Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a petition Tuesday in circuit court seeking the exhumation of human remains at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna in the Panhandle.
The petition, filed in circuit court in Jackson County, seeks a court order that would let Medical Examiner Michael Hunter exhume bodies from “Boot Hill” cemetery and surrounding areas, where officials have said there may be unaccounted-for bodies of boys who died at the former reform school between 1900 and 1952.
“The deaths that occurred at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna are cloaked in mystery, and the surviving family members deserve a thorough examination of the site,” Bondi said in a statement released by her office. “I am committed to doing everything within my power to support investigative efforts to help resolve unanswered questions and bring closure to the families who lost loved ones.”
Former residents at the reform school alleged that guards administered beatings and otherwise abused boys at the school.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation had determined there wasn’t enough evidence to determine whether the allegations of long-ago abuse were true, though other investigations by independent groups have continued.
