Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [217]
A Coast Guard cutter was dispatched to aid in the search, which was hampered by the dense fog. At approximately 5:00 p.m. the Coast Guard managed to locate Johnson, who was standing waist-deep in the fifty-degree water, shivering. They drew their rifles on him, and waited until guards on shore were able to apprehend him. Johnson didn’t resist.
In a letter to Burgett’s father on October 9, 1958, Warden Madigan wrote that at approximately 3:15 p.m., a member of the staff had heard cries for help, but could not locate where the sound was coming from. A massive search effort was initiated to locate Burgett. It was speculated that he had drowned, as there was a three-knot ebb tide that day, which would have made it impossible for him to swim. Several days later, divers were brought in to search the kelp beds in hopes that they would locate Burgett’s body.
On October 12th Alcatraz Guard Lyndon Cropper reported to his assigned post in the road tower, and noticed a body floating a few hundred feet from the eastern end of the island. A Coast Guard patrol boat was dispatched to retrieve the body. In his official report on the incident, Warden Madigan described how the body of Aaron Burgett was identified:
On Sunday, October 12, 1958, at approximately 09:30 A.M., J.B. Latimer, Associate Warden, and I reached Pier No. 45 ½ in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, San Francisco, California. There were two Police Officers, Harbor Patrol Officers, and about five members of the Coast Guard present.
I saw a wire net litter-basket stretcher covered with a blanket and a right and left show protruding. The stretcher was in the rear section of a small boat. I climbed down a ladder into the boat and partially uncovered a body, which was resting on the stretcher with the front side up. The face was beyond recognition because of the missing flesh and the damaged condition probably due to decomposition and sea life. The putrid odor of decaying flesh was evident. All of the hair was missing from the top of the head, but there was sandy colored hair around the sides and back of the head. Most of the fingers appeared to be in good condition; however, the skin was hanging from some of the fingers and it is probable that the end joints of two fingers were missing. The skin on the inner sides of both thumbs were in good condition. I placed the fingerprint card from Burgett’s institutional file beside the right thumb and determined that the two were identical. The ridge counts to the core were identical. Several ending ridges below a line extending from the left to right deltas were identical. All bifurcations, islands, and other characteristics were identical.
The actual fingerprint card used to identify Burgett’s body.
A khaki cotton belt commonly worn by prisoners at Alcatraz was around the abdomen, but not passed through the belt loops of the trousers, with the number “991” in large numbers on a white cloth which was sewn on the belt. The body was clothed in a heavy “T” under shirt, white cotton shorts, two pairs prison trousers, a heavy khaki undershirt with the legs through the sleeves and the bottom pinned around the waist, three pairs of socks, and brown low-cut work shoes. A broken piece of ply-wood was secured to the bottom of the left shoe by means of electricians tape and a copper wire. A cotton bag similar to those carried by inmates to carry dominoes to the exercise yard was fastened to the belt which was buckled in the rear of the body. The bag contained two smooth stones, the larger of which was about two inches in diameter, a roll of black electricians tape about 21/2 inches in diameter, about ½ cup sand, approximately 10 feet of cord and show laces, and a piece of wire about 10 inches long. The large stenciled numbers, “991” appeared on the belt, undershirt, underwear, and one pair of trousers. The stenciled number, “814” was on the outer pair of trousers.