Two months before he died of lung cancer in 2021, Thomas Randele made a shocking confession to his wife and daughter: He’d been living under a fake name for almost five decades after robbing an Ohio bank of $215,000.
The most interesting thing in that article was that someone anonymously sent in a tip with Randele's obituary which is how they finally closed the case. Who is the rando super sleuth following this cold case for 50 years obsessively scanning obits from all over the country?
My guess would be there are a number of people who are hobbyist cold case investigators and have a list of wanted people they keep an eye out for in obits.
There's an actual quality true crime podcast called Crime Junkie, and an associated podcast specifically dedicated to cold cases called The Deck. It's a whole thing for some people, but occasionally a listener hits on something and makes a phone call that gets the ball rolling again.
I listen because I find it interesting, but that's the extent of it. Some people it's truly a hobby, or more to chase information down.
It's crazy to think about all the things we've each done and seen in our lives, and maybe at some point we were part of some terrible crime and had no idea. Maybe we saw and still remember something that if known to someone else would completely change their life.