Investigators track down Cleveland bank teller who stuffed $215K into a paper bag after his shift 52 years ago — and vanished

That was in July 1969, and he stole the equal of $1.7 million these days in a person of the most important lender robberies in the town, the US Marshals Service stated.

Now far more than five a long time later on, the federal law enforcement company introduced Friday that it is determined the gentleman thought of one of the nation’s most wanted fugitives.

Conrad experienced been dwelling in Boston since 1970 below the identify Thomas Randele, authorities stated. In still another extraordinary twist, his house was close to exactly where the film “The Thomas Crown Affair” was filmed. In the unique motion picture, the most important character steals more than $2 million from a Boston lender.

“A calendar year ahead of the Cleveland financial institution theft, Conrad grew to become obsessed with the 1968 Steve McQueen movie,” the US Marshals Support claimed in a assertion. “The film was based mostly on the financial institution robbery for activity by a millionaire businessman, and Conrad … bragged to his close friends about how simple it would be to get cash from the bank.”

A long time of chasing sales opportunities nationwide

Conrad’s alleged heist took location on a Friday. The lender did not know the cash was missing from the vault till Monday, when he failed to show up for perform. Then the case went cold.

For many years, investigators have chased ideas on Conrad’s whereabouts in many states, like California, Hawaii, Texas and Oregon. His circumstance was spotlighted on “America’s Most Preferred” and “Unsolved Mysteries.”

After several years of investigation, federal authorities traveled to Massachusetts final 7 days and verified he’d been residing a peaceful life beneath a fictitious identify in Boston. As component of their investigation, they when compared his 1960s documents to paperwork he’d done less than the title Randele, including a 2014 bankruptcy submitting at a Boston federal court.

He died of lung most cancers in Could of this year in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, the US Marshals Support said. He was 71.

A father and son assisted clear up the mystery

One particular of the case’s important investigators was Peter J. Elliott, a US marshal from northern Ohio, whose relatives lived in close proximity to Conrad in the late 1960s.

“This is a case I know all much too very well. My father, John K. Elliott, was a focused vocation deputy United States marshal in Cleveland from 1969 right until his retirement in 1990,” he claimed. “My father in no way stopped exploring for Conrad and always wished closure up until eventually his loss of life in 2020.”

Some of the files uncovered by the elder Elliott played a job in confirming Conrad’s identification, the son said.

“I hope my father is resting a tiny much easier today understanding his investigation … introduced closure to this decades-long mystery,” the more youthful Elliott claimed. “All the things in real life isn’t going to constantly finish like in the flicks.”