U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is fired up over the number deaths reported at a former reform school for boys.

He said the discrepancy in the numbers reported by state law enforcement and scientists from the University of South Florida prompted him to demand a federal investigation.

The Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna was plagued with accusations of abuse for over a century before it closed in 2011.  

In a recent report, 51 graves were found on the school’s grounds. But there could be even more bodies waiting to be discovered.

USF researchers are in the process of trying to identify dozens of bodies found buried at the school.

Reports said the boys were subjected to severe beatings and abuse, but the school did not often report deaths. Now more than 50 bodies have been unearthed, many from unmarked graves.

Anthropologists said many bodies were poorly preserved, but researchers were able to make out one disturbing discovery.

“What it looks like is a small round metal object,” Dr. Erin Kimmerle of the University of South Florida said earlier this month. “It’s lead. It looks very much like what you’d see as pellets in a shot gun.”

Interestingly, state police conducted their own investigation at the school five years ago and concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing. But new evidence continues to cast doubt on that 2009 probe and up until the state shut down the school in 2011.

We confirmed with the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office they will be conducting a separate search with cadaver dogs at Dozier’s sister school -- the Okeechobee School for Boys.

Nelson is now calling for a federal investigation.

“Find out why the State of Florida said there were only 31 graves when, in fact, there were 51 that have now been uncovered by the University of South Florida,” Nelson said.

He hopes a new investigation could bring more answers and closure for the families of missing Dozier students.

USF is still in the process of trying to identify the remains to one day return them to family members. USF researchers will return to the panhandle in April to continue excavating the campus in search of answers.

No date has been set for the search of other possible bodies at Dozier’s sister campus in Okeechobee.