Most of the time, life inspires cinema, which in the case of Theodore Conrad does not apply, as the exact opposite happened. The $ 1 million bank robbery he organized and committed himself is inspired by film “The Thomas Crowe Case” starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.
How the Thomas Crowe Case inspired a 19-year-old boy to rob his life
Conrad was 19 when the film hit theaters, where he Steve McQueen impersonating a millionaire bank robber, whom he saw many times over and over again. He was a well-meaning, popular student with a bright mind and a position on the student council and took a job at the headquarters of the Society National Bank.
A year after the film’s release, Conrad decided to make one robbery on his own, just going to the treasury and leaving with a paper bag full of $ 215,000 – more than $ 1.7 million in today’s money. However, despite his great booty, Conrad would not be associated with crime for more than half a century.
Conrad was discovered after his death
According to grunge.com, though the robbery was one of the most notorious In Ohio history, Conrad was recognized just five decades after his robbery. Conrad committed the robbery on Friday, July 11, 1969, so the missing money was not discovered until Monday. Conrad did not show up for work that day and had spent the weekend taking an early lead.
The 20-year-old ended up in Massachusetts, changing his name to Thomas Randel. In Massachusetts, Conrad worked as a golf instructor and car salesman, and raised his own family. She managed to escape from the police for about 50 years, until the case was taken over by the son of one of the police officers who had worked to find her when the robbery took place.
The police officer was able to connect Randel with Conrad only after the robber died of lung cancer and a closer examination of the documents connected Randel with his real identity. Although the mystery was finally solved, Conrad lived and died last May, according to grunge.com, without facing any sanction or punishment for his robbery – just as McQueen did in The Thomas Crown Case. .
The film was nominated for two Oscar, winning the best original song for “The Windmills of Your Mind” by Michel Legrand. A remake of the film was released in 1999 and a second remake has been in development since 2016.
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