Man in Horse Mask: Hoffa Search 'A Colossal Waste of Time and Resources'

An already unusual story in Oakland Township this week added a dash of the absurd Tuesday as a man sporting a horse mask and shovel showed up at Buell Road near Orion and Adams roads where FBI personnel are searching for the remains of Jimmy Hoffa.

The man, a 40-year-old Rochester Hills native and Lake Orion resident who would only identify himself as "Mr. Ed," said he was there to emphasize the waste of resources going into the search.

"Assuming they find him, they're not going to prosecute anybody," he said. "It's just a colossal waste of time and resources and I think it's Sheriff (Mike) Bouchard's vanity project to get his name and face in the paper."

Hoffa disappeared in July 1975 after last being seen at the Machus Red Fox in Bloomfield Township and has long believed to have been murdered.

The man said he showed up with the mask and shovel to lighten the mood of the scene, which has attracted hordes of onlookers and media from around Michigan and the U.S.

"I'm just here to bring a little levity to events and point out how silly the whole thing is," he said.

While the sight of a horse head might bring up images of the decapitated horse head shown in the mafia-themed film The Godfather, given Hoffa's mob ties, the man said he got the idea while talking to his children as they drove past the site Monday.

"I'd just like people to think about why we're doing this," he said. "Just what's the point of continuing the chase for this crime? Everybody knows Hoffa's dead. The guys that did it are probably dead, or by the time the cops put the case together, they will be, so what does finding the body prove, even if he is here?"

Does the horse-headed man think Hoffa is buried in Oakland Township?

"Eh, probably not," he said. "But if he is, who cares?"