Tom Randele’s shocking revelation leaves daughter in disbelief – A tale of unsolved bank heists and hidden identities
In a startling revelation, an affable dad, known as Tom Randele, took a lifetime of secrets to his deathbed, leaving his daughter, Ashley, grappling with the shocking truth. The revelation, made as he battled lung cancer in 2021, exposed a criminal double life hidden for decades.
Ashley, who had a close relationship with her 71-year-old father, was blindsided by his confessions, unveiled during an intimate moment. Speaking on the ‘Smoke Screen: My Fugitive Dad’ podcast, Ashley recalled the surreal conversation where her father urged her not to investigate further, saying, “If I tell you, you have to promise you will not look into it. I don’t want you looking into anything. I don’t want you telling anybody.”
What followed was a revelation that shook Ashley to her core – her father, who she knew as Tom Randele, was born Ted Conrad and was involved in one of America’s greatest unsolved bank heists in 1969. At the time, Conrad, working as a bank teller at Society National Bank in Cleveland, Ohio, vanished after $215,000 went missing from the vaults.
Fleeing the area, Conrad resettled over 750 miles away in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, where he assumed a new identity and started a family. Ashley embarked on a journey to piece together her father’s elusive past, reaching out to friends and former girlfriends from his life in Cleveland.
Despite her father’s plea to refrain from delving into his criminal history, Ashley, unable to resist the urge to unravel the mystery, discovered the shocking truth online. “I’m alone in my childhood bedroom, and I Googled ‘Ted Conrad missing,’ and the first thing that came up said something like, ‘Vault teller robs bank,'” she recounted.
The revelation exposed Ted Conrad’s 52-year-long evasion of justice. A few months after his demise, police, having received a tip from a crime reporter in Ohio, visited Ashley and her mother. While they had intended to share the truth themselves, the authorities beat them to it. In exchange for full disclosure, the family was assured they wouldn’t face criminal charges.
Reflecting on her father’s hidden life, Ashley mused on her podcast, “He was always so relaxed and easygoing. I would have never guessed how many secrets he had.”
