Harold St. Pierre was a bank manager who had an unwanted and harrowing role in Hamilton's largest bank robbery.

An escaped killer held his family captive and got away with more than $100,000.

St. Pierre died at age 85 at a London, Ont., nursing home on July 22.

The audacious robbery was committed by Frederick Cadeddu, an escaped killer from Millhaven Penitentiary in Kingston, and had the hallmarks of a Hollywood movie. But it wasn't a movie - it was a terrifying reality.

The drama began in the early-morning hours of July 7, 1980, at the west Mountain home of the St. Pierre family at 2 West 22nd St., just off Bendamere Avenue.

St. Pierre, the manager of the Canadian Imperial Bank on Commerce at King Street East and Wellington Street North, was awoken at his home at 6 a.m. by Caddedu, who was pointing a gun at him and carrying what he said was a bomb.

According to reports in The Spectator, as St. Pierre, then 47, approached the man at his bedroom door, Caddedu hit him on the forehead and eye.

The other people in the home - St. Pierre's wife, Nellie; his son, Jeff, then 19; and a nephew, Peter Somers, then 23, visiting from Niagara Falls - were rounded up and escorted into the living room by the killer.

He told them to be calm and that "no one will be hurt as long as you follow my orders."

He ordered St. Pierre to tape and bind his family using tape that Caddedu had brought with him.

At about 9 a.m., Caddedu and St. Pierre left for the downtown bank, but not before he told them there was a bomb in the house. Caddedu said he had an accomplice and that the bomb was in the kitchen.

He told them at the first sign of police the explosive would be detonated.

The pair went to St. Pierre's office at the bank and two briefcases were filled with $101,000 from the bank vault. Other reports said it was $105,000.

Caddedu took St. Pierre's car and dropped him off at Main Street East and Victoria Avenue South. St. Pierre grabbed a cab and returned home to find that his nephew had gotten free and unbound the family.

Police were called and the bomb squad and Hamilton firefighters examined the house. A device found in the kitchen was determined not to be a bomb.

An intensive manhunt followed and Caddedu was caught six days later hiding in the attic of a Niagara Falls home. Police later said Caddedu had been given well worn bills by St. Pierre and they became suspicious when a number of them turned up at a Niagara Falls bank.

Caddedu, then 30, was charged with 10 offences, including robbery and four counts of forcible confinement. He pleaded guilty July 25, 1980. He was sentenced Aug. 8 to two years for breaking and entering, three for dangerous use of a firearm and 12 years for robbery. About $70,000 of the stolen loot was recovered by police.

Caddedu was already serving a life sentence for killing a Brampton man at a card game that he raided and robbed. He escaped from Millhaven by hiding in 200 hollowed-out trays on a cart.

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St. Pierre never spoke publicly about his ordeal and turned down interview requests. The family moved into the home in about 1970 and St. Pierre and his wife Nellie lived there for the next four decades.

Jeff St. Pierre declined comment when reached by The Spectator, other than to say his father was a hardworking man who was devoted to his family.

"He always shunned attention and I'm a bit like my dad like that," said Pierre, who is a child and youth psychologist at Western University in London.

Judge Peter Mitchell, however, noted the terror the family faced when he sentenced Caddedu.

"The fear that must have pervaded that house is something someone should not be subjected to," he said.

He didn't doubt far worse could have befallen the St. Pierre family.

"Obviously, the crimes that you have committed and the manner of carrying them out was dangerous. Judging by your previous record, you would have used the ultimate means to achieve your ends."

In June of this year, Harold and Nellie St. Pierre renewed their wedding vows at a ceremony at the Village of Glendale Crossing in London. According to a story on the home's website, it was almost exactly 59 years after their original wedding. It was performed as part of a wish program run by the nursing home and the wish was made by St. Pierre. His health began to falter after they renewed their vows.

St. Pierre is survived by his wife, Nellie; son, Jeff; three grandchildren, two sisters and a brother. He was predeceased by three brothers. St. Pierre donated his body to the school of anatomy at Western University.

dnolan@thespec.com

905-526-3351 | @dandundas