Remains of Two Children Recovered From Reform School

News September 5, 2013

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MARIANNA, FLORIDA—A team of researchers led by Erin Kimmerle of the University of South Florida has recovered the remains of two children from the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, which operated from 1900 to 2011. Former inmates of the reform school in the 1950s and 1960s reported suffering beatings and abuse. The two children are thought to have been between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time of death; one had been wrapped in a shroud and buried in an elaborate coffin that may have been made after the 1930s, while buttons were found in the other coffin, which was quite plain. Scientists will attempt to match DNA samples from the remains to relatives. Kimmerle estimates that 50 unmarked graves will need to be exhumed.

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