Saturday, February 07, 2015 10:56:59 AM
Arthur G. Dozier School's Horrors Detailed In Report
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Posted: 02/05/2015 8:55 pm EST Updated: 02/05/2015 11:59 pm EST
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — As the bodies exhumed from dozens of old graves at a shuttered Florida reform school continue to yield grudging answers to stubborn mysteries, researchers investigating the cases this week released a report on what they know so far.
There was the 6-year-old boy who ended up dead after being sent to work as a house boy. And another boy who escaped but was later found shot to death with a blanket pulled over his body and a shotgun across his legs. Then there was the "rape dungeon" where boys were taken and abused.
What the researchers have learned about decades of horrific acts carried out at the now closed Arthur G. Dozier School in Marianna is outlined in a report released by the University of South Florida as researchers continue grappling with the mystery of the graves and deaths there.
University anthropologists have found the remains of 51 people buried at the school during a dig that also uncovered garbage, syringes, drug bottles and a dog encased in an old water cooler buried in the cemetery.
They are not only trying to identify who was buried there, but the stories behind how they and others died at the school.
Beyond studying remains, researchers are looking through the school and state records, newspaper archives and interviewing boys' families, former inmates and former school employees to provide a history of the dead.
"Maybe I've been doing this too long, but I'm not surprised at what horrible things people do to one another," said USF anthropologist Erin Kimmerle, the team leader who has researched other mass graves. "It's just really sad the way people treat one another, which may be in part what's captured the public's attention on this — just the sense that it's not right."
The report, prepared for the Florida Cabinet, identifies two more people buried in graves, in addition to three who were identified previously. One was Bennett Evans, an employee who died in a 1914 dorm fire. While there wasn't a DNA match, remains found are consistent with his age and cause of death. The other was Sam Morgan, who was brought to the school in 1915 at age 18 and later wound up dead in a case that still has unanswered questions. Morgan was identified through a DNA match with his relatives.
To date, the remains of four people have been identified through DNA matches.
It's not an easy project. The school underreported deaths; didn't provide death certificates, names or details in many cases, particularly involving black boys; and simply reported some boys who disappeared as no longer at the school. And many in the Panhandle community don't want to talk about the school's dark past.
Several of the boys were killed after escape attempts, including Robert Hewitt, whose family lived a few miles from the school. He was hiding in his family's house and men from the school came looking for him several times after the 1960 escape, according to relatives. The family came home one day to find his covered body lying in a bed. He had a shotgun wound and his father's shotgun was lying across his legs.
There's also the story of 6-year-old George Grissam, who the school sent out to work as a house boy in 1918. He was delivered back to the school unconscious and later died. George's 8-year-old brother Ernest also disappeared from school records, which simply described him as "not here."
Other boys died after severe beatings, being smashed in the head or other injuries. Former inmates and employees interviewed also told researchers about a "rape dungeon" where boys, some younger than 12, were sexually assaulted.
While many of the cases are nearly a century old, some of the dead have surviving brothers, sisters and other relatives still seeking answers.
"To some of this is history, but for many of the people who are involved it's actually their reality every day," Kimmerle said. "They're really committed and moved by this because it's their direct family."
© 2015 Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/05/arthur-dozier-school-death_n_6626732.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
--
USF team urges Dozier school probe amid ‘rape room’ claims
USF forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle and Hillsborough County sheriff’s Detective Greg Thomas discuss the new finders Thursday.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
By Jerome R. Stockfisch | Tribune Staff
Published: February 5, 2015 | Updated: February 6, 2015 at 06:58 AM
TAMPA — A new report on the investigation [ http://news.usf.edu/article/articlefiles/6693-Cabinet%20Update%20Dozier%20Jan%202015.pdf ] at the Dozier School for Boys says that suspicious circumstances surrounding several deaths there reveal “a compelling need for further investigation in some cases,” and that law enforcement intervention is called for over allegations of abuse, sexual assault and rape involving a possible “rape room” or “rape dungeon.”
Researchers from the University of South Florida have identified two more bodies found buried at the former Panhandle reform school, and discovered that an unidentified body had among its remains a small lead ball “consistent with a projectile.”
That brings the total number of positively identified bodies at the school to five. The USF team has found 55 graves at the site.
Stories of severe beatings, sexual assault and even killings at the school in Marianna have been circulating for decades, and former wards and their family members are seeking evidence of atrocities.
The report says the remains of one of the bodies, which has not been identified, were associated with the lead ball “near the left lower abdomen/upper thigh region of the body.” It was sent to ballistics experts with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing.
FDLE concluded that the object “cannot be definitively determined to be an ammunition component due to damage and corrosion; however, it is consistent with 000 Buck size shot pellets for various muzzle loading balls based on weight, size and physical appearance.”
Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at USF, said the object was associated with the remains, not simply nearby in the soil. However, “The remains themselves were not well preserved, so we’re not able to say anything about health or trauma or cause of death,” she said.
Greg Thomas, a detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, said the object might have been in the boy’s pocket, for example. The boy’s clothing had disintegrated.
Kimmerle and Thomas met with reporters after providing an update to members of the staff of the Florida Cabinet, which met in Tampa on Thursday. The report was required by the Cabinet as part of its decision to allow the USF team to conduct research on the school grounds. The sheriff’s office is assisting Kimmerle’s group.
The USF researchers have been at the site since 2012 after men who had attended the school shared publicly the stories of what they endured. The school had reported that there were 31 graves at the site; through ground-penetrating radar and other techniques, the researchers found the additional 24.
The report indicated the researchers have found 51 individuals among the 55 graves. The discrepancy is due to the commingling of remains from victims of a 1914 dormitory fire.
The people whose identities were released Thursday are Bennett Evans, a school employee who is believed to have died in the fire, and Sam Morgan, who entered the school in 1915 at age 18 then was paroled and brought back to the school. A ledger indicated that Morgan was “indentured” and the researchers believe he died in the custody of the business or farm that had acquired him for labor.
Many of the men who attended Dozier told of systematic whippings in a small white cottage on the campus. An advocacy group is known as the White House Boys. But Thursday’s report provides a first glimpse into the extent of sexual assault that may have taken place at the school.
The USF researchers said interviews with former staff and men who were sent to the school as boys revealed that the basement of a gymnasium was referred to as the “rape room” or “rape dungeon” by several men. Some of them were under 12 at he time. They named specific perpetrators.
The report says that “since the investigation of abuse, sexual assault, and rape is beyond our expertise and may have criminal or other civil consequences, particularly because several of the men were under the age of 12 years at the time of the incident, and at least one of the named perpetrators is still living (to our knowledge), we recommend sworn statements be taken by qualified law enforcement.”
On Thursday, Kimmerle said, “We hope that it’s not just glossed over and pushed aside. A lot of these men were helping us to find burials and give us other information about the school, and this comes up, and they are very distraught.”
The report also addresses a number of suspicious deaths. One was a youngster who ran away from the school and was found shot to death in bed with his father’s shotgun across his legs. Another reportedly had his skull crushed but his remains were not found in a marked grave unearthed in Philadelphia. The deaths of two boys were blamed on illnesses but they were believed to be healthy. One was found at the bottom of the school’s swimming pool.
The report also addresses discrepancies between school records and witnesses who say they observed burials.
“A review of the facts surrounding certain students’ deaths reveals a compelling need for further investigation in some cases,” the report says.
Such an investigation might present jurisdictional issues. The FDLE has already investigated Dozier, concluding in 2009 that there had been no foul play. Officials in Jackson County, where the school is located, have not expressed interest. And while it is assisting a USF team based in Tampa, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has no jurisdiction.
Kimmerle said any investigation would most likely have to be ordered by Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet.
Dozier, which for a time was known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys, opened in 1900 and was closed for financial reasons in 2011.
© 2015 TAMPA MEDIA GROUP, LLC
http://tbo.com/news/education/usf-team-uncovers-rape-room-claims-urges-boys-school-investigation-20150205/ [with comments]
--
'Rape dungeon' allegations emerge in abuse report on Dozier School for Boys
Anthropologists excavate suspected graves near the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida.
Two more boys identified as three-year dig and investigaton of the abuse inflicted on mostly black students at the now-closed Florida school nears final stages
6 February 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/06/dozier-school-for-boys-abuse-florida-new-allegations
--
Dozier investigation finds possible buckshot in boy's remains
FDLE ballistics experts say the "lead ball" found at Dozier "is consistent with 000 Buck size shot pellets ... based on weight, size, and physical appearance."
University of South Florida
Ben Montgomery, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, February 5, 2015 9:31am
TAMPA — The ongoing investigation into a burial ground at Florida's oldest reform school has turned up possible buckshot in the remains of a boy who died in state custody.
University of South Florida researchers disclosed the find to aides of the Florida Cabinet earlier this week in an update of their excavations at the cemetery at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. The pellet-shaped artifact was found near what would have been the boy's stomach.
Hillsborough County sheriff's Detective Greg Thomas sent the small metal object to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for analysis. FDLE ballistics experts found that the "lead ball cannot be definitively determined to be an ammunition component due to damage and corrosion; however, it is consistent with 000 Buck size shot pellets for various muzzle loading balls based on weight, size, and physical appearance."
Stories have swirled for decades about foul play at the brutal school, open from 1900 to 2011. In 2012, USF anthropologists began investigating a small burial ground surrounded by pine trees on a forgotten corner of campus, where pipe crosses marked what was said to be the final resting place for 31 boys who died at the school. Using ground penetrating radar and excavation techniques, they found 55 graves, many in the woods outside the marked cemetery. Remains were found buried under trees and brush and under an old road.
USF's new 15-page report [ http://tampabay.com/tbprojects/dcloud/dcloud-template.html?doc=1630218-cabinetdozierupdate ], an update for the Florida Cabinet, says researchers also found buried among the remains a cache of syringes and drug bottles dated 1985, a modern water cooler containing the remains of a dog and "various kinds of garbage."
The possible projectile was found among the remains of a 14- to 17-year-old boy, most likely of African-American ancestry. They know he was buried clothed and in a casket, but can't determine when he was put into the ground. The burial location suggests he died during the later part of the period that the Boot Hill cemetery was in use. The last recorded burial at the school was 1952.
At a news conference Thursday, forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle, who is leading the research, said the remains were so deteriorated that she couldn't tell what killed the boy. But Thomas said it was possible a projectile the size of the lead ball they found could cause a fatal injury.
USF has also identified two more sets of remains: Sam Morgan, using DNA, and Bennett Evans, presumptively identified based on age, burial location and context. That brings the number of individuals identified to five. Evans was an employee of the school while the others were inmates.
Although researchers found 55 graves, they believe they've unearthed the remains of 51 individuals. That's because three sets of charred remains were found mixed up in seven different graves. They believe these remains belonged to victims of a 1914 dormitory fire that killed seven to 10 people, most of them boys who had been locked in "dark cells" on the third floor and were unable to escape when the building ignited.
They don't know where the other fire victims were buried, but think their remains could be with the debris of the burned dormitory, which was dozed under.
Excluding the fire victims, USF has found the remains of 48 children. But they have the names of only 43 boys from school records. Among those 43, nine were white and 34 — nearly 80 percent — were documented as "colored." The youngest burial was 6-year-old George Grissam who had been paroled for labor and was brought back to the school in 1918, unconscious.
The report also says researchers talked to former wards from the early 1960s who claim to have been sexually abused by guards and can name their perpetrators, who may still be alive. If the victims were younger than 12, there's no statute of limitations on rape. Researchers encouraged police to get involved and said they "found the testimonies used in our research to be honest and credible."
"We hope that it's not just glossed over or pushed aside," Kimmerle said.
The research team will continue field work at the shuttered school until August. They plan to excavate the burned dormitory structure to try to locate the missing remains. They also intend to open a discussion about what to do with the remains they've found and how to properly rebury and memorialize them.
THE DOZIER SAGA: Read previous special reports about the Dozier School for Boys
http://www.tampabay.com/topics/specials/2014/dozier.page
© 2015 Tampa Bay Times
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/usf-researchers-find-what-may-be-projectile-in-body-from-dozier-school-for/2216518 [with embedded video report]
--
New USF Report: Dozier boy's remains buried with possible "ammunition projectile"
Researchers pushing for more field research
Feb 5, 2015
http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-tampa/new-usf-report-dozier-boys-remains-buried-with-possible-ammunition-projectile [with embedded video report; no comments yet]
--
Pictures: Dozier School for Boys victims
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-dozier-school-boys-victims-pictures-photogallery.html
--
Florida School for Boys
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_School_for_Boys
--
(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84728059 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78915505 and preceding and following
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Posted: 02/05/2015 8:55 pm EST Updated: 02/05/2015 11:59 pm EST
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — As the bodies exhumed from dozens of old graves at a shuttered Florida reform school continue to yield grudging answers to stubborn mysteries, researchers investigating the cases this week released a report on what they know so far.
There was the 6-year-old boy who ended up dead after being sent to work as a house boy. And another boy who escaped but was later found shot to death with a blanket pulled over his body and a shotgun across his legs. Then there was the "rape dungeon" where boys were taken and abused.
What the researchers have learned about decades of horrific acts carried out at the now closed Arthur G. Dozier School in Marianna is outlined in a report released by the University of South Florida as researchers continue grappling with the mystery of the graves and deaths there.
University anthropologists have found the remains of 51 people buried at the school during a dig that also uncovered garbage, syringes, drug bottles and a dog encased in an old water cooler buried in the cemetery.
They are not only trying to identify who was buried there, but the stories behind how they and others died at the school.
Beyond studying remains, researchers are looking through the school and state records, newspaper archives and interviewing boys' families, former inmates and former school employees to provide a history of the dead.
"Maybe I've been doing this too long, but I'm not surprised at what horrible things people do to one another," said USF anthropologist Erin Kimmerle, the team leader who has researched other mass graves. "It's just really sad the way people treat one another, which may be in part what's captured the public's attention on this — just the sense that it's not right."
The report, prepared for the Florida Cabinet, identifies two more people buried in graves, in addition to three who were identified previously. One was Bennett Evans, an employee who died in a 1914 dorm fire. While there wasn't a DNA match, remains found are consistent with his age and cause of death. The other was Sam Morgan, who was brought to the school in 1915 at age 18 and later wound up dead in a case that still has unanswered questions. Morgan was identified through a DNA match with his relatives.
To date, the remains of four people have been identified through DNA matches.
It's not an easy project. The school underreported deaths; didn't provide death certificates, names or details in many cases, particularly involving black boys; and simply reported some boys who disappeared as no longer at the school. And many in the Panhandle community don't want to talk about the school's dark past.
Several of the boys were killed after escape attempts, including Robert Hewitt, whose family lived a few miles from the school. He was hiding in his family's house and men from the school came looking for him several times after the 1960 escape, according to relatives. The family came home one day to find his covered body lying in a bed. He had a shotgun wound and his father's shotgun was lying across his legs.
There's also the story of 6-year-old George Grissam, who the school sent out to work as a house boy in 1918. He was delivered back to the school unconscious and later died. George's 8-year-old brother Ernest also disappeared from school records, which simply described him as "not here."
Other boys died after severe beatings, being smashed in the head or other injuries. Former inmates and employees interviewed also told researchers about a "rape dungeon" where boys, some younger than 12, were sexually assaulted.
While many of the cases are nearly a century old, some of the dead have surviving brothers, sisters and other relatives still seeking answers.
"To some of this is history, but for many of the people who are involved it's actually their reality every day," Kimmerle said. "They're really committed and moved by this because it's their direct family."
© 2015 Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/05/arthur-dozier-school-death_n_6626732.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
--
USF team urges Dozier school probe amid ‘rape room’ claims
USF forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle and Hillsborough County sheriff’s Detective Greg Thomas discuss the new finders Thursday.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
By Jerome R. Stockfisch | Tribune Staff
Published: February 5, 2015 | Updated: February 6, 2015 at 06:58 AM
TAMPA — A new report on the investigation [ http://news.usf.edu/article/articlefiles/6693-Cabinet%20Update%20Dozier%20Jan%202015.pdf ] at the Dozier School for Boys says that suspicious circumstances surrounding several deaths there reveal “a compelling need for further investigation in some cases,” and that law enforcement intervention is called for over allegations of abuse, sexual assault and rape involving a possible “rape room” or “rape dungeon.”
Researchers from the University of South Florida have identified two more bodies found buried at the former Panhandle reform school, and discovered that an unidentified body had among its remains a small lead ball “consistent with a projectile.”
That brings the total number of positively identified bodies at the school to five. The USF team has found 55 graves at the site.
Stories of severe beatings, sexual assault and even killings at the school in Marianna have been circulating for decades, and former wards and their family members are seeking evidence of atrocities.
The report says the remains of one of the bodies, which has not been identified, were associated with the lead ball “near the left lower abdomen/upper thigh region of the body.” It was sent to ballistics experts with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing.
FDLE concluded that the object “cannot be definitively determined to be an ammunition component due to damage and corrosion; however, it is consistent with 000 Buck size shot pellets for various muzzle loading balls based on weight, size and physical appearance.”
Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at USF, said the object was associated with the remains, not simply nearby in the soil. However, “The remains themselves were not well preserved, so we’re not able to say anything about health or trauma or cause of death,” she said.
Greg Thomas, a detective with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, said the object might have been in the boy’s pocket, for example. The boy’s clothing had disintegrated.
Kimmerle and Thomas met with reporters after providing an update to members of the staff of the Florida Cabinet, which met in Tampa on Thursday. The report was required by the Cabinet as part of its decision to allow the USF team to conduct research on the school grounds. The sheriff’s office is assisting Kimmerle’s group.
The USF researchers have been at the site since 2012 after men who had attended the school shared publicly the stories of what they endured. The school had reported that there were 31 graves at the site; through ground-penetrating radar and other techniques, the researchers found the additional 24.
The report indicated the researchers have found 51 individuals among the 55 graves. The discrepancy is due to the commingling of remains from victims of a 1914 dormitory fire.
The people whose identities were released Thursday are Bennett Evans, a school employee who is believed to have died in the fire, and Sam Morgan, who entered the school in 1915 at age 18 then was paroled and brought back to the school. A ledger indicated that Morgan was “indentured” and the researchers believe he died in the custody of the business or farm that had acquired him for labor.
Many of the men who attended Dozier told of systematic whippings in a small white cottage on the campus. An advocacy group is known as the White House Boys. But Thursday’s report provides a first glimpse into the extent of sexual assault that may have taken place at the school.
The USF researchers said interviews with former staff and men who were sent to the school as boys revealed that the basement of a gymnasium was referred to as the “rape room” or “rape dungeon” by several men. Some of them were under 12 at he time. They named specific perpetrators.
The report says that “since the investigation of abuse, sexual assault, and rape is beyond our expertise and may have criminal or other civil consequences, particularly because several of the men were under the age of 12 years at the time of the incident, and at least one of the named perpetrators is still living (to our knowledge), we recommend sworn statements be taken by qualified law enforcement.”
On Thursday, Kimmerle said, “We hope that it’s not just glossed over and pushed aside. A lot of these men were helping us to find burials and give us other information about the school, and this comes up, and they are very distraught.”
The report also addresses a number of suspicious deaths. One was a youngster who ran away from the school and was found shot to death in bed with his father’s shotgun across his legs. Another reportedly had his skull crushed but his remains were not found in a marked grave unearthed in Philadelphia. The deaths of two boys were blamed on illnesses but they were believed to be healthy. One was found at the bottom of the school’s swimming pool.
The report also addresses discrepancies between school records and witnesses who say they observed burials.
“A review of the facts surrounding certain students’ deaths reveals a compelling need for further investigation in some cases,” the report says.
Such an investigation might present jurisdictional issues. The FDLE has already investigated Dozier, concluding in 2009 that there had been no foul play. Officials in Jackson County, where the school is located, have not expressed interest. And while it is assisting a USF team based in Tampa, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has no jurisdiction.
Kimmerle said any investigation would most likely have to be ordered by Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet.
Dozier, which for a time was known as the Florida Industrial School for Boys, opened in 1900 and was closed for financial reasons in 2011.
© 2015 TAMPA MEDIA GROUP, LLC
http://tbo.com/news/education/usf-team-uncovers-rape-room-claims-urges-boys-school-investigation-20150205/ [with comments]
--
'Rape dungeon' allegations emerge in abuse report on Dozier School for Boys
Anthropologists excavate suspected graves near the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida.
Two more boys identified as three-year dig and investigaton of the abuse inflicted on mostly black students at the now-closed Florida school nears final stages
6 February 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/06/dozier-school-for-boys-abuse-florida-new-allegations
--
Dozier investigation finds possible buckshot in boy's remains
FDLE ballistics experts say the "lead ball" found at Dozier "is consistent with 000 Buck size shot pellets ... based on weight, size, and physical appearance."
University of South Florida
Ben Montgomery, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, February 5, 2015 9:31am
TAMPA — The ongoing investigation into a burial ground at Florida's oldest reform school has turned up possible buckshot in the remains of a boy who died in state custody.
University of South Florida researchers disclosed the find to aides of the Florida Cabinet earlier this week in an update of their excavations at the cemetery at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. The pellet-shaped artifact was found near what would have been the boy's stomach.
Hillsborough County sheriff's Detective Greg Thomas sent the small metal object to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for analysis. FDLE ballistics experts found that the "lead ball cannot be definitively determined to be an ammunition component due to damage and corrosion; however, it is consistent with 000 Buck size shot pellets for various muzzle loading balls based on weight, size, and physical appearance."
Stories have swirled for decades about foul play at the brutal school, open from 1900 to 2011. In 2012, USF anthropologists began investigating a small burial ground surrounded by pine trees on a forgotten corner of campus, where pipe crosses marked what was said to be the final resting place for 31 boys who died at the school. Using ground penetrating radar and excavation techniques, they found 55 graves, many in the woods outside the marked cemetery. Remains were found buried under trees and brush and under an old road.
USF's new 15-page report [ http://tampabay.com/tbprojects/dcloud/dcloud-template.html?doc=1630218-cabinetdozierupdate ], an update for the Florida Cabinet, says researchers also found buried among the remains a cache of syringes and drug bottles dated 1985, a modern water cooler containing the remains of a dog and "various kinds of garbage."
The possible projectile was found among the remains of a 14- to 17-year-old boy, most likely of African-American ancestry. They know he was buried clothed and in a casket, but can't determine when he was put into the ground. The burial location suggests he died during the later part of the period that the Boot Hill cemetery was in use. The last recorded burial at the school was 1952.
At a news conference Thursday, forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle, who is leading the research, said the remains were so deteriorated that she couldn't tell what killed the boy. But Thomas said it was possible a projectile the size of the lead ball they found could cause a fatal injury.
USF has also identified two more sets of remains: Sam Morgan, using DNA, and Bennett Evans, presumptively identified based on age, burial location and context. That brings the number of individuals identified to five. Evans was an employee of the school while the others were inmates.
Although researchers found 55 graves, they believe they've unearthed the remains of 51 individuals. That's because three sets of charred remains were found mixed up in seven different graves. They believe these remains belonged to victims of a 1914 dormitory fire that killed seven to 10 people, most of them boys who had been locked in "dark cells" on the third floor and were unable to escape when the building ignited.
They don't know where the other fire victims were buried, but think their remains could be with the debris of the burned dormitory, which was dozed under.
Excluding the fire victims, USF has found the remains of 48 children. But they have the names of only 43 boys from school records. Among those 43, nine were white and 34 — nearly 80 percent — were documented as "colored." The youngest burial was 6-year-old George Grissam who had been paroled for labor and was brought back to the school in 1918, unconscious.
The report also says researchers talked to former wards from the early 1960s who claim to have been sexually abused by guards and can name their perpetrators, who may still be alive. If the victims were younger than 12, there's no statute of limitations on rape. Researchers encouraged police to get involved and said they "found the testimonies used in our research to be honest and credible."
"We hope that it's not just glossed over or pushed aside," Kimmerle said.
The research team will continue field work at the shuttered school until August. They plan to excavate the burned dormitory structure to try to locate the missing remains. They also intend to open a discussion about what to do with the remains they've found and how to properly rebury and memorialize them.
THE DOZIER SAGA: Read previous special reports about the Dozier School for Boys
http://www.tampabay.com/topics/specials/2014/dozier.page
© 2015 Tampa Bay Times
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/usf-researchers-find-what-may-be-projectile-in-body-from-dozier-school-for/2216518 [with embedded video report]
--
New USF Report: Dozier boy's remains buried with possible "ammunition projectile"
Researchers pushing for more field research
Feb 5, 2015
http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-tampa/new-usf-report-dozier-boys-remains-buried-with-possible-ammunition-projectile [with embedded video report; no comments yet]
--
Pictures: Dozier School for Boys victims
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-dozier-school-boys-victims-pictures-photogallery.html
--
Florida School for Boys
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_School_for_Boys
--
(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84728059 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78915505 and preceding and following
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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