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Search for bodies continues at the site of former Florida reform school

More than 500 former Dozier students have come forward to report brutal beatings, mental and sexual abuse at the school.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The search continues for bodies at a former Northwest Florida reform school after survivors have come forward with concerns they have been concealed, CBS Miami reports.

Forensic experts will continue to sweep the grounds of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna. 

The remains of about 50 people were discovered after an excavation of the 1,400-acre site from 2013 to 2015.

“The challenge going forward with the property of course, is that today much of it is wooded, much more of it than what was wooded up until the 1980s,” University of South Florida forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle told CBS Miami.

Former students have expressed concerns the investigation may be going "too quickly" and the state may try to keep the remains hidden.

“This is history. This is a place where kids were beaten," Charles Fudge, a former Dozier student, told CBS Miami. He went to the school with his three brothers in the early 1960s.

Fudge said he still has physical problems from being beaten with a leather strap and remembered seeing a cemetery in an area that hasn't been uncovered.

Another former student, Jim DeNyke, told CBS Miami there are more than 180 names of unaccounted students, adding their school records are incomplete.

RELATED: Researchers find no new bodies at former Fla. reform school

RELATED: Researchers to look for more graves at Florida reform school

More than 500 former Dozier students have come forward to report brutal beatings, mental and sexual abuse at the school. 

After 111 years of operation, the school closed in 2011. 

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