When University of South Florida anthropologists introduced their plan at a public meeting Thursday, April 23, for a cadaver research center in Lithia, they were met with opposition from the neighboring residents — so much so that USF killed the plan the next day.
The cadaver research center would give anthropologists, criminologists, forensic scientists and law enforcement officials an opportunity to study forensics and the way bodies decompose under real conditions, such as Florida’s humid weather. The training would help these professionals improve their skills of identifying bodies of missing persons, determining how homicide victims had died and more. The Facility for Outdoor Experimental Research and Training, or FORT, was proposed to be constructed at a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office training site in Lithia.
USF said it remains committed to the project and will look for an alternate site despite the suitability of the Lithia location.
HCSO currently uses the 230-acre training site for a number of operations, such as aviation and shooting. The FORT would have covered two of those acres. The nearest house was one half mile away.
“In putting together this project, it seemed like a good opportunity to build on what was already there,” Erin Kimmerle, USF Forensic Anthropology Laboratory scientific director who is heading up the FORT project, said.
“USF did not pick the location,” Eric Eisenberg, dean of arts and sciences, added. “It was offered to us for a number of reasons. It is secure, it has no public access, it has electricity, it has wifi and water, and it also has a 24/7 sheriff living on the property.”
Some Lithia residents said they would have supported the facility.
“I have faith in USF … and I would be proud to be one of the first to donate my body,” Gretchen Elizabeth said.
Kirk Smith, a nurse practitioner from Dover, has been to a similar cadaver research facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is located behind a hospital, in between two parking lots, and people who park in these lots have not complained about a smell
“I had stood outside the fence,” Smith said. “I did not smell anything. I am in support of this. If it does not work out here, you’re welcome to come and put it on my four acres in Dover.”
Others were strongly opposed to the location of the FORT and said they were worried about a potential smell or decreased property values.
“I’m just concerned about what it’s going to do to my five acres of land that I spent my whole life building,” William Rayburn, whose property borders the HCSO training facility, said. “I can smell the dump several miles away if the wind blows just right.”
The USF anthropologists do not expect the FORT to cause any odor-related problems.
The meeting was the first time the residents had been notified about the proposed FORT, despite plans being formulated since last year. Kimmerle has been working with the HCSO on the proposal since March 2014 and began working with county officials soon after.
“We’re disappointed that USF has been working on this project for over a year and this is the first public meeting,” Scott Fitzpatrick, a Lithia resident, said. “We’re also disappointed that our sheriff would volunteer this facility without consulting the facility’s neighbors and the people of southeast Hillsborough County.”
County Commissioner Stacy White, whose opposition this week became a key voice in swinging the debate, said Friday that citizens in his district “always feel like they get the things that are necessary but no one else in the county wants — the landfill, the reservoir, the women’s prison.” He was happy with USF’s decision and is “anxious” to help find a new spot.
“I am completely on board with the concept of this forensic research site,” White said. “I recognize the value of it to forensic criminology. I believe in my heart of hearts that this can make sense in Hillsborough County and we can find a site that we can have the community embrace.”
USF is not sure yet where the new location for the FORT could be, but it hopes to have development in progress within a year.
Funding for the facility and training programs would come solely from donations and grants; there would be no taxpayer money involved. All of the cadavers would be provided through USF’s Living Donation Program. When the remains have reached the skeletal stage, they will be collected and transported to an off-site USF Donated Skeletal Collection.
Times staff writer Steve Contorno contributed to this report.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.