USF Grad Students Petition to Exhume Bodies at Dozier

Graduate students at the University of South Florida are petitioning Secretary of State Ken Detzner to exhume bodies at the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. Detzner recently rejected the USF team of researchers' petition for permission to exhume bodies at the school, which has become notorious in recent years for allegations of physical abuse, rape, and even murder.

In a letter to the research team, Detzner explained his department does not have the legal authority to authorize the exhumation process, but USF researchers believe he does.

"Under Florida law, human bodies are not objects to be dug up for research purposes. To the contrary, the law presumes that buried human remains will rest undisturbed, and allows their intentional disinterment only in narrowly defined circumstances," Detzner wrote.

On Monday, the team sent a response to Detzner's letter, asking him to reconsider the rejection.

Graduate students at USF are joining in to petition the request and have put together a petition to Detzner, asking that he reconsider his rejection. Nearly 300 signatures have been collected for the petition so far.

"How we treat our dead is part of what makes us human," read the petition. "Justice and closure for the families of those who were at the Dozier School, and respect for those who died there, should be of central concern to our states legislators."

Detzner has not yet responded to the petition or the research team's letter.