Dover Air Base Mortuary Supervisor Resigns
A mortuary supervisor at the heart of the Dover Air Force Base scandals has resigned, sparing the Pentagon from a decision on whether to fire him for allegedly lying to investigators, mutilating a corpse and retaliating against whistleblowers.
Quinton “Randy” Keel, 44, formerly the Dover mortuary’s division director, cleaned out his desk at the air base Monday after he tendered his resignation, according to officials familiar with the case. An Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. John L. Dorrian, confirmed that Keel was no longer employed by the Air Force but declined to comment further.
Keel, of Felton, Del., did not respond to phone messages this week seeking comment.
He was one of three supervisors at Dover whom the Air Force in November accused of “gross mismanagement” at the military’s primary mortuary for handling America’s war dead. An 18-month investigation, spurred by whistleblowers who worked for Keel, documented instances of missing body parts and the sloppy handling of human remains, among other problems.
Investigators from an independent agency, the Office of Special Counsel, found that Keel had tried to fire two of the whistleblowers. In November, it accused him of “a pattern of negligence, misconduct and dishonesty.” The office, which handles federal whistleblower complaints, also accused the Air Force of a “failure to acknowledge culpability for wrongdoing relating to the treatment of remains.”