Who stole Mike Todd’s remains is unknown to this day, although here are some theories that are certainly popular.

According to L.A. Observed, one of the most popular theories suggests that in 1983, a mob informant told police that two mobsters had committed the grave robbery itself. But the story goes a bit further and suggests that they were working on behalf of Pellicano, who had staged the robbery in an attempt at getting some publicity that would lead to being hired to work on the high-profile Helen Brach case. Brach disappeared in 1977 and was the heir to the Brach Candy Company fortune, according to ABC 7 Chicago. Her body was never found, but she was eventually declared legally dead.

That theory has never been proven despite widespread belief. “I’ve been hearing that story for years. It’s a great story, but there’s no way I would know if it’s true. The guy is a legend here,” lawyer Glen Crick told L.A. Observed. Crick was at one point the director of the state agency in charge of issuing private investigator licenses.

According to Variety, Pellicano was arrested in 2002 on charges of ​​wiretapping, racketeering, conspiracy, and wire fraud completely unrelated to the Mike Todd case. He spent 16 years in federal prison before he was released in 2019. In a January 2021 interview with Daily Mail he said he has a new firm, Pellicano Negotiations, specializing in such things as crisis management.