Erie, Pennsylvania is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie, halfway between New York and Ohio. It was August the 28th, 2003, when a man named Brian Welles arrived at a local pizzeria where he worked as a pizza delivery driver. For 10 years he had been one of their most loyal employees, only ever missing one day of work, following the death of his beloved cat.
But this day, an order placed from a payphone to 8631 Peach Street, only a few kilometres from the pizzeria, would change the course of multiple lives.
Once he arrived at the address, a collar bomb would be placed around his neck, fitted with a timer. He would also be handed a seven page letter, outlining a bizarre scavenger hunt he was ordered to complete. The words, “Act now, think later or you will die” were scrawled at the bottom of the instructions.
Was the collar bomb even real? How did it end up around Brian Welles’ neck? And what was this really all about?
What took place over the next few hours has been described by CNN as the only crime of its kind, and "one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI".
We speak to investigative reporter Rich Schapiro, author of a long form piece on the Collar Bomb Heist for WIRED and researched the case extensively in the process. He is also an investigative journalist for NBC news in the United States.
CREDITS
Guest: Rich Schapiro @richschapiro
Host: Jessie Stephens
Producer/Editor: Elise Cooper
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RESEARCH
Sentencing Day in Bizarre Bank Robbery Case, Fox News Insider https://bit.ly/39Mlk4d