Escape from Alcatraz?
A photograph that suggests Alcatraz inmates John and Clarence Anglin didn’t die during their infamous 1962 escape, but instead made it all the way to Brazil has emerged, but the single investigator who is still assigned to the case is not convinced.
I don’t blame him.
“I can’t say yes or no on it,” U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke, based in Oakland, said in an interview. “I’ve seen the picture. I’m doing analysis on the photo as we speak and having the FBI look at it. The important thing is to not draw any conclusions as it hasn’t been vetted through regular investigative channels.”
A retired U.S. Marshall who worked on the case for 20 years submitted the photograph to a forensic artist who concluded that the men in the photograph are likely John and Clarence Anglin. However, the photographs have not been submitted to facial recognition analysis by the excellent software that is currently available.
I wrote about facial recognition software in my blog on July 4, 2010. If you are interested in how INVASIVE government (and commercial!) domestic spying was, even back then, you should read the blog. Since the blog is 5 ½ years old ( a lifetime in technology) we can only image the sophistication of facial recognition now.
Relatives of the Anglin brothers, nephews Ken Widner, 54 and David Widner, 48, have handed over to authorities the image that allegedly shows John and Clarence living in Brazil in 1975! SFGate.com continues:
The Widners also shared the image with the History Channel that aired the special “Alcatraz: Search for the Truth” last night <October 12, 2015>. On the show, the nephews said the photo was taken by the Anglins’ family friend Fred Brizzi, who claimed to have bumped into the brothers in Rio de Janiero in the ’70s. Brizzi passed the photo to the Anglin family in 1992, and they kept it under wraps until now.
“This is absolutely the best actionable lead we’ve had,” Art Roderick, a retired U.S. marshal who worked on the case for 20 years, said in the special.
Roderick had the photo analyzed by a forensic artist who concluded the men in the photo are likely John and Clarence Anglin. The retired investigator also hypothesized that Brizzi might have helped the Anglin brothers escape Alcatraz.
The Anglin brothers and fellow inmate Frank Morris “… spent two years secretly planning their elaborate scheme to break free from the super-max prison that involved tucking dummy heads made from plaster and real human hair into their beds before squeezing through holes they spent months digging with spoons and butter knives. They clambered up a drainpipe and down a kitchen vent and climbed over two fences with barbed wire. From the “inescapable” island’s shore, they set off across San Francisco Bay on an inflatable raft made from stolen rain coats.
The fate of these three men and their makeshift vessel has long been questioned. A myriad conflicting theories have surfaced over the years, and the 1979 Hollywood film “Escape from Alcatraz,” chronicling their story, starring Clint Eastwood, only added to the speculation.”
Time may tell.
-Bill at
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