DENVER (AP) — The owners of a Colorado funeral home are expected to plead guilty Friday to state charges accusing them of leaving 190 bodies to decay on their premises and giving the grieving relatives fake ashes. The owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, Jon and Carie Hallford, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs as far back as 2019 and gave families dry concrete in place of cremated remains, according to the charges. The grim discovery last year upended families’ grieving processes.
Over the years, the Hallfords , prosecutors say. They used customers’ money and nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser body sculpting, fancy cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 in cryptocurrency and other luxury items, according to court records. Last month, the Hallfords to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government.
The two have been charged with more than 200 charges of corpse abuse, theft, forgery and money laundering in state court. Jon Hallford is represented by the public defenders office, which does not comment on cases. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.
Over four years, customers of Return to Nature spread what they thought were their loves ones’ ashes in meaningful locations, sometimes . Others carried their urns on trips or held . The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year whe.
