A 20-year-old became one of ‘America's Most Wanted.’ Obituary helped solve the case

Randele was dying, but he had to confess something to his family first.

First off, Thomas Randele wasn’t Thomas Randele at all. His real name was Theodore “Ted” Conrad, and he had been one of the most-wanted fugitives in America for more than a half century.

On Friday, July 11, 1969, a 20-year-old Conrad went to his job at Society National Bank in downtown Cleveland, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a Friday news release. At the end of the day, he stuffed a paper bag with $215,000 — equivalent to more than

$1.7 million today — and left for the weekend.

By the time his colleagues reported to work Monday, noticed he hadn’t shown up and realized the money was missing, Conrad had a two-day head start on police, the release said.

Investigators learned that, the year before the heist, Conrad had become a little obsessed with “The Thomas Crown Affair,” a movie in which Steve McQueen plays a millionaire businessman who hatches a scheme to rob a bank because he’s bored. Conrad had seen it several times and bragged to his friends how easy it would be to steal money from the bank where he worked. He even told them how he would do it.

“He was a darer, so to speak,” U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott told The New York Times. “After seeing that movie, I believe he thought, ‘Hey, what if I do this and get away with this?’ I really think it was a challenge for him to be able to do it.”

After the heist, Conrad was featured on true crime TV shows, including “America’s Most Wanted” and “Unsolved Mysteries.”

Decades later, things started to come together. U.S. Marshals investigators in Cleveland matched documents that Conrad had filled out in the 1960s with more recent ones completed by Randele, including those he filed in 2014 durTom ing bankruptcy proceedings in Boston federal court, the release said. After Randele died of lung cancer this past May, some of the information in his obituary also jibed with what investigators knew of Conrad: Their dates of birth and parents’ names were similar, and their alma mater and place of birth matched.

“When people lie, they lie close to home,” Elliott told the Times.

Last week, federal authorities traveled to Boston and confirmed their theory before announcing they had solved the case. The dying man had told his family about the bank heist that he had committed 52 years earlier, but Elliott told the Times that none of the Randeles will be charged for not reporting his confession to authorities.

A year after Conrad disappeared from Society National Bank in one of the largest bank heists in Ohio history, Randele settled in Lynnfield, Mass., a Boston suburb, the Marshals have determined. There, he built “an unassuming life.” He became a golf pro at a country club and then pivoted to a second career selling luxury vehicles, including Volvos and Range Rovers. He liked watching “NCIS” and other crime shows on TV, the Times reported.

“He was also an excellent cook who loved watching any and all cooking shows, and enjoyed testing out new recipes on his wife and daughter, always asking ‘So, can I make this again?’ at the end of every meal,” according to his obituary.

One of the deputy marshals who investigated Conrad’s case was Elliott’s father, John, who retired in 1990, the Marshals said. The elder Elliott took an early interest because Conrad lived and worked near the Elliotts in the 1960s. The Elliots were the ones who matched the documents from Conrad’s early days to those he filled out decades later as Randele.

“My father never stopped searching for Conrad and always wanted closure up until his death in 2020,” Elliott said in the news release. “... I hope my father is resting a little easier today knowing his investigation and his United States Marshals Service brought closure to this decades-long mystery. Everything in real life doesn’t always end like in the movies.”

IN 1969, THE BANK WORKER STUFFED A PAPER BAG WITH $215,000 — EQUIVALENT TO MORE THAN

$1.7 MILLION TODAY — AND LEFT FOR THE WEEKEND.