Police will be taking soil core samples at a home in Roseville on Friday in search of the remains of missing Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, whose 1975 disappearance sparked one of the 20th century’s biggest mysteries. 
 
 “We received information from an individual who saw something,” Roseville Police Chief James Berlin told the Free Press. “The information seemed credible, so we decided to follow up on it.” 
 
 Berlin wouldn’t say who provided the tip — one of hundreds authorities have pursued in the years since Hoffa vanished from a restaurant parking lot in Oakland County. 
 
 But he said the state’s Department of Environmental Quality used ground scanning radar last Friday to check out a spot under the driveway and found “an anomaly” that prompted authorities to make plans to return to the site Friday to take a soil sample. 
 
 Berlin said it would be sent to a forensic anthropologist at Michigan State University to check for human remains. 
 
 “We do not know if this is Jimmy,” Berlin said. 
 
 The tipster told police Hoffa’s body may have been buried under the driveway of the home in the 18700 block of Florida, a residential neighborhood northwest of 12 Mile and Gratiot. 
 
 Berlin said the informant “thought it was Jimmy because the same time this happened was the same time Jimmy disappeared,” Berlin said. 
 
 Berlin said he planned to contact the FBI, which has spearheaded the three-decades-old murder investigation. 
 
 “We believe he saw something,” Berlin said of the informant. “Whatever he saw was suspicious.” 
 
 Hoffa, 62, disappeared on the afternoon of July 30, 1975, from the parking lot of what then was the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township. 
 
 He had gone there for a reconciliation meeting with Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano, a mob-connected New Jersey Teamster official, and Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone, a Detroit mafia captain. 
 
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 The FBI theorized that Provenzano and Giacalone had Hoffa killed to prevent him from regaining the Teamsters presidency and ending the mob’s influence over the union and easy access to Teamster pension funds. 
 
 Hoffa had run the union from 1957-71. 
 
 At the time of his disappearance, Hoffa had served nearly five years of an 8- to 13-year prison sentence for fraud, conspiracy and jury tampering. Then-President Richard Nixon had commuted Hoffa’s sentence in late 1971 on condition that he stay out of union activities until 1980. Hoffa was in the process of challenging the condition. 
 
 The FBI theorized that Hoffa climbed into a car driven by Hoffa’s long-time protégé, Charles (Chuckie) O’Brien, and was driven a short distance where he was killed. Authorities believed Hoffa’s body was shredded or incinerated. 
 
 Despite thousands of tips, authorities never found Hoffa’s body, and no one has been charged in his disappearance. 
 
 A woman who answered the phone at the Roseville home says she is “fully aware of what’s going on,” but she said she didn’t want to be interviewed at this point. She referred questions to the Roseville Police department. 
 
 Police said the homeowner, who has owned the house for 10 to 15 years, has been helpful and cooperative. 
 
 Daughter not hopeful 
 
 Hoffa’s daughter, Barbara Crancer, a retired St. Louis administrative judge, said she doesn’t hold out much hope the search will produce her father’s body or solve the mystery of his disappearance. 
 
 “I don’t put much credence into it,” she said this afternoon. “I don’t think the case will ever be solved. Too many people are dead and gone. I believe there are people out there who know what happened, but they’re not talking.” 
 
 “After so many false turns, I’ll be surprised if anything comes of it. But as his daughter, I would like to have a body to bury.” 
 
 Dan Moldea, a Washington, D.C., author who wrote a 1978 book — “The Hoffa Wars” — about Hoffa’s disappearance, said he’s crossing his fingers. 
 
 “After all these years, I have come to believe that the final solution to this case will come very suddenly out of left field from someone who has had no connection to the actual murder. For that reason, I always treat these tipsters with respect. One of these days, one of them might be right." 
 
 The Teamsters union in Washington, D.C., said it would have no comment. 
 
 The Detroit FBI field office had no comment. 
 
 Word spreads 
 
 Reporters and TV live trucks have been congregating at the house, lining Kelly near Florida, as word got out of the Hoffa search. Two police cars also are guarding the area. 
 
 Some neighbors are outside talking about the news, describing their reactions as surprise. 
 
 “When I heard that, I couldn’t believe it,” said Sue Fero-Hutton, 66. “After all these years.” 
 
 She said she doesn’t think there’s any truth to it and has lived in her home near the area in question since 1994. 
 
 Fero-Hutton said her father knew Hoffa personally because her father was a union representative. 
 
 “When I heard the rumor about Jimmy Hoffa, I said I wish my dad was alive so I could talk to him about it,” she said. 
 
 Other neighbors said they’ll wait and see what is found. 
 
 “Every couple of years, they seem to look for him. I’m sure his family probably wants the mystery solved,” said Cindy Kacir, 52, who lives across the street from the home. 
 
 Contact David Ashenfelter: 313-223-4490 or dashenfelter@freepress.com. 

 Story highlights Police begin drilling in search for former union boss Jimmy Hoffa 
 
 A tipster told police a body was buried at a home at the time of Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance 
 
 Crews will take a core sample and test it for human remains 
 
 Former Teamsters leader Hoffa disappeared in 1975 
 
 Police began drilling Friday outside a suburban Detroit home in the search for Jimmy Hoffa, the labor strongman whose disappearance is one of the most notorious and mysterious in U.S. history. 
 
 A tipster told police that a body was buried at the spot in Roseville, Michigan, about the time the Teamsters boss disappeared in 1975. 
 
 The tipster did not claim it was Hoffa's body, authorities said. 
 
 Police Chief James Berlin said Thursday that while the tipster's information seems credible, he's not convinced the body is Hoffa's because of the timeline. He spoke with the tipster August 22 and believes the person did see a burial. 
 
 The tipster did not come forward sooner out of fear, Berlin said. 
 
 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Nearly 40 years after his disappearance, former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, pictured circa 1955, remains among America's most famous missing persons. Authorities have been searching for the once powerful union boss since he vanished in 1975. Hide Caption 1 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa slumps in a chair at the Teamsters union office. He was one of the most powerful union leaders in America until being forced out of the organized labor movement. He went to prison in 1967 for jury tampering and fraud before being pardoned four years later. Hide Caption 2 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa appears at the Teamsters union convention in 1957, the year he first became union president. Hide Caption 3 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa, center, stands with other officials at the Teamsters convention, where he made a successful bid for control of the union in 1957. Hide Caption 4 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa testifies at a Senate Rackets Committee hearing in 1958. Hide Caption 5 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa on the phone at an airport in 1959. Hide Caption 6 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – An office for Teamsters union local chapters that Hoffa set up. Hide Caption 7 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa eats with union leader Joseph Curran, left, in 1959. Hide Caption 8 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa holds a Teamsters rally at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1960. Hide Caption 9 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa leads supporters at a Teamsters convention in 1959. Hide Caption 10 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – The Teamsters boss appears on the cover of Life magazine on May 18, 1959. The headline reads, "A National Threat: Hoffa's Teamsters; Part 1: Sources of a Union's Uncurbed Power." Hide Caption 11 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa, pictured circa 1960, was a powerful labor leader at a time when unions wielded a great deal of sway over elections and were notoriously tied to organized crime. Hide Caption 12 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – From left, "Meet the Press" moderator Ned Brooks, Lawrence K. Spivak and Hoffa appear at an NBC studio. Hide Caption 13 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa and his son, James Phillip, enter a federal courtroom in July 1964. His son is the current president of the Teamsters. Hide Caption 14 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa, second row, center, leaves court after being found guilty of jury tampering in 1964. Hide Caption 15 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa at the Pittsburgh airport in 1971 on his way back to federal prison after being let out to visit his ailing wife. He was released from prison later that year on the condition he not resume union activity before 1980. Hide Caption 16 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Hoffa poses for a picture on July 24, 1975, less than a week before his disappearance. He was 62 at the time. Hide Caption 17 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – A Bloomfield Township, Michigan, police officer stands beside Hoffa's car after the former labor leader's disappearance in July 1975. Hoffa was last seen at a restaurant in suburban Detroit on July 30, 1975. Hide Caption 18 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Police sweep a field in Waterford Township, Michigan, in search of Hoffa's body in July 1975. Hide Caption 19 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – Demolition workers tear down a horse barn for the FBI in 2006 in a search for Hoffa's remains in Milford, Michigan. The FBI had received a tip that Hoffa was buried on the farm. Hide Caption 20 of 21 Photos: Photos: The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa – FBI agents search a field for Hoffa's remains on Monday, June 17, 2013, in Oakland Township, Michigan, outside Detroit. Alleged mobster Tony Zerilli tipped off the police, and a source close to the case said the information provided was "highly credible." Hide Caption 21 of 21 
 
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 Dan Moldea, author of "The Hoffa Wars," said the tipster, a former gambler, contacted him March 30. The tipster used to do business with a man who had ties to Anthony Giacalone, an organized crime figure who was supposed to meet Hoffa the day he disappeared, Moldea said. 
 
 "I am very skeptical," Moldea said of the planned dig. If Hoffa's burial had taken place at the spot, it would have been in full view of the neighborhood, the author argued. 
 
 And if Hoffa's body was disposed of, it would have been done in a way that no evidence would be left years later, he said. 
 
 It shouldn't take long to get a sample, which will be sent to Michigan State University for analysis, CNN affiliate WXYZ reported. 
 
 The reading will determine whether there are human remains at the site but will not identify them, Berlin said. 
 
 "It took us a while to get the proper equipment to do what we're going to do. If this is a person, they've been down there for 35 years. What's a few more days?" Berlin asked. 
 
 Results from the soil testing should be available next week, the chief said Wednesday. 
 
 "If they are positive, we will then start excavating," Berlin said. 
 
 The alleged burial site is under a concrete slab, and the residence is occupied by new homeowners, who've been "cooperative and excellent to police," Berlin said. 
 
 The FBI in Detroit had no comment on the planned search, and a statement from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said the Hoffa family had nothing to say at this time. 
 
 "The Hoffa family does not respond every time a tip is received by authorities. The FBI keeps the family informed, and they will have no comment until there is a reason to comment," the statement said. 
 
 Hoffa remains among America's most famous, and in many ways infamous, missing people. His presumed death has vexed investigators for four decades. 
 
 One of the most powerful union leaders at a time that unions wielded a great deal of sway over elections -- and were notoriously tied to organized crime -- Hoffa was forced out of the organized labor movement when he was sent to prison in 1967. 
 
 He served time for jury tampering and fraud at a federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, until being pardoned by President Richard Nixon on December 23, 1971 -- on the condition that he not try to get back into the union movement before 1980. 
 
 Two weeks before Hoffa's disappearance in 1975, federal investigators discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars had been stolen from the Teamsters' largest pension fund, Time magazine points out in its list of the top 10 most famous disappearances. 
 
 Hoffa, 62, was last seen July 30, 1975, at Machus Red Fox restaurant in suburban Detroit. He was there ostensibly to meet with reputed Detroit Mafia street enforcer Giacalone and Anthony Provenzano, chief of a Teamsters local in New Jersey, who was later convicted in a murder case. Both men have since died. 
 
 Hoffa believed Giacalone had set up the meeting to help settle a feud between Hoffa and Provenzano, but Hoffa was the only one who showed up for the meeting, according to the FBI. 
 
 Giacalone and Provenzano later told the FBI that no meeting had been scheduled. 
 
 The FBI said at the time that the disappearance could have been linked to Hoffa's efforts to regain power in the Teamsters and to the mob's influence over the union's pension funds. 
 
 Police and the FBI have searched for Hoffa intermittently ever since. 
 
 In September 2001, the FBI found DNA that linked Hoffa to a car that agents suspected was used in his disappearance. 
 
 In 2004, authorities removed floorboards from a Detroit home to look for traces of blood, as former Teamsters official Frank Sheeran claimed in a biography that he had shot Hoffa. Sheeran died in 2003. 
 
 Investigators ruled that blood found in the house was not Hoffa's. The FBI has a sample of his DNA from a hair brush. 
 
 Two years later, the FBI razed a horse barn in Michigan after what it called "a fairly credible lead." 
 
 But the disappearance remains unsolved. 
 
 Urban lore long suggested that Hoffa was buried around the end zone at the former Giants Stadium in New Jersey. 
 
 As TruTV puts it , the mystery surrounding Hoffa is not simply a "whodunnit." 
 
 "The likely suspects are all known, and their motives are well documented. The question is: Where? What exactly did they do to Jimmy Hoffa, and where did they dispose of his body?" 
 
 But over the years, numerous theories have been floated. In 1987, Joe Franco -- a former Hoffa strong-arm -- and a New York Times reporter published "Hoffa's Man," which Fortune described as "the hair-raising inside story of Jimmy Hoffa." 
 
 "Rather than being kidnapped by rival union forces as law enforcement authorities have long speculated, Franco says Hoffa was abducted by two federal agents," Fortune reported. "He thinks they drove Hoffa to a nearby airport, took off in a small plane, and pushed him out over one of the Great Lakes. Franco says he did not tell federal investigators this bizarre, and unverifiable, story because they would not grant him immunity." 
 
 Hoffa's son, James P. Hoffa, is the current president of the Teamsters.
– Police will take a soil sample from beneath a driveway in Roseville, Michigan, on Friday in the hopes of solving the Jimmy Hoffa mystery, reports the Detroit Free Press. An unidentified tipster says the former Teamster boss might have been buried there after he went missing in 1975. Authorities have gone on several wild goose chases before, notes CNN, but the latest tip struck them as genuine. “We received information from an individual who saw something,” says the local police chief. “The information seemed credible, so we decided to follow up on it.” An initial scan by radar turned up an "anomaly" at the site last week, prompting the more thorough testing this week. "It could be anybody down there," cautions the chief. "Could be nobody. It could be a dog."