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DENVER (AP) — A former funeral home operator in Colorado, Carie Hallford, is seeking leniency as she faces sentencing on Monday for her involvement in a grim case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies hidden in a facility. Hallford, 48, claims she was a “scared and desperate mother” who was manipulated into keeping the family business afloat by her ex-husband.
Hallford is potentially facing a 20-year prison term after admitting to defrauding families of over $130,000 for funeral services, including cremations, and substituting urns with concrete mix. Investigations revealed that in two instances, incorrect bodies were interred. In August, she confessed to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, acknowledging her role alongside her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, in deceiving clients and fraudulently obtaining nearly $900,000 in pandemic small business loans from the federal government.
According to her attorney, Robert Charles Melihercik, Hallford chose to divorce after being jailed again in November 2024, which distanced her from her husband’s incessant communication and cleared her mind from years of alleged abuse.
Federal guidelines suggest a prison term of up to eight years for Hallford, considering her lack of a prior criminal record. However, prosecutors are urging U.S. District Judge Nina Y. Wang to impose a 15-year sentence, emphasizing the betrayal of bereaved families in what ranks as one of the largest cases of decaying bodies found in a U.S. funeral home.
Families struggle with guilt, shame and nightmares
The families affected by the Hallfords’ deceit have endured profound trauma, including guilt, shame, nightmares, and anxiety attacks since the bodies were uncovered in 2023. The scene was described as appalling, with bodies stacked so high they obstructed doorways, accompanied by infestations of insects and maggots and fluids contained by strategically placed buckets.
Prosecutors also want a longer sentence because the former couple, who had offered “green burials” without embalming, lavishly spent a pandemic-era small business loan on vehicles, cryptocurrency, pricey goods from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co. and laser body sculpting rather than on their Return to Nature funeral home in Colorado Springs.
Carie Hallford is asking to be sentenced to eight years. In court documents, Melihercik, said Hallford’s actions were motivated by “fear and severe anxiety.” He said Hallford’s former husband used “classic instruments of domestic violence” to control her, including threatening at times to kill himself and her.
The lawyer who represented Jon Hallford in state court, Adam Steigerwald, declined to comment on the abuse allegations. The lawyer who represented him in federal court, Laura Suelau, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Carie Hallford was the public face of the business
Some victims are not sympathetic to Carie Hallford, the public face of the business who met with families and assured them their loved ones would be treated with respect.
Emma Williams, whose family entrusted the Hallfords to take care of her father’s remains in 2022, said Carie Hallford had a choice.
“She continued to stay with the business and take advantage of us out her own greed,” she said.
Crystina Page, whose son’s body was left at the funeral home after he was killed in 2019, said Carie Hallford spent four years “feeding the monster” by continuing to accept more business.
“She is just as guilty as he is, except that he couldn’t have done it without her bringing him the bodies,” Page said.
Defense says a shorter sentence would allow for restitution
Carie Hallford says that much of the lavish spending of the government loan money was the result of “love-bombing” as Jon Hallford attempted to apologize to her. She urged her husband to buy a cremator with the loan money, but was too scared to force the issue, Melihercik said in the court filing.
“Although she will be behind bars for the next decade or more, she finally feels free,” Melihercik wrote. He also said a shorter sentence would allow Carie Hallford to be able to return to work and repay the money the couple took from their victims.
Carie Hallford is also facing 25 to 35 years in prison when she is sentenced in state court on related charges next month.
Jon and Carie Hallford each pleaded guilty in December to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse in state court. The plea deals require their state and federal sentences to be served at the same time.
Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in the federal case and 40 years in the state case. At his sentencing last month in the state case, he apologized and said he will regret his actions for the rest of his life.
“I had so many chances to put a stop to everything and walk away, but I did not,” he said. “My mistakes will echo for a generation. Everything I did was wrong.”