What interested me about this article was the remark that:
Two questions:
[ol]
[li]Why is it of such overriding concern to find Hoffa’s body after all these years? It’s not like there is a realistic chance that he’s still alive, and anyone involved is probably dead or almost so by now anyway? Is there some fundamental principle in law enforcement that missing persons must be searched for forever?[/li][li]Who pays for this? Meaning, from whose budget? Suppose there arises the opportunity to spend $250K digging up a farm on a hot tip, is there some agency that has a slush fund alloted for contingencies of this sort that whips out $250K?[/li][/ol]
As to question # 1, Hoffa disappeared 37 years ago. If the killer was in his twenties at the time, he could well still be alive in his late 50s, early 60s.
Finding Hoffa’s body may yield evidence as to who, if anyone, murdered him.
It comes out of the general budget of the FBI. They don’t budget money for individual investigations, but obviously large expenditures need to be approved by the brass.
Whoever finds the body gets to write a book and gets paid for the movie adaptation. They also get to go on the talk show circuit, and they’re in line for a promotion.
You, me, and any other taxpayers.
They won’t find a body, this time, next time, any time.
I’m pretty sure (no cite) that the property owners are compensated for damages. At least so they can return it back to the state it was before the digging started.
When the local news reported this the other day, they said that the land owner “wasn’t likely to consent to a police search.” They didn’t say why, but I’m pretty sure they meant to imply that the land owner is somebody with Mob connections.
Apparently, the FBI plans to use aerial surveys to try to establish that something is buried there, and if successful will get a search warrent on that basis.
Wow-the never-ending saga of “where is Jimmy Hoffa’s corpse”? I don’t put a lot of credence in any of these stories-the people who wanted Hoffa dead made sure that no trace of him will ever be found .Bear in mind, he was killed because his return to the Teamsters Union would likely threatened the Mob’s control (and the flow of pension fund money to Mob-controlled hotels and casinos). Hoffa could also have threatened to turn stool pigeon-he could have testified and put a lot of union officials behind bars.
What happened to the body? It was probably stuffed in the trunk of a junked car, which was then crushed and shredded. Or, the body cold have been buried at some remote farm in the UP-in which case, it will never be found. Hoffa’s son has never said anything about his Dad’s disappearence, and never will (if he wants to stay healthy).
Answer to that is pretty obvious … unions are a bane and he was at the helm of a major one.
Oh wait, you meant the real reason? Probably the mob not wanting to relinquish control.
I think it’s a novelty more than anything else. The same with finding Amelia Earheart or DB Cooper… They captured media attention and nobody knows what happened to them, so people just naturally want to hear the conclusion to a mystery.
I think that’s it. This guy is indigent and right now the FBI probably has him up in a nice hotel with room service. Then he’ll ask for witness protection even though they won’t find a body. The FBI is Charlie Brown, Hoffa is the football, and any old mob boss can play Lucy for a while.
I believe Earhart is considered found, after the TIGHAR findings last summer. Just like with the Titanic, obvious evidence in the records (many radio transmissions) was discarded.
The evidence is also overwhelming that Cooper went into the Columbia River and drowned.
Hoffa - we can guess what happened to him but I think it’s unlikely his body will ever be found. I am fascinated by the string of old mobsters who claim they know exactly what happened and where he is, only to lead to nothing.
The more interesting one is Judge Crater. Hoffa and Earhart met fairly obvious fates, though bodies were never found. It’s a very, very long shot that Cooper didn’t die, as noted. It’s still an open question as to whether Crater chose to disappear or got murdered. If I had to bet, I’d bet on the latter, even discounting the most recent inconclusive “break” (the “do not open until my death” letters left by an elderly woman in a nursing home).