Alcatraz Escape: Inmates May Have Survived 1962 Breakout

The 1962 Alcatraz escape of three inmates has long baffled investigators. While many want to say John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris died in their attempt to make their way across San Franc...
Alcatraz Escape: Inmates May Have Survived 1962 Breakout
Written by Kimberly Ripley
  • The 1962 Alcatraz escape of three inmates has long baffled investigators. While many want to say John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris died in their attempt to make their way across San Francisco Bay in a raft made of rubber raincoats, relatives beg to differ. They’ve even provided evidence that proves their Alcatraz escape may have been a successful one.

    Relatives of the Anglin brothers shared information with the History Channel for a show that aired on Monday.

    Nephews Ken and David Widner presented retired U.S. Marshals investigator Art Roderick with a photo of the Anglin brothers that was taken in 1975, showing them alive and well in Brazil. He also claimed the family had received Christmas cards from them.

    Roderick led the team of investigators of the Alcatraz escape for 20 years before retiring. He has kept up his own personal investigation, however, since then.

    These new findings mean the 1962 Alcatraz escape was the only successful escape in the prison’s 29-year history.

    The three inmates are believed to have dug holes from their jail cells, using butter knives and spoons–a process that likely took months. They then scaled barbed-wire fences en route to the water. The trio threw guards off by placing dummy heads replete with real human hair in their beds.

    Dutch researchers concluded several months ago that if the Alcatraz escape took place between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and midnight, the inmates would have had a chance of making it before the waters turned too cold.

    Art Roderick calls this latest information on the Alcatraz escape “game changing.”

    “I truly believe we’re going to close it,” he says of the case.

    Have you long wondered about the 1962 Alcatraz escape? Did you expect the inmates had drowned while navigating the waters in San Francisco Bay?

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