FBI: Collar-bomb victim was not just a hostage

Victim said timer was activated
Wells took $8,702 from a teller, got into his Geo Metro and was surrounded by police a short time later in a parking lot. State troopers pulled him out of the car and handcuffed him.

Hanging from his neck under his T-shirt was a triple-banded metal collar and a device with a locking mechanism that kept it in place. Attached to the collar was a bomb.

“It’s going to go off,” Wells said. “I’m not lying.”

He said someone had started a timer on the bomb and forced him to rob the bank.

While police waited for a bomb squad, the bomb exploded, killing Wells.

Police found a gun resembling a cane in the car and a nine-page handwritten letter that included detailed instructions on what Wells was to do with the bank money and how he could unlock the collar by going through a kind of scavenger hunt, looking for clues and landmarks.

The note also included a list of rules and a threat that Wells would be “destroyed” if he failed to complete his mission.

Buchanan said Wednesday that while Wells was in the bank, Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes had watched from across the street, and Diehl-Armstrong was later seen twice along the route described in the notes.

Co-worker in disbelief
Jim Sadowski, a former co-worker of Wells, said he doesn’t believe his friend could have been involved.

“I worked with him and I knew him. I just don’t see him doing anything like that. He was a nice person,” Sadowski said.

Diehl-Armstrong has been linked to the Wells investigation because her boyfriend’s body was found in the freezer of a home near the TV tower where Wells made his final delivery.

She pleaded guilty but mentally ill to killing her boyfriend and is serving a sentence of seven to 20 years in state prison.

The man who owned the home, William Rothstein, was questioned in Wells’ death but has since died of cancer.

Diehl-Armstrong’s attorney Lawrence D’Ambrosio has said he believes she had nothing to do with Wells’ death but may have known the people behind the robbery.

More from msnbc.com First Read: Around the world in eight days First Read: Palin tour takes page from campaign From cheers to tears near Fort Hood Scoop: Levi Johnston poses with only a hockey stick Stimulus tracker: See where millions of dollars went On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM CRIME & COURTS

Crime & courts Section Front

Fort Hood suspect charged with murder Mom ran pet ‘concentration camp,’ son says   Jury chooses life sentence in TV anchor killing Parents of ‘balloon boy’ to plead guilty Dad, sons in sex-abuse case appear in court Sniper’s ex-wife, children cope with execution Man charged with kidnapping missing girl Crime & courts Section Front   Add Crime & courts headlines to your news reader: