Funeral home owner who stashed decaying bodies set to be sentenced for corpse abuse

The horrifying discovery of nearly 200 decaying bodies in a funeral home in rural Colorado two years ago shook the community to its core. Now, the owner of the funeral home, Jon Hallford, is facing sentencing for 191 counts of corpse abuse in state court.

Jon Hallford and his wife, Carie, operated the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, where they deceived families by promising to handle their loved ones’ cremations but instead stored the bodies in a building infested with bugs. They then gave the families dry concrete disguised as ashes.

While Jon Hallford has already been sentenced to prison on federal fraud charges, the upcoming state sentencing hearing will focus on the mistreatment of the bodies. Family members will have the opportunity to share their anguish at discovering that their loved ones had been left to decay among piles of other bodies.

One such family member, Tanya Wilson, is traveling from Georgia to speak at the sentencing. She hired the funeral home to cremate her mother, only to later find out that the ashes she spread in Hawaii were not from her mother’s body. Instead, her mother’s body had been left to waste away in the building in Penrose.

The plea agreement calls for Jon Hallford to receive a 20-year prison sentence for the corpse abuse charges. However, some families are urging the judge to reject the agreement, as it would allow Hallford’s state sentence to run concurrently with his federal sentence, potentially leading to an earlier release.

Colorado has a history of struggling to regulate funeral homes effectively, with cases of abuse and neglect coming to light over the years. In another recent incident, 20 decomposing corpses were found at a funeral home in Pueblo.

Carie Hallford, Jon’s wife, is also facing charges related to the mistreatment of the bodies but her sentencing has not yet been scheduled. The couple is accused of allowing 189 bodies to decay, with some bodies being buried incorrectly and four remaining unidentified.

The Hallfords’ scheme began in 2017 when they obtained a license for their funeral home, and by 2019, the bodies had started to accumulate. As the bodies decayed, the Hallfords were also defrauding the federal government of nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.

In 2023, the gruesome truth was uncovered when a putrid smell emanated from the building, leading to a police investigation and the eventual arrest of the Hallfords. Families were devastated to learn that their final moments of grief had been tainted by deception, unraveling the closure they had sought after their loved ones’ deaths.

As the court cases progress, families are left grappling with the betrayal and trauma inflicted upon them by the Hallfords. The road to justice is long and arduous, but for the families affected by this heinous crime, it is a necessary step towards healing and closure.