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Scotch: The bible says that the people watched the execution from a distance, so they would have believed what they were told. It would have only been a few - Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalen who would have known the truth. Jesus's tomb was in a private garden belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, so it probably wouldn't have been guarded by Roman soldiers - and if it was, perhaps they were bribed by rich man Joseph to disappear.
Why would he have been re-arrested? The Romans didn't recognise him in the first place so he couldn't have been well-known to them. Judas had to tell them who he was - and when he was arrested and tried, Pilate found no fault in him and washed his hands of the whole affair, so the Romans weren't exactly baying for his blood were they. He couldn't have been public enemy number one.
I can't give you proof that he survived, but the logical conclusion is that he did. I believe he lived the rest of his life in the east - where I think he'd spent part of his youth. A grave reputed to be his, lies in Kashmir.