In March 2021, after her first round of chemotherapy, her father called her from his bed in a suburb of Boston and revealed a shocking secret: he was a fugitive for over 50 years. Decades earlier, at the age of 20, he robbed a bank in Ohio, making off with 215,000 dollars. His true name was Theodore Conrad, not Thomas Randall as he had assumed.
He begged her not to investigate, but the revelation kept Ashley Randall awake that night after the bomb shell. So, just like many curious people, she took to Google and searched "Ted Conrad missing." The first result was an article titled "Treasury Clerk Robs Bank." As she scrolled through endless articles about the bank robber, she realized with a sinking feeling, "My dad."
Thomas Randale was a respected used car salesman and country club golf pro in Linfield, Massachusetts, who cherished his wife and only child. He took her to football games, wore khakis, and drove fast sports cars. He also donated to local police charities and loved watching shows like "NCIS" and other crime dramas. Little did his daughter know, her dad was the elusive bank robber Ted Conrad in Cleveland.
Inspired by his favorite movie, "The Thomas Crown Affair," Conrad, as a teenager, had committed one of Ohio's largest bank heists – equivalent to 1.7 million dollars today. His handsome young face graced wanted posters, and he became the subject of episodes on "America's Most Wanted" and "Unsolved Mysteries." A U.S. Marshals father-son team in Cleveland had made it their mission to catch him.
"I told him, 'I've been looking for you. There were a million articles about you. They're still looking for you, if you didn't know. We have to tell mom'," Ashley Randal, 38, recounted to CNN. The day after her father revealed the truth, Ashley divulged it to her mother, who was shocked and said, "Oh my god!" for about 10 minutes.
Her father was enamored with crime films featuring Steve McQueen
Conrad's disappearance puzzled investigators for five years.
Comparisons were drawn with the case of D.B. Cooper, hijacker who kidnapped a plane in 1971 and parachuted with 200,000 dollars in cash, disappearing into the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Cooper vanished without a trace, and Conrad's disappearance proved just as challenging.
On July 11, 1969, Theodore John Conrad started working as a teller at National Bank in Cleveland. It was Friday, his birthday weekend, so he enjoyed a beer and cigarettes in his break. When the day ended, he quietly filled a paper bag with 215,000 dollars and said his final goodbyes.
The bank didn't discover their loss until Monday, providing Conrad with a two-day head start.
Just a week after his disappearance, as Apollo 11 carried the first men to the moon, the world forgot the mysterious bank robber from Cleveland. Time melted into decades.
Despite the case being cold, investigators never gave up and began receiving suspected sightings in various states, such as California, Hawaii, Texas, and Oregon. All leads proved false, as frustrated federal agents placed his story in "America's Most Wanted," "Unsolved Mysteries," and other true crime shows.
Meanwhile, Theodore Conrad started a new life as Thomas Randel in Massachusetts. Ironically, he chose to settle in a suburb north of Boston, the city where some of his favorite movies were filmed.
News reports stated that Conrad was obsessed with "The Thomas Crown Affair," a 1968 heist film starring Steve McQueen, about a suave businessman who robs a bank in Boston for the thrill of it. A friend claimed that Conrad had watched the film before the heist multiple times, and boasted about getting a job as a teller without providing fingerprints.
By examining old photographs and documents, it seems likely that Conrad was heavily influenced by the film. He wore a hairpiece, wore costumes with long coats, and adopted a different facial hair style. It is unknown why he chose to remain in the Boston area rather than flee the country.
After his confession, several pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. Ashley Randal realized that her father, a man who never owned a passport, had never left the country.
Curious to uncover the secrets of her father's past, Ashley began researching his history. She learned that he had a previous life as a shoplifter, married twice, had four children, and was an assistant bank manager.
The details that had eluded her for years now made sense, yet she couldn't help but feel sad that her father had lived a lie for so long. She realized that with this revelation, the connection between her loving, loyal father and the infamous bank robber had begun to merge.
As Conrad lived out his remaining days in Boston, the U.S. Marshals Service had its eye on him. In May 2021, two months after confessing his past, he passed away. In a bizarre turn of events, Ashley felt compelled to pursue her father's past to uncover the truth.
She sought out old acquaintances and tracked down a building that stood in the same location as the bank he robbed. She even attended meetings of the local bank robber club. As she delved into her father's past, she found that the man trapped in his own lies was lovingly remembered by those who knew him in his later years.
To Ashley, it seemed the perfect retirement for a career bank robber. Although her dad had once robbed a bank in Ohio, life in Boston had offered him redemption and freedom. Ashley felt that her father, as much as he had wanted to escape his past, was just as trapped by it.
By uncovering the truth, Ashley felt a sense of closure, even if it was bittersweet. She understood why her father had never left Boston, as every time she looked at her life, she saw her father's love and devotion reflected back at her.
In the end, her father's past was a complex mix of crime, love, and redemption. Ashley knew that at the end of the day, her father was, and always would be, the man who raised her, and that was the most important thing of all.
