>> this isn't just a truck bust. your tax refund ask at risk. v vanished. two florida men last seen with the same sheriff's deputy. >> do you have any hope your son is still alive? >> i don't believe terrence is alive. at this point, i have to find out what happened to him. >> the mystery surrounding two missing men, revealing investigations. fascinating characters. stories with impact. this is "cnn presents" with your host tonight, randi kaye and drew griffin. >> tonight, baffling stories of whodunit and a scam targeting your paycheck and mysterious case of two men in florida who simply vanished. >> we begin on a blistering summer day in erie, pennsylvania. by the time the sun had set, one of the most bizarre bank robberies in the annals of the fbi had been committed. a man described by his family as the salt of the earth was dead and a mystery full of strange twists was about to unfold with this phone call to 911. >> 911. what's your emergency? >> yes. we've just been robbed. >> was anyone hurt? >> no. he just walked out the door. >> august 28, 2003, erie, pennsylvania. within minutes of robbing a bank, brian wells is surrounded by police, cross-legged on the ground and handcuffed. he told police he was a pizza delivery man and he delivered a pizza. the group he delivered it to captured him, he told police, put this bomb on his neck and told him to rob a bank. he asks police to call his boss, then to save his life. 25 minutes tick by, then the device begins to beep. in an instant, the bank robber is dead. the death of brian wells in this parking lot that day turned out to be only the beginning of the most elaborate intricate and some say still unsolved bank robbery case the fbi has ever had. >> at the end of it all, our system worked. our law enforcement partners solved the puzzle, and we achieved convictions and long sentences. >> the fbi, the local police, and the u.s. attorney's office simply want this case to be closed, but is it? tonight, you decide. did the fbi catch all the suspects? did the fbi let one of them walk? and did the fbi make a mistake putting blame on a pizza delivery man whose secrets blew up in a parking lot? it was a hot thursday afternoon. jane hyde was expecting to see her brother at a party that night but she had one errand to run. a quick shopping trip on erie's peach street. but there was trouble. police had blocked the road. cops and cars everywhere. she turned around and went home. it was only later that night, watching the 10:00 news she learned what that traffic was all about. >> my kids are sitting on the couch and then the story airs of a bank robbery and a man came into the bank with a bomb on him. >> you are recognizing your brother? >> my brother sitting there with this bomb on him. i'm thinking, okay, the police have him, they'll find out who did this to him. then as it goes on, it's like -- brian exploded, you know, the bomb went off. brian's dead. i'm like, i can't believe this. >> after the explosion, one of the first things the cops did was look inside his car and they found these meticulous notes that amounted to a bizarre scavenger hunt, notes given to brian wells, instructing him to follow a lengthy set of orders if he wanted to survive. >> laying out this puzzling highly complex scavenger hunt, directing him to go to specific places. >> rich shapiro is a journalist who's written extensively about the robbery for "wire" magazine. >> they suggested at the end of this, if he completed it in the allotted time, which wasn't much, he would be able to save his life. >> have you asked yourself, why didn't my brother brian get in that car and drive straight to the police station? >> no. i never asked that because brian was in survivor mode. i truly believe that he was trying to save his life and others' lives. >> but the police had no idea what to think. was brian wells a victim? was he in on the robbery? what were those notes all about and who wrote them? why? there were no answers, but plenty of agencies wanting to be involved in the biggest case erie had ever seen. >> we have formed a multi-agency task force comprised of the pennsylvania state police, the atf, the erie police department, specifically their bomb squad, the united states attorney's office and the erie county district attorney's office. >> i wouldn't be surprised if some game warden from warren, p.a. was on the task force? jim fisher, a former fbi agent and criminologist, studied the case from the beginning. >> so you have 50 people running around randomly conducting, you know, leads with very little coordination. no one really seemed to be in charge. >> from the outset, he believes the fbi, the erie police, all the law enforcement agencies involved were on the wrong track. this was not, he says, a bank robbery. you believe brian wells was murdered? >> well, he was murdered. it was a first-degree murder. this was an intentional premeditated homicide. moreover, it was extremely cruel in the way the crime was executed. >> not just the crime, the actual bomb was a crude masterpiece of someone's twisted art. police would find intricate decoy cables, a homemade lock. it all made into a bizarre puzzle wrapped around the neck of the victim. and whatever this was, a bank robbery, a violent murder, the case was about to take another bizarre, almost unreal, twist. >> there is a frozen body in a freezer in the garage. >> a second body, this one hidden in a freezer and a new suspect telling an even stranger tale. >> what came first? the body or the freezer? >> the body came in, i put it on a cart. >> just ahead, a man, a body, and an ever expanding cast of suspects. xperienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. the more data you share, the more you save. at&t. the more data you share, the more you save. chase scene netflix coming soon extra butter tickets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. as brian wells was on the ground in that half hour after he robbed the bank, another man was watching everything unfold from across the street. according to an fbi affidavit, informants said a 63-year-old handyman named william rothstein was sitting in his car, eyes focused on brian wells. bill rothstein, officials later said, was the mastermind behind the entire scheme. >> i put a piece of green carpet down here to put his body on. >> this is bill rothstein a few months after that bank robbery in a police evidence tape, where he's explaining to a detective how he helped a former girlfriend, marjorie diehl-armstrong, dispose of a body. >> what came first, the body or the freezer? >> the body came in, i put it on a cart. i'll show you where the cart is. the cart with the big wheels, not the cart with the small wheels. yes, that one there. >> but what's really going on here? what did that body in the freezer and bill rothstein's confession have to do with the collar bomb explosion that killed brian wells? in a word, everything. bill rothstein told police he was just doing marjorie a favor. he claimed marjorie had killed her abusive ex-boyfriend named jim rhoden. but the fbi's investigation tells another story. rhoden knew about the bank robbery plot and was about to go to police. rothstein made that mess go away. >> he came to the house and helped. he took the body out, cleaned everything up, cleaned the walls, replaced floorboards, replaced everything, painted, got rid of everything that might have blood on it. >> after rothstein turned her in to police for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, marjorie stunned investigators with another twist. she connected rothstein to erie's biggest bank robbery. >> i mean, to build the bomb and test the bomb and all the components, he had to have already been building it and designing it. in doing that, he also said, i need some money, so marjorie just gave him like $75,000 worth of money that she also kept at the house, so bill rothstein was left with two of the most important things to hold over marjorie diehl-armstrong. number one, all her money and, number two, a dead body that would make her lose her liberty the rest of her life. >> even though marjorie diehl-armstrong had been talking with police, it took the fbi nearly four more years before it could tie up all the loose ends. everybody, the fbi said, was involved with the robbery. bill rothstein, marjorie diehl-armstrong. even another suspect, a crack dealer named kenneth barnes. and barnes claimedrian wells was in on the plot from the beginning and that he was duped. >> wells was essentially told he would be robbing the bank, but the device that was being put around his neck would be fake so he would not be putting himself in harm's way. as it turns out, he was double-crossed. >> criminologist jim fisher believes it was rothstein who wanted to pull off the perfect diabolical crime that would baffle investigators. the scavenger hunt would send them to a dead-end. the confusing, yet meticulously collar bomb, even the white t-shirt brian wells wore into the bank spray painted with the word "guess." to fisher, all hatched in the mind of a madman. >> the kind of motive we can understand, like a standard bank robbery, someone needs the money. then we have a category of crime involving motives that a normal person can't really understand. >> you're describing bill rothstein? >> that would be bill rothstein in my mind. to me, he fits, to a tee, a profile of someone who would commit such a bizarre and pathological crime. >> but now, four years after the original crime, the government had to prove, in court, its theory was correct. and there were two big problems. rothstein, the alleged mastermind, died before even officially being linked to the crime. and the other main suspect, marjorie diehl-armstrong, had told so many lies, she was showing evidence of mental problems and a personality disorder. >> the mental illness was a 30-year history. the personality disorders were a 30-year history. >> over many delays and many more years, the government finally obtained convictions on charges of bank robbery and murder. life, plus 30 years for marjorie diehl-armstrong. a lesser sentence for accomplice kenneth barnes, because he testified on behalf of prosecutors. brian wells, who died with that bomb around his neck, well, the federal government said he, too, was in on the crime. >> when brian delivered the pizza, he was accosted at gunpoint by a group of strangers whom he did not know. they shot at him. when he tried to run away, they knocked him to the ground. >> the fbi version of that, as you know, is different. >> that's a lie. that's a lie. that's all their fabrication. >> the fbi did agree to sit down with cnn, to explain their case and their prosecution, how it all went down. they just wanted to know the day we'd arrive here in erie and where the interview would take place. then the fbi began asking us questions. who else would be interviewed for this report? and, suddenly, the interview with the fbi was off. jim fisher says the fbi and the u.s. attorney took the easy way out and never really solved the case. >> bill rothstein died about a year after the crime and he died with, in my opinion, all the secrets, all the answers. and to that extent, well, nobody terally dies laughing. he went to his grave knowing that he had outfoxed everyone. >> neither the u.s. attorney's office nor the fbi would comment to cnn about fisher's assertions. and yet there is someone who is alive, who kenneth barnes says was at rothstein's house the day of the robbery, but was never charged in the crime. he is the convicted sex offender granted immunity in exchange for testimony he was never asked to give. next -- brian well's family is really wanting to know about you, sir. please. could this man hold the answers that would finally solve the case? wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? 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[ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the coverage, and android productivity apps. now when you buy one motorola admiral rugged smartphone, for ninety nine ninety nine, you'll get one free. visit a sprint store, or call eight five five, eight seven eight, four biz. visit a sprint store, capella university understands back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu years trying to learn the truth from the one man she believes now holds the key to her brother's innocence. his name is floyd a. stockton, a convicted sex offender who authorities say was living with bill rothstein on the day of the bank robbery. he goes by the nickname, jay. >> jay stockton is a convicted rapist, serial sexual battery of his wife, and he's out there. he's out there, people. >> he is the only one left alive and sane enough to tell the truth, she believes, yet the federal government has allowed him to go free. >> they know that my brother is innocent, 100%. and they know that bill rothstein, jay stockton are the co-conspirators in this crime that killed brian. >> according to this fbi affidavit, investigators learned of stockton's knowledge to the crime when stockton talked about it in a monitored phone call from jail. stockton was released, then given immunity to testify for the government in the pizza bomb case. investigators say they compared stockton's handwriting to this handwriting on those scavenger notes found in brian well's car. it was perfect match. >> authorities believe there are at least two people who wrote the notes and jay stockton is definitely one of them. >> on camera is kenneth eugene barnes. >> there is also the testimony of this man, kenneth barnes. >> like i say, i'd never kill anybody. >> barnes pled guilty and is serving a 20-year sentence for his role in the case. but it's this fbi search warrant affidavit now obtained by cnn which raises even more questions about why jay stockton has been allowed to go free. according to the affidavit, barnes and others involved in the case say floyd stockton was deeply involved in the plot. barnes even telling the fbi on the day of the crime, it was stockton who went into the garage, got the collar bomb and handed it to rothstein. when we asked then u.s. attorney for western pennsylvania mary beth buchanan, why stockton never testified and was never charged, she initially told us stockton was sick, had suffered several strokes, and was unable to travel. after our initial phone call, buchanan never talked to us again. and at a news conference in erie, the current u.s. attorney, david hickton, wasn't forthcoming either. what about mr. stockton, what can you tell us about his status and will he ever be prosecuted about this? >> we're not in a position to comment on mr. stockton. >> douglas, marjorie armstrong's attorney, says there's good reason the fbi wants to keep quiet about this. >> do you think he is the one person who got away with this? >> yes. he got immunity from the government, free and clear. convicted sex offender. convicted multi-time sex offender. the government felt he was the least involved person and so they gave him immunity. >> they shouldn't have gave him immunity. he didn't deserve immunity. he deserved -- he has the guilty one that killed my brother. he deserved to be brought to justice. >> stockton has been featured on the television show, "america's most wanted." private investigators have tried to track him down but stockton has literally vanished, at least that is what he may have thought, until the day we found him. these are pictures of stockton today, two hours north of seattle, down a side street in bellingham, washington, we found stockton where he told our investigator he's been living in this duplex for the past six years, but was soon about to leave. a week later, we spotted him leaving the duplex in a pickup truck. we followed to an rv sales lot, where he was eyeing a large recreational vehicle. it was perhaps the first time in years anyone had mentioned his involvement in the pizza bomb case. >> how you doing? mr. stockton, right? drew griffin. i'm with cnn. how you doing? it's taken a long time for me to find you. i wanted to ask you some questions. no, sir, brian well's family is really wanting to know about you, sir. please. as fast as he could, with his driver's side window lowered, jay stockton sped away, not saying a word. mr. stockton, this is drew griffin again with cnn. brian well's family is really trying to get to the truth of the matter about particularly their brother. you're the only one alive and sane enough to tell the truth. that's what they're after. he has refused all of our phone calls, refused to respond to notes placed at his door. the assistant u.s. attorney who prosecuted the case insists to us jay stockton would tell us what the federal government has proven in court, that brian wells was involved with the bank robbery. >> no one could have sat through this criminal trial without understanding the degree of evidence linking mr. wells to these particular participants. >> in fact, the same affidavit that implicates stockton repeatedly implicates jane heid's brother, the suspect saying brian wells knew the plot all along, was involved in the planning, was part of the band of criminal misfits trying to rob a bank. jane will never believe that. she believes her government is lying. >> they let an innocent man, my brother, die while in their custody, and they didn't even lift a finger to help him. this case is going to be looked at for years to come. and they don't want it known that they screwed up. brian never would have done this. >> jean heid is still claiming her brother's innocence and still says she won't rest until she can prove it. meantime, there's a new book about the case that's scheduled to be published later this year. one of its authors is a reporter for the local newspaper in erie, who's been following the case all these years. and the other author, a now retired fbi agent, who was the lead investigator. comin