USF confirms: No Mass Grave at Dozier School Cemetery

Memorial area at Dozier School Cemetery

BREAKING NEWS:  Tampa and Hillsborough County authorities beat, tortured and killed prisoners during same era as Dozier School allegations. Click here to read about the Tampa Atrocities


In a press conference this morning in Tampa, employees of the University of South Florida (USF) confirmed that the number of graves found at the Dozier School Cemetery matched exactly the number provided by me and others in the community.

The media all day has been claiming that researchers found "24 more graves than should be there."  That is categorically false. They found exactly the number of graves that documentation indicates should be there.

The university, which has spent more than $600,000 in taxpayer funds to dig up the historic cemetery at the former Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, FL, confirmed this morning that it had found 55 graves in the cemetery.

I tried to provide the university with evidence of 55 graves at the cemetery, but its employees refused to meet with me.

For more than 18 months, I have indicated that I believed there were "approximately 53 bodies there" (quote from the Tampa Bay Times, 4/13/2013). On September 22 of last year, I provided the university's legal office with documentation of 2 additional deaths at the school from the years prior to 1906, bringing the total to 55. University researchers never responded.

Artifact left behind in tracks of USF vehicle.

In October of last year, at the request of individuals from the local historic preservation trust, I loaded my documentation up and carried it to Marianna so the team from USF could go through it. It included clear evidence of 55 known graves in the cemetery. Even though USF had requested that the local group provide it access to any information available on the cemetery, its researchers refused to meet with me or examine the documentation I was making available to them.

It raised a question that remains unanswered today. What kind of scientist or professional researcher, being paid with taxpayer money to find the truth about the cemetery, would not examine a box containing thousands of pages of documentation?  You can answer that question for yourself.

Today's announcement by USF confirms an article I posted here on December 29, 2013: No Mass Grave at Dozier School Cemetery. There was no mass grave at the Dozier School Cemetery. In fact, claims by one former student that more than 150 graves would be found there, the university's announcement now confirms, have been proved to be completely false.

Memorial at Dozier before its destruction by project.

USF today did not comment on the causes of death for the individuals it dug up, more than 80% of them without the permission of their families and next of kin, but we already know that answer too: they died of sickness, in a tragic fire, in a couple of accidents - or were murdered by other students.

I said in early 2013 that if no bodies of students murdered by employees - as some have claimed - were found at the school, then employees of USF would owe the people of Marianna and Jackson County an apology. I predict, however, that no apology from them will ever come.

They say they will continue to search and dig in what is now becoming a clearly desperate effort to find more graves. Let them dig, but in my opinion no more public money should be provided to them once they have finished spending the more than $600,000 they have already been given.

I hope they can find the families of those known to be buried in the cemetery. It would be a shame if  80% of the bodies they dug up without first taking the time to do so are just thrown back in a hole with nothing but a number.  How is that an improvement?  Regardless, hopefully they can find the families that do not know they need closure so they can "give them closure" as they have promised.

1947 map showing original cemetery fence.

The media continues to try to spin the story, but to its credit USF timed the press conference well. By tomorrow, most likely, the news about Dozier will be lost in coverage of tonight's State of the Union speech and the big winter storm.

The media also continues to show its inability to understand that the little area at the school with metal crosses and a cable around them was a memorial, not the actual cemetery. The actual cemetery - once surrounded by a wire fence, portions of which were found in spoil piles left behind by USF - enclosed a somewhat larger area of around 50 by 100 feet. All of the graves found were inside the line of the original cemetery fence, not "outside the cemetery" as some media outlets have already claimed today.

Apparently they either can't understand that simple fact or they are lying to save their reputations.

 As far as Marianna and Jackson County are concerned, our community has been vindicated. The media will never say that and USF will never say that, but we know it and we can hold our heads a bit higher today.

I wish only peace and happiness to all involved in this fiasco.

Statement on USF's latest effort to dig up bodies at Dozier School - July 31, 2013

If the University of South Florida wishes to dig up the graves at the Dozier School Cemetery, it should first contact the next of kin of those known to be buried there to obtain their permission and to obtain DNA for use in identifying the bodies.

USF has stated in its administrative and legal filings that it does not consider Dozier School Cemetery to be a crime scene and does not expect any crimes to be solved by exhuming the graves.

As of today, USF has located only 7 of the families with next of kin buried in the cemetery.  Why only 7?  USF itself has provided the names of more than 50 people logically believed to be buried in the cemetery.  Why is it so determined not to contact the families of the African American, Latino and other individuals buried in the cemetery?  If it does not locate and contact those families to obtain DNA for comparison, USF will relegate the individuals of color known to be buried at Dozier School to second class status for all eternity.  That is wrong and smells of racism.

In short, USF should be honest and honorable and let the families - ALL of the families, of ALL races - decide what should be done with the graves of their loved ones.

If all of the families are contacted, approve of the exhumations and are given a chance to provide DNA so their loved ones can be identified, then I have no issues with the project.  If USF does not do that, however, then the university should not be allowed to conduct this "science project" over the denials of a circuit judge, the state archaeologist and the Secretary of State.

Dale Cox
July 31, 2013

Bondi confirms Dozier ruling is "adverse" to exhumation plans

Dozier School Cemetery

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) has confirmed that yesterday's court ruling denying a petition to dig up the Dozier School Cemetery in Marianna was "adverse"  (Please click here to read the story on the ruling).

In a prepared statement released last night from Tallahassee, Bondi indicated that her office would continue to look for another way forward in the matter:

I remain committed to assisting with the efforts to help resolve unanswered questions regarding deaths at the Dozier School for Boys. In light of today’s adverse ruling, we will be meeting with the interested parties and considering the next course of action to explore other avenues.

The Attorney General did not say when she would be meeting with "interested parties" nor did she indicate who those "interested parties" might be.  Her office did not meet with any "interested parties" in Marianna or Jackson County prior to filing the petition to dig up the graves on behalf of the Medical Examiner, Dr. Michael Hunter.

Nick Cox, a statewide prosecutor with Bondi's office, told representatives of Jackson County at a meeting after the Board of County Commissioners voted to intervene in the matter that unless a court order allowing the exhumations was issued, no exhumations would take place. 

Now, however, he appears to be hedging on that statement. When asked if he planned to honor his original commitment now that the order had been denied, he responded tersely: "Be glad to discuss with the community as we continue forward."

While Bondi's statement indicates that her office will "explore other avenues," her employee's statement clearly indicates a plan to "continue forward" despite the Judge's ruling.

The Attorney General's office has indicated in court filings that it has no evidence of wrongdoing in association with the graves at the known cemetery, which contains the remains of both students and employees who worked at the Florida Industrial School for Boys, now commonly known as Dozier School..

For a list of the students and employees known to be buried at the cemetery and their causes of death, please visit: http://twoegg.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-mystery-graves-at-dozier-school.html.

To read Judge Wright's entire order, please visit:  http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/JMEE-97ZSCN/$file/DozierMay24.pdf.