In the early hours of June 12, 1962, inmates Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin carried out one of the most daring prison breaks in history from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Over several months, the men secretly used homemade tools fashioned from metal spoons, a makeshift drill built from a vacuum cleaner motor, and other scavenged materials to widen the ventilation openings behind their prison cells. To avoid raising suspicion during nightly bed checks, they crafted realistic dummy heads from papier-mâché, soap, toilet paper, paint, and real human hair collected from the prison barbershop, placing them under blankets to fool the guards.

After squeezing through the enlarged openings, the escapees climbed into an unused utility corridor, reached the prison roof, and descended to the shoreline. There, they launched a homemade raft and life vests constructed from more than 50 stolen raincoats, carefully sealed together to create a waterproof escape craft. By the time prison officers discovered the deception the next morning, the three men had vanished into the cold, fast-moving waters of San Francisco Bay, triggering one of the largest manhunts in FBI history.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case for years and eventually concluded that the escapees most likely drowned while attempting the crossing. However, no bodies were ever recovered, and the absence of definitive evidence fueled decades of speculation. The mystery deepened in later years with alleged sightings, a family photograph that some believe shows the Anglin brothers in Brazil, and a letter received by authorities in 2013 from someone claiming to be John Anglin. Although the authenticity of these claims has never been verified, they kept the case alive in the public imagination.