Colorado Funeral Home Owners Charged with Abandoning Bodies to Appear in Court

Funeral Home Owners Facing Charges After Bodies Found Abandoned

The owners of the Back to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, Jon Hallford and his wife Carie Hallford, are facing serious charges after almost 200 bodies were discovered abandoned in a building infested with maggots and flies. They are set to appear in court to hear the evidence against them.

Charges and Arrest

The couple is charged with 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering, and over 50 counts of forgery. Both of them were arrested in November in Oklahoma, and Carie Hallford had an evidentiary hearing last month, but neither has entered a plea yet.

Discovery and Investigation

The bodies were found in a building in the rural community of Penrose, which the couple used as a body storage facility in addition to their funeral home. The investigation began in October after the bodies were discovered, and several families have confirmed that their relatives' remains were among those found in the decaying state.

Allegations and Cover-Up

During Carie Hallford's evidentiary hearing, prosecutors presented text messages suggesting that she and her husband tried to cover up their financial difficulties by leaving the bodies at the Penrose site, with the building having makeshift refrigeration units that were not operational at the time the bodies were found. According to prosecutors, Jon Hallford expressed concerns about getting caught as early as 2020 and suggested disposing of the bodies by dumping them in a large hole, treating them with lye, or setting them on fire, emphasizing his focus on keeping themselves out of jail.