A woman who has been named as part of the investigation into the Erie pizza bomber case received a detainer in prison this week that lists charges against her that include conspiracy and bank robbery.

Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong called her private attorney from prison today and told him about the detainer, including that it lists a charge of using a firearm in connection with a violation.

The attorney, Lawrence D'Ambrosio, said he does not know whether that means she has been charged.

"I don't know and she doesn't know," he said.

The U.S. Attorney's office would not comment on the detainer, but announced this afternoon that it will hold a news conference tomorrow in Erie to announce a "major development in the investigation."

Detainers are used to notify prison officials that charges are imminent against an inmate or that the inmate has a sentence to serve elsewhere.

Ms. Diehl-Armstrong, who is imprisoned for killing her boyfriend, had previously been questioned in the 2003 death of Brian Wells.

On Aug. 28, 2003, Mr. Wells was working as a pizza delivery man in Erie. He was summoned to deliver two pizzas in a remote area near a television tower about 1:30 p.m.

A short time later, he showed up at a PNC Bank south of Erie to rob it. He had a bomb clamped around his neck.

Mr. Wells was stopped by police, but the bomb exploded before it could be removed.

Investigators later found several pages of handwritten notes, including maps and drawings, that Mr. Wells was to follow. In addition, they discovered a cane-like shotgun.

Local and federal officials have been investigating the case ever since. Mr. Wells' family has repeatedly asked for officials to clear his name and tell the public that he was not involved in the robbery, but the government has refused to do so.

In February, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said they were nearing an end in the case.

Ms. Diehl-Armstrong is currently in state prison for killing her boyfriend, James D. Roden, in August 2003, shortly before Mr. Wells' death.

Her name came up in the Wells case through another man, William Rothstein, who lived near the TV tower. Mr. Rothstein helped her hide Mr. Roden's body, and died in 2004.

Mr. D'Ambrosio, has said that Ms. Diehl-Armstrong did not know Mr. Wells. He also noted that she has voluntarily met with the FBI several times over the past few years. Often, he said, the questioning revolved around Mr. Rothstein.

On Monday, her Assistant U.S. Public Defender Timothy W. Patton filed an emergency motion with the court asking for a gag order to preclude the U.S. attorney's office from holding a news conference in the matter, saying that it would unfairly prejudice his client.

However, in an order issued late yesterday afternoon, Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter said that the defense request was overbroad, and that her attorney "provided very little in support of the request for the gag order."

In the government's response to the motion, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini said that lawyers in criminal matters are permitted to talk about cases, provided what they say does not cause a "substantial likelihood of prejudice" to a defendant.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.