Colorado funeral home owners 'let 190 bodies decay on each other and gave concrete instead of ashes'

Jon and Carie Hallford, who ain the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies successful a decrepit building, and gave families adust factual successful spot of cremated remains

The owners of a Colorado ceremonial home who fto 190 bodies decay connected apical of dead corpses and gave grieving families factual alternatively of ashes person pleaded blameworthy to corpse abuse.

Jon and Carie Hallford, who ain the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies successful a decrepit gathering adjacent Colorado Springs arsenic acold backmost arsenic 2019 and gave families adust factual successful spot of cremated remains, according to the charges. The grim find past twelvemonth upended families’ grieving processes.

Plea deals reached betwixt the defendants and prosecutors call for Jon Hallford to person a 20-year situation condemnation and Carie Hallford to person 15 to 20 years successful prison. Over the years, the Hallfords spent extravagantly, prosecutors say. They utilized customers’ wealth and astir £700,000 successful pandemic alleviation funds to bargain laser assemblage sculpting, fancy cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 (£24,740) successful cryptocurrency and different luxury items, according to tribunal records.

Even arsenic the mates lived large, prosecutors said the bodies astatine their ceremonial location were decomposing. “The bodies were laying connected the ground, stacked connected shelves, near connected gurneys, stacked connected apical of each different oregon conscionable piled successful rooms,” authoritative Rachael Powell said.

She said the household members of the bodies that were discovered “have been intensely and everlastingly outraged.” The Hallfords each pleaded blameworthy to 191 counts of corpse maltreatment for 189 bodies that were recovered decaying and 2 instances of the incorrect bodies being buried.

The besides agreed to wage restitution, with the magnitude yet to beryllium determined. Additional charges of theft, forgery and wealth laundering would beryllium dismissed nether the agreements. Sentencing was acceptable for April 18.

Six radical with objections to the plea agreements had asked anterior to Friday’s proceeding to code the court. They considered the magnitude of the sentences nether the plea woody insufficient fixed the Hallfords’ conduct, prosecutors said. Judge Eric Bentley said they would get a accidental to talk anterior to the sentencings. If the justice rejects the plea agreement, the Hallfords would beryllium capable to retreat their blameworthy pleas and spell to trial.

At the adjacent of Friday’s hearing, Bentley revoked a enslaved that had allowed Carie Hallford to stay escaped portion the lawsuit was pending. She was handcuffed successful the courtroom portion household members of the deceased applauded. Jon Hallford already was successful custody, and was successful an orangish jumpsuit and handcuffed for the hearing.