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MSU anthropologists find no evidence of Hoffa

October 2, 2012
	<p>In this file photo taken on July 24, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa poses for a photo. Police will be taking soil core samples at a home in Roseville, Michigan, in search of the remains of the missing Teamsters boss. (Tony Spina/Detroit Free Press/MCT)</p>

In this file photo taken on July 24, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa poses for a photo. Police will be taking soil core samples at a home in Roseville, Michigan, in search of the remains of the missing Teamsters boss. (Tony Spina/Detroit Free Press/MCT)

Photo by Tony Spina | The State News

After taking soil samples from a home in Roseville, Mich., MSU anthropologists have found no evidence that former union leader Jimmy Hoffa’s body is buried on the property.

In a press release from Roseville Police Chief James Berlin, he said the soil tested by the MSU Department of Anthropology showed no signs of human decomposition.

“As a result of these tests, the Roseville Police Department will be concluding their investigation,” Berlin said.

The MSU Department of Anthropology was given the samples shortly after the investigation began. The department confirmed they had the vials since Friday and continued to test them for traces of human remains until Tuesday afternoon. They finally made the conclusion that there were no signs of human decomposition.

Department officials declined to comment Tuesday, saying the investigation still is ongoing.

Hoffa was an American labor union leader and a convicted criminal. He went to prison in 1967 for jury tampering and fraud. Since July 30, 1975, when Hoffa disappeared, the mystery of what happened to him has captured the interest of many. He was last seen that night on the outside of the Detroit-area Machus Red Fox restaurant.

According to the Detroit Free Press, police decided to check the area to see if Hoffa’s body might be buried underneath the cement of a Roseville household’s shed, after a tipster said he saw the previous homeowner pouring concrete the day after Hoffa disappeared.

In 2001, the FBI found DNA in a car that they believed was linked to his disappearance, but nothing was ever proven. Four years later, the FBI followed what they thought to be a fairly credible lead to a horse barn in Michigan, but it turned out to be a dead end.

“After the time and effort put into it, you have hope that there’s something there; but, of course, we’re glad that it’s not because that (would have) meant some poor soul had been there all these years,” Berlin told the Detroit Free Press.

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