What to know about Philadelphia’s mishandling of MOVE victims’ remains

Last spring, city officials revealed that a box of remains of victims of the MOVE bombing had languished in the Philadelphia medical examiner’s office for some four decades.

The stunning news came just weeks after The Inquirer and Billy Penn reported that anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania, tasked with identifying those killed in the notorious 1985 bombing, had kept remains from one child — even displaying the bones in online classes.

» READ MORE: After the mishandling of MOVE remains, families aren’t sure what’s buried in their loved one’s graves

The Inquirer has been following developments around the MOVE remains and the families’ search for justice. Here are links to past coverage in the case:

In May 2021, city officials announced that then-health commissioner Thomas Farley had ordered a box of remains of MOVE victims cremated in 2017— without telling families. Days later, it was revealed that another city employee had disobeyed the cremation order, preserving the remains. In the aftermath, The Inquirer interviewed the mothers of several young MOVE victims, who said they had been traumatized by the revelations.

» READ MORE: Mothers of children who died in the MOVE bombing find no comfort in city discovery that human remains were not destroyed

A year later, the city released a 257-page report on how the medical examiner’s office handled the remains of the MOVE victims — from 1985 to the present. Some key questions — like why the box of remains had stayed at the medical examiner’s office — remained unanswered. But the report urged reforms in the medical examiner’s office to avoid similar failures in the future.

» READ MORE: Read the full report on the mishandling of MOVE victims’ remains

The University of Pennsylvania also released a report in the spring of 2021 about its own involvement in the mishandling of MOVE victims’ remains, which faulted two scholars for “gross insensitivity.”

Lionell Dotson, the younger brother of two MOVE victims, was eight years old when his sisters died in the MOVE bombing. He worked for much of 2021 and 2022 to obtain their remains, after their discovery in a box at the medical examiner’s office.

» READ MORE: His sisters died in the MOVE bombing. Now, 37 years later, he’s still waiting to lay them to rest

In August, Dotson came to Philadelphia and received from city officials their remains in two tiny white boxes, which he clutched to his chest as he wept. He took his sisters’ cremated remains home to North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and children.

» READ MORE: The brother of two MOVE victims finally got their remains back from the Medical Examiner’s Office

He described the process as bittersweet, but said he was committed to obtaining justice for his family, and a few months later sued the city and Penn.

Four months after the report’s release, The Inquirer took stock of reform efforts at the medical examiner’s office. The department has hired a new chief medical examiner whose goals include readying the office for accreditation, earned when an office’s training, equipment, and physical location meet professional standards.

A few reforms recommended in the independent report on the MOVE remains have been completed. For starters, amended death certificates now acknowledge that it was no accident when six adults and five children died in the MOVE bombing. But many reforms urged are expected to take years to resolve.

» READ MORE: After a scathing report, Philly’s medical examiner has started reforms that may take years