DENVER — The owners of a Colorado funeral home are expected to enter guilty pleas on Friday, facing numerous charges related to the mishandling of over 190 bodies. Jon and Carie Hallford, who operate the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, are accused of storing bodies in a non-refrigerated building while providing grieving families with fake ashes.
Last year’s revelations had a profound and painful impact on multiple families who believed they were correctly mourning their loved ones. The acts of scattering ashes and cherishing urns became tainted with betrayal, altering their processes of grief and remembrance. The couple reportedly began their practices of improperly storing remains as far back as 2019, misleading families by substituting concrete for cremated remains.
While accruing debts, the Hallfords indulged in lavish spending, as indicated by prosecutors. They are said to have misappropriated funds, which included roughly $900,000 designated for pandemic relief, to finance luxury vehicles, elaborate vacations, and personal expenses such as laser body sculpting and investments in cryptocurrency.
Just last month, the Hallfords acknowledged federal fraud charges, an arrangement in which they admitted to deceiving both clients and the government. The couple is now expected to plead guilty in state court to over 200 counts involving corpse abuse, theft, forgery, and money laundering. Representation for Jon Hallford is through the public defender’s office, which refrains from commenting on ongoing cases, while Carie Hallford’s attorney opted not to offer any statements.
For the past four years, clients of Return to Nature believed they were receiving the remains of their loved ones. Many traveled considerable distances to honor the deceased by scattering ashes in scenic sites, while others chose to hold the urns closely during trips or kept them safe at home. The funeral home marketed itself by offering “green” burials, promoting practices that reportedly avoided the use of embalming chemicals and metal caskets, instead providing biodegradable options.
The disturbing situation came to light after neighbors reported a foul odor emanating from the Return to Nature building in Penrose, located southwest of Colorado Springs. Investigations unveiled bodies stacked haphazardly and infested with insects, some in an advanced state of decay that made identification impossible.
The conditions at the site were so hazardous that emergency responders were required to don specialized hazmat suits and limit their time inside the building due to the toxic environment, undergoing thorough decontamination afterward.
This incident is part of a larger issue previously seen in Colorado; six years earlier, operators of a different funeral home faced accusations of selling body parts and substituting concrete for cremains. Those individuals subsequently received lengthy federal prison sentences owing to mail fraud.
The discovery at Return to Nature prompted significant changes in legislative regulations concerning funeral homes in Colorado, which historically maintained some of the loosest oversight in the nation. Unlike many other states, Colorado previously lacked mandatory inspections and standardized licensing for operators. However, in a recent move, state lawmakers have made strides to align the state’s regulations with those of other states, achieving support from the funeral industry itself.
