FBI agent whose career had bookends in Des Moines departs: 'It's been great'

Randy Thysse has chased kidnappers and skinheads, and he investigated the disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts during his nearly 30 years with the FBI. 

He can thank his accounting degree for that. 

The 56-year-old has approved wiretaps on suspected drug dealers and coordinated international counterintelligence operations. Understandably, he had little idea that's how he'd spend much of his adult life after leaving a Minnesota liberal arts college with plans of being an accountant.

Thysse ended his 29-year career with the FBI on May 31 where it started — in an office in Des Moines. 

"It's been great," he said. "If you’re on the hot chase for a bank robbery or a kidnapper, that’s all law enforcement think (about) 'til it’s solved. I'll kind of miss it and not miss it, you know what I mean?”

The burly Minnesota native has moved back to his home state to begin a new job auditing cybersecurity systems for U.S. Bank. He said he looks forward to making up for lost time with his adult children and working a 9-to-5 job, but he took pleasure in recounting the steps — through a half dozen countries and even more states — that led him back to the Midwest.

From accounting, to the FBI, to Iowa and beyond

Thysse, who grew up near Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb, left the University of St. Thomas with a plan to join an accounting firm. Plans change, however.

"I bought a house next to an (FBI) agent in Dallas, Texas, and he was like, 'Oh, you're (in) accounting?’... why don’t you give (the FBI) a try?’ And here I am, 30 years later," Thysse said from his Des Moines office last month.

The young accountant set off for new agent training in Quantico, Virginia, in 1989. There, he learned the bureau's language by taking courses in everything from legal classes to computer training.

Thysse's class unexpectedly rubbed elbows with a movie star during the shooting of an Academy Award-winning film. 

"Jodie Foster, she hung out with our class for a couple weeks," Thysse said. "Some of the clips from 'Silence of the Lambs' from the back, that was my class. In the movie, there’s an obstacle course you run, it’s called the Yellow Brick Road. She actually ran the Yellow Brick Road with us.

"The bad thing about it was they made us do it again next week," he said with a chuckle.

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From Virginia, Thysse was sent to Des Moines for his first office assignment. The staff was small enough that a guy used to working with numbers and security systems could learn how to investigate violent crimes and kidnappings, too.

He and his wife, Karin, bought a home in Beaverdale. They each got degrees from Drake, and their daughter briefly went to school in Des Moines before work brought the family across the country — and globe. 

The couple had a son, too. The kids, who weren't allowed to know much about their father's job, came with their dad while he worked the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Thysse has also taken FBI work in Nashville, Tennessee; Helena, Montana; Washington D.C.; and New York City.

"I’ve been all over the world. Been to Eastern Europe, been all over Asia and central America, the Middle East," he said. "Been to a lot of places you’d never (think to) go and cultures you don’t see.”

But at the end of day, he wanted to come back to the Midwest.

Racists in Des Moines, a book thief in Ottumwa

During his career, Thysse has worked missing-persons cases in Iowa and Montana and counterintelligence in New York.

The most gratifying case he solved, though, was the 1994 racially motivated beating of a black man in Des Moines by at least five assailants. 

"They just happened to run across this black guy with his white wife at the city park," he said. "They assaulted him to the point where he almost died. I remember that investigation. It was a joint case with us and the Des Moines Police Department. We ended up convicting five of them. That was very rewarding."

The victim in the attack was hospitalized after being kicked, punched and cut. The men, four of whom were from Des Moines, admitted in court that the crime was racially motivated.

Five people, all aged under 23 years old, were given prison sentences ranging from 16 to 48 months. 

Thysse said that case sticks out because of a unique challenge.

"They were all believers of white supremacy and none of them wanted to go against their philosophy or talk or break their code of silence, so to speak. So it was a very tight-knit group," he said. "It was hard to break that circle."

Another memorable case was the first search warrant Thysse executed back in 1990. Stephen Carrie Blumberg was posing as a professor, and he traveled around the U.S. and Canada, stealing millions in rare books and documents.

"He had bought an old mansion down in Ottumwa, and he was storing all these old books, valuable books. (He'd do) everything from sneaking 'em out, throwing 'em out the window — some of the (thefts) were very simple," Thysse said. "I was, like, a brand-new agent. ... We did the search warrant and literally left with about three-quarters of a semi’s worth. It was a massive amount of books.”

Blumberg had taken $20 million in merchandise when federal agent raided his property nearly 30 years ago. About 28,000 books and antiques stolen from 154 college libraries and museums were recovered. 

Blumberg served 4½ years in prison and was released in 1995. 

By 1998, Thysse decided he wanted to manage instead of execute operations. He called it moving away from "tip of the spear." That's what led him to his last role in the FBI, special agent in charge.

“This is where my career started, and 29½ later, this is where it can end," Thysse said. 

'It's been a great career' 

That was three years ago. Now, Thysse is looking to move on from the FBI. Sudden late-night calls for work and missed family events are no longer parts of his daily life.

“In the bureau, your job almost becomes your hobby. Even when you’re there watching TV, a lot of your thoughts are about a kidnapping case or your investigations," he said. “It occupies your spare thoughts, and kinda rightfully so."

Thysse said he won't miss the wild hours or hate mail. He will miss chasing suspects and the camaraderie that comes with being a law enforcement officer. 

The collaboration was no more apparent than during the Mollie Tibbetts investigation, one of Thysse's last big assignments for the FBI. 

“It was very disheartening... very emotional," he said. "You have so much time into it, and seeing the senseless nature to that kind of thing, having such a young life with so much potential just gone.

"You try to be as optimistic as you can, and you don’t let up.”

He commended the central Iowa community for its "incredible" support for law enforcement, not just in that case. 

Despite that appreciation, he thinks this is the time for a "new chapter" closer to his adult children and hometown. 

"Changing gears to a new job and a new way of life, it’s scary. But at the same time, (I'm) really looking forward to being around my kids more and reconnecting with friends," he said.

Thysse appears happy to be putting his time and effort toward a new mission: one that has nothing to do with accounting or investigations. 

“It’s been a great career," he said. “I guess the best way to put it now is… my energy has to be more on my family.”

Follow the Register on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Tyler Davis can be contacted at 515-284-8378, tjdavis@dmreg.com or on Twitter @TDavisDMR.

Randall Thysse's FBI career

1989-98: Field agent in Des Moines as part of the FBI's Omaha Division.

1998-2000: Worked financial crimes in Washington D.C.

2000-02: Worked as a supervisor in Helena, Montana.

2002-05: Worked on financial details of espionage cases.

2005-08: Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Nashville, Tennessse, doing "everything from financial crimes to drug to computer crimes to terrorism." 

2008-11: Ran global counterintelligence in Washington D.C; “I was responsible for all of our counterintelligence investigations, except for Russia and China."

2011-13: Continued counterintelligence work while in New York City.

2013-16: Ran the Criminal Justice Information Services unit in Clarksburg, West Virginia. “It’s basically the law enforcement cloud where we store all the fingerprint, criminal history data center and all that kind of stuff.”

2016-May 31, 2019: Special Agent in Charge, FBI Omaha Division.