More than 40 years later, search for Jimmy Hoffa’s body continues to baffle FBI

Episode 5 of ‘Shattered: Hoffa’ now available

DETROIT – When you hear the name Jimmy Hoffa, you probably think of the former Teamster boss’ iconic disappearance, but his story is much more than a murder mystery.

It’s about power, loyalty, betrayal, organized labor and organized crime. It’s a story about how far people will go to get what they want.

Once you start looking into Hoffa, you find yourself down a rabbit hole of dark tunnels. You look at the Teamsters Union and end up at Richard Nixon, Bobby Kennedy and the JFK assassination. All of these roads lead back to Hoffa’s obsession with power.

There was nothing he wouldn’t do to have it, and hold onto it, and once he lost everything, how far would he go to get it back?


Shattered: Hoffa - Episode 5: ‘The Finale’

Season 4 of WDIV’s Shattered Podcast chronicles the rise and fall of the iconic labor leader, Jimmy Hoffa. In Episode 5, we take a deeper look at the disappearance of Hoffa.

One question has prompted FBI searches and conspiracy theories for over forty years; where is Jimmy Hoffa’s body? In May of 2004 police pulled up floorboards in a Northwest Detroit home, but found nothing. In 2012, they dug up a backyard in Roseville, Michigan -- nothing. In 2013, acting on a tip from mobster Tony Zerilli, the FBI dug on a farm on Buell Road in Oakland Township. Why have there been so many seemingly credible tips and where else should the FBI be looking?

Episodes 1-5 of Shattered: Hoffa are available now wherever you listen to podcasts. This season is hosted by Local 4′s Steve Garagiola.

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The first three seasons of “Shattered” have garnered nearly 3.5 million downloads with audiences from 170 countries. Season 1 investigates the 2010 disappearance of three brothers in Morenci, Michigan. Their father said he gave the brothers to an underground organization. Seven years later, the boys’ whereabouts is not known. Season 2 takes listeners through the life of Richard Wershe, Jr., aka “White Boy Rick,” the youngest ever FBI informant turned drug dealer. Season 3 investigates the heartbreaking and riveting story about Michigan’s Oakland County Child Killer case that is still unsolved 40 years later.


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