FBI digs for Hoffa clues in Milford

MILFORD TWP. - The FBI spent hours Wednesday searching a local horse farm for clues to the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters leader who was last seen in July 1975 at a Bloomfield Township restaurant.


Acting on a tip - one authorities apparently deemed extremely credible - FBI agents executed a search warrant at the farm on East Maple Road.

"We're executing a federal search warrant in connection with the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of James Riddle Hoffa," said Special Agent Dawn Clenney, a spokesperson for the FBI. "The search is based on a lead, one of numerous leads we've received over the years about Mr. Hoffa's disappearance."

Authorities did not allow the media onto the property, one that sits at the end of the dirt road and is 85 acres, neighbors say. However, images 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.

Clenney would not release any additional information, saying that "the affidavit for this matter is sealed."

Neighbors stood outside their homes trying to see what officials were doing at the farm. Deb and John Koskovich, who live at a home that borders the property, were bombarded with questions from the local and regional media about their otherwise quiet neighborhood. The couple even allowed a local TV news station to park its satellite truck in their driveway, as the case quickly made national headlines.

"We've lived here since 1985, and it's been totally quiet until now," said Deb Koskovich, 52. "I came home at about noon, and the FBI was already there."

Neighbors said ownership of the property has changed several times in the last 20 years.

Added John Koskovich, "It's rural here; it's all dirt roads and private wells. We don't even get pizza delivered here. They can't find us, and we like."

Neighbors said they'd heard the FBI would be digging at the farm for at least another two days and that heavier machinery would be brought in today to continue the search.

"We have had no communication with the FBI at all," said John Koskovich. "My first guess was that it was a drug raid that was going on, but it's not that at all.

"I went over there and asked them about it. It was a brief conversation, but they said, OEWe're with the FBI, and we're here to execute search warrants.' They said warrants, like more than one. That was far as it went, and they were pretty stone-faced about it."

The Koskoviches said when they moved into their house nearly 22 years ago neighbors jokingly told them Hoffa was buried on the farm.

"I thought it was the biggest joke I've ever heard," Deb Koskovich said. "We didn't think anything else about it until today. It was just a light-hearted comment, nothing more."

Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said Bloomfield Township police were offering assistance but that he knew little about the search.

Gorcyca said he was surprised the FBI acted without talking to Oakland County authorities.

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

John Koskovich said he feels authorities will have their work cut out for them trying to "find a needle in a haystack."

"Personally, if he's here, I don't think they'll find him," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.