Colorado funeral home owners who let nearly 190 bodies decay plead guilty to corpse abuse

A hearse and debris can be seen at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, Oct. 5, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP, File)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -

The owners of a Colorado funeral home who let nearly 190 bodies decay in a room-temperature building and gave grieving families fake ashes pleaded guilty on Friday to corpse abuse.

Jon and Carie Hallford, who own the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs as far back as 2019 and gave families dry concrete in place of cremated remains, according to the charges. The grim discovery last year upended families’ grieving processes.

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Plea deals reached between the defendants and prosecutors call for Jon Hallford to receive a 20-year prison sentence and Carie Hallford to receive 15 to 20 years in prison.

Over the years, the Hallfords spent extravagantly, prosecutors say. They used customers’ money and nearly US$900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser body sculpting, fancy cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 in cryptocurrency and other luxury items, according to court records.This combination of booking photos provided by the Muskogee County, Okla., Sheriff's Office shows Jon Hallford, left, and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home. (Muskogee County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government. Under the agreement, prosecutors could request sentences of up to 15 years in prison for the couple.

Even as the couple lived large, prosecutors said the bodies at their funeral home were decomposing.

“The bodies were laying on the ground, stacked on shelves, left on gurneys, stacked on top of each other or just piled in rooms,” prosecutor Rachael Powell said. She said the family members of the bodies that were discovered “have been intensely and forever outraged.”

The Hallfords each pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse for the bodies found decaying and two instances where the wrong bodies were buried.

They also agreed to pay restitution, with the amount yet to be determined. Additional charges of theft, forgery and money laundering would be dismissed under the agreements.

Crystina Page’s son, David, died in 2019 and his body languished in the funeral home’s building until last year.

“He laid in the corner of an inoperable fridge, dumped out of his body bag with rats and maggots eating his face for four years,” Page said outside the courtroom after the hearing. “Now every moment that I think of my son, I’m having to think of Jon and Carie, and that’s not going away.”

Sentencing was set for April 18.

Six people with objections to the plea agreements had asked prior to Friday’s hearing to address the court. They considered the length of the sentences under the plea deal insufficient given the Hallfords’ conduct, prosecutors said.

Judge Eric Bentley said they would get a chance to speak prior to the sentencings. If the judge rejects the plea agreement, the Hallfords would be able to withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial.

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Carie Hallford told the judge that while she didn't visit the building as much as Jon, “I knew how bad it was and chose to do nothing about it.”

At the close of Friday's hearing, Bentley revoked a bond that had allowed Carie Hallford to remain free while the case was pending. She was handcuffed in the courtroom while family members of the deceased applauded.

Jon Hallford already was in custody, and was in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed for the hearing.

Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government.

Jon Hallford is represented by the public defenders office, which does not comment on cases. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.

Over four years, customers of Return to Nature spread what they thought were their loves ones' ashes in meaningful locations, sometimes a plane’s flight away. Others carried their urns on cross-country road trips or held them tight at home.

The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year when neighbors reported a stench coming from a building in the small town of Penrose, southwest of Colorado Springs.

Authorities found bodies too decayed for visual identification. The building was so toxic that responders had to wear hazmat gear and could remain inside only for brief periods.

The discovery of the bodies at Return to Nature prompted state legislators to strengthen what had been among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country. Unlike most states, Colorado didn’t require routine inspections of funeral homes or credentials for the businesses’ operators.

This year, lawmakers brought Colorado’s regulations up to par with most other states, largely with support from the funeral home industry.

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.