Remains from 12-year-old MOVE bombing victim found at Penn Museum
Brother of MOVE bombing victims receives sisters remains, apology from Philadelphia
12-year-old Zanetta Dotson and her 14-year-old sister Katricia were living in the Osage Avenue MOVE compound in May of 1985 when police seeking to oust members used a helicopter to drop a bomb on the house. The girls were among the 5 children and 6 adults who perished in the massive fire. Last year, it was revealed the University of Pennsylvania and the city had the remains for years.
PHILADELPHIA - The remains of a 12-year-old killed in the infamous 1985 MOVE Bombing in Philadelphia were recently found in the University of Pennsylvania's museum.
Delisha Africa was among 11 people, including 4 children, killed when police bombed MOVE's headquarters on Osage Avenue and touched off a fire that spread to 60 homes.
The remains were recently discovered at Penn Museum despite, attorneys say, "repeated assurances" from the school and the city that all the remains had been returned to their families.
"For nearly 40 years, the City of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Museum have refused to treat the MOVE Bombing victims or their families with even the most basic level of respect and decency," a statement from lawyers representing the sister of a MOVE Bombing victim said.
Former Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas Farley resigned in 2020 after he admitted to ordering partial remains of MOVE Bombing victims cremated three years prior. The remains, which contained bone fragments from one or more victims, were discovered in a box by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner.
Farley, who guided Philadelphia through the early stages of the COVID pandemic, said he made the decision to destroy the remains because he believed the over 30-year-old investigation was over, and he did not want to "to cause more anguish for the families of the victims."
Philadelphia City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier scolded the Penn Museum, saying it has "demonstrated a profound disrespect for Black life and Black death." She urged the museum to work with the Africa family to review their inventory and return any additional remains in their possession to their family.
Philadelphia police were attempting to serve a warrant on four members of the Black back-to-nature group, and evict the rest from their West Philadelphia headquarters, when they dropped a bomb from a helicopter that ignited fuel for a generator stored on the roof.
Fire department leaders later said they were scared their firefighters could face gunfire if they attempted to get to the home in the middle of the block. The fire quickly spread, displacing more than 250 people.
The city appointed a commission to investigate the decisions that led to the bombing, and in 1986 it issued a report calling the decision to bomb an occupied row house "unconscionable." MOVE survivors were awarded a $1.5 million judgment in a 1996 civil lawsuit.
City officials claimed at the time that neighbors had filed complaints, saying there were issues with sanitation, vermin and noise at odd hours. But documents gathered by the commission and in the research into the bombing, showed city officials, including the mayor, had designated the group as a terrorist organization. Group members maintained they had been targeted since the 1978 eviction attempt where a police officer was killed and called the complaints explanation a lie.
The Associated Press contributed to this report