Did the Sundance Kid really die along with Butch Cassidy in South America, or did he live to a ripe old age in Utah? DNA evidence may soon answer the question.
The Oscar-winning movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" more or less followed the official version of Utah's most famous outlaws: Butch and Sundance high-tailed it to South America. Things didn't go well there. In a shootout with the Bolivian Army in 1908, both outlaws died in a blaze of gunfire, if not necessarily glory.
Dr. John McCullough, who has long experience as a forensic anthropologist, told us, "Two gringos definitely died, but we just don't know which ones."
Three months ago, McCollough and television documentary producer Marilyn Grace obtained permission to dig up a grave in the Duchesne City, Utah, Cemetery. They're hoping to prove that William Henry Long was, in fact, the Sundance Kid.
The researchers also have photographs of William Henry Long and earlier photographs of the Sundance Kid. At a glance, the photos don't look strikingly alike, but when transparencies are lined up, one on top of the other, the images seem to fuse into the face of one very wanted man. "It's a perfect match, almost a perfect match," McCullough said. "Both have broken noses. Both have a notch in the ear. Both have a notch on the chin."
Long died an old man in 1936, a Utah rancher with a shady reputation and a mysterious past. "Everybody knew he was an outlaw. They didn't know which one," Grace said.
You can read more on the KSL web site at: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5952997.
