Funeral home owners accused of storing nearly 200 decaying bodies to enter pleas

FILE - A hearse and van sit outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home, Oct. 6, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. Jon and Carie Halfford, who are accused of storing 200 decaying bodies and sending families fake ashes last year, are set to enter pleas in court on Thursday, March 21, 2024. FILE - This combination of booking photos provided by the Muskogee County, Okla., Sheriff’s Office shows Jon Hallford, left, and Carie Hallford, the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home.

The disturbing details of the case left families grasping for answers, their grieving processes shattered after the deaths of sons, grandmothers and parents. Some have said they can’t shake thoughts of what their decaying relatives’ bodies must have looked like.between 2010 and 2018, and last month, a funeral home owner in Denver was arrested after authorities say he left aup to par with the rest of the country.

Prosecutors previously said Jon Hallford expressed concerns about getting caught as far back as 2020 and suggested getting rid of the bodies by dumping them in a big hole, then treating them with lye or setting them on fire. The Hallfords operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver, and the storage facility in Penrose southwest of Colorado Springs. They spent payments received from families of the deceased onThe Hallfords each face about 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, along with charges of theft, money laundering and forgery.

Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment on the case. Jon Hallford is being represented by an attorney from the public defenders’ office, which does not comment on cases.Bedayn is a statehouse reporter for The Associated Press based in Denver. He is a Report for America corps member.

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