The proprietors of a Colorado funeral home, where 190 decomposing bodies were discovered, are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, facing charges of corpse abuse, theft, money laundering, and document forgery.
Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, are at the center of the allegations. In early October, investigators found stacks of bodies at their Penrose facility, some with death dates stretching back to 2019, according to a federal affidavit.
Family members were misled, being falsely informed that their loved ones were cremated. Moreover, court records reveal that these families received materials that were not the actual ashes of their relatives.
Numerous families who had engaged Return to Nature for cremation services were privately informed by the FBI that their loved ones were among the decomposing bodies.
The Hallfords were apprehended in Oklahoma last month after purportedly fleeing Colorado to evade prosecution. They are currently held on a $2 million bond. The charges against them include about 190 counts of corpse abuse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering, and over 50 counts of forgery.
Jon Hallford is being represented by the public defender’s office, which refrains from commenting on cases to the media. Carie Hallford is represented by attorney Michael Stuzynski, who has declined to provide comments on the case.
Following the removal of the bodies from the Penrose facility, located about an hour south of Denver, authorities began the task of identifying the remains through fingerprints, dental records, medical hardware, and DNA.
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The funeral home business operated by the Hallfords is based in Colorado Springs, situated just west of Penrose.