TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Researchers say the remains of 55 people have been excavated from a graveyard at a former reform school with a history of abuse.
University of South Florida researchers began surveying the graveyard at the now-closed Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna in September.
On Tuesday, the researchers said they had unearthed five more bodies than they previously thought they would find. Official records indicated 31 burials at the north Florida site, but researchers had estimated there would be about 50 graves.
The team finished the dig in December. Now researchers are attempting to identify the remains and determine the causes of death.
The school opened in 1900 and closed in 2011. Former inmates from the 1950s and 1960s have detailed beatings and abuse.