Colorado funeral home owners accused of letting 190 bodies rot, plead guilty to corpse abuse

The owners of a Colorado funeral home accused of piling 190 bodies in a room-temperature building and giving fake ashes to grieving relatives pleaded guilty Friday to mistreating the bodies as victim families watched in court.

Allegedly, Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Back to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs starting in 2019, giving families dry concrete instead of cremated remains. The horrific discovery last year turned the family’s mourning process upside down.

As the years passed, the Hallfords spent extravagantlyProsecutors say. They used clients’ money and nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser body contouring, luxury cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 worth of cryptocurrency and other luxury items, according to court records.

The Hallfords last month pleaded guilty They faced federal fraud charges in a settlement in which they admitted to defrauding customers and the federal government. The two were indicted in state court on more than 200 counts related to corpse abuse, theft, forgery and money laundering.

Jon Hallford is represented by the public defender’s office, which does not comment on cases. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.

For four years, Back to Nature clients scattered what they thought were their loved ones’ ashes in meaningful places, sometimes just a plane ride away. Others carried their vases on cross-country journeys or kept them tightly at home.

The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year after neighbors reported a foul odor coming from a building in the small town of Penrose, southwest of Colorado Springs.

Authorities found bodies piled on top of each other, some infested with insects. Among these were remains so decomposed that they could not be visually identified. The building was so toxic that responders had to wear hazmat gear and were only able to stay inside for short periods of time.

The discovery of the bodies at Back to Nature prompted state lawmakers to strengthen what are among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country. Unlike most states, Colorado did not require routine review of the credentials of funeral homes or business operators.

This year, lawmakers, largely with the support of the funeral home industry, brought Colorado’s regulations in line with most other states.

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