California Dreamin’

alcatraz letter

The letter’s cryptic conclusion hung in the air like a thunderclap—”Living in Southern California now.” Could it be that the elusive fugitive had been dwelling just a stone’s throw from the very city he had once dared to defy? John Anglin, the enigmatic scribe, now lay on a sickbed, his defiance unabated, unburdened by the specter of returning to jail.

In a bizarre twist, the missive bore an unusual request, a plea to an unconventional law enforcement—should they come forward with a simple message, John Anglin promised to turn himself in, an offer that dangled like a tantalizing thread, threatening to unravel a web of intrigue that had endured for decades.