Colorado Funeral Home Owner Awaits Sentencing for Mishandling 189 Bodies

A shocking case in Colorado Springs is set to culminate in sentencing as a funeral home owner faces charges for storing 189 decomposing bodies and deceiving families with counterfeit ashes. This Friday, the court will decide the fate of the accused, who stands charged with corpse abuse.

Jon Hallford, who operated Return to Nature Funeral Home alongside his then-wife Carie, admitted guilt last December to a staggering number of corpse abuse charges as part of a plea deal. Their actions have drawn significant attention for the breach of trust in handling the deceased.

Jon Hallford could receive a prison sentence ranging from 30 to 50 years, while Carie’s sentencing is scheduled for April 24, where she faces 25 to 35 years in prison. Their shared responsibility in this grim affair has led to severe legal consequences.

The Hallfords’ grim activities took place in Penrose, a small town south of Colorado Springs. From 2019 to 2023, bodies were stored in a facility, only coming to light when authorities investigated reports of a foul odor emanating from the premises.

Investigators found a distressing scene with bodies scattered and stacked, surrounded by insects and bodily fluids seeping across the floors. The deceased included individuals of all ages, from adults to infants and fetuses, kept at ambient temperatures. In a shocking betrayal, the Hallfords allegedly provided families with dry concrete, passing it off as cremated remains.

The bodies were identified over months with fingerprints, DNA and other methods.

Families learned the ashes they had been given, and then spread or kept at home, weren’t actually their loved ones’ remains. Many said it undid their grieving process, others had nightmares and struggled with guilt that they let their relatives down.

The funeral home owners also pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after prosecutors said they cheated the government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era small business aid.

Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison in that case. He told the judge he opened Return to Nature to make a positive impact in people’s lives, “then everything got completely out of control, especially me.”

“I still hate myself for what I’ve done,” he said at his sentencing last June.

Carie Hallford’s federal sentencing is set for March 16.

Attorneys for the Hallfords did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

During the years they were stashing bodies, the Hallfords spent lavishly, according to court documents. That included purchasing a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, luxury items from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co., and laser body sculpting.

One of the recovered bodies was that of a former Army sergeant first class who was thought to have been buried at a veterans’ cemetery, said FBI agent Andrew Cohen.

When investigators exhumed the wooden casket at the cemetery, they found the remains of a person of a different gender inside, he said. The veteran, who was not identified in court, was later given a funeral with full military honors at Pikes Peak National Cemetery, he said.

The corpse abuse revelations spurred changes to Colorado’s lax funeral home regulations.

The AP previously reported that the Hallfords missed tax payments, were evicted from one of their properties and were sued for unpaid bills, according to public records and interviews with people who worked with them.

In a rare decision, state District Judge Eric Bentley last year rejected previous plea agreements between the Hallfords and prosecutors that called for up to 20 years in prison. Family members of the deceased said the agreements were too lenient.