Finally, tonight this story may have you asking yourself, what would you do if you found out your father was a fugitive? That's the question one person answers in a shocking new podcast that caught our eye. It's called Smokescreen, My Fugitive Dad, and it tells a story of an infamous bank robber who disappeared and was never caught. Ted Conrad stole $219,000 in 1969 from inside a vault, leaving with a paper bag full of the money, a bottle of whiskey, and a pack of cigarettes. For context, that would equal about $1.8 million today. Conrad was never caught and only revealed the truth to his daughter weeks before he died. We're joined now by that daughter, Ashley Randall, the daughter of bank robber Ted Conrad, the subject of this podcast who she knew as Tom Randall. Ashley, thanks so much for joining Top Story. First, to get our viewers up to speed here, how did your dad tell you that he was this bank robbing fugitive?

So we were sitting in the living room, my mom, my dad, and me, and watching NCIS, and he very nonchalantly said, Ladies, just in case something ever comes up after I pass, I just wanted to let you know that when I moved here, I changed my name. You can't tell anybody because the authorities are probably still looking for me, and I don't want to talk about it. I thought, This is the worst dad joke ever. Then realized that he wasn't actually joking. So the next day I said, You need to tell me your name. I deserve to know my dad's name, and therefore my name. And he looked scared, but that's when he told me his name was Ted Conrad.

And then when you Googled him, you found this story?

I Googled him that night at about 2:30 in the morning alone in my childhood bedroom. And the first thing I saw when I put in Ted Conrad missing was a bunch of headlines saying, Fugitive missing, vault teller steals money. I thought, Oh, my God. My dad is a wanted fugitive. My life is a lifetime movie. This is insane.

Then how did you know your dad was telling you the truth? Were you able to verify? Could you tell from the photos?

Yeah, I saw the photos and I thought, wow, that would be my dad if he were younger. I'd never actually seen photos of him when he was a kid. He said when he moved here, his story was that his parents had died in a car crash and that he was an only child, didn't have any other family, and so he just left, left everything behind and came here. So in talking to him, I realized it was the same birthday, just two different years, and his parents' names were the same, the same first names. And then the more we talked, the more stories he told and realized that this was real and that he had been hiding for 52 years.

What did your mom say? Did your mom have any idea?

She had no idea. I was the one who ended up having to tell her because my dad just couldn't bring himself to tell her and hurt her with this. I've never seen her look more shocked in her life. She just kept saying, Oh, my God. Oh, my God, over and over again as she scrolled through all the articles on Google.

Why did your dad tell you? Why do you think he told you?

He was really sick in the spring of 2021, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer, and he realized that he didn't have a lot of time left. I think that he was worried that if the other shoe ever dropped, my mom and I would be so blindsided and never get some of the answers. I think he realized that time was short and he did need to tell us.

-so we were prepared. -so how did he pull off the heist?

It was premeditated, as we've learned. He did do some research with one of his friends to see how easy it would be to get another Social Security card, and in 1969, it's not that hard. You just have to walk into a registrar's office and say, Hey, I need a Social Security card, and they give you one. He also wasn't fingerprinted at the bank. Not that it slipped through the cracks, it just wasn't something they did at the time, fingerprinting all employees. And he worked in the vault. He was the vault teller. So he was in charge of the books for the vaults. He took the money on a Friday on a long weekend, I think the Apollo mission was launching. They didn't know until Monday, and by then he was gone. He got on a plane Friday night.

How was he able to keep this secret? I asked this question, I don't mean to speak ill of your father, but he cut off all ties, right? So the law would not catch up with him. I mean, was your dad a sociopath in a way? I mean, because you got to think about cutting off from everyone you know in your entire life to live this new life and to live a double life for so long.

Yeah, so I think that I inherited from him the gift of being able to put things in a box and put it on a shelf and forget about it because he had to. There's no way he could have started over. And thankfully, when he landed in Boston in 1970, he found a great group of friends. He built a life. And then in the late '70s, he met my mom. My mom has a huge extended family, and he found what he was looking for, and he just settled into this suburban dad life.

Did you think different of your father when he told you this?

I think there's that moment of shock, but my dad was and still is my favorite person. He was always there for me growing up. Even into my 30s. I would talk to him about everything from career advice or help me with a school project or what do I do about boy troubles? And he was always there at every soccer game, driving me to school every day. I told him, This doesn't change how I feel about you. I love you. Mom and I both love you. But we have to talk about this because it does explain why you did keep lots of secrets and why you only told half truths because you were keeping this bigger secret from us.

What are some types of things that he would do that would half truth drive you crazy?

Well, looking back when I was in high school, we had an opportunity through French class to go to France, and it was less expensive because it was through the school, and they said parents can come as chaperones. You need to pay your way, but we never would have been able to afford to travel to Europe ever if it weren't subsidized and my mom said, Sign me up. I'll be a chaperone. Tommy, you come too. We'll all go. And he said, I don't really think I want to go to France. And we thought that was so weird. He only wanted to travel within the United States. And at the time, I just thought he's a little cookie. I guess he really likes the United States. But I look back now and I realize, no, he couldn't get a passport because he doesn't have a birth certificate. You need that for a passport.

-wow.

-you might have a Social Security card.

Has anybody from his previous life... Have you been able to connect with him or talk to them? And what do they say about this?

Yeah, I've been able to talk to a couple of friends of his, a couple of ex-girlfriends, and they all say the way that they describe Ted Conrad is exactly the way that Tom Randall's friends describe him as a really dependable, good, solid guy that they never would have suspected was a fugitive. It was nice to know that this day in July, when he took the money, we learned that it wasn't really about the money. He loved the Thomas Crown affair, and that might have inspired him to say, Hey, I work in a bank, I could take the money. But he really was trying to get out of a not-so-great-family situation that he was in, and I think he always wanted to start over. But when you're 20 years old and you're working in a vault full of money, how much easier is it to start over with a bag of cash?

It was a crime. It was a crime that was committed. The feds were after him for decades. I know you've built a relationship with one of the law enforcement personalities that was trying to chase him down for so many years.

Yeah, with Pete Elliot, who is the son of John Elliot, the original Marshall on the case back in '69. Pete, my mom, and I have this great relationship, especially the first year after-Wait.

Let's just slow down because that just sounds so bizarre. I'm sorry. So you, your mom, and the son of the Marshall who was chasing your father's entire life and never caught him, are now all friends?

All friends. I adore Pete. I think he is an amazing stand-up guy, and this is going to sound crazy, but I think that if he and my dad had met under different circumstances, they would have been friends. If my dad hadn't been on the run and Pete hadn't been looking for him, they're very similar. They're both genuinely nice, good men who are living good lives.

-does your family owe any money?

-i called Pete three.

Days ago. Did your family owe any of this money back? -have the bank, the Fed to ask for.

It back? -my mom and I were... Yeah, so my mom, I mean, there's no money. I mean, that money was gone before he even started dating my mom in the late '70s. I think that it's public record that my parents filed for bankruptcy in 2014. So there's no hidden money. There's no money to give back. And my mom and I also not part of the crime, so we're told pretty much immediately that we are not in trouble, but we can help answer some questions.

About the crime. Not part of the crime, but telling an incredible true crime story. Ashley Randall, we thank you for your time. We look forward to listening to the entire podcast. Tell our viewers where they can hear it before you go. Yes, it is available.

It is available everywhere you listen to podcasts. The first episode is available ad-free today. It's called Smokscreen, My Fugitive Dad. But if you subscribe to The binge, then you can listen to all six episodes all at once right now.

It's incredible. Ashley Randall, we thank you so much, and thank you for joining Top Story tonight. Thank you. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the BBC News app or follow us on social media.