Binged 4 episodes the other night and am fairly puzzled. Not so much at how diabolical/evil these people were...but just that the documentary might be overselling how diavolical/evil these people were...because honestly between Diehl/Rothstein/Barnes/Wells/Stockton...they are all fucking idiots. collectively...such stupid people..
I'll preface, the whole show is really well made and constructed and all the interviews are really well done. still a 9/10 doc
but to the actual plotting of the crime.
I'm going to make the assumption that Rothstein/Diehl BOTH needed money, a lot of it. Diehl being the nutjob she is says "lets rob that piece of shit PNC bank, who is letting my father blow my inheritance!"
there is absolutely no convincing me that she came up with the actual robbery plot, the bomb collar, the shotgun cane, any of it. that was all 100% Rothstein, I almost believe her when she says Rothstein set her up and she's being framed, because honestly I believe she's too fucking stupid to have come up with anything besides the idea to rob a bank.
Every piece of interview, phone call, testimony from people who've dealt with her, all points that she's some manic nutjob who would go on tangents about absolute nothing and then give barely enough information so she could get what she wants.
I refuse to believe someone with the speech and grammar she uses, was smart enough to write up detailed, cohesive instructions to Brian Wells as a bomb victim on how to retrieve keys.
Everything in the doc indicates to me that Rothstein was the brains. He's known by local police (most serial killers/murderers involve themselves with police to see how close they can fly to the sun, so to speak). His phonecall and police interview are so fucking calm for a guy who's just cleaned a crime scene of all evidence, and then proceeded to hide the body carefully in the freezer of his own house...way too calm.
I think the doc is establishing that Diehl is some criminal mastermind to cover for the fact that Rothstein was so clearly the brains and mastermind behind the collar bomb plot, but the local police were basically letting him dictate the investigation and got away with literal murder (possibly more than once)
this all gets to my next point about Diehl/Rothstein and crew
If the plot was to rob a bank and make off with enough cash to cover Diehls hitjob on her father, Diehls owed money to Ken Barnes, Rothsteins $250k and all the other people in on the job....why use a live pipebomb? If Rothstein was THAT desparate for cash that he lists his house for the exact number the ransom wanted like weeks after the plot, why would he risk LOSING his investment by using a real pipe bomb?
Like lets say Wells gets $250,000 from the bank, cops dont get there in time and he drives away with the money straight to where he knew where the crew was waiting. boom, no death, no heat, Wells and everyone involved has an alibi they can use and the police have no clue where to look because there's no physical evidence on the collar itself. He can say he dropped the money off and the crazy black people handcuffed him and left him with the keys at the tower site or wtv, and boom everyone gets away scot-free.
But now, lets say Wells gets the $250,000 and there's no actual pipebomb, its a fake...police chalk it up as a scare tactic by criminals, Wells is off the hook, the crew is off the hook, and Diehl/Rothstein hack up Diehls ex and get away with two crimes. they just dont make out with any money.
Using an actual pipebomb could only be Rothsteins decision, and begs the question,.....why?
Thats the most diabolical part of the whole thing in my eyes...Rohtstein jeopardizes his own plot by using a real pipe bomb, almost to a point that he knew the plan would fail, real bomb or not, and just said, fuck it, I'm going to make every cop in this city look like a fucking idiot, and I'm going to even involve myself in the case and make sure other people go to jail for it...
like I'm sorry, after the entire Doc, I refuse to believe that Diehl was anything more than a manic-depressive hoarding nutjob who wanted nothing but money so she could kill her dad and get more money... I think Rothstein was her enabler and the real brains that helped her get away with murder so many times
lastly, wtf is wrong with Erie Pennsylvania?