Mystery of three Alcatraz escapers reveals after 60 years

Three men spent six months digging holes in their crumbling cell wall at Alcatraz, armed only with spoons and forks.

Robbers John Anglin, his brother Clarence and Frank Morris would escape the notorious jail in California.

Whether they made it safely to freedom or perished in the freezing, shark-infested waters of San Francisco Bay has puzzled investigators since the night of June 11, 1962.

The FBI closed the case in 1979.

But family claim to have had contact with the Anglins down the years.

Now artists’ impressions of how the men might look today – in their 90s if alive – have been released.

And marking the 60th anniversary of the incident, the mystery could finally be solved once and for all, as DNA testing will reveal if the Anglins went on to father children in South America, The Mirror wrote in an exclusive publication on July 2.

A TV documentary this week is set to reveal the truth about the trio, who snuck out of the jail in the dead of night.

They made their way from the prison roof to the water’s edge carrying a makeshift raft crafted from 50 pilfered cotton raincoats. Painted papier-mâché heads topped with hair collected from the prison barber shop floor fooled guards into believing they were asleep in bed.

David Widner, a nephew of the Anglins, today insists the brothers did make it to freedom and talks about the potential DNA breakthrough.

He says a Discovery Channel crew headed by his retired brother Ken, 60, and TV presenter Josh Gates discovered a hideout in Brazil.

And his family is awaiting DNA tests that could show his uncles settled down and had wives and children.

In an exclusive interview, David, 55, reveals: “My brother Ken just travelled to Brazil to see if he could locate family members there, including John and Clarence’s kids.

"They did some DNA tests and were able to locate the house where they were living.

They’re still working on the DNA and I have to be careful what I say but a lot more is going to be revealed when the show airs on July 6.”