Anthropological Methods for DNA Analysis of the Missing and Unidentified Children Located at the Former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Florida

The purpose of this proposal is to assist the District 14 Medical Examiner and Attorney General of Florida in the investigation of missing and unidentified children (ages 6-8 years) who were taken into State custody, died under suspicious and unexplained circumstances, and were buried in unmarked graves at the Former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. The medical examiner is opening an investigation under Florida Statute § 406.11(1) pursuant to which the Medical Examiner, may and should order the exhumations of the graves so that additional investigations may be performed to (i) establish the identities of the persons buried in the unmarked graves; and (ii) identify the causes of death for those individuals. The main objectives of this proposal are to 1) perform Autosomal STR and Mitochondrial DNA testing, and 2) to conduct forensic anthropological examinations of the human remains for identification. ca/ncf