Colorado funeral home owners charged with 100s of corpse abuse counts set to plead guilty

Associated Press/Report for America

DENVER (AP) — Colorado funeral home owners accused of stashing 190 decaying bodies and giving grieving families fake ashes are expected to plead guilty. Jon and Carie Hallford have been charged with more than 200 counts of corpse abuse and are expected to enter the guilty pleas in state court on Friday. Prosecutors say the owners of the Return to Nature funeral home began improperly storing bodies in a building outside Colorado Springs as far back as 2019. They also allege the couple gave grieving families dry concrete in place of their loved ones’ cremains. Over the years, the Hallfords spent lavishly, buying luxury cars and laser body sculpting. That ended when the bodies were discovered in 2023.