( CNN ) -- A research team has identified two more sets of remains from unmarked graves at a former reformatory in Marianna , Florida , reported the University of South Florida . Thomas Varnadoe and Earl Wilson were the second and third students at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys identified through a DNA match , USF said in a press release issued Thursday . Wilson was the first African-American student identified . For years , stories circulated that boys were beaten , tortured and murdered at the school about 65 miles west of Tallahassee , Florida , but nobody was ever prosecuted . The school opened in 1900 and closed in 2011 for budgetary reasons . Records about who died at the school are sketchy , authorities have said , so an effort to locate and identify remains began several years ago . Investigators now say there 's evidence 98 boys died at the school . Remains have been excavated from 55 unmarked graves , USF says . Thomas Varnadoe , 13 , was sent to the school in September 1934 with his older brother , Hubert , USF said . According to USF , a death certificate said Thomas died of pneumonia 34 days after being admitted . His body was found very close to the body of George Owen Smith , the first student whose remains were identified , USF said . Thomas 's remains were positively matched with DNA from his brother , Richard Varnadoe , USF said . Four students killed Earl Wilson , 12 , a few days after he arrived at the school in August 1944 , USF said . Medical evidence presented at the trial of the students listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head , USF said . Results of the trial were not included in the press release . Wilson was positively matched with DNA collected from his sister , Cherry Wilson , USF said . His body was found in an area of the school grounds where crosses were placed in the 1990s , though the crosses did n't reflect the location of the graves or the number of children buried . `` Our ability to provide answers and the physical remains of those who died to their brothers and sisters after more than 70 years is a remarkable privilege , '' said Erin Kimmerle , lead researcher and USF associate professor of anthropology , `` We recognize the need to help families and victims find resolution , no matter how many decades pass . ''
The third and second sets of remains have been idenfied through DNA . the University of South Florida , Tallahassee , closed in 1900 . About 50 unmarked graves have been found on the school grounds . Researchers are trying to locate and identify remains of students .