Family Member Claims Pa. Inmate Who Escaped In 1972 Fled To Canada, Died

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SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - Federal marshals think they may finally know what happened to a Pennsylvania prison inmate who escaped from a work detail after a devastating flood almost a half-century ago.

The U.S. Marshals Service says 43-year-old William Van Scoten was working on a State Correctional Institution-Dallas prison detail after Hurricane Agnes in 1972. He was two years into a 10- to 20-year burglary sentence.

Officials said Friday a family member told them Van Scoten assumed the name of David Paul Hudson, lived in Ontario, Canada, and died in 2003 in Waterford, Ontario. Confirmation from Canadian authorities is awaited.

The Trentonian reported Van Scoten's son, Dave Hudson, says Van Scoten told him about his past in 2002 after Hudson's return home following U.S. Marines service.

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