For 33 years bones that belong to a teen murder victim traveled throughout the state of Florida, without the victim's families permission according to a lawsuit filed by Tina Lovett’s family.
In April of 1984, Lovett was murdered when she was 17 years old, found at the end of a dirt road after she was reported missing weeks before.
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The medical examiner could not determine how she died, only that it was a homicide.
The charges against the only suspect in the teen's murder were dismissed because of little evidence.
Lovett’s family buried Tina without answers.
According to a 20-page lawsuit, the family had no idea some of her remains were passed around the state of Florida for decades.
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“The medical examiner, University of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, as well as their employees retained Ms. Lovett’s skull and upper body for 33 years," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges it was done so without telling or getting permission from Lovett’s family.
A professor named in the lawsuit as possessing the remains on and off during the 33-year period, Heather Walsh Haney, provided Action News Jax with this statement:
“I have sympathy for Lovett’s family, the claims regarding my role as a consultant for the ME’s office are baseless, my actions for possessing her remains were in compliance with the medical examiners legal jurisdiction over her remains.”
Initially, the family buried only her legs and feet of the teen in 2018 they would have to bury Tina again.
Lovett’s mother says she did not want to give comment until after the outcome of the lawsuit.
Action News Jax reached out to the families lawyer but did not hear back.
Cox Media Group
