Penn state aide McQueary files whistleblower suit

By NBC News Producer Tom Winter Chris Gardner / Getty Images file Assistant coach Mike McQueary of the Penn State Nittany Lions walks the sidelines in State College, Pa., Sept. 12, 2009. NBC News has learned that former Penn State football assistant Mike McQueary filed a whistleblower lawsuit seeking $4 million from the university on Tuesday afternoon, claiming he was made a "scapegoat" for the university's failures to rein in a coach accused of sexual assault. McQueary is the staffer who said he witnessed assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky having sex with a boy in the locker room in 2001, and reported what he saw to head football coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky, 68, was found guilty in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. Here is a copy of the lawsuit in a PDF file. Follow Open Channel from NBC News on Twitter and Facebook. The lawsuit says McQueary is seeking $4 million. His base salary in 2011 was $140,400 plus bonuses and benefits, making his anticipated earnings over the next 25 years at least $4 million. McQueary says he was placed on administrative leave a week after a grand jury found that university officials made false statements about what McQueary had told them. Gary Schultz, a former senior vice president at Penn State, and Tim Curley, the former athletic coordinator, are accused of lying to a grand jury about what they knew of sex abuse allegations against Sandusky. The university has been paying the legal fees of other Penn State employees in the case, but not McQueary's. McQueary was a graduate assistant football coach from 2000 through 2003, and then an assistant football coach until 2011. He said he saw Sandusky engaging in sex with a boy who appeared to be 10 to 12 years old in the staff locker room of the Lasch Football Building. He said he reported the incident to his supervisor, Coach Paterno, the next day. He said he relied on statements by the athletic director and senior vice president of the university that they would take action. Penn State Communications Director David LaTorre said, "We won't have a comment." McQueary also is seeking compensation for having his automobile privileges revoked, compensation for early withdrawls from his retirement account, bowl game bonuses from the 2011 season, back pay through Sandusky's trial, and his legal expenses.

Teacher makes $1 million by selling lesson plans

By Sevil Omer, NBC News Who says teachers can't make a million bucks? Deanna Jump is a first-grade teacher in Georgia who made $1 million by selling her upbeat lesson plans -- to other teachers. She's now among 15,000 teachers nationwide to cash in on their creativity by promoting original materials through TeachersPayTeachers (TpT), an online marketplace to help educators share and sell resource materials, site founder Paul Edelman says. Edelman characterizes his site "sort of like an eBay or an Etsy for lesson plans, units, activities, projects, exams, PowerPoints, smartboard activities." He started the site in 2006 as a way for teachers to help teachers -- and earn some extra cash. "Even if a teacher is just making an extra $50 a month, it's a significant boost to their meager salaries," Edelman said in an email to NBC News, adding "our sellers find great pride in the fact that other teachers are using their ideas in classrooms around the country and world." Today, the site has about 1.1 million registered members and has earned about $14 million so far,  Edelman told NBC News. "It's a place where teachers who love curriculum development can open up shop and sell their materials to teachers who thrive on delivery more than creation. It's symbiotic and elegant," said Edelman, a former New York middle school English teacher who now lives in Fontainebleau, France. In August, the company grossed $2.5 million in sales, up from $305,000 the year before. Teachers pay $59.95 for an annual premium membership fee to sell materials on the site, with the agency taking a 15 percent cut of most sales, according to Businessweek. Similar sites are popping up on the Internet: WeAreTeachers, another online community for teachers allows educators to chat and exchange ideas and win cash and prize and Udemy, a site for online classes, recently announced 10 of its teachers had earned a combined $1.6 million over the last year, according to TechCrunch. Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com Jump never dreamed of raking in the cash, she told Businessweek last month. For years, the 43-year-old educator and her husband, also a teacher, struggled financially, barely making enough to pay the bills in their town of Macon, Ga. She teaches at Central Fellowship Christian Academy, where she earns about $55,000 a year. Attempts by NBC News to reach Jump were unsuccessful Tuesday. She decided to use TeachersPayTeachers about three years ago after much urging from a fellow colleague. "My units usually cover about two weeks' worth of material," Jump told Businessweek. "So if you want to teach about dinosaurs, you'd buy my dinosaur unit, and it has everything you need from language arts, math, science experiments, and a list of books you can use as resources. So once you print out the unit, you just have to add a few books to read aloud to your class, and everything else is there, ready to go for you." Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter Within two years, Jump earned her first million by creating 93 separate lesson plans and selling 161,000 copies for $8 each. While she's made a hefty amount, two teachers have sales over $300,000 and 23 others have sales over $100,000, and most of that money was earned over the past 18 months, Edelman said. Jump told Businessweek in September her new wealth hasn't changed her, or her lifestyle, but has given her a source of financial relief. She has paid for her daughter's college tuition and purchased a special van for her quadriplegic brother, she told Businessweek. "When I realized that we could buy that van and it wouldn't be a financial hardship for my family, that was really something," she told Businessweek. "But we really haven't changed our lifestyle. I drive a Kia, okay? I'm just trying to keep it real." More content from NBCNews.com: A week later, search still on for 73-year-old accused of killing daughter-in-law Video: Like hurricanes, winter storms to get names too Cell phone video shows cop striking woman after Philadelphia parade State Dept: Missing American journalist Austin Tice believed held by Syria regime NYPD commissioner blames rise in crime rate on Apple thefts Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

$1 billion plan to drill to Earth's mantle

A team of international scientists are planning to drill into the Earth's mantle in an attempt to answer questions about the origins and evolution of life. The drills will need to get through around 6 km of oceanic crust to reach the mantle. Around 10 km of drilling equipment will be needed to drill down and reach the Earth's mantle -- a 3,000 km-thick layer of slowly deforming rock. The drills will need to be lowered through 2km of water before reaching the ocean floor -- it is here that the Earth's crust is at its thinnist (around 6 km). On land, the crust can be up to 60 km thick. Drilling through very hard rocks means that each drill only has a lifespan, lasting between 50-60 hours before needing to be replaced. The Japanese-funded drilling vessel Chikyu. Scientists planning mission to drill down to Earth's mantle and bring back first fresh samples Mantle could hold clues to origin and evolution of the planet Geologist calls it the most "challenging endeavor in the history of Earth science" If project gets the go-ahead, the team hope to reach the mantle by early 2020s (CNN) -- Humans have reached the moon and are planning to return samples from Mars, but when it comes to exploring the land deep beneath our feet, we have only scratched the surface of our planet. This may be about to change with a $1 billion mission to drill 6 km (3.7 miles) beneath the seafloor to reach the Earth's mantle -- a 3000 km-thick layer of slowly deforming rock between the crust and the core which makes up the majority of our planet -- and bring back the first ever fresh samples. It could help answer some of our biggest questions about the origins and evolution of Earth itself, with almost all of the sea floor and continents that make up the Earth´s surface originating from the mantle. Geologists involved in the project are already comparing it to the Apollo Moon missions in terms of the value of the samples it could yield. However, in order to reach those samples, the team of international scientists must first find a way to grind their way through ultra-hard rocks with 10 km-long (6.2 miles) drill pipes -- a technical challenge that one of the project co-leaders Damon Teagle, from the UK's University of Southampton calls, "the most challenging endeavor in the history of Earth science." 'A ship flying in space:' Earth seen through the eyes of an astronaut "It will be the equivalent of dangling a steel string the width of a human hair in the deep end of a swimming pool and inserting it into a thimble 1/10 mm wide Damon Teagle, University of Southampton, UK Their task will be all the more difficult for being conducted out in the middle of the ocean. It is here that the Earth´s crust is at its thinnest at around 6 km compared to as much as 60 km (37.3 miles) on land. They have already identified three possible locations -- all in the Pacific Ocean -- where the ocean floor was formed at relatively fast spreading mid-ocean ridges, says Teagle. The hole they will drill will be just 30 cm in width all the way from the ocean floor to inside the mantle -- a monumental engineering feat. "It will be the equivalent of dangling a steel string the width of a human hair in the deep end of a swimming pool and inserting it into a thimble 1/10 mm wide on the bottom, and then drilling a few meters into the foundations," says Teagle. To get to the mantle scientists will be relying on a purpose-built Japanese deep-sea drilling vessel called Chikyu, first launched in 2002 and capable of carrying 10 km of drilling pipes. It has already set a world-record for the deepest hole in scientific ocean drilling history, reaching 2.2 km into the seafloor. Read more: Super telescope to search for secrets of the universe What makes the task even more difficult is that, currently, the drill bits have a limited lifespan of between 50-60 hours before needing to be replaced, meaning drilling could take many years unless technology improves. The first attempts to reach the Earth's mantle actually began back in the early 1960s. Dubbed "Project Mohole" after the Croatian meteorologist Andrija Mohorovicic who first discovered the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle, a team of U.S. scientists managed to drill a few meters into the oceanic crust off Guadalupe Island in the eastern pacific. The achievement was recognized by a telegram from President John F. Kennedy but the project was closed down in 1966. Since then, a Russian-project in the far north Kola Peninsula during the 1980s has taken over the record for the deepest borehole ever drilled, reaching 12 km into the earth's crust. And In 2011, the oil giant Exxon Mobil recorded an even longer borehole at just over 12 km in eastern Russia. However, it wasn't drilled vertically downwards and only reached soft sedimentary rocks. "I was giving a lecture to a group of 15-year-old high-school students recently and they [and their teachers] were fascinated by the technology ... Damon Teagle, University of Southampton, UK While neither of these record-drilling projects got close to the Earth's mantle, they did give the geologists leading the new project -- The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) -- confidence that recent advances in drilling techniques have made their plans more feasible than ever before. What we've done on Mars, and what's next "Many of the technologies required are conventional deep-drilling technologies that are presently being used in the oil and gas industry," explain IODP geologists. However, given the challenges and the likely cost of $1 billion plus, much of which still needs to be raised, skeptics may question the necessity of the mission. For Teagle, reaching the Earth's mantle would provide a "legacy of fundamental scientific knowledge" and "inspire" future generations. "I was giving a lecture to a group of 15-year-old high-school students recently and they [and their teachers] were fascinated by the technology and the thought that we could re-enter a hole just a few centimeters across with a drill string dangled from a ship in the open ocean 4 km above." As well as the technical achievement of bringing back samples, the samples themselves will clarify many of the assumptions we have about how our planet works. Despite making up 68% of the Earth´s mass, Teagle says we only have a "reasonable" idea of what the mantle is made of and how it works. "[The mantle] is the engine that drives how our planet works and why we have earthquakes and volcanoes and continents. We have the textbook cartoons but detailed knowledge is lacking," he says. The Japanese government has already invested substantially in the project through the construction of Chikyu, with some scientists regarding the mission as the country's "moon project." If Japanese support can be combined with other funding, Teagle says they could start drilling before the end of the decade, making it possible for humans to finally reach the Earth's mantle by the early 2020s. Deepest cracks of Earth give clues to life in space

American jet makes emergency landing

NEW: The FAA is looking into incidents of loose seats on two other American Airlines flights A flight to London was diverted after a passenger smelled smoke, a spokesman says An inspection reveals the cause of the odor to be an overheated fan, he says American Airlines has suffered a series of problems in recent months (CNN) -- An American Airlines flight from Chicago to London made an unscheduled landing Tuesday at Shannon Airport in Ireland after a passenger reported a smoky odor, an airline spokesman said, in what is the latest in a series of woes for the airline. American Airlines Flight 98, a Boeing 777-200 carrying 246 passengers and 14 crew members, was diverted as a precaution, airline spokesman Ian Bradley told CNN. An inspection revealed that the odor was coming from an overhead fan that had overheated, he said. Niall Maloney, head of operations for Shannon Airport, said such technical diversions are not uncommon. The incident is the latest in a series involving American Airlines aircraft, including the discovery of loose seats on two jetliners that prompted an inspection of other aircraft in its fleet. A Boeing 757 from Boston to Miami carrying 175 passengers diverted to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on Saturday when three seats in row 12 came loose shortly after takeoff. A second American Boeing 757 returned to JFK on Monday morning after a similar seat issue was discovered. The Federal Aviation Authority said it was looking into both incidents. The airline's initial inspection of each aircraft found other rows of seats that were not properly secured, it said in a statement. "Preliminary information indicates that both aircraft had recently undergone maintenance during which the seats had been removed and re-installed," the FAA said. "Including these two airplanes, the airline has taken eight aircraft with similar seat assemblies out of service until they can be inspected." The airline has also been beset by labor troubles, delays and flight cancellations. American, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late last year, persuaded a judge to throw out its contract with the pilots union last month. Since then, the pilots have been engaging in what the airline calls a slowdown that has caused the number of flights that are delayed and canceled to skyrocket. More than 1,000 American flights have been canceled and 12,000 delayed in the past month alone. Airline management has blamed the situation on pilots filing what it claims are frivolous reports about aircraft problems. The pilots union has denied management's assertion. Robert Gless, deputy director of the Air Transport Division of the Transport Workers Union of America, on Tuesday dismissed the notion that the problems with loose seats were linked to labor issues as "without any basis in fact." Seat installation work is largely carried out by outside contractors, rather than maintenance personnel employed by the airline, he said in a statement. "Problems related to seats are less likely a labor problem, but rather a management issue related to outsourcing work to third-party facilities," he said. American Airlines plans to increase its use of outside maintenance facilities, including in China and other overseas locations, as it seeks to exit bankruptcy, he added. CNN's Stephanie Halasz, Saskya Vandoorne, Sherri Maksin and Nick Valencia contributed to this report.

Candidate: Facebook gun not a threat to Obama

Facebook Photo on Brad Staats' Facebook page By James Eng, NBC News A Republican candidate for Congress says his Facebook post featuring a photo of his gun and a "Welcome to Tennessee" message for Barack Obama was in no way meant as a threat to the president. "Good Lord, no," Brad Staats told The Tennessean in a telephone interview on Monday. "Absolutely not. I'm not one of those that would ever threaten the president. He's probably got enough of his own stuff to worry about without me." Staats, who is challenging five-term Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper in Tennessee's 5th Congressional District, says the Facebook post was in reference to the recently passed U.N. Small Arms Treaty, an international agreement aimed at keeping firearms from terrorists and rogue regimes. The treaty was opposed by gun-rights advocates who fear it could encroach on civilian gun-ownership rights at home. "I do want President Obama to know as well as the rest of Congress and everyone else regarding our constitutional rights, don't tread on America's constitution," Staats told WKRN-TV. "I think that your liberties, your life can be defended by the proper instructed use of a handgun." The controversy is over a Sept. 27 post Staats made to his "Brad Staats for Congress" page on Facebook. Along with a photo of a black Colt 911 semi-automatic pistol, Staats wrote: "Many people in Tennessee keep asking me about my opinion on Second Amendment rights. Apparently Tennesseans are part of that crazy crowd that Obama says 'cling to their religion and guns.' Well, then I must be part of that crazy crowd. Here is something that I usually have with me. Welcome to Tennessee Mr. Obama, where we appreciate our 2nd Amendment rights and the Constitution that was wisely given to us by our founding fathers." Staats told The Tennessean he is a member of the National Rifle Association and carries his gun for protection. "There are just a lot of law-abiding citizens here that carry their guns," Staats was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "There are a lot of people in Tennessee that believe in their Second Amendment rights." Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com The post picked up dozens of "Likes." One woman wrote: "All I have to say to your statement is AMEN BROTHER!! I also totally agree with you on Obama 100%, get that socialist out of here before it's too late. You have my backing sir for congress. Best of Luck to you." Staats followed up with another post on Monday referring to the WKRN story: "Special thanks to WKRN for their story regarding my Facebook post. I wonder what picture I will have to post tomorrow for Congressman Cooper to accept my debate challenge?" Not everyone was as gung-ho about the gun post. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter "Your vitriol and gun waving is really a sad commentary for a civil society. It translates to bully behavior. Nothing more," one commenter wrote. "You've had your fifteen minutes, Brad. It's too bad you couldn't have found something more positive to have become infamous for," another said. More content from NBCNews.com: A week later, search still on for 73-year-old accused of killing daughter-in-law Video: Like hurricanes, winter storms to get names too Cell phone video shows cop striking woman after Philadelphia parade State Dept: Missing American journalist Austin Tice believed held by Syria regime NYPD commissioner blames rise in crime rate on Apple thefts Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Ex-butler: I betrayed pope's trust

Pope Benedict XVI waves as he stands in his "popemobile" with his butler Paolo Gabriele, center seated. NEW: Vatican Police rejects Gabriele's claim that he was poorly treated in detention NEW: Gabriele says he copied documents because of troubling Vatican atmosphere The former butler says he is innocent of theft but has betrayed the pope's trust Leaked documents were cited in a book alleging corruption in the church hierarchy Rome (CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI's former butler declared himself innocent Tuesday of a charge of aggravated theft in connection with leaked documents -- but said he had abused the pope's trust. Paolo Gabriele has previously admitted taking hundreds of secret papers from the pope's personal apartment and passing them to an Italian journalist. Opinion: Scandals block Vatican's message Gabriele asserted his innocence Tuesday when he was asked by his lawyer about the theft charge, according to a pool of selected journalists allowed into the courtroom. The Vatican penal system does not require a formal plea. But, he said: "I feel guilty of having betrayed the trust that the Holy Father gave me." The former butler added that he felt he was "the closest layman to the pope." Corruption claims resulting from the publication of a book based on the leaked materials rocked the Catholic Church hierarchy and could even affect who becomes the next pope. Testifying Tuesday, Gabriele told the presiding judge, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, that he had received no money in exchange for the papers, according to the journalist pool. The accused said he did not believe he was the only person to give "news" to the press over the years, but also said that he had "no accomplices." Read more: Vatican newspaper calls fragment referring to Jesus' wife 'a fake' Computer technician Claudio Sciarpelletti, who worked in the Vatican's secretariat of state, is accused of complicity in the crime. The court will try him separately, once the former butler's trial is finished. If convicted of aggravated theft, Gabriele could face up to eight years in an Italian prison, although it is possible the pontiff could choose to pardon him. Sciarpelletti would face a shorter prison term of only a few months if found guilty. Questioned by Dalla Torre about how and why he had collected the documents, Gabriele said he had started photocopying them in 2010. He said his "intention was to find a person he could fully trust to whom to vent .... about the disconcerting atmosphere in the Vatican, felt not only by me. This feeling of bewilderment was widely felt in the Vatican." Gabriele said he had made the photocopies during regular working hours and in front of other people who worked in the same office. He told the court that he used his "instincts" in choosing what to photocopy. He said he had received no money or any other benefit from the person to whom he gave the documents, adding that this "was the essential condition of our agreement." Gabriele also said that "the book was certainly not something he wanted." A prosecutor in the case said in a report last month that Gabriele had acted out of a desire to combat "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church." "I was certain that a shock ... would have been healthy to bring the church back onto the right track," Gabriele is quoted as saying by the prosecutor, Nicola Piccardi. Asked Tuesday about a gold nugget belonging to the pope that was found by police who searched his apartment, Gabriele told the court he hadn't known it was there. The officers who carried out the search said the nugget was 3-4 centimeters (just over an inch) long and had been discovered in a shoebox, along with a signed check made out to the pontiff. The court heard Saturday that 82 boxes of evidence were removed from Gabriele's apartments in Vatican City and Castel Gondolfo, a small town near Rome. Also Tuesday, the pope's personal secretary, Monsignor George Gaenswein, testified that he never "had any reason to doubt" Gabriele. More witnesses will be heard in the case Wednesday. Recalling his initial detention in May, Gabriele told the court that when he was first arrested he was put in a cell so small he couldn't open his arms out to their full extent. He was later moved to another, larger cell, Gabriele said. However, in this cell, where he was held for 15 to 20 days, the light was kept on 24 hours a day with no means for him to turn it off, he said. Gabriele said his eyesight had been damaged as a result. The Vatican prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into his claims of poor treatment in detention. But Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See media office, told reporters in a briefing after the court session that the cells used by the Vatican meet international standards. Lombardi also suggested that the allegations by Gabriele's defense lawyer that his client had been inhumanely treated seem questionable, since they were only coming out now. A statement from the Vatican Police said the force had been in the process of upgrading its long-term cells when Gabriele was arrested. The work was accelerated and he was moved to a more comfortable cell after 20 days, the statement said. The Vatican cells meet the standards present in other countries for similar situations, the statement said. It added that Gabriele had asked for the light to be left on to keep him company at night, and that he had been provided with eye masks. Gabriele was given access to medical staff and a spiritual adviser, as well as being allowed to attend mass with his family, the statement added. Read more: CNN Belief Blog Gabriele, wearing the same gray suit he had on for Saturday's initial hearing, appeared more relaxed Tuesday, smiling, closing his eyes briefly and intermittently chewing either gum or candy, according to the journalist pool. In the previous hearing Gabriele had appeared pale as he sat largely expressionless in the courtroom. Both sessions were held under closely controlled conditions, with only a handful of approved reporters allowed to attend. They were required to brief other journalists. On Saturday, the admitted journalists were made to hand over their own pens in exchange for Vatican-issue ones in case any contained concealed recording devices. Gabriele's family did not attend either session. The former butler's lawyer, Christiana Arru, filed objections concerning the admissibility of evidence Saturday, including the results of a psychological exam conducted without the presence of his lawyer and footage gathered via a hidden camera, some of which the court accepted. CNN Belief Blog: Pope's butler leaked papers to shock 'corrupt' Church, prosecutor says Gabriele's case is thought to be the most significant ever heard in the Vatican City courthouse, which has handled mostly petty theft cases in the past. A Vatican legal expert, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, said in an interview published Sunday in Italian newspaper La Repubblica that popes in the past have typically granted pardons in the face of sincere confessions and repentance. The Vatican City State penal code for proceedings involving its citizens is based on the Italian penal code of the second half of the 19th century. Dalla Torre will lead the debate in the courthouse, located behind St. Peter's Basilica, and question the defendant directly. Prison terms handed down by the court are served in the Italian prison system, under an agreement between the Vatican City State and Italy. Gabriele was arrested in May, following a top-level Vatican investigation into how the pope's private documents appeared in the best-selling book "Sua Santita" ("His Holiness"), by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi. The Vatican called the publication of his book "criminal" when it was released in Italian.

Tipster remains certain Hoffa buried in Detroit suburb

Jerry Siskind / AFP - Getty Images file Jimmy Hoffa and his son, James P. Hoffa, who later also became president of the Teamsters, in a 1971 photo. By Hank Winchester, Shawn Ley and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News Police in Roseville, Mich., were awaiting lab reports Tuesday to determine whether there are human remains under a shed where a tipster says the body of former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa was buried 37 years ago. Hank Winchester and Shawn Ley are reporters for NBC station WDIV of Detroit. M. Alex Johnson is reporter for NBC News. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Scientists at Michigan State University had been scheduled to issue their report Monday on two soil samples taken from a home in Roseville, a suburb of Detroit, after the unidentified tipster told authorities that he witnessed a body being buried there the day after Hoffa disappeared in July 1975. Late in the afternoon, police said the results wouldn't be available until Tuesday. The lab tests are only a preliminary step to help determine whether anyone is buried on the property. Were they to come back positive for human remains, authorities would then have to dig them up before further tests could be conducted to figure out whether they were indeed those of Hoffa. The disappearance of Hoffa — who ran the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the country's biggest labor union, from 1957 to 1971 — has long fueled conspiracy theories. Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com Investigators and other experts have said they are doubtful that Hoffa will finally have been found. Andy Arena, the former FBI special agent in charge for Detroit, said that while his "gut feeling is that this person saw something," it defies common sense to believe that the Mafia would have buried the body in broad daylight in a busy suburban area. "If this guy was standing there watching this, and it was Jimmy Hoffa, he would have been in the hole with him," Arena said. 1976 FBI memo on Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance (.pdf) Dan Moldea, author of "The Hoffa Wars" and numerous other books on organized crime, said he "never thought that Hoffa was here, ever." But the unidentified police informant is "100 percent convinced" that Hoffa's body is buried there, said Moldea, who told NBC station WDIV-TV of Detroit that he had been in "constant contact" with the man. "'Well, if they don't find anything, they have to dig up the driveway,'" Moldea quoted the man as having said. Police continued to guard the home Tuesday in Roseville, where national media and curious onlookers have gathered since the story made international news last week. The current owner of the home, Pat Szpunar, described the scene as "three-ring circus." The attention has frightened the tipster, who fears that organized crime groups might come after him for talking, Moldea said, who said that was a legitimate concern. "He's so frightened," Moldea said. "One of the people who is involved in this is still alive, has teeth. He can still bite." Moldea didn't identify that person. More content from NBCNews.com: A week later, search still on for 73-year-old accused of killing daughter-in-law Video: Like hurricanes, winter storms to get names too Cell phone video shows cop striking woman after Philadelphia parade State Dept: Missing American journalist Austin Tice believed held by Syria regime NYPD commissioner blames rise in crime rate on Apple thefts Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook