Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday that the remains of the bombing victims, which were thought to have been destroyed in 2017, were located at the medical examiner’s office that afternoon.
That announcement came one day after Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley was forced to resign from his position over reports that he had ordered the remains—which included bones and bone fragments—to be cremated without notifying the victims’ families.
“I am relieved that these remains were found and not destroyed, however I am also very sorry for the needless pain that this ordeal has caused the Africa family,” Kenney said on Friday, in a statement shared with Newsweek. He added that “many unanswered questions” still surround the case.
The 1985 bombing took place when Philadelphia city officials used an illegally obtained military-grade explosive to bomb members of a Black liberation group called MOVE. The revolutionary, largely Black working-class activist group called themselves the Africa family.
The bombing was ordered by city officials in their home in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood following a long history of unrest between the MOVE organization and the police department. Eleven people were killed in the incident, including five children. In addition to the victims belonging to the target family, at least 250 neighbors lost their homes in the resulting fires.
On Thursday – which marked the 36th anniversary of the bombing – Farley released a statement saying that in 2017, he was told by the city’s medical examiner, Dr. Sam Gulino, that a box had been found containing materials related to the victims’ autopsies.
In his statement, Farley said it is a standard procedure to retain specimens after an autopsy ends and the remains are turned over to the decedent’s next-of-kin for investigative purposes, and then those specimens are disposed of without notifying anyone. With that practice in mind, as well as knowing that the investigations related to bombing had been completed more than 30 years ago, Farley said he “authorized Dr. Gulino to follow this procedure and dispose of the bones and bone fragments.”
However, after recent reports that local institutions had remains of MOVE bombing victims, Farley said he reconsidered his actions, and informed Kenney of his order on Tuesday. At Kenney’s request, Farley resigned from his position, while Gulino was placed on administrative leave pending a city investigation.
“I profoundly regret making this decision without consulting the family members of the victims and I extend my deepest apologies for the pain this will cause them,” Farley said in a statement Thursday.
But on Friday, the remains were found to be not destroyed after all. In an announcement that afternoon, Kenney said the remains had been found by staff members at the medical examiner’s office.
“Late this afternoon, Medical Examiner’s Office (MEO) staff notified the Managing Director’s Office that a box labeled MOVE was located in a refrigerated area at their office,” Kenney said. “After comparing the contents of the box to an inventory of bone specimens and fragments from 2017, they appear to be the remains thought to have been cremated four years ago.”
Kenney acknowledged the confusion and added that “there are also clearly many areas for improvement in procedures used by the Medical Examiner’s Office.”
The city will now be conducting an investigation into the matter, but Kenney said family members and their representatives of the victims were able to ask the medical examiner’s office questions and will receive the remains once the investigation is complete, the Associated Press reported.
“I hope that this latest discovery can give them some level of solace,” Kenney said Friday.
