The CO funeral home owners were arrested in Oklahoma and charged with approximately 190 counts of corpse abuse
Colorado police corner wanted suspect on roof of home
Pueblo police officers located the suspect hiding on top of a home located in the 2600 block of Vinewood Lane. With nowhere else to go, officers borrowed a Fire Department’s ladder, and took the suspect into custody without incident.
The owners of a Colorado funeral home where 190 decomposing bodies were found are set to appear in court Tuesday, facing allegations that they abused corpses, stole, laundered money and forged documents.
Jon and Carie Hallford own Return to Nature Funeral Home, which has a facility in Penrose where investigators in early October discovered dozens of stacked bodies, some that had death dates as far back as 2019, according to a federal affidavit.
COLORADO 'GREEN' FUNERAL HOME OWNERS ARRESTED FOLLOWING DISCOVERY OF 190 DECAYING BODIES: POLICE
Family members had been falsely told their loved ones were cremated and had received materials that were not their ashes, court records said.
A hearse and debris can be seen at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home on Oct. 5, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. Jon and Carie Hallford, the owners of the Colorado funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were found, are set to appear in court on Dec. 5. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP, File)
Several families who hired Return to Nature to cremate their loved ones have told The Associated Press that the FBI confirmed to them privately that their loved ones were among the decaying bodies.
The Hallfords were arrested in Oklahoma last month, after allegedly fleeing Colorado to avoid prosecution. They have been jailed on a $2 million bond. Both have been charged with approximately 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering and over 50 counts of forgery.
CO FUNERAL HOME FACES LAWSUIT LINKED TO 189 DECAYING BODIES AND FAKE ASHES
Court records say Jon Hallford is being represented by the public defender’s office, which does not comment on cases to the media. Carie Hallford is being represented by attorney Michael Stuzynski, who declined to comment on the case.
After the bodies were removed from the facility in Penrose, about an hour south of Denver, authorities began working to identify the remains using fingerprints, dental records, medical hardware and DNA.
The Hallfords’ funeral home business is based in Colorado Springs, just west of Penrose.
