FBI Searches Mich. Farm for Clues on Hoffa

TheIncredibleHulk · 05-18-2006, 02:29 PM

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FBI Searches Mich. Farm for Clues on Hoffa

By TIM MARTIN, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 3 minutes ago

MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - For years, there has been a rumor in the neighborhood surrounding a horse farm where organized crime figures used to meet. Deb Koskovich heard it two decades ago from a neighbor when she moved next door: Jimmy Hoffa was buried there.
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"He laughed and we laughed and that was the end of that," said Koskovich, 52. "I never thought about it again until today so apparently there have been rumors."

On Thursday,
FBI agents investigating Hoffa's 1975 disappearance spent a second day at the farm, about 20 miles from the Oakland County restaurant where the Teamsters leader was last seen alive.

Asked if they were looking for Hoffa's remains, FBI Agent Dawn Clenney said, "Could be," and declined to comment further on the agents' presence.

A law enforcement official in Washington said the search was based on information developed several years ago and verified more recently.

The information indicated there was a high level of suspicious activity on the farm the day Hoffa vanished, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. A backhoe appeared near a barn that organized crime members had used for meetings, but that location was never used again after Hoffa disappeared, the official said.

Clenney said the bureau receives numerous leads about Hoffa.

"This is one we felt we needed to follow up on," she said.

The horse farm, surrounded by a white wooden fence just off a dirt road, is currently owned by Mark and Lynne Hait, according to county records. No telephone listing could be found for the Haits. The FBI wouldn't say who owned the property when Hoffa disappeared.

Reporters were not allowed onto the property Wednesday or Thursday morning, but images shot from news helicopters showed about a dozen people, some with shovels, standing by an area of newly turned dirt about 10 feet by 15 feet. Neighbors looked on from their yards but said they hadn't been told anything.

Mark Weidel, who was visiting his parents' home just up the road, said he grew up hearing rumors about Hoffa and didn't expect anything to come of this search.

"It's just another Hoffa story," he said.

Last year, the FBI crime lab concluded that blood found on the floor of a Detroit home where a one-time Hoffa ally claimed to have killed him did not belong to Hoffa.

Bloomfield Township police ripped up the floorboards from the house where Frank Sheeran claimed Hoffa was killed. Sheeran died in 2003 at age 83, and his claim was detailed in a book published months later.

A New Jersey mob hit man who died in March reportedly made a similar deathbed claim. Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski gave author Philip Carlo what he claimed were graphic details of the infamous, unsolved killing of the union boss, The Record of Bergen County, N.J., reported. "The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer" is scheduled for release in July.

Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said Bloomfield Township police were offering assistance but he knew little about the search. He said he was surprised the FBI acted without speaking to them.

"Three years ago they said, `The Hoffa case in essence is yours to deal with,'" he said. "I'd have expected the professional courtesy of calling me."

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

Maybe they'll find him, but I doubt it.

rattrap007 · 05-18-2006, 02:41 PM

Well at least we know it isn't in giants statium

funkatron101 · 05-18-2006, 03:28 PM

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Originally Posted by rattrap007

Well at least we know it isn't in giants statium

Thank you Mythbusters!

Why are they even bothering looking for him, he is dead. There are more important issues. Like finding criminals who are actually living and commiting more crimes.

Triformis · 05-18-2006, 06:03 PM

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Originally Posted by funkatron101

Thank you Mythbusters!

Why are they even bothering looking for him, he is dead. There are more important issues. Like finding criminals who are actually living and commiting more crimes.

Amen!

butz · 05-18-2006, 07:01 PM

Why would the mob bosses kill him and or bury him where they were meeting? That may very well be where they arranged the hit, but I highly doubt that hes buried there.
I gotta wonder why they feel this is even worth the effort this late in the game? If they're going to spend their time trying find out what happened to missing people which are likely long dead, why not at least worry about people that went missing in the last decade or so?

Omnibus Prime · 05-18-2006, 07:47 PM

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Originally Posted by butz

If they're going to spend their time trying find out what happened to missing people which are likely long dead, why not at least worry about people that went missing in the last decade or so?

Personally, I'd be much more interested in finding out what happened to Hoffa than have to hear one more fucking story about some spoiled blonde girl that disappeared in Aruba.