The owners of a Colorado funeral home, accused of stacking hundreds of bodies at room temperature inside a dilapidated building and giving loved ones concrete instead of ashes, have pleaded guilty to corpse abuse.
John and Carrie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pleaded guilty Friday to 191 counts of abuse of a corpse.
Prosecutor Rachel Powell told the court: “The bodies were (lying) on the ground, stacked on shelves, left on stretchers, stacked on top of each other, stacked in rooms.”
Their loved ones are “deeply and forever outraged,” she added. Some family members were in court when he pleaded guilty.
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John and Carrie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, pleaded guilty Friday to 191 counts of abuse of a corpse. (Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, via AP, File)
Christina Page, who lost her son in 2019, said outside court on Friday: “He was lying in the corner of a frozen refrigerator, thrown out of a body bag, his face eaten by rats and maggots. It’s been four years. Now I think about it every moment.”When I think about my son, I have to think about John and Carrie, and it doesn’t go away. ”
The Hallfords also faced charges of theft, money laundering and forgery, which were dismissed in a plea agreement.
The couple spent $882,300 in coronavirus relief funds on vacations, cosmetic surgery, a car and their children’s tuition.
Under the plea agreement, John Hallford could be sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Carrie Hallford could be sentenced to 15 to 20 years.
The six people who objected to the plea deal, saying the recommended sentences were insufficient, will have an opportunity to argue before sentencing in April.
Fremont County deputies guard the road leading to Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, on October 5, 2023. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette, Associated Press/The Gazette, Associated Press)
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If the judge rejects the plea deal, the case may still go to trial.
The Hallfords previously pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to the misappropriation of funds.
The charges date back to 2019, when improperly stored bodies were discovered after neighbors reported a foul odor coming from the building.
A hearse and debris are seen at the rear of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, on October 5, 2023. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette, via AP)
Officials wearing hazardous materials found bodies folded, some decomposed beyond identification, and the area infested with insects.
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In response to this horrifying discovery, Colorado has tightened regulations on funeral homes.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
