Owners of a Colorado funeral home have been charged after they allegedly misspent nearly $900,000 in Covid pandemic relief funds while stashing 190 decaying bodies in a building. The owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Denver, Jon Hallford, 44, and Carie Hallford, 47, are expected to plead guilty to 15 federal offenses related to defrauding the US government and its customers. Around 200 criminal counts are also pending against them in Colorado state court, including for corpse abuse and forgery.
Funeral home shows grieving family wrong body in casket dressed in father’s suit 'Dead' baby found alive in coffin at her funeral as she grabs mourner's finger The couple were charged after residents in the area reported an odor coming from the facility in Penrose. After obtaining a search warrant, FBI investigators found 190 dead bodies inside the building in various states of decomposition. Some of the dates on the bodies listed deaths dating back to 2019.
At times, the couple stacked bodies on top of each other, and in two cases buried the wrong body, court documents said. The indictment alleges that the pair defrauded their funeral home customers by not providing a cremation or burial for the deceased as promised. The Hallfords also allegedly sent fake ashes and falsified cremation records to families, The Associated Press reported.
Court documents said that the dust inside some of the bags was dry concrete. The couple is accused of using pandemic aid and customers�.
