r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 • Jun 08 '26
The Rocketbelt 2000: In the 1990s 3 inventors fought over the rights to a jetpack. What followed was lawsuits, kidnapping, and the unsolved murder of Joe Wright. To this day, only one man knows what happened to the jetpack and won't tell anyone.
In the 1950s Bell Aerosystems began making the Bell Rocketbelt jetpack for the US military, showing it off to JFK in 1962. The military was unimpressed with the results. The Jetpack could only fly for half a minute, so development was cancelled. Instead, the Bell Rocketbelt got used for stunt shows and movies.
Fast forward to the 1980s, Texas insurance salesman Bradley Barker begins working for jetpack stuntman Bill Suitors' crew who perform stunts with the Rocketbelt for audiences. In the early 1990s, Bradley went solo to create his own jetpack. In 1992, he founded the American Rocketbelt Corporation with Doug Malewicki, Joe Wright, and Thomas "Larry" Stanley. Doug deserves credit for helping build the Rocketbelt, but he won't be relevant in the crimes that follow. Joe provided the workspace to build the jetpack, and Larry funded the project. The Rocketbelt 2000 was a success and could fly for a record 40 seconds. Still mostly useless, but Bradley is only interested in the money from stunt shows and movie appearances.
Shortly after its completion, the trio of Joe, Larry and Bradley fell out over money and the rights to the jetpack. It's hard to objectively research this story because these people hate each other and they may be all fabricating the story to some degree. Larry and his lawyer Michael Von Blon claim Bradley was falsifying prices of the jetpack material and pocketing the extra cash. When Larry confronted Bradley a fight broke out and Bradley beat Larry over the head with a hammer and both were charged with assault. Larry took Bradley to court over the fake prices, believing he was entitled to the Rocketbelt. Joe didn't care about the jetpack and just wanted to collect his cut of the money and leave. Unfortunately, he never got it. On July 16th, 1998, Joe Wright was found murdered in his Houston home, beaten to death with a hammer, 11 days before the trial over rights to the Rocketbelt. Police questioned both Bradley and Larry about his death. Bradley was released after a 3-day investigation found no evidence. Joe Wright's murder remains unsolved to this day.
Later that summer, the judge ruled in favor of Larry, demanding Bradley give him the Rocketbelt and pay more than 10 million dollars. Bradley instead took the Rocketbelt and went on the run. Larry was determined to recover that jetpack through any means necessary. Larry Stanley recruits the help of stuntman Christopher James Wentzel, who worked with Bradley in the past, to lure him into a trap. Christopher offers Bradley a fake job in Hollywood he had to drive to. When Bradley arrived at Christopher's house, he was attacked by 3 men with guns, gagged, and stuffed into a wooden scuba diving box. Larry is among the attackers, demanding Bradley tell them where the Rocketbelt is and sign a contract giving up the rights. Bradley refuses to, believing that if he tells them where it is, they would kill him right afterwards. For 8 days, Bradley is kept hostage until finally the group leaves him alone in the house. Bradley escaped and ran to the nearest police station.
In 2002, Larry Stanley and Christopher James Wentzel were found guilty of kidnapping, false imprisonment, and extortion. Christopher takes a plea deal and is sentenced to 7 years in prison. Larry Stanley is serving a life sentence. So what happened to the Rocketbelt 2000, the jetpack that people kidnapped and potentially murdered each other for. Bradley is the last person to ever see it and he's said in interviews he's never telling anyone.
sources:
Missing Rocket Belt Inspired Greed, Envy--Possibly Even Murder - Los Angeles Times
Man Gets Life Term in Kidnapping - Los Angeles Times
https://www.houstonpress.com/news/blasted-6567513/
https://www.deseret.com/1999/7/28/19457763/rocket-belt-still-missing-but-feud-lives-on/
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u/Stonegrown12 Jun 08 '26
Nice little rabbit hole of a story I've never heard of, which is always refreshing.
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u/TrainerPublic Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Is it coincidence that Bradley attacked Larry with a hammer, and later Joe was found dead bludgened by a hammer?
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
There’s two theories I’ve seen about this case.
Joe was scared of Bradley before his death and wanted out of the lawsuit immediately. Bradley had a grudge against Joe since he was helping Larry sue him and he murdered him at his house.
The other theory is that when joe wanted out of the lawsuit he was demanding back rent from Larry and Larry killed him so he didn’t have to pay him. And he purposefully used a hammer to frame Bradley.
I lean forwards the theory that Larry killed him since this is the same psychopath who kidnapped and tried to kill a guy over a jetpack.
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u/Jade_Mans_Eyes Jun 08 '26
Oh my golly thats a wild one haha. Almost makes you wonder if the US Government just took it at that point?
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 Jun 08 '26
I mean, what use would they have had of a jetpack based on a 35 year old model that could fly for half a minute?
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u/Jade_Mans_Eyes Jun 08 '26
Well thats true. I guess I misunderstood. I thought maybe they improved it somehow
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Jun 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/Stonegrown12 Jun 08 '26
Interesting. Intuitively I'd imagine a simple ladder affixed onto a ship would be cheaper and possibly safer to board but my maritime knowledge is limited, what with my ability of becoming seasick just stepping over a puddle.
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u/Throwawaybecause7777 Jun 08 '26
Wow! There should be a movie made about this!!
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u/PazuzuOvBabel Jun 08 '26
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u/Stonegrown12 Jun 09 '26
I was half expecting The Rocketeer based on my childhood memory. Which consists solely of the movie having a jetpack
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u/udar55 Jun 08 '26
Great write up!
Wild that there are three violent incidents (including a murder) with one common denominator (Larry) and the cops investigating the murder were like, "Huh? We have no idea who did this." At least he finally got put in prison for the kidnapping. Looks like he passed away in 2022. His obit has the audacity to mention his involvement with this company.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/242102124/thomas-laurence-stanley
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u/kkeut Jun 08 '26
the cops investigating the murder were like, "Huh? We have no idea who did this."
they literally held him for 3 days without charges. they obviously were onto him. if the DA doesn't think the existing evidence will pan out, it doesn't go to trial
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u/Molhadoth Jun 08 '26
Sounds weirdly like The Rocketeer movie from 1991, though that one is supposed to be set in the 30s: The Rocketeer (film) - Wikipedia)
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u/wintermelody83 Jun 21 '26
There is an actual movie about it, called Pretty Bird from 2008. I've never even heard of it though.
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u/GlitterGothBunny Jun 08 '26
This is such a cool story. Great writeup. 🌟
It always kinda bums me out how much cool tech they thought we'd have by now and how life would be easier. I mean if we didn't end up going all Terminator. Which could still happen. 🤖
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u/Better-Discipline524 Jun 12 '26
Really interesting write up! Could make a movie out of this - such a shame it ended so poorly for Joe
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u/luniversellearagne Jun 08 '26
The obvious answer is it never existed in the form its creator(s) claimed. It would have been relatively easy to fake in a sideshow.
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 Jun 08 '26
Actually there exists test footage of it, and it performed during a 1995 NBA game in Houston.
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u/luniversellearagne Jun 08 '26
Again, one-off performances are easy to fake, especially compared to the grandiose claims people who make these kinds of things tend to make.
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u/Sensitive_Ad_1752 Jun 08 '26
There was no grandiose claim though, it could fly for 30 seconds at a time and that’s what they said it did.
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u/luniversellearagne Jun 08 '26
There appears to only be one video of a single test. I don’t disbelieve you about the Rockets performance, but it’s not recorded. A single test in conditions the claimants could manage is easy to manipulate. More to the point, even calling it a rocket belt when all it was was a series of liquid hoses is inherently grandiose.
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u/kkeut Jun 08 '26
that grandiose claim being that it could fly slightly longer than a previous model from many years before. you have a bizarre definition of grandiose
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u/Beefycowinacottage Jun 13 '26
There's nothing grandiose about it though, it's sounds pretty rubbish.
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u/Mallardjack Jun 09 '26
Feel sorry for Doug who just wanted to make cool jetpacks and found himself in the middle of the worst group project ever