After fifty years of research, US federal justice found the new identity of Theodore John Conrad, guilty of robbing a bank in 1968.
53 years. This is how long it takes for the US Marshal Service of Cleveland to track down one of
Ohio’s best-known fugitives: Theodore John Conrad. On Friday, November 12, members of the
federal police agency, responsible for tracking down those wanted by the American justice
system, spoke in a press release entitled: "The mystery solved of the Ted Conrad case, the man
who carried out one of the biggest bank robberies in Cleveland ”. Unfortunately, the fugitive
turned out to be dead a few months ago.
On Friday July 11, 1969, Theodore John Conrad went to work as a traditional bank teller at the
Society National Bank of Cleveland. And according to the Marshals' explanation, he ended his
day by stealing $ 215,000, the equivalent of $ 1.7 million in 2021 (about 1.5 million euros), out of paper bags, before disappearing.
It was not until Monday morning, three days after the incident, that bank workers became
concerned about the young man's disappearance. The money was already out of the safe, as was the 20-year-old who was missing.
Ted Conrad was a fan of Norman Jewison's film "The Thomas Crown Affair", released in 1968.
The latter tells the story of Thomas Crown, banker, rich and weary of a monotonous existence
who decided to rob his own bank for to feel "alive". Steve McQueen, the main actor in this film,
was an idol to many Americans at the time, yet another reason for Theodore John Conrad to take
action. Ironically, he lived for fifty years in Boston, very close to the location of his favorite feature film.
Evidence of the perplexity of the investigation and the inability of the American Marshals to
locate the fugitive, the television shows America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries took up
his case. It wasn't until early November 2021 that investigators managed to identify the identity
with which Theodore John Conrad made a new life: Thomas Randele. Unfortunately for
investigators, he died of lung cancer in May 2021 in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 71. Once again, they were late.
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