The letter begins: “My name is John Anglin. I escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I’m 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer. Yes, we all made it that night, but barely!” Anglin continues: “Frank passed away in October 2008. His grave is in Argentina under another name.
My brother died in 2011.” But where was Anglin now, and why was he suddenly reaching out? The letter reveals everything. Was there perhaps another letter that the police were unaware of, or was this letter the final clue the police were ever going to get their hands on?
Deathbed Confession
Another piece of the puzzle was supplied by Robert Anglin, one of the Anglin siblings, who confessed on his deathbed that he had been in touch with John and Clarence from 1963 through 1987 but claimed that they later lost touch. The Anglin family did not seek out their long-lost brothers in Brazil because the escape from “The Rock” is still an open Interpol investigation.
If they were to locate and inadvertently lead police to their siblings, they would face severe repercussions. The question of why the police didn't harshly investigate the Anglin family members remains unknown. Maybe the police knew more than we think?
The Letter
The famous great escape of Alcatraz made new headlines in January 2018 when the FBI shockingly announced that they were reopening the case. The decades-old cold case was suddenly brought back to life by intriguing new evidence.
The new evidence was a letter sent to the San Francisco Police Department in 2013 signed by a man claiming to be John Anglin, one of the Alcatraz escapees. It is unclear why the letter didn’t come to light for five years, but its contents were both intriguing and shocking. Was this a key point in the new and modern investigation of the case?
Where was He?
The letter, written supposedly by John Anglin, goes on to reveal where he has been in the many years since he “escaped” Alcatraz prison. The letter continues with, “This is the real and honest truth. I could tell you that for seven years of living in Minot, North Dakota and a year in Fargo, North Dakota until 2003”.
The letter was unreadable in parts, but a special BBC report interpreted the contents and found that Anglin had lived in Seattle “for most of my years after the Escape.” But it was the next revelation the letter contained that was truly unbelievable!
Close Enough to Touch
The letter supposedly written by John Anglin also revealed the man’s current location “Living in Southern California now.” It is almost impossible to believe that a fugitive from the law and participant in one of the greatest prison breaks of all time, was currently living only a few hours from San Francisco.
The man who wrote the letter was extremely ill and desperate for some help, even if that meant jail time, but was the letter writer really John Anglin? The letter ended with a highly unusual deal offered to the authorities. Would they be willing to agree to these unbelievable terms?