G-LS3Z87V2FY Evil Genius | Scarlet TCP | True Crime Podcast - Scarlet TCP

Episode 36

full
Published on:

25th May 2020

Companion Episode: Evil Genius

A hank heist scavenger hunt mixed with a frozen murdered ex, a couple of hoarders, a drug dealer, and a manipulative puppet master make up the cast of the true crime Netflix docuseries, Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist.

The Ladies of Scarlet tackle the story of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her band of Merry Men as they cover-up murders, make a game of a bank robbery, and turn a common town into the epicenter of small town crime.



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Transcript
Brittney Sherman:

alright.

Brittney Sherman:

I'm um I'm a little flustered.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Uh,

Brittney Sherman:

I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you

Brittney Sherman:

guys right now because we don't necessarily release our episodes in

Brittney Sherman:

the order in which we record them.

Brittney Sherman:

But I was just thrown for a little bit of a loop from our last recording.

Brittney Sherman:

So I got to kind of get back in the zone here.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, Sanya kinda messed with my head a little.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Okay, well, this will definitely get you back in the

Sonia Meza-Leon:

zone because what we're going to be talking about next, Brittany is I

Sonia Meza-Leon:

think one of our favorite, docu-series

Brittney Sherman:

not my favorite, but,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

um, it's perplexing.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Oh,

Brittney Sherman:

yeah.

Brittney Sherman:

That's for sure.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It's um, I mean, I, I felt a little strange at the end of it, but let's,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

uh, let's start at the beginning.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

What are we talking about?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Ready?

Brittney Sherman:

We are talking about the Netflix docu-series

Brittney Sherman:

by the Duplass brothers and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I love them.

Brittney Sherman:

I'm calling them out specifically because

Brittney Sherman:

they are, they are awesome.

Brittney Sherman:

They make some really great shows and movies.

Brittney Sherman:

Called evil genius.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, and this was, this was a show that came out in, I don't

Brittney Sherman:

know, 17, 18, maybe 2018.

Brittney Sherman:

Okay.

Brittney Sherman:

So it's a lot of new one.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, but it's, it's really interesting.

Brittney Sherman:

Quick little, uh, Very high level, what the series seems like it's about and what

Brittney Sherman:

it's actually about are very different.

Brittney Sherman:

It seems like it's about the, was it 2004, three, 2003, 2003 bank

Brittney Sherman:

robbery slash bombing that a hostage bombing, single person hostage, uh,

Brittney Sherman:

that I remember vaguely happened.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I don't remember that happening.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah, I remember vaguely and you, my listeners might remember it.

Brittney Sherman:

It was the guy who was, uh, had a bomb strapped to his chest.

Brittney Sherman:

He had just robbed a bank.

Brittney Sherman:

And, um, there, I mean kind of like the iconic scenes of him are on the asphalt

Brittney Sherman:

between two squad cars, handcuffed saying he's got a bomb and it's going to explore.

Brittney Sherman:

And ultimately explodes.

Brittney Sherman:

So the documentary starts out seemingly like it's going to be about that event,

Brittney Sherman:

but it's totally not about that at all.

Brittney Sherman:

I mean, it is, but not really.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So the docu-series is called evil genius.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The true story of America's most diabolical bank.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And even there, Brittany, like, to your point, it's not what you think, but I'm

Sonia Meza-Leon:

not even sure the name is accurate because I worry I'm like, how diabolical was it?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So this was a true story.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

This really happened.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But really to your point, you know, So much bigger and so much smaller at the

Sonia Meza-Leon:

same time, you know, like it's like, it was such a white wine, you know, like

Sonia Meza-Leon:

totally stupid, but, you know, I mean, Hey, it was a windy road to get there.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I will say that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So this docu series centers around.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Weird cast of characters.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The first of course is the poor dude who got blown up Brian Wells.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, um, you know, he, this is in Erie, Pennsylvania, so he was a guy,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

you know, he's a pizza delivery guy.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Um, he, I mean, he, like Brittany said, you know, he's, we see that we have

Sonia Meza-Leon:

a lot of footage of this guy because we know that he goes into a bank.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

We know that he has a bomb strapped to his chest because

Sonia Meza-Leon:

it's pretty obvious there's a.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

On over the bond, but it's huge and it's a color, it's a color bomb.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So essentially it's a collar around his neck that he can't get off.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And by the way, he also has a gun that's in the shape of a king.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So he, how pray, tell did this gentleman get like, this is what you're probably

Sonia Meza-Leon:

asking, but we'll tell you about that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He goes into the bank.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He demands money.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think they give them some money.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah, I think they do.

Brittney Sherman:

And I, he, he was sent into the bank with this like long, almost like

Brittney Sherman:

manifesto that long and short of it was give me $250,000 or I'm going to

Brittney Sherman:

blow up this bomb attached to my chest.

Brittney Sherman:

So I don't know what they actually give him, but they give him something.

Brittney Sherman:

I mean, I've always heard that banks are insured.

Brittney Sherman:

So in those situations they're essentially told, just do it.

Brittney Sherman:

Don't cause a panic there's that probably that like explosive dye stuff in there.

Brittney Sherman:

Anyway, the bank is insured.

Brittney Sherman:

The police will be called instantly.

Brittney Sherman:

So he goes in, he gives the note, he gets the money you walks out and

Brittney Sherman:

pretty much police swarm instantly.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So was weird about it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You would say to yourself when you see the footage of this dude, that

Sonia Meza-Leon:

he doesn't look to be under any real stress entering in, he's got his cane.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Um, it would appear that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Somehow or another, you know, it maybe knows that either the bomb's

Sonia Meza-Leon:

not real or he's, he doesn't, doesn't appear to think that he's in any

Sonia Meza-Leon:

danger, I guess is what I'll say.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He strolls in, he strolls out, he goes out to his car and the police swarm him.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think he's sitting down in front of his car on the, uh, there's a

Sonia Meza-Leon:

lot of footage of this, by the way.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It's like what?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And then, uh, of course he's sitting there.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

What starts happening, you know, they put, I think, I don't know if they have

Sonia Meza-Leon:

handcuffs on and he's sitting on the ground, he's sitting on the ground.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The police have no freaking idea what to do.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Cause they're terrified.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

They're like, well, we know the guy's got a bomb somewhere and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

we don't want to go up there.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Isn't real.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The guy doesn't seem to be acting like it's real.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He doesn't seem to be in under any.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Except when it starts ticking.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And then he's like, I think this thing's going to go off.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And this is when you kind of see the shift in him and it's like, oh shit.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Even.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So though

Brittney Sherman:

there's, there is somewhat of a shift in him, but it's

Brittney Sherman:

still less of a shift than I would expect for someone who's about to be blown up

Brittney Sherman:

because he's like, Hey guys, no real.

Brittney Sherman:

It's going to explode as opposed to like, holy shit.

Brittney Sherman:

Oh my God, I'm going to die.

Brittney Sherman:

Get me outta here.

Brittney Sherman:

Like, there's not panic.

Brittney Sherman:

It's just, this is serious.

Brittney Sherman:

Come on.

Brittney Sherman:

You know, let's hurry this up.

Brittney Sherman:

Let's let's move this along

Sonia Meza-Leon:

that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Well, exactly.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And let's remember that because.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

There's conversations later about whether this gentleman, you

Sonia Meza-Leon:

know, participated in this crime.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I think that's a real tell that I do feel like you, Brittany that up

Sonia Meza-Leon:

into the minute where he got blown up.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I don't think he thought that he was going to get blown up.

Brittney Sherman:

No, we'll, uh, we'll talk about that towards the end, because

Brittney Sherman:

that's how I kind of felt, but then.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I don't know either.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So let's go with a cast of characters because we've got the initial incident.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So let's talk a little bit of a mom, more of this, this

Sonia Meza-Leon:

guy, he gets blown up he's um,

Brittney Sherman:

and by the way,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah, it's crazy.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He falls over the police are like, what do we do?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You know, is he going to blow up again or do we walk up to them?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, how do we know if he's alive?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Do we help him?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Is he the victim or is he a criminal?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Like didn't even know.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think they figured out after a while by the look on his face, I'm

Sonia Meza-Leon:

sure that he's no longer alive and.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Here's where I was like, whoa, that's crazy and weird.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So he's got a collar bomb on.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And so they, and rightly, so these police are very concerned that

Sonia Meza-Leon:

this thing might blow up again.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And if they take it off of him or try to manipulate the bomb

Sonia Meza-Leon:

in any way, it could explode.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So they're scared.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So they cut his head off to get the ball.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

On the, on the sidewalk essentially.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah, right there, right there in the middle of shenanigans.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Just everybody.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah.

Brittney Sherman:

So, but also it's the, the cut is, I think they tried to remove

Brittney Sherman:

the collar because the, the, the.

Brittney Sherman:

Big backstory of this is, it was actually kind of a game

Brittney Sherman:

where he had this collar on.

Brittney Sherman:

He was going to, he, he robbed the bank and then he was being sent on

Brittney Sherman:

a scavenger hunt of other places.

Brittney Sherman:

And he was going to get information that was going to lead him to the

Brittney Sherman:

keys so he could let himself out of the collar and it turned, and

Brittney Sherman:

there were four like locks on the.

Brittney Sherman:

Only two of them were even capable of being unlocked.

Brittney Sherman:

So two of them were like, just decoys anyway.

Brittney Sherman:

So part of that is what messed up with the officers too, is that

Brittney Sherman:

they didn't know if there was even really a way to get that collar off.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, and try not to move the guy.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I hate rightly so.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You know, I don't really blame them and I think.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The family was pissed off, but it's an unusual circumstance.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I think the police had to do what they had to do to

Sonia Meza-Leon:

make sure that they were safe.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Now we, we move along again.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Brittany's point we find paperwork in the car, um, uh, Brian Wells, and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

we know that there's a bomb and it's pretty easy to dissect the pieces,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

the flew everywhere and understand and potentially figure out who made the bomb.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So that happens, right?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

That's on the news.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

That's known as the pizza bomber, so on.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And so.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Parallel to that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

We've got another case where we've got a gentleman named bill Rothstein, call the

Sonia Meza-Leon:

police and say, Hey, I need to tell you that I got a dead body in my freezer and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

this crazy woman, Marjorie deal Armstrong, who was my, or is my ex-girlfriend or not.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Maybe she's my girlfriend who knows.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'm not really sure.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'm not sure.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But she's with me and she made me put the body in the freezer and,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

um, you know, I've been stalling for time because I know it's wrong.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And the way I've been selling for crime is time, time as I've been going

Sonia Meza-Leon:

around, pretending like I'm buying meat, grinders, and other ways to do this body,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

but let's be sure we freeze it for now.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Um, and so this is where it gets weird, man, the police.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Go over to bill Rothstein.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So the person who's talks about again, Marjorie deal Armstrong.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

We'll talk about her in a minute.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The police go over to his house and he shows them around, gives

Sonia Meza-Leon:

them a tour, including the tour of the freezer with the dead body.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So Brittany, who is in the freezer, would you like to share.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, so I have to admit, I have a little bit of a confession

Brittney Sherman:

to make, uh, this is the, this is the second time I've watched this series.

Brittney Sherman:

And the end of episode one is when bill calls the police, the start-up

Brittney Sherman:

of episode two is when he starts showing the police around his place.

Brittney Sherman:

I fell asleep watching episode two, the second time.

Brittney Sherman:

And watch it all the way through the first time I fell asleep the second

Brittney Sherman:

time, um, the, the victim, the body at this point is Marjorie deal.

Brittney Sherman:

Armstrong's another one of her ex-boyfriends.

Brittney Sherman:

He was, he was her former boyfriend at the time.

Brittney Sherman:

His last name is roadblock and tell you why you remember his

Brittney Sherman:

last name, but what's his first.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Jeez, this gentleman's name and if they had been dating

Sonia Meza-Leon:

apparently for quite a while.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So when we talk about Marjorie a little bit, well, first of all, go,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

can he stay with her for 10 years, but a changed route and was his name.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And he was folded up like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and put into

Sonia Meza-Leon:

the freezer and kept there for a while.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

While bill was, I guess, just trying to figure out what to do with

Brittney Sherman:

Marjorie and.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, so, okay.

Brittney Sherman:

This is a total sidebar.

Brittney Sherman:

I don't know why, but I kept on remembering, uh, James Rodin's last

Brittney Sherman:

name because I kept on calling it Rodin, which I'm pretty sure it

Brittney Sherman:

was a name of a Godzilla Kaiju.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

That is exactly Britney.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You are in the band.

Brittney Sherman:

And that's how I kept I that's how I remembered his last name,

Brittney Sherman:

but clearly I forgot his first name.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

James it's spelled it is, but that's how I remember.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah, Nana for sharing.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think Rodin is, uh, the it's sounds like the French version of road.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, but, uh, the road 10 is the three headed monster and that's another one.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

There's

Brittney Sherman:

another one, 300 monsters and Godzilla.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'll send you a picture.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I think that turtle has three heads.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Do they had a lot of things that have had multiple heads.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'll send you a picture of what I have.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Sorry guys.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Any who?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Back to the track.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So bill roster.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

For some reason decides that he wants to share with police.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You know, stop whatever he's doing with Marjorie.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And he turns her in and, um, because not only does he show them where

Sonia Meza-Leon:

the body is, but he tells them who to ultimately murdered James Roden.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And he says it's Marjorie.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And it's pretty easy to see that someone murdered James.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Because he didn't put himself in the freezer and the x-ray x-ray him and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

he's got shrapnel in his, uh, throat.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So apparently someone decided to use a shotgun to shoot James Roden

Sonia Meza-Leon:

and then decided to either keep him on ice for whatever reason.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

We'll talk about that later.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But, um, you know, this is where Billy on scene and Marjorie, um,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

you know, are obviously at odds.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You ask us, what would this have to do with the pizza bomber case?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And we don't really realize until a little bit later in the docu-series

Sonia Meza-Leon:

that they actually do, because it appears that Marjorie and bill and, uh,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

uh, a couple of other folks conspired to, uh, and Marjorie will never admit

Sonia Meza-Leon:

this, but conspired to do sort of do the pizza heist or the, the bank ice.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It's so strange because you know, Marjorie's Marjorie deal arm from is

Sonia Meza-Leon:

apparently a very intelligent person.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yes.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

A person who was very manipulative is, um, she doesn't appear to be a nice person.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So she, on, in her interviews on camera it's, she's not very likable and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

she, but loud, aggressive almost felt like she had Tourette's a little bit.

Brittney Sherman:

It's very, very clear.

Brittney Sherman:

She has pretty significant mental illness and she is it's indicative

Brittney Sherman:

and obvious that she is someone who needed help a long, long time ago.

Brittney Sherman:

And we will see that there was someone who really tried in earnest to get her help.

Brittney Sherman:

And.

Brittney Sherman:

Did everything right, but the system kind of just spit her back out.

Brittney Sherman:

She is someone that she struggled because she genuinely was extremely intelligent.

Brittney Sherman:

That's where the genius comes from, but very manipulative and, uh, dealt with a

Brittney Sherman:

lot of, uh, contradicting mental health conditions that caused her to be quite.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah, she was very persuasive.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Um, it's set.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So really the center of the story is about, is really Marjorie deal Armstrong.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Apparently she was the mastermind behind the whole thing and what's unknown.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, She was doing this for money because at one point I think

Sonia Meza-Leon:

she hired a Hitman to kill her dad.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

She was pissed off at him because he was giving away her inheritance.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And so she retaliated by trying to hire another one of these cast of yokels.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Uh, Ken Barnes, her fishing, um, was my note.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And he's like, yeah, sure.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'll kill your dad.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You know, he was said he was just bullshitting and she wasn't.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He was like, of course I'm not.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But, uh, she was really,

Brittney Sherman:

he was really serious is, uh, he, he was like a.

Brittney Sherman:

No local Erie, Pennsylvania.

Brittney Sherman:

Drug dealer, like he was known around town in the seedy areas, uh, as being

Brittney Sherman:

like the go to guy to get your fix.

Brittney Sherman:

And he was a major, major addict himself.

Brittney Sherman:

And at one point they'd go to his.

Brittney Sherman:

And it is straight out of hoarders, like a, with all of the worst part

Brittney Sherman:

of hoarders that you can imagine, not just the stuff, but the Fil,

Brittney Sherman:

the grime, the rodents, the bugs.

Brittney Sherman:

And it was, eh, it was just awful.

Brittney Sherman:

And God bless anyone who trusted the drugs that they got from this.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Well, that's, what's weird about it because I don't know, maybe

Sonia Meza-Leon:

it's the condition or whatever condition is, but you know, that hoarder condition,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

bill Rothstein had the same thing.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He and showed them around his house.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He had lived in the house for 55 years.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Like he probably didn't even see like the floor in someone's our

Sonia Meza-Leon:

house for 50 something years.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, it was, and this is bill Rossi was a very intelligent man again.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Some of these people are anyway, are very intelligent, very manipulative, um, you

Sonia Meza-Leon:

know, manipulated by Margarie apparently.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, um, at some point, you know, in this documentary Dr.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Series, his best friend is interviewed and he was like, I don't even know that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But what's weird about bill rusty, you know, because what we find is that, like

Sonia Meza-Leon:

you said, there's all this documentation, there is exhaustive letters, um,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

to the bank teller about the heist.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Like who's going to S so I don't, there are a lot of things that

Sonia Meza-Leon:

are confusing about this to me.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Um, I don't understand, I get it, that they were sending

Sonia Meza-Leon:

somebody on a wild goose chase.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So when they write this giant letter to the bank, Are they

Sonia Meza-Leon:

expecting them to read it and it's would take time for them to know.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I thought that too.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

What's their point like who this is.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You're like, you know, you're making a stand or whatever, but to who, like,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

what do you think the bank teller is going to give a shit, you know, about

Sonia Meza-Leon:

your, why you're compelled to exactly.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And it's weird.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And then the here's what I also have a problem with.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So the whole shenanigans with, you know, the game, the scavenger hunt,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

the police did a test and it was a very, very simple test to do.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And the test.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

How long would it take to go from point a through the points, the listed on the

Sonia Meza-Leon:

scavenger hunt to get to the end result.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And it was time that was more time than they had put on the timer on the bomb.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So Brian Wells would have never know.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So if these people are robbing a bank, so here's where I'm like Marjorie deal,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Armstrong KUKA Rue, for sure, because.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You know, if she's trying to kill her dad because of the money.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And she many times will say in this next two years, I'm rich.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Why would I need to do that?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

You know, she lies a lot.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, she can fix herself a lot.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

First.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

She says that she didn't kill her boyfriend.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And then later on, she absolutely admits to it because they were

Sonia Meza-Leon:

arguing about another woman.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, but when you listen to both, you know, the, both of the

Sonia Meza-Leon:

interviews, it sounds exactly the same mean she's a great writer.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I would have never thought she's, I mean, she's adamant, you know, I

Sonia Meza-Leon:

mean she's, and she's crazy too, but she's adamant that she didn't do.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And then she's like, yeah, I did it, you know, and she was, she was proud of it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

The part that's weird about the bill Rossi thing is again, a very intelligent man.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It sounds to me like it's fairly, we're fairly confident that bill

Sonia Meza-Leon:

wrote the scavenger hunt letters and also the letter to the bank teller,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

um, you know, sort of this manifesto.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But, um, if Marjorie's the one who masterminded this for money, if anybody

Sonia Meza-Leon:

masterminded it for me, And they didn't give this guy enough time to

Sonia Meza-Leon:

fulfill it before they blew him up.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'm

Brittney Sherman:

not sure.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah.

Brittney Sherman:

I don't really know what the point was.

Brittney Sherman:

Either.

Brittney Sherman:

The scavenger hunt starts with a Wells.

Brittney Sherman:

You delivering a pizza per se, we're going to assume that because

Brittney Sherman:

that's ultimately, I think what is kinda sorta decided happen.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, and then to, to Marjorie Armstrong, he is confronted by four people,

Brittney Sherman:

Marjorie bill, and then two other guys.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, the one we just talked about, uh, Ken burns, Ken Barnes, and

Brittney Sherman:

then one other guy who was he?

Brittney Sherman:

A convicted sex offender who was living with a bill, but so

Brittney Sherman:

essentially he just went along for the ride because he was living there.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, essentially.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But that's, what's weird about it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Like why like, are they going to split it out?

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah.

Brittney Sherman:

Well, that's what I mean, but so essentially, so Wells leaves, he

Brittney Sherman:

goes to the bank, then they follow him and they have stakeout points.

Brittney Sherman:

So I'm wondering if they had no intention of him finishing the scavenger hunt

Brittney Sherman:

and they were essentially just going to corner him, take the money and then let.

Brittney Sherman:

Die with the bomb,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

but why go to the trouble of writing out the scavenger hunt?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I think they found the pieces that the scavenger hunt was

Sonia Meza-Leon:

supposed to lead them to as well.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Didn't they did.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah, that's true.

Brittney Sherman:

I agree.

Brittney Sherman:

But Wheeler, but you're so you're dealing with mentally unstable

Brittney Sherman:

people, particularly Marjorie, because, so not just James Rodin.

Brittney Sherman:

Did she kill.

Brittney Sherman:

She had two previous boyfriends that wound up dead one.

Brittney Sherman:

She went to trial for his murder and was ultimately found not guilty, but

Brittney Sherman:

her defense attorney in that trial tried and tried and tried to get her

Brittney Sherman:

committed to a mental facility because as a psychiatric facility, Because he knew

Brittney Sherman:

she was not right and she needed help.

Brittney Sherman:

And I think she spent like 10 days in a psychiatric facility, but ultimately

Brittney Sherman:

was determined not to be severe enough.

Brittney Sherman:

So it was spit back out into society.

Brittney Sherman:

And he's interviewed later on in the series towards the end

Brittney Sherman:

and essentially says, I knew.

Brittney Sherman:

20 years ago, or whenever it was when I defended her, this woman was

Brittney Sherman:

violent and dangerous and had a mental health condition and needed help,

Brittney Sherman:

but they just didn't believe me.

Brittney Sherman:

And didn't find her severe enough.

Brittney Sherman:

And now look where we're at.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think that happens a lot.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, yeah, we

Brittney Sherman:

hear about that frequently way more often than not.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yep.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So, I mean, that's, that's pretty much the, the short of it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, there are a lot of meanderings in the docu-series there's a lot of

Sonia Meza-Leon:

video of her yelling and talking.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Trying to compel somebody to do something for, I don't even know sometimes

Brittney Sherman:

what the, and that's the, that's kinda the,

Brittney Sherman:

the, the thing about this year is that it's, it's worth a watch.

Brittney Sherman:

But when you said, like, it's one of our favorites, I can't say it's one of my

Brittney Sherman:

favorites because it's, it's compelling.

Brittney Sherman:

It's interesting.

Brittney Sherman:

The first episode is really interesting in it's all about the bombing.

Brittney Sherman:

And then it ends on this huge cliffhanger of bill Rothstein calling

Brittney Sherman:

the police like, whoa, what does this have anything to do with it?

Brittney Sherman:

And then episode two is all about Marjorie, even though I fell asleep.

Brittney Sherman:

Second viewing of it.

Brittney Sherman:

It's all about her and like her previous mysterious boyfriend deaths and the one

Brittney Sherman:

that, uh, she killed, possibly killed, uh, because she wanted him to, uh, murder her

Brittney Sherman:

father so she could get his inheritance, even though he wrote her out of his will.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, and then episode three and four is kind of just.

Brittney Sherman:

Marjorie, just kind of ranting and raving and other people that she

Brittney Sherman:

shared cells with and other people that these other guys shared prison

Brittney Sherman:

cells with being interviewed and saying, yeah, this is what they said.

Brittney Sherman:

And these are the letters we wrote, but it doesn't really

Brittney Sherman:

introduce any new information.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, no, it doesn't.

Brittney Sherman:

It.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, but I mean, for the, for the first time

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I watched it, I really like it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So I would say, take Alyssa, take a, listen, take a look.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, do you want to share what the outcome is or,

Brittney Sherman:

well, yeah, because I think honestly the, I don't want

Brittney Sherman:

to negate the last two episodes.

Brittney Sherman:

There's only, it's only four episodes, so it's a pretty quick watch.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, but the.

Brittney Sherman:

The most compelling part of the fourth episode is trying to

Brittney Sherman:

identify whether or not Wells is what was party to the initial plot.

Brittney Sherman:

And I think officially criminally, he was neither, even though he was

Brittney Sherman:

dead, he was neither posthumously.

Brittney Sherman:

Accused nor acquitted of being involved.

Brittney Sherman:

There wasn't enough evidence one way or the other.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, and his family is very vocal in court, just yelling at the, the judge when he

Brittney Sherman:

suggests that he may have been involved.

Brittney Sherman:

And so.

Brittney Sherman:

Yeah.

Brittney Sherman:

On one hand, just before the show wraps, it seems pretty conclusive

Brittney Sherman:

that he was not party to the crime.

Brittney Sherman:

He showed up to deliver a pizza as part of his job.

Brittney Sherman:

And he was conned into essentially, he was, he was

Brittney Sherman:

forced into wearing this bomb and.

Brittney Sherman:

Going on this scavenger hunt, uh, earlier they talk about how he was involved in

Brittney Sherman:

the planning that seem to be negated.

Brittney Sherman:

However, one of the very last things that they talk about in this

Brittney Sherman:

series is there's a woman who is an eerie PA prostitute, who was a.

Brittney Sherman:

Frequent welds was a frequent client of hers.

Brittney Sherman:

Uh, and they became actually like really good friends.

Brittney Sherman:

Like they genuinely hung out and she would get groceries for his elderly parents.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, and then she became pregnant right around the time that he died

Brittney Sherman:

and she thinks he's the father, but he, uh, Again, what the heck's

Brittney Sherman:

the drug dealers name again?

Brittney Sherman:

I'm so terrible with this.

Brittney Sherman:

His name's Ken barns.

Brittney Sherman:

Here's how

Sonia Meza-Leon:

they sort of, I understood.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

They knew each other.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Jessica, so-and-so the prostitute.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Was getting drugs from Ken Barnes.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So she would essentially come in Ken and I, if I'm not mistaken, Brian Wells

Sonia Meza-Leon:

lived or hung out with Ken Barnes too.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So she would hook up with Brian Wells.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

They would have sex upstairs.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

She would take that money and go downstairs to Ken Barnes and get

Sonia Meza-Leon:

drugs, and then she would do them.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So what I understood happened was that at some point, Marjorie

Sonia Meza-Leon:

and maybe bill who knows.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Came over to Ken Barnes house and said, we need some idiot to, you know,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

sort of be the person who's going to go to the bank for us at the time

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Jessica was there and she heard her.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It appears that Jessica May have been the person that suggested

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Brian Wells, which he says

Brittney Sherman:

great regret

Sonia Meza-Leon:

for.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So when Brian Wells came up with, so they essentially ordered a pizza and

Sonia Meza-Leon:

they, then they took the pizza guy and kind of held them hostage and threw

Sonia Meza-Leon:

a bomb on him and made him go do it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think they were familiar with each other.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Brian Wells obviously knew Ken Barnes, Ken Barnes was warned was there.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So there was some familiarity when you drove up with a pizza,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

which by the way, it was like really close to bill Rossi towels.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He had to have seen Ken Barnes.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He knew him.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So he's got to feel some comfort.

Brittney Sherman:

I mean, I think this was a, it was like a pretty small town

Brittney Sherman:

in, especially like this neighborhood.

Brittney Sherman:

It was like the type of neighborhood where everyone knows each other.

Brittney Sherman:

So I don't think any of these guys were stranger.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah, exactly.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So I think when Brian walked up with the pizza, if I, I understood

Sonia Meza-Leon:

they had a slice of pizza and then they kind of ambushed him.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But I think that they told them all along.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It wasn't real because if they would, he would add any inclination

Sonia Meza-Leon:

that that bomb was going to go off.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

His, his actions would have been very different,

Brittney Sherman:

I would think so, but they did see or

Sonia Meza-Leon:

drive to the police.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So if I, if I, I would never get in a car with, uh, something that, that may

Sonia Meza-Leon:

or may not be a bomb and drive and go do what they said, I would try that.

Brittney Sherman:

But I think they did say that he did have a certain level of

Brittney Sherman:

cognitive impairment and may not have, he may have known, but may not have wanted

Brittney Sherman:

to question them and may have believed that if he just went along with their

Brittney Sherman:

plan, everything would have been okay.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah, no, for sure.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I'm not sure when, I mean it, did they give him the paperwork

Sonia Meza-Leon:

and say here's the scavenger hunt and was the first stop the bank.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And that's what.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Oh, so maybe it was just a game all along.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

It's just really strange.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Cause he's on guys.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He's on video, man.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He's like, they're looking straight in you in camera saying, you know, guys,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

guys, I think something's happening here.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And it's like, and then all that.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I mean, he, I really felt like he never his face.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He never had until the very second where that thing blew up, he really

Sonia Meza-Leon:

had any idea it was going to blow up.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah,

Brittney Sherman:

I agree.

Brittney Sherman:

I think he knew that.

Brittney Sherman:

I think towards the end, he knew this was a real bomb, but I don't know if

Brittney Sherman:

he knew that it was like imminent.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Alrighty.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Well, Scarlett is, that was a pretty short little episode.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I have a couple of shout outs I want to do so, uh, maybe we'll keep going.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Okay.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

All right.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I want to do a couple shout outs to some new friends that I've made recently.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I want to give a shout out to music city 9 1 1.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Brandon Hall is the host and he has a periodic co-host as well.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

He is a nine 11 dispatcher in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I would just love to sort of tell you guys to take a listen.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I, so he's a real nine 11 operator.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So the stories that he had, obviously perplexing and really

Sonia Meza-Leon:

entertaining in my opinion.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And he's just a real nice guy.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And his voice is really, really lovely.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So highly suggest those guys give them a shout out and we have a promo

Sonia Meza-Leon:

for them at the end of our episode.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So you guys can take a listen, get a little familiar with them.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And then I also want to give a shout out to my group.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Katelyn Dowdy.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Now she doesn't know she's mine, but I tell her right now, um, I, she does a

Sonia Meza-Leon:

YouTube series called a mortician and.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'm not sure if I counted corpse as part of asking mortician or it's a

Sonia Meza-Leon:

separate sort of, you know, thinks she does, but she's a mortician.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I think she lives in LA and she's got her own funeral home with a partner.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, um, I find her to be really, really, really fascinating.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I know it sounds really gruesome, but there are questions that I have a.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

That stuff that I've always wanted to ask and her YouTube videos are so informative

Sonia Meza-Leon:

and she's got a huge following, but, um, I really, I really find her interesting,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

like the other day I will readily admit I watched a video that she did about how

Sonia Meza-Leon:

they keep your mouth shut when you're, um, you know, being prepared for reviewing.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And, um, it was, I know that's really gruesome and crazy,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

but it was really interesting.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So I am,

Brittney Sherman:

I'm not going to tell you, you have to watch it.

Brittney Sherman:

I can't.

Brittney Sherman:

That was the proper answer.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Yeah.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Just watch it, please watch it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

But she's really awesome.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'm hoping Brittany, since she's in LA and we're in LA, that we could at some

Sonia Meza-Leon:

point do a little interview and meet each other because yeah, she's really cool.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And I love her observations and she's just really informative.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

So yeah, you Caitlyn Dowdy and iconic corpse and ask mortician, check her out.

Brittney Sherman:

All right.

Brittney Sherman:

It's Carlitos as always.

Brittney Sherman:

Thanks for checking this out.

Brittney Sherman:

Um, I think you're going to be hearing some more promos from us in the future.

Brittney Sherman:

We are really enjoying, connecting with other independent podcasters

Brittney Sherman:

and supporting one another.

Brittney Sherman:

So if you have suggestions or are interested in being promoted on Scarlet

Brittney Sherman:

TCP and would like to do a promo swap, we would love to hear from you, uh, hit

Brittney Sherman:

us up on social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and listen to us on every

Brittney Sherman:

platform where podcasts are available.

Brittney Sherman:

Sonya, anything else?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

No, this has been very enjoyable.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Hi, you guys, our audience, I have to give them credit.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

They I've been hearing some wonderful things from people lately,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

so we really appreciate all your support, so, uh, keep killing it.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Scarlet owes.

Brittney Sherman:

All right.

Brittney Sherman:

Thank you.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Hey, y'all I'm Brandon Hall.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

I'm one of the hosts of music city, nine 11, a podcast about the good,

Sonia Meza-Leon:

the bad, and the dark side of nine 11.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Dispatching me and my co-hosts are 9 1 1 dispatchers.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

With over 60 years of experience, join us as we play 9 1 1 calls and discuss.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

Oh, did I mention that we get dark nine 11?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

What's your emergency?

Sonia Meza-Leon:

you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at music city nominal one.

Sonia Meza-Leon:

And we're downloadable on every podcast platform.

Show artwork for Scarlet TCP

About the Podcast

Scarlet TCP
True Crime podcast featuring the unique perspective of a couple of ladies working in the entertainment industry with stories to share.
The Scarlet true crime podcast is a female driven true crime show presented from the unique perspective of life-long crime junkies working in the entertainment industry. In Scarlet, Sonia Meza-Leon and Brittney Sherman unravel stories and evidence from a variety of sources and put their own spin on what happened in a thoughtful, and entertaining presentation.

Special thanks to:
John McGrew for writing the intro and outro song.
Juan Meza-Leon for logo design.
Renevee Romero-Villegas for additional artwork design.

Part of the Pod All The Time Podcast Network.
Support This Show

About your hosts

Brittney Sherman

Profile picture for Brittney Sherman
A murderino since early in life, Brittney grew up in Wisconsin and her fascination with true crime started from her parents. Her dad’s favorite show was Unsolved Mysteries and he loved reading about true crime, and her mom’s favorites were 20/20 and Dateline. Originally freaked out, Brittney grew into the fascination over the years, and particularly the psychology of the criminals behind the crimes. 



Now, a veteran of the entertainment industry, Brittney has worked behind the scenes on Emmy winning shows and #1 movies. Driven by her passion for entertainment, and the ability to provide content as escapism, whether they are on their commute to work, grieving and seeking solace, or blocking out pain in a hospital bed, Brittney strives for excellence and the ability to entertain at the highest level.

Sonia Meza-Leon

Profile picture for Sonia Meza-Leon