UPDATE: NO HUMAN REMAINS found in new Dozier School dig

An RV, tent, tables, vehicles, and equipment set up on the
former Dozier School for Boys property in Marianna today.

UPDATE (7/19/2019) - No human remains were found this week by researchers investigating "anomalies" at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida.

Spots that New South Associates, a ground-penetrating radar firm believed might be "clandestine" graves, proved to be nothing of the sort. Professors and students from the University of South Florida (USF) found only roots and other similar debris.

USF will continue its work at the site in the future, using another $850,000 appropriated by the Florida Legislature following the New South claims.

Read our story posted on Tuesday (7/16/2019) here:

Marianna- The University of South Florida (USF) is digging again at the former Dozier School for Boys, funded by $850,000 from the Florida Legislature.

Researchers from New South Associates found "anomalies" that they suggest might or might not be "clandestine" graves in an area near an old fuel depot and livestock barns. The site is on the north side of the now-closed school, which has been renamed Endeavor by the local government.

The "anomalies" are in a small area that was heavily wooded until recently. The area was searched with ground-penetrating radar because of "oral tradition," according to researchers, "that there was either another burial ground or individuals had been are unmarked graves on the school's campus." [I]

Researchers from USF - including professor Erin Kimmerle - originally came to Marianna one decade ago with similar beliefs, but never found any graves outside the fence that once the school's known cemetery.

Despite false reporting by local, state, national, and international media outlets, the university's team looked at dozens of areas on campus during its previous investigation. None of those spots turned out to be hidden cemeteries or clandestine burial sites.

Kimmerle has cautioned the media this time that the "anomalies" might be trash pits, root balls, or even livestock burial sites.

New South Associates, the firm that conducted the ground-penetrating radar survey admitted as much in its report. "It is possible that some or all of these possible grave anomalies represent false positives," the researchers briefly stated, before proceeding with language referencing an"oral history of graves beyond the cemetery." [II]

The $850,000 given to USF will soon determine whether these "anomalies" are graves.

If "clandestine graves" of murder victims are found, may justice be done if anyone connected to them is still alive so long after the fact. If the "anomalies" turn out to be stump holes or garbage pits, then hopefully there will be enough money left over to refill them.

I do have one suggestion. Perhaps the professors, students, and state officials will take a small amount of their time while here to visit and help those who are living beneath the blue tarps of Hurricane Michael. They are suffering in tents, irreparable homes, FEMA trailers, or are being forced from the only houses they have ever known.

There is a shortage of money to help hundreds of hurricane victims, and maybe you can do a little for them while you are here. No matter what you do or do not believe about Dozier School, these elderly people and children of the storm were not the cause of it.




REFERENCES:

[I] Maeve Herrick and Sarah Lowery, Final Report, "Ground-Penetrating Radar Survey for Possible Unmarked Graves at the A.G. Dozier School for Boys North Campus," New South Associates Technical Report No. 2898, January 28, 2019: 1.

[II] Ibid.: 29.

No evidence of murders by staff members at Dozier School: USF final report is released

Dozier School Cemetery prior to its destruction
by the University of South Florida.

The University of South Florida (USF) has submitted its final report on the "Boot Hill" Cemetery at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna to the Florida Cabinet.

No physical evidence was found to support claims that employees of the former state facility killed any of the students buried in the little cemetery.

No evidence of a mysterious "second cemetery" - a theory widely promoted by the Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald and other major news outlets - was found.

No evidence of "hidden burials" was found in any of the dozens of locations pointed out by former students of the school, many of whom call themselves the "White House Boys."

The only "projectile" found in association with any of the graves was a small bb-size piece of lead. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department previously said there was no evidence the individual in this grave was shot and suggested that the item could have been in his pocket. Analysis confirmed this assessment. The item could not be positively identified as a projectile at all, but was consistent in size with a buckshot from a black powder muzzle-loading firearm. These types of weapons were antiques by the time the Florida Reform School (later Dozier School for Boys) was even built.

The only verifiable murders that took place at the school were those of Robert Stephens, Earl Wilson and Eddie Black. All three were murdered by other students who were arrested, convicted and sentenced to prison for the murders.

USF said it was not able to view documentation about the 1966 drowning of Alphonse Glover in the school swimming pool. This statement is inaccurate as the coroner's report on Glover's death was among the documents in my possession that I offered to let researchers examine. They refused to look.

So far, USF has positively identified only seven of the bodies that it dug up from the school cemetery. The total cost of the project was nearly $700,000. The names of the others are mostly known and are consistent with the report completed by FDLE prior to the beginning of the USF project. DNA analysis is still pending and may determine the identifies of seven of the other bodies.

The report indicates that USF found three more graves than it can account for by name. The school, however, missed four deaths known to be associated with Dozier School. Three of these (2 students and one employee) took place prior to 1910. The fourth, of a male employee, took place during the influenza outbreak of 1918. Since one of these individuals is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marianna, the other three could and probably do account for the three additional graves found by the university at the school cemetery. This information was offered to USF researchers but they refused to review it.

The school has no money to rebury the 51 bodies that it exhumed.

So in the end it comes down to this simple fact: The Dozier School Cemetery ("Boot Hill") is gone. No evidence of murders by staff was found. There was no mysterious second cemetery.

The USF report concludes with social justice language about "restorative justice," etc., and brags that the project generated news stories reaching an estimated 1.18 billion people around the world.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will have the final say on the cemetery, likely sometime in February. So far, there has been no indication that the state agency will draw any different conclusions about the nature of the graves.

If you would like to read the real story of the Dozier School Cemetery now that the vast majority of the media coverage has been discredited, please consider my book: Death at Dozier School: The Attempted Assassination of an American City (available in Paperback and Kindle formats).

Click here to read the USF report for yourself.

Tampa reporter targets my deceased father over Dozier story

At 11:06 p.m. on Friday night (September 6, 2013), Ben Montgomery of the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) informed me that he is investigating my late father.

Mr. Montgomery sent me an email informing me of this action on his part roughly 10 minutes after sending out a Tweet demanding that I change the content of a story I posted on this blog two days ago about a dog being exhumed by the University of South Florida at the Dozier School Cemetery. I have refused to make the change requested by Mr. Montgomery.

Subsequently, ten minutes after making his demand for the story change, he sent me the following email:

 ----- Forwarded Message -----

From: "BMontgomery@tampabay.com"
To: Dale Cox
Sent: Friday, September 6, 2013 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: Dozier

Dale --

Do you know what your father's role was at ACI? I've requested his employment records, but I was wondering if you might shed any light on his time there. I know trustees from ACI were often involved in helping track down Dozier escapees, but do you know whether your father would have been involved in any of those efforts? 

Ben

Sent from my iPhone

--

As you can see, Mr. Montgomery indicates he has requested my late father's employment records. 

I find this action on his part to be uncalled for and disgusting. My father was never an employee of Dozier School for Boys and died at about the time the whole "White House Boys" story first developed. He was never involved with the story.

Mr. Montgomery followed at 12:06 a.m. today with another email explaining that he was investigating my late father because he was "just trying to figure out why you're so vociferous." In other words, he is investigating my late father because I have exercised my Constitutional right of Free Speech.

The media considers itself the guardian of the First Amendment, yet in this case Mr. Montgomery is targeting my late father because I have spoken publicly about the Dozier School story. You can judge for yourself whether that is right or wrong.

My dad, as all who knew him will testify, was an honorable and decent man. To know that a reporter who disagrees with me on the Dozier issue has decided to investigate him is disgusting and sickening.

If you would like to voice your opinion on this matter, I encourage you to do so by writing to the managing editor of the Tampa Bay Times. He is Mr. Montgomery's boss.  His email address is mike@tampabay.com.


Dale Cox
September 7, 2013