing money.

14:56 Speaker 2: Marjorie G. O. Armstrong had orchestrated the bank robbery as a means to raise two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to hire a hitman. Her intention was to have her own father assassinated so that she could claim her inheritance, a claim that she framed by her assertion that she needed to quote stop him from spending my inheritance unquote. Marjorie's elaborate plan involved using Brian to steal the funds from the bank, ultimately leading to Brian's death when the bomb detonated. As we know, however, her scheme fell short when Brian left the bank with only eight thousand, seven hundred and two dollars, not the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that diil Armstrong was convinced she needed, and then, of course, beyond that, Brian's life ended in a catastrophic explosion in front of the police and the bomb squad.

15:47 Speaker 2: Marjorie dil Armstrong's life was full of disturbing patterns of behavior, and Brian Wells's death was not the first time that she both intended and committed violence against men who were close to her. Marjorie got married once to a man named Richard Armstrong, a resident of Eerie. Tragically, Richard passed away due to a brain hemorrhage in August nineteen ninety two, merely a year and eight months after their wedding. His death was determined to be due to natural causes. Notably, Richard, much like Marjorie herself, grappled with mental illness, and their dynamic mirrored the case of Robert Thomas, Marjorie's boyfriend, whom she fatally shot in nineteen eighty four.

16:30 Speaker 2: A glimpse into Marjorie's residence in nineteen eighty four during the investigation of Robert Thomas's murder revealed an appalling scene. The police had to don toxic hazard suits due to the dire conditions within her house. Dog feces, clothes, and discarded fast food containers cluttered the space, while the discovery of an astonishing four hundred pounds of butter and over seven hundred pounds of cheese in massive rotting piles added to the grim picture. Gjil Armstrong's legal history painted a chilling picture of her mental state.

17:04 Speaker 2: She exhibited sharp mood swings and uncontrollable rapid speech in court. Psychiatric assessments categorized her as paranoid and narcissistic, and she was declared mentally unfit for trial multiple times. Despite this, a judge eventually deemed her competent for trial related to the murder of Robert Thomas. Marjorie claimed self defense and the jury acquitted her. Leonard Ambrose, her lawyer in the Thomas case, believed that she should not have been prosecuted in the first place, but rather institutionalized due to her potential danger to society.

17:38 Speaker 2: He emphasized that her intelligence worked against them, making her even more dangerous, cunning, and deceitful. He contended that a trial should never have taken place and it was only a matter of time before she repeated similar actions. As we now know, Ambrose's words would prove tragically prophetic. Returning to the scene of Brian weas Ells murder, the police delved into a trove of physical evidence. Within Brian's delivery car, they discovered what seemed to be a two foot long cane used in the bank robbery.

18:10 Speaker 2: However, it turned out to be a sophisticated homemade gun. The bomb itself was also the work of a Dyi craftsman, composed of a triple banded metal collar with four keyholes and a three digit combination lock, as well as an iron box containing two six inch pipe bombs loaded with a double based smokeless powder. The collar, akin to a giant handcuff, was securely locked around Brian's neck. While it had been constructed with professional tools. It also contained two sunbeam kitchen timers and one electronic countdown timer.

18:44 Speaker 2: The wires running through it were mere decoys, along with deceptive warning stickers intended to mislead any potential disablers. In essence, the contraption was an intricate puzzle. The most confounding pieces of evidence were the handwritten notes found within in Brian's car. A detailed nine page guide addressed to the quote bomb hostage unquote. These notes provided step by step instructions. The recipient was told to rob the bank, follow a complex sequence of time tasks, and locate hidden keys and combination codes across eerie.

19:20 Speaker 2: The notes contain drawings, threats, and detailed maps. Following the instructions promised the keys and combination needed to diffuse the bomb, while failure or disobedience would lead to detonation. The notes emphasized that survival required complete cooperation and adherence to the instructions. A chilling final statement warned Bryan of constant surveillance, with any attempts to contact authorities resulting in immediate detonation. In capital letters, the note said act now, think later, or you will die.

19:53 Speaker 2: This sinister plan seemed designed to put the hostage in a life or death race against time, weaving a terrible defying narrative of manipulation, control, and deception. Indeed, what unfolded was like a nightmarish scavenger hunt, with the prize at stake being in the hostage's very life. In the aftermath of Brian's tragic death, law enforcement found themselves trying to piece together the puzzle themselves. The initial instructions were deceptively simple, exit the bank with the money and go to the McDonald's restaurant.

20:24 Speaker 2: Following these directions, Brian made his way to a McDonald's, got out of the car and headed to a small sign and a flower bed which read drive through open twenty four hours. Beneath the sign, he discovered a rock with a note taped to its bottom. The note provided the next set of instructions. Following the guidance of the note, Brian's journey took him up Peach Street to a wooded area several miles away. There, a container with orange tape was meant to hold the subsequent instructions. The note hinted that he would gain additional time with each new key found.

20:56 Speaker 2: However, before he could reach this second clue, the police apprehended Brian, putting a halt to his participation in the terrifying race for survival. In the aftermath of his death, investigators took up the task of continuing the search. Locating the container with the orange tape inside, they found a note that directed them two miles south to a small road sign. It was at this sign that the next clue was supposedly waiting in a jar hidden in the nearby woods. Upon arrival, they found the jar, but it was empty.

21:26 Speaker 2: It was as if the orchestrator of this complex game had called it off one's law enforcement became involved. It's also possible that the game was never meant to be truly solvable from the start. I'd say that's probable, adding further intrigue to the unfolding mystery. Where the clothes Brian was wearing when he died. He had on two T shirts, with the outer one bearing a handwritten guest clothing logo across the chest. Strangely, he hadn't been wearing this shirt when he started his workday, and his family confirmed that it certainly wasn't his.

21:56 Speaker 2: The presence of words like we and us in the instruction led investigators to suspect the involvement of multiple conspirators in this elaborate and deadly scheme. This revelation painted a chilling picture of an intricate plan with many unknown players, each contributing to a chain of events that led to the demise of Brian Wells. The pursuit of the killer or killers police didn't know yet commenced at Mamma MIA's pizzeria, leading investigators to focus on deciphering the enigmatic location meant for Brian's delivery.

22:29 Speaker 2: It turned out that the address eight six three to one Peachtree Street wasn't linked to a residence. Instead, it pointed to a TV transmission tower site nestled with in a wooded area next to bustling Peachtree Street. However, accessing the site was no easy feat, as it was reachable only through a dirt road. While exhaustively examining the surroundings, investigators stumbled upon shoe prints that matched Brian's footwear and tire tracks consistent with the pattern of Brian's geometro, yet the site itself didn't provide any clear clues about who had orchestrated Brian's arrival or the subsequent events.

23:04 Speaker 2: The following day, a journalist and a photographer from the Eerie Times News arrived at the tower site despite the barricades set up by authorities to secure the dirt road. Their attention was drawn to a tall, robust figure dressed in denim carhart overalls. This individual, who introduced himself as Bill Rothstein, stood out at an impressive height of six feet six inches tall. Notably, Bill also taught woodworking at the local high school and was an unmarried handyman who had spent his entire life in the area.

23:34 Speaker 2: Despite the ongoing investigative activity unfolding near his property, Bill seemed unperturbed by the situation. Intrigued by the unfolding events, the journalists sought Bill's assistance to navigate through his yard, and he readily agreed. Their exploration took them into dense undergrowth, although their visibility remained limited. After roughly fifteen minutes, they decided to leave the area. Their curiosity piqued by the intriguing figure of Bill rothas Stein and the unfolding mysteries surrounding the case.

24:03 Speaker 2: Following his encounter with the journalists and his return to his workshop, Bill Rothstein resumed his daily routine, attending to his tasks and minding his affairs. However, a significant shift occurred on September twentieth, less than a month after Brian's tragic death. On this day, Bill made a startling and unsettling nine one one call, revealing a disturbing discovery within the confines of his own home. He informed the authorities in a matter of fact tone, at eight six four to five Peachtree Street, in the garage, there is a frozen body.

24:37 Speaker 2: It's in the freezer. Whose body was it? And what did the body, or Bill Rothstein for that matter, have to do with the bank robbery and the murder of Brian Wells. Within mere hours of dialing nine one one, Bill found himself in police custody. Bill confessed that he had been hiding the body for a friend. He told authorities that he had been enduring weeks of guilt stricken emotional agony, and his claim of unsettled misery was corroborated by the evidence investigators on earth. At his residence a collection of power tools and supplies of professional grade akin to the materials used in crafting the notorious collar bomb.

25:20 Speaker 2: In the labyrinth of Bill's personal effects, authorities discovered a handwritten suicide note authored in stark black ink. The note conveyed Bill Rothstein's regret to quote those who cared for or about me, and identified the corpse in his freezer as James Rodin, explicitly stating that he quote did not kill him nor participate in his death. Intriguingly, suspiciously, the note carried a specific disclaimer, quoting again here Bill had written, this has nothing to do with the Wells case. And if that's what Bill Rothstein wanted the world to believe, had he tragically taken his own life, then it seems he also wanted them to believe that it was coincidental that he possessed not only the skill set, but all the tools and supplies required to construct the infamous collar bomb.

26:20 Speaker 2: Hmm, I'm not sure that passes the smell test, but for now, let's dive into this enigmatic friend, for whom Bill was storing a body must be a pretty close friend. In the middle of August, in the sweltering heat, Bill had received a call from none other than Marjorie dial Armstrong, who was a love interest from his past. Marjorie confessed to him that she had fatally shot her live in partner, James Roden over a financial disagreement. Ten miles separated Bill Rothstein's home from Marjorie's, yet the gravity of the request she made bound them closer.

26:59 Speaker 2: She asked Bill to help her hide the body. Bill complied, concealing Rodin's body in a freezer for over a month. He took the gun that Marjorie had used to shoot her boyfriend, broke it down into small pieces, and scattered them across Erie County. Bill said he'd had an abrupt change of heart when he suddenly started to fear what Marjorie might do to him now that he was the keeper of her dark and deadly secret. After storing James Roden's body for over a month, it occurred to him that he might end up stored in someone else's freezer.

27:36 Speaker 2: Hmm. Do we believe that it was fear for his own safety that caused Bill Rothstein to call nine one one, or perhaps is at the fact that the pizza bomb investigation had led authorities straight to his property and he wanted to get out in front of the narrative. Well, let's see. A day after Bill's revelatory call, Marjorie was apprehended for the homicide of James Rode. Sixteen months later, a court declared her guilty but mentally ill, sentencing her to seven to twenty years of incarceration. Bill, however, succumbed to lymphoma before Marjorie's conviction.

28:14 Speaker 2: On the surface, James Rodin's death seemed disconnected from the federal investigation into the collar bomb case. Yet in an ironic twist, Marjorie herself claimed the exact opposite. As we know well before her arrest for Rodin's murder, she was an infamous figure in Eerie, notable for a series of ill fated relationships. You'll recall that when law enforcement delved into her home in nineteen eighty four, the scene was grim. Rotting food, trash, and fecal matter lay strewn around the residence. But despite her criminal record and mental health issues, Marjorie was highly intelligent, a detail not lost on investigators as authorities piece the puzzle together, deil Armstrong fit the profile of someone capable of masterminding the complex bank heist.

29:00 Speaker 2: While she maintained her innocence, she divulged knowledge about the crime, implicating both Bill and herself, and further suspicions arose when confidential informants testified that Marjorie had intimate knowledge of the crime. The narrative thickened when an additional character, Kenneth Barnes, an x TV repairman turned drug dealer, emerged. Kenneth's association with Marjorie led to his implication in the case. Pressured by the prospect of an elongated sentence, Barnes corroborated the belief that Marjorie was the lynchpin behind the collar bomb plot, her motive accumulating cash to hire an assassin to eliminate her father, thereby preserving her expected inheritance.

29:42 Speaker 2: On February tenth, two thousand and six, federal agents sat down with Marjorie Dial Armstrong. They informed her that they had amassed sufficient evidence to indict her for the bank heist and collar bombing. Marjorie's reaction was explosive, with a fury that shook the room. She pounded her fist on the conference table and unleashed a torrent of expletives at both the agents and her own legal counsel. Yet, perhaps driven by an overriding narcissism, she continued to engage in dialogue with them.

30:14 Speaker 2: In an ensuing meeting, she took it a step further. Deil Armstrong consented to drive around Erie with the agents to delineate her whereabouts on the Dave Brian Wells had committed the bank robbery. The journey was illuminating. She confirmed that she had been at multiple locations closely tied to the crime. However, at the conclusion of this drive she pulled in the reins, telling agents that she wouldn't divulge any more details without an immunity deal. The irony here is stark. By this point, she had already said too much.

30:44 Speaker 2: Any chance for immunity had effectively vanished the moment she decided to cooperate in this morbid sightseeing tour with federal agents. In her drive to assert control, or perhaps in a miscalculation born out of her complex psychological profile, diil Armstrong sealed her own fate. The path to indictment had been paved and there was no turning back. In this convoluted tale of Marjorie Diil Armstrong and the Pizza bombing, the threads of multiple lives were woven into a tapestry of deceit, intelligence, and criminality.

31:19 Speaker 2: Each revelation intensified the complexity of the investigation, an intricate network of actions and motivations, stretching from Bill Rothstein's garage to Marjorie's disturbing past, and ultimately culminating in a crime that baffled and horrified a community, the nation, and ultimately the world. In July of two thousand and seven, US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan stood in front of a sea of cameras and declared that the collar bomb case was closed. Marjorie Diall Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes had been charged.

31:52 Speaker 2: The indictment even implicated the victim, Brian Wells, as a co conspirator who had later become an unwilling participant. The official narrative had taken almost four years in over a thousand interviews to construct. For Bryan's family, seated among the press, disbelief and shock filled the air. His sister Barbara couldn't contain her outrage, yelling liar at Buchanan, and they were not the only skeptics. The case had been followed closely by the public. Those who had been meticulously tracking each new development were also left with a profound sense of dissatisfaction, riddled with questions, and a week later those questions ballooned when the FBI made another shocking revelation the entire scavenger hunt had been an elaborate sham.

32:39 Speaker 2: The collar bomb was designed such that any tampering would set it off. Brian had been on a path to a predetermined fate death. Then comes Kenneth Barnes, a key player in this labyrinthine case. In September of two thousand and eight, he entered a guilty plead to the charges of conspiracy and weapons violations connected to the dollar bomb scheme. Barnes was sentenced to forty five years in prison, Yet, in a strategic move, he agreed to testify against Marjorie dial Armstrong with the hopes of having his sentence reduced.

33:12 Speaker 2: Diil Armstrong's trial was anticipated to be the crucible in which all lingering mysteries would be resolved, but there would be obstacles. First, a federal judge declared her mentally unfit to be tried, And then, just when it appeared that she might finally stand trial, she was diagnosed with glandular cancer, and once again the legal proceedings were suspended, pending her medical prognosis. Fast forward to August twenty ten, the medical professionals gave their assessment diil Armstrong had between three to seven years left on this earth.

33:46 Speaker 2: Faced with this grim timeline, the prosecutors made a decision the trial would go on. The quest for answers was deemed too crucial to be delayed any longer. The trial date was reset for October twelfth, twenty ten. The wheels of justice, though grinding slowly, were back in motion. It was a case too convoluted and too devastating to be left unresolved. By the fifth day, the courtroom was heavy with tension. Prosecutor Marshall Piccannini had meticulously assembled a case as damning as it was intricate.

34:17 Speaker 2: He depicted the participants as a cast of quote twisted, intellectually bright, dysfunctional individuals who outsmarted themselves unquote. His evidence was bolstered by seven former inmates, each recounting disturbing details that Marjorie diol Armstrong had shared with them. Then came Ken Barnes, the crown jewel in Piccannini's case, a character whose appearance belied his role as a critical witness. Barnes looked a decade older than his years, and his scant dental array his lack of teeth didn't inspire confidence.

34:51 Speaker 2: But when he took the oath and sat in the witness box, every ounce of doubt seemed to dissipate. The room fell into a hushed silence as Barnes began and to speak. According to Barnes, Marjorie deil Armstrong was the architect of the entire scheme, the puppeteer pulling the strings. Bill Rothstein was one of her recruited accomplices, and so was Brian Wells. Lured by the prospect of easy money, something Wells desperately needed. It turned out that Wells, the seemingly innocuous pizza delivery man, had a sordid secret, an ongoing relationship with a prostitute funded by crack cocaine obtained with Ken Barnes's assistance.

35:27 Speaker 2: Debt was piling up. Brian Wells was sinking fast. The crux of Barnes' testimony came when he described the chilling afternoon of the crime. Wells had been delivering pizza's to a TV transmission tower when the weight of betrayal struck him like a bolt of lightning. The bomb he wore was not fake. Bringing the pizzas to the address given to him by Rothstein, Brian had tried to run when confronted with the bomb caller, but it was of no use. He was tackled by Rothstein and forcibly secured into the nightmarish device Wells had told the truth was not fake.

36:01 Speaker 2: As Barnes narrated this, the room remained dead, silent, as if every person present was holding their breath. It was a grim revelation, outlining a sequence of events that entangled multiple lives in a web of deceit, manipulation, and ultimately destruction. Throughout Ken Barnes' damning testimony, Marjorie deil Armstrong's face was a theater of turmoil. Each of his words seemed to land like a personal insult, and she couldn't contain her outrage, whispering furiously to her attorney. Her occasional outbursts of liar punctuated the courtroom, earning her multiple rebukes from the presiding judge.

36:38 Speaker 2: It was clear that the experience of sitting there, subjected to a narrative that painted her as a mastermind of malevolence, was almost unbearable for her. Then came October twenty sixth, the eighth day of the trial, a day that would be forever etched in the annals of the case. Marjorie took the stand, and for five and a half hours spread across two days, she commanded the room. Her unkept, greasy black hair framed a face that was both defiant and unpredictable. Every time she spoke, she generated an atmosphere of bewildering anticipation.

37:13 Speaker 2: Her words were erratic and unexpected. She spared no one, neither her own defense attorney, whom she accused of asking quote stupid questions unquote, nor the prosecutor, whom she openly disparaged, saying, if this is the kind of evidence you have against me, I'm telling you this is a pitiful case. Her emotional range was operatic. She cried, she yelled, She swung wildly between extremes. The judge had to rein her in, issuing warnings and cutting her off more than fifty times. Marjorie's near omission of Brian Wells during her hour's long testimony was a stark contrast to the flurry of other accusations and insults she hurled.

37:54 Speaker 2: It seemed that during her sometimes unhinged testimony, no one in her life, no one in the courtroom, no one involved in the case, was spared from dial Armstrong's vitriol. And yet someone was spared. Someone was barely mentioned. She addressed Brian Wells merely as a footnote in her sprawling diatribe, But her single statement dropped like a stone in a still pond. Its ripples carried weight. I never met Brian Wells, she said, And I never knew Brian Wells never. I became aware of him the day that he died.

38:30 Speaker 2: I saw it on the news. These words clashed with the elaborate narrative that the prosecution had meticulously built, casting a shadow of doubt. However, fleeting. Was Marjorie distancing herself from Brian as a calculated move or was this a genuine proclamation of innocence in regard to him? If the jury had already been grappling with Marjorie's credibility. This declaration made it even more complex. Her statement left the court room suspended in a moment of collective contemplation. Could it be that Brian Wells, the man who died so tragically, was merely a pawn in a game that he didn't even know he was part of?

39:06 Speaker 2: And if Marjorie was telling the truth, what did that mean for the case that had been so carefully constructed against her, a case that presented her as the spider on the web, behind every terrible thing that happened, behind everything connected to the bank heist, the bomb, the frozen bodies, the murders, the drug abuse, everything. This simple moment of calm declaration among the chaos, this simple statement, I never met Brian Wells, and I never knew Brian Wells never. I became aware of him the day that he died.

39:41 Speaker 2: I saw it on the news. It read as a quiet declaration of fact, one of the few times Marjorie presented as rational rather than wildly unhinged. But it was a moment that offered no answers, only more questions. This brief mention of Brian, isolated in a torrent of words, posed a stark contrast to the elaborate stories spun around her. It was as if Marjorie was in a universe all her own, impervious to the narratives that sought to define her, but fundamentally linked to the tragedy that unfolded on that fateful day.

40:15 Speaker 2: The court room had become an arena where the last act of this grim story unfolded. Each participant, from the accused to the accusers, had laid out their version of events. The prosecution, spearheaded by Marshall Piccinnini, had unspooled a compelling narrative depicting Marjorie and her circle as a web of and I imagine you remember this quote, twisted intellectually bright, dysfunctional individuals who outsmarted themselves against this backdrop. Marjorie had taken the stand, her erratic performance doing little to clarify the intricacies of the case.

40:51 Speaker 2: Yet it was her near omission of Brian Wells that stood as a puzzling outlier, one that seemed to underscore the myriad complexities and unanswered questions still looming over this tragic affair. The jury found themselves at a crossroads, left to sift through a mountain of evidence, and hours of testimony. Their task was monumental to piece together a story that had unraveled across years and involved multiple lives, all steeped in deceit and dire intentions. The weight of the decision ahead of them was immense, not just a verdict, but the final punctuation on a narrative rife with human tragedy and moral darkness.

41:31 Speaker 2: With the eyes of the court upon them, they withdrew to deliberate. Their conclusion would be the next and perhaps final, although perhaps not chapter in a saga that had already caused so much loss, sorrow, and endless questions. When Marjorie deal Arms took the stand, one could almost feel the collective anticipation in the courtroom. The jury watched, their faces etched with skepticism, and the moment she began to speak, it became palpable. Her words weren't convincing them. After Marjorie's performance, the jury sequestered for eleven grueling hours, not very long really for such a high profile case.

42:21 Speaker 2: They were dissecting every piece of evidence, every testimony. When they re emerged, the weight of their decision was monumental. They found her guilty on all counts, armed robbery, conspiracy and deploying a destructive device during a crime of violence. The words echoed in the courtroom, resonating with grim finality. It wasn't just a verdict. It was the ceiling of Marjorie's fate. Mandatory life. Imprisonment loomed before her, an unyielding wall she couldn't scale or bypass. This was no ordinary case.

42:55 Speaker 2: The destructive device, the bomb caller, had not just been an instrument of fear. It had consequences devastating and irreversible. It's worth noting, and maybe this is obvious, but it's something that you might not think about when caught up in the narrative of Marjorie Dial Armstrong and the murder of Brian Wells. But explosive devices place everyone at risk, not just the direct victim, police bystanders, anyone within the bomb's radius. Not to mention the victim, the victim's family, friends, people that live in the city, in the neighborhood, even in the state.

43:31 Speaker 2: All of them can potentially face unforeseen and often tragic outcomes. It's similar to the reason why those convicted of arson face more severe penalties than those convicted of murder. Why you wonder, how is burning down a building worse than murdering someone. Well, you may intend to only burn down a building, but what if that fire you start burns down an entire city? Here as there, the jury's decision, the penalties for the crime aren't just a judgment on Marjorie. There a statement against a particular kind of reckless violence, the tears of the very fabric of society.

44:07 Speaker 2: Imagine being in that jury room grappling with the heavy burden of judgment. The facts were intricate, the stake's colossal, But in the end, the group of twelve men and women tasked with carrying this burden decided that the evidence left no room for doubt. This was not a spur of the moment decision, not the jury's verdict, but the crime committed. It was a calculated act, meticulously planned and coldly executed. As the verdict was read, the courtroom held its breath, then exhaled. The jurors had done their duty and without compromise.

44:42 Speaker 2: For Marjorie, the courtroom became a stage where the drama of her life reached its tragic climax. As the gabble fell, signaling the end of this harrowing legal saga. One couldn't help but reflect on the enormity of what had just transpired. Justice in its most solemn form had been served, or had it? We turned now to a man who doubts that justice was done. Seven years is a long time for questions to fester, for doubts to worm their way into the corners of one's mind. The verdict had answered many questions for the public and perhaps even for some investigators, but not for Jim Fisher, ex FBI agent and criminal justice professor at Edinburgh University in Edinburgh, Pennsylvania.

45:26 Speaker 2: Jim believed that serious questions remained. His obsession with the Collerbomb heist was more than professional. It was almost as if the case had gripped him, refusing to let go until every puzzle piece snapped into place. Fisher followed the case closely, scrutinized the meaning of every shred of evidence revealed to the public, analyzed every media report. Something didn't sit right with him. The FBI's behavioral analysis had painted a specific picture. This wasn't a straightforward bankheist.

45:55 Speaker 2: This crime was something more sinister, a puzzle designed not to a man cash, but to confound to bewilder those who would dare to solve it. It was like a dark riddle whispered in the dead of night, aimed more at the minds of investigators than the vault of the bank. Now, Marjorie dil Armstrong was many things, but a creator of complex, enigmatic puzzles. Well that didn't align with what Fisher knew of her. Her motive was straightforward, secure money to pay a hitman. There was no evidence to suggest she delighted in taunting law enforcement or sending them on a wild goose chase.

46:29 Speaker 2: This gap between the FBI's psychological profile and Marjorie's known objectives was a chasm that Jim Fisher couldn't bridge. Think about it, You're a retired FBI agent who's seen countless crimes, examined the psychological contours of myriad criminals, and yet here is a case that defies categorization, that resists resolution. It's like a book with missing pages, a story with an ending that contradicts its beginning. Jim Fisher's unsatisfied curiosity speaks to something deep, deeper, an elemental aspect of human nature.

47:02 Speaker 2: It's not just about solving a case. It's about understanding the motives, the dark underbelly that propels people into committing such heinous acts, and until that gap is bridged, until that chasm is filled with a mortar of understanding, the case for Fisher at least, remained an unsettling enigma. The verdict had closed a chapter, but for Jim Fisher, the book was far from over. It still beckoned with unanswered questions, compelling him to search for that final piece that would make the puzzle complete, render it fully understood.

47:35 Speaker 2: Until he found that piece, the Pizza bomber case would remain in the back of his mind, an unsolved mystery within a solved one. Fisher believed the spotlight should have been shifted from Marjorie to Bill Rothstein, her neighbor, a man who, while under no cloud of suspicion of his own volition, freely confessed to something pretty disturbing, storing a human corpse, and not just a corpse, but a murder victim in his freezer. If that wasn't unsettling enough, Rothstein also perfectly fit the FBI's behavioral analysis of the bomb maker.

48:11 Speaker 2: The description was uncanny someone quote comfortable around a wide variety of power tools, frugal yet creative. Rothstein wasn't just a person of interest. He was, in Fisher's eyes, the missing piece, the elusive mastermind who could tie the entire mystery together. Here was a man who had demonstrated a certain comfort with death, whose workshop was filled with tools that could construct not just machinery, but also chaos. Think about the enormity of such a revelation. After years of focusing on Marjorie.

48:43 Speaker 2: The real architect could be someone else, someone who had almost been hiding in plain sight, lurking in the shadow of another suspect. In the high stakes chessboard of the investigation into the pizza bombing. Rothstein had presented himself as a pawn, but Fisher saw him as the player, not a piece. Rothstein was the puppeteer manipulating the strings, not a marionette dancing to someone else's tune. If Fischer's hypothesis is correct, it reframes the entire narrative, turning it into a tale not just of criminal intent, but of manipulation and cunning.

49:18 Speaker 2: The implication would be staggering. Rothstein, hiding behind the facade of a neighbor, could be the one who orchestrated the entire intricate ballet of crime and deception, and if Rothstein was indeed the puppeteer, then the full complexity of this disturbing narrative has yet to be revealed. Fischer didn't see diel Armstrong's conviction as the end of the road. Instead, it was a dark and uncertain detour leading deeper into the tangled woods of a case that refused to be easily, understandably, satisfactorily solved.

49:51 Speaker 2: Rothstein had manipulated the entire case, Fischer argued. He crafted the scavenger hunt as a means to mislead investigators and waste their time time, just as Brian Wells had wasted his final moments following fruitless clues. Rothstein's early involvement in the case, including the nine to one one call that implicated Marjorie in a different crime, set the stage for the entire investigation to unfold on his terms. Rothstein, voluntarily meeting with authorities created the illusion of a man with nothing to hide.

50:21 Speaker 2: Even on his deathbed, Rothstein maintained his innocence regarding the collar bomb, still controlling the narrative even when he seemingly had nothing left to lose. Fisher's assertion sums it up quote he died with all the secrets. He died taking all the answers with him. Rothstein, in Fischer's estimation, was the Moriarty, the ultimate mastermind, scripting the story to the very end. He evaded legal retribution, sidestepped detection, and left the world grappling with a cadre of what Fisher referred to as idiots.

50:54 Speaker 2: Marjorie diil Armstrong and her ragtag band of mechanicals were individuals who were part of the narrat but had little understanding of the full scope of the events, the cause and effect that Rothstein had set into motion. His was the evil genius that flicked the first domino over and then watched the rest of them inevitably fall according to his plan. Consequently, Fisher believes that the story of Marjorie diil Armstrong and the Pizza Bomber was left riddled with lingering questions, a cryptic puzzle with missing pieces, forever obscuring the complete picture.

51:31 Speaker 2: Bill Rothstein took it all to the grave, leaving investigators wrestling with a Gordian knot that might never fully unravel. In this way, Bill Rothstein secured the final word, crafting an unsolved mystery that continued to perplex and confound He orchestrated his own exit, evading capture in life and remaining mysterious in death. That, according to Fisher, was Rothstein's ultimate victory. He got the last laugh while everyone else was left at asking the unanswered questions. Marjorie passed away in a Texas prison.

52:04 Speaker 2: Brian Wells lost his life in that fateful parking lot. The only person who might hold further answers is XTV repairman and crack dealer Kenneth Barnes, whose sentence was reduced from forty five years to twenty years due to his cooperation. He's expected to be released in twenty twenty seven, making him the last surviving individual connected to this confounding case. So was Bill Rothstein, who seems to have died of natural causes, And this is a bizarre way to describe it, but at a convenient time, was Bill Rothstein the real mastermind behind the Pizzabamber case?

52:40 Speaker 2: As we've now learned, Ex FBI agent Jim Fisher certainly thinks so, but others who were intimately familiar with the case disagree. We turn now to Leonard Ambrose and Doug sugre Within the intricate web of crime and intrigue surrounding the Pizzabamber case, Leonard Ambrose and Doug Sugreus stand as key figures. These two defense attorneys had a front row seat to the saga of Marjorie deil Armstrong. Ambrose and sugru represented deil Armstrong at different critical junctures of her life steeped in violence and chaos.

53:13 Speaker 2: Ambrose took the helm in her first homicide trial, a top legal drama that played out in Erie County court back in nineteen eighty nine, deil Armstrong, proclaiming self defense, was acquitted for the killing of her boyfriend Bob Thomas. He was shot six times while lounging on a couch in their home, a home that was overflowing with hoarded food and a palpable air of dysfunction. Years later, sugrew would be appointed to represent her in the trial that became her legal finale, the one we've just been covering.

53:41 Speaker 2: The federal case in Erie related to the pizza bomb plot. Now, as we know, deil Armstrong was convicted for her role in the tragic demise of Brian Wells and sentenced in twenty eleven to life plus thirty years. We should probably mention one more time, only because it's easy to get sidetracked in all life is full of chaos and violence, as diil Armstrong's was, and yet it's important to remember that a human life is never a detail to be forgotten. That Marjorie also allegedly murdered a third man, boyfriend James Rodin, another man from her romantic past, who ended up as a frozen corpse in Bill Rothstein's Garage Freezer, part and parcel of this grim narrative.

54:23 Speaker 2: So both of these attorneys, Ambrose and Sugar lived through the experience of representing the complex and troubling individual that was Marjorie deil Armstrong. As such, they are the custodians of first hand insights into a woman linked to multiple deaths in a string of nefarious activities, into both her actions and her psychology. Ambrose and Sugar are not mere footnotes in this dark chapter of crime. Their experiences form a crucial layer of understanding when it comes to grasping the complex mystery that was Marjorie deil Armstrong.

54:59 Speaker 2: They bear witnes to a life filled with unsettling questions, leaving us to ponder what might have been if her mental illness had been adequately addressed and she had been confined within institutional walls. While Diil Armstrong herself met her end in twenty seventeen, succumbing to breast cancer in a Texas federal prison at the age of sixty eight, her legacy persists. Her story has been chronicled in various mediums, including this podcast, and we know that ex FBI agent and criminal justice professor at Edinburgh University Jim Fisher has persistent questions about what really occurred in the Pizza Bamber case.

55:37 Speaker 2: But for Ambrose, there's an entirely different, unsettling what if that haunts the narrative. Leonard Ambrose has remained resolute in his conviction that Diil Armstrong should never have faced a judge and jury. For decades after he secured her acquittal in the Thomas case, he remained steadfast in his belief that she should have been placed in a mental instace rather than facing criminal trial. She never should have been tried, he insists. Now he may be jumping to conclusions, but frankly they're the logical conclusions.

56:10 Speaker 2: According to Ambrose, had diil Armstrong been institutionalized, a number of things would not have transpired. There would have been no pizza bomber case, no trial, no one in a refrigerator, he said. Ambrose sees diil Armstrong's commission of additional violence as an inescapable outcome, a fate that could have been averted if proper measures were taken. Quoting Ambrose again here, it was inevitable that once she was acquitted, she would have been involved in something of a similar nature. It was inevitable to Ambrose institutionalizing dial Armstrong would not only have been better for her, but could have spared the lives of two or three other individuals.

56:49 Speaker 2: Ambrose points out that diil Armstrong was aware of her bipolar condition and openly acknowledged it. During the Thomas trial, he and diil Armstrong wove a complex defense narrative. They focused on claims of self offense, allegations of abuse, and a spiraling relationship riddled with mutual mental health struggles. In that trial, diel Armstrong's testimony threw light on a chaotic mental state. You really get to the point where you're burned out. She articulated detailing why she had fired six lethal shots into her boyfriend's chest.

57:20 Speaker 2: As we've discussed previously, her household shared with Thomas became part of Erie's dark mythology. Inside their Sunset Boulevard residence, they stored rotting government surplus food, butter, cheese, and more collected from various food pantries across the city. This hoarding wasn't just bizarre, It was a manifest symptom of their dysfunctional lives and shattered mental health. Ambrose himself was more than just a spectator to deal Armstrong's mental health struggles. He was often directly in the line of her erratic behavior.

57:52 Speaker 2: Frequently she would call him from prison at all hours, leaving him tethered to a phone line. Her bipolar disorder included symptoms like pressured speech, leading her to engage in extensive, often rambling monologues. These conversations were so prolonged Ambrose admitted that with Marjorie tying up the line, he quote had no phone service sometimes all night. What emerges is a portrait of an individual severely impacted by mental illness. Ambrose, having been close to the whirlwind that was Deil Armstrong, can't shake off the belief that her place wasn't in a courtroom, but rather in a mental institution.

58:29 Speaker 2: For him, that might have changed the entire trajectory, not just of her life, but of everyone caught in her orbit. We know that Marjorie deil Armstrong was a woman of contradictions. She claimed high intelligence without hesitation, and that claim was backed by her academic record straight a's from Academy High School, where she ranked twelfth among four hundred and thirteen classmates in nineteen sixty seven. Yet despite frequently bragging about her high intellect, she vehemently denied being the evil genius or scheming brain behind the notorious pizza bomber plot, seemingly unaware that claiming to be a genius, just not this particular genius, may not have helped her case.

59:08 Speaker 2: Ambrose found her to be a glaring testament to the coexistence of intelligence and mental instability. He said intelligence has nothing to do with delusional beliefs, making the point that one's intellectual capacity doesn't immunize them from the debilitating impact of mental disorders. In November two thousand and seven, five months post indictment in the Pizza Bamber case, Marjorie deil Armstrong made a resounding declaration over the phone from prison. I am one thousand percent innocent, she stated forcefully.

59:39 Speaker 2: This wasn't a casual call to a friend, it was a public claim made to the Erie Times News. Her plea was born out of desperation. I'm trying to get extricated from this maze. I'm trying to see daylight. My time is running out here, she expressed. At the time, she was striving to remove her then lawyer Thomas Patten from her legal defense. Patten, a federal public defender highly regarded in Erie, was eventually dismissed, making room for Doug sugru. U s District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin issued a stern warning to dial Armstrong if she found herself dissatisfied with Suegru, she'd have no other option but to represent herself.

1:00:16 Speaker 2: While diel Armstrong was known for her volatile temperament, she didn't attempt to out sugru who maintained a calm demeanor throughout the case. Suegru reflecting on his time with dial Armstrong, remembered their extended conversations about her past, conversations that painted a picture of a promising young woman. She was a smart teenager, impeccably dressed, on a track for both academic and professional success. According to suegru even in her most tumultuous moments, characterized by pressured speech and manic behavior, Diil Armstrong could still be guided to recall a time when her life seemed full of potential.

1:00:53 Speaker 2: She would focus on her exemplary grades and various secretarial roles she had assumed around erie. It was a brief respite, a glimpse into what might have been amid a life overtaken by mental health struggles and criminal notoriety. We've already heard how the death of Diil Armstrong's mother had a debilitating impact on her mental health, leaving her completely unmoored. She said at the time, my mother was a clean, living woman. I loved my mother. I might have had differences with her, but she was all that I had.

1:01:24 Speaker 2: Sue Grew speculates on the impact of this loss, saying quote, if her mother could have lived longer, I think that would have helped. The Absence of a maternal anchor seemed to accelerate Deil Armstrong's descent into a reality dominated by mental health struggles and violence. Three years after the death of her mother on August twenty eight, two thousand and three, Deil Armstrong's name would become inextricably tied synonymous with the notorious Pizza Baumber. The violent end of Brian Wells signaled that the chaos in Diil Armstrong's life had escalated beyond any point of redemption.

1:02:00 Speaker 2: To be fair to the millions of nonviolent people who struggle with mental health issues and even bipolar disorder or narcissism, Deil Armstrong's involvement in both the murder of Bob Thomas and the death of Wells cannot wholly be explained away by her mental instability. As we've already heard her former attorney, Leonard Ambrose opine, she was a menace to society who ought to have been committed to an institution, But as we now know, the judicial system had a different outcome in store for her.

1:02:30 Speaker 2: She was ultimately sentenced to life plus thirty years in prison, a terminal verdict, and as we heard at the very top of this story at the beginning of episode one, one, federal magistrate judge, in rejecting one of deal Armstrong's many appeals labeled her as a quote coldly calculated criminal, recidivist and serial killer. In case you're not sure what recidivist means, I had to look it up myself. It means repeat offender. The federal magistrate assessment of Deil Armstrong's character coincides with those given by both of her defense attorneys, Leonard Ambrose and Doug Sugro.

1:03:08 Speaker 2: Each man was professionally obligated to delve into her chaotic and apparently malevolent mind, and they emerged with a shared assessment. Deil Armstrong was a woman whose potential, brilliance and possible place as a productive member of society was overwhelmed by a life disordered by mental illness and violence triggered by loneliness, leading her down a dark path filled with destruction, murder, and incarceration. As her attorney, Leonard Ambrose soberly summarized, it's just a sad epitaph. It really is.

1:03:42 Speaker 2: I'm Zevan Odelberg and this has been kind of murdery.

1:03:47 Speaker 1: If you like the show, please subscribe, review and tell your friends. You can find us on social media at Kino Murdery or email at Kinomurdery at gmail dot com.