Funeral home owners, Jon and Carie Hallford, pleaded guilty Friday after letting 189 bodies decay in a decrepit building, fooling the loved ones of the deceased into believing that they were cremated.
The Hallfords each pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse for the 189 decayed bodies and two instances of the wrong bodies being buried. The couple also agreed to pay restitution. The amount they will have to pay has yet to be determined.
Additional charges of theft, forgery and money laundering would be dropped under the plea agreements.
The couple's plea agreements call for Jon Hallford to receive a 20-year prison sentence and Carie Hallford to get 15 to 20 years in prison. Their sentencing is scheduled for April 18.
Carie Hallford's attorney declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. Jon Hallford, meanwhile, is represented by the public defender's office, which does not comment on cases.
Six people objected to the plea deals as they, according to prosecutors, found the length of the Hallfords' suggested sentences insufficient given the couple's conduct.
Judge Eric Bentley said these six people would get to address the court before the Hallfords' sentencing. If Bentley rejects the plea deals, the Hallfords would be able to withdraw their guilty pleas and stand trial.
What Did Jon and Carie Hallford Do?
Jon and Carie Hallford, the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, started storing bodies in a room-temperature building near Colorado Springs as early as 2019, court records show. Instead of providing genuine remains, prosecutors say the Hallfords deceived grieving families by handing over containers filled with dry concrete, the charges say.
Prosecutors say that while sinking into debt, Jon and Carie Hallford used customers' payments and nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds meant to support their business to instead finance a lavish lifestyle. Court records show the couple spent money on luxury cars, laser body sculpting, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 in cryptocurrency, and other high-end purchases.
The Hallfords also pleaded guilty last month to federal fraud charges in a plea agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government.
Living Without Loved Ones Remains
Customers of Return to Nature spread what they thought were their loved ones' ashes in meaningful locations, only to find out they were just throwing concrete into the wind.
"My mom's last wish was for her remains to be scattered in a place she loved, not rotting away in a building," Tanya Wilson, who believed the ashes she spread in Hawaii were fake, told The Associated Press in an article from October 2023, when the bodies were discovered. "Any peace that we had, thinking that we honored her wishes, you know, was just completely ripped away from us."
Prosecutor Rachael Powell painted a much more grim picture than souls resting on the beaches of Hawaii.
"The bodies were laying on the ground, stacked on shelves, left on gurneys, stacked on top of each other or just piled in rooms," she said of the decayed bodies.
Powell said the family members of the bodies found in the building "have been intensely and forever outraged."
A Gruesome Scene
The bodies were discovered last year when neighbors reported a stench coming from a building in Penrose, about 30 miles southwest of Colorado Springs.
Authorities were met with a gruesome sight of bodies stacked atop each other, some swarming with insects. Some remains were too decayed for visual identification and the building was so toxic that responders donned hazmat gear. Even with the gear, responders could remain inside only for brief periods.
The discovery of the decayed bodies led Colorado state legislators to strengthen what had among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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