These are the terms set in the letter: “If you announce on TV that I will be promised to first go to jail for no more than a year and get medical attention, I will write back to let you know exactly where I am. This is no joke…”
But before the deal was even considered, the letter itself had to be investigated to see if any other information about its authenticity and origin could be discovered. An intensive analysis was done of every aspect of the letter in an attempt to unlock its secrets. The police knew it had something priceless in their hands.
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?
Authenticity
The US Marshals handed the letter over to the FBI, who then tested the paper extensively. They checked for trace DNA evidence, dusted for fingerprints, and ran handwriting analysis using the three escapees' writing samples from when they were locked up. But did they find anything?
San Francisco’s local CBS affiliate, KPIX, published the letter and reported on the investigation. According to them, “the FBI’s results were inconclusive.” A security expert on the channel gave the following perplexing quote as to the letter’s authenticity, saying the FBI’s conclusion: “means yes, and it means no, so this leaves everything in limbo.”
Still Running
Over the years, the US Marshals’ position has been that “it is possible” Morris and the Anglin brothers survived the escape. But after the letter came to light in January 2018, one of their representatives questioned the letter’s legitimacy to The Washington Post, claiming he believed it was a fake.
A quote from the Post’s article stated: “The Marshals Service has continued to investigate leads and said it will do so until the men are proven deceased, or until they turn 99.” The FBI saw things differently when they decided to call off the search in 1979; this was their take: “For the 17 years we worked on the case, no credible evidence emerged to suggest the men were still alive, either in the U.S. or overseas.”