CLEVELAND — It’s “case closed” for one of the biggest bank heists in Cleveland history, thanks to detective work by a father passed on to his son. 

U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott followed his father’s footsteps into law enforcement. His dad, John, was a deputy U.S. Marshal. 

“Prior to that, my great-grandfather was a police chief in Alliance, Ohio, outside of, in Stark County, so that’s really where it all started in my family,” Elliott said. 

But, it was his father who was on the case when hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from Society National Bank.

On July 11, 1969, the day after his 20th birthday, investigators said Ted Conrad walked into the bank where he worked as a teller. 

“He stuffed $215,000 in a paper bag, put a bottle of whiskey and a pack of cigarettes, I think, on top of it and walked out,” Elliott said. “And was never seen again.”

At least, not as Theodore J. Conrad. 

 “Just disappeared in plain sight with a different identity,” Elliott said. 

Conrad’s caper sparked an international manhunt, but it was his ties closer to home that made catching Conrad a family affair for the Elliotts. 

“Conrad and my father shared the same doctor,” Elliot said. “And when I was a kid, my father used to take us to the local ice cream shop at the top of the street on Madison Avenue and Conrad worked in there.”

Finding the fugitive became a focus for the elder Elliott. 

“As a kid, I would remember my father sitting around saying, you know, ‘Pass the mashed potatoes, and when the hell am I going to get Ted Conrad?’” Elliott said. 

But John Elliott passed away in 2020 — before he found his man. 

“When my father was dying and in hospice, I told him we were going to get Conrad,” Elliott said. “And I didn’t really understand what ‘get’ meant and I didn’t know how much I really believed it.”

But it was another man’s obituary, Thomas Randele, who died in Massachusetts last year that caught the younger Elliott’s attention. 

Randele shared the same birthday and birthplace as Conrad. Both men also claimed to have attended New England College. 

“When people lie, they lie close to home,” Elliott said. 

Another clue was their similar signatures. Conrad’s original signature was obtained from applications he submitted in 1967, secured by Elliott’s father. It was compared to Randele’s signature found on a 2014 bankruptcy filing.

“Your handwriting doesn’t really change over a period of time,” Elliott said. 

That was enough to convince Elliott and a deputy to make a trip to Boston to meet with Randele’s widow and daughter.

“Randele admitted, they told us that day before he died, that he was really Theodore J. Conrad,” Elliott said. 

Randele, or Conrad, died at 71 years old from lung cancer. 

“He was well known in his community, well liked,” Elliott said. “Everything I know about him, he was a good father, a good husband and a good friend to many.”

He just happened to be one of America’s most wanted men.

The original 1969 case is now closed. 

“On the bottom of it, I signed my name and I said ‘On behalf of John K. Elliott,” Pete Elliot said. 

Elliott said investigators are now using newly acquired emails and phone numbers to go back in time to take a closer look at Conrad’s decades on the run. 

And Elliott is turning the page on to the next case. 

“Maybe Conrad and my father are up in heaven having a beer together saying, ‘Hey, I wish I would’ve got you years ago,’ and him saying, ‘Hey, I’m glad you didn’t get me years ago,’” Elliott said. 

He said he's proud to finish what his dad started. 

“He would be thrilled, I’m telling you,” Elliott said. “This was his number one case in his life and that’s all he talked about and that’s all he wanted to accomplish.”