MOVE family members say a Penn anthropologist wrongly told investigators how many remains she possessed

Surviving family members of MOVE bombing victims and organizer Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad allege they have photographic proof that a University of Pennsylvania anthropologist accused of mishandling some remains had more bone fragments in her possession than she previously said.

The new claims focus on anthropologist and former Penn Museum curator Janet Monge. MOVE family members and Muhammad say Monge lied when she told investigators working on separate independent reports that she’d never been in possession of a second set of victim remains.

Those remains are still unaccounted for.

This marks the latest development in a years-long effort by surviving family to find out why the remains of their loved ones were in different locations and for so long. The accusation also comes amid a set of lawsuits, including a civil complaint Monge filed against Muhammad, The Inquirer, and other media outlets claiming she was defamed.

Monge’s lawyer, Allan B. Epstein, said Thursday’s claims were “nothing new” and declined to comment further, citing pending litigation.

Flanked by Ramona Africa, who survived the MOVE bombing, and Mike Africa Jr., Muhammad demanded that Penn find the unaccounted-for remains. They tried to enter the museum to make these demands only to learn that it was abruptly closed for the day.

“Janet Monge lied about how many remains were retained and whose remains were retained,” said Muhammad Thursday in front of the Penn Museum.

Muhammad said they are seeking experts to review materials and corroborate the allegations.

Monge first interacted with the remains in the aftermath of the 1985 bombing in West Philadelphia. Eleven MOVE members, including five children, were killed in the infamous bombing ordered by the city on the Black liberation group with a back-to-nature message.

Monge was brought in by the medical examiner’s office as a forensic consultant along with mentor and Penn anthropology professor Alan Mann to help identify some of the victims’ remains. At the time, experts couldn’t agree on at least two identifications. A special commission believed it was in possession of remains belonging to Katricia Dotson, 14, and Delisha Africa, 12. The medical examiner’s office disagreed with those findings and sought a third opinion from Mann and Monge.

Mann and Monge did not believe the remains could be conclusively identified but never returned them to MOVE relatives, even as the city officially identified the remains as Katricia’s.

Surviving victims believed they had buried their loved ones decades ago. But in 2021, they learned that through the decades Mann and Monge had shuffled the remains from Penn to Princeton University. A pelvic bone and part of a femur were also used as teaching aids by Monge in online videos, including one from 2019 titled “Real Bones: Adventures in Forensic Anthropology.”

At that time, there were questions about whether Mann and Monge had been given one or two sets of remains.

Amid calls for accountability, Penn hired the Tucker Law Group to conduct an independent investigation into the handling of the remains. Investigators found that there was “no credible evidence” that Mann had the remains of two victims. Princeton’s independent investigation conducted by Ballard Spahr cited Monge, who reiterated there was no second set of remains transferred to the scholars’ possession.

For its part, Penn maintains it reunited all known remains in its possession to the African family in July 2021.

Muhammad has pushed back on those independent reports, publishing an opinion piece in Hyperallergic as recently as 2022, arguing that there were two sets of remains, labeled “B-1″ and “G.”

In front of the Penn Museum on Thursday, a volunteer handed out sealed manila envelopes that were to be opened in private for respect of what they had inside. The envelopes contained a photo that allegedly shows MOVE remains belonging to Katricia Dotson and Delisha Africa showcased by Monge during a 2014 International Archaeology Day celebration at Penn. Muhammad alleges that there are two more photos showing Monge with the remains on a Penn-maintained web page.

One of the claims made in Monge’s lawsuit against Muhammad and other media outlets is that she was falsely accused of “criminally violating the rights of one of the children,” whose remains she says she never had in her possession. To date, Monge has told multiple independent investigators she interacted with only one set of remains. Muhammad said the photos are proof she lied.

One photo shows Monge before a table of neatly arranged bone fragments. Muhammad said one of the remains is a femur and the other is a pelvic fragment that matches the online teaching video. They also said there are handwritten tags that say MOVE on the table, though The Inquirer could not independently confirm that’s what the tag said.

Muhammad said they spoke to two people “trained in human osteology” on background, including someone familiar with the material, and they “agree independently that the remains on the table are of Katricia and Delisha.” Muhammad suspects experts have been reluctant to go on the record, fearing professional repercussions.

The Penn Museum said its committed to reviewing any new evidence pertaining to the MOVE remains should it emerge, said a spokesperson.

No. Following the Penn discovery, the family learned the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office had portions of additional remains in a box on a basement shelf. Then-Health Commissioner Thomas Farley admitted to ordering the remains cremated — a staffer never followed through — years earlier. The remains belonged to sisters Katricia Dotson and Zanetta Dotson, 12.

Their remains were returned to their brother Lionell Dotson last year.

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

Muhammad was in the Penn Museum basement waiting to meet with university leaders most of the day. A spokesperson for the museum said university leaders plan to “investigate the information they provided to the fullest extent.”

Earlier in the day, Ramona Africa expressed less interest in the return of remains.

“Here we are 38 years later, after the bombing, and they have abused those remains,” she said, skeptical that any additional returns would be authentic.