A judge in Colorado has formally accepted guilty pleas from the owners of a funeral home who admitted to the horrific abuse of 191 corpses. Many of the bodies were left to decompose for years in a building kept at room temperature.
The Gruesome Discovery and Lavish Lifestyle
Carie and Jon Hallford, the married couple who owned and operated the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, maintained a lavish lifestyle funded by their crimes. Authorities state they gave fake ashes to grieving families while the actual remains were neglected. The couple is accused of dumping bodies and defrauding customers between 2019 and 2023.
Investigators made the grim discovery in 2023 in Penrose, a small town south of Denver. They found bodies stacked atop each other in a bug-infested building, in various states of decay. Some had been there for up to four years. While Jon Hallford was primarily accused of dumping the bodies, Carie Hallford was described as the public face of the business.
Families' Outrage and Rejected Plea Deals
The case has provoked profound anguish among the victims' families. A group of family members had wanted the case to go to trial, arguing that a plea deal suggested the abuse was negotiable. Judge Eric Bentley earlier this year rejected previous plea agreements that proposed sentences of up to 20 years, after families denounced them as far too lenient.
"This case is not about convenience or efficiency," said Crystina Page, whose son was among the bodies found. "It is about human beings who were treated as disposable. Accepting a plea agreement sends the message that this level of abuse is negotiable. We reject that message." Some family members have demanded each defendant be sentenced to 191 years—one year for each victim.
Sentencing and Wider Regulatory Failure
Under the latest accepted plea agreements, Jon Hallford faces a sentence of between 30 and 50 years in prison, while Carie Hallford faces 25 to 35 years. Jon Hallford is scheduled for sentencing on 6 February 2026, and Carie Hallford on 24 April 2026.
In rejecting the earlier plea deal, Judge Bentley cited the need for deterrence. The scandal has exposed systemic failures, as Colorado historically had some of the weakest funeral home regulations in the United States. This has led to numerous cases involving fraud, fake ashes, and even the illegal sale of body parts.
The Return to Nature case has already triggered reforms, including the introduction of routine inspections. In a separate but related incident, an inspection in Pueblo, Colorado, in August revealed 24 decomposing corpses behind a hidden door in a funeral home owned by the county coroner.
In addition to the state charges, the Hallfords have admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments for cremations they never performed.
