The owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose Colorado have been brought up on more than 200 charges in connection with 190 badly decomposed bodies found on their property.
Jon and Carie Hallford billed their services as a "green alternative" to the usual way that burials are done in the U.S.
Green / Natural Burial is a return to the traditional way of burial. No chemicals, metal or unnatural materials. Just you and the Earth, returning to nature. Interment of the bodies is done in a biodegradable casket, basket, shroud, or even nothing at all. No embalming fluid, no concrete vaults. As natural as possible.
Colorado law requires funeral directors to refrigerate bodies after 24 hours. It looks like the Return to Nature Funeral Home forgot that small detail.
The case started in early October when nearby residents reported a horrific smell emanating from Hallford's property. Police investigated and discovered 190 bodies in various stages of decomposition. The bodies were in "abhorrent conditions," according to investigators, including bodies dating back to 2019. Also, "human decomposition fluids and insects lined the floors."
The Hallfords face 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, over 50 counts of forgery, five counts of theft, and four counts of money laundering, federal court records said.
Family members had been falsely told their loved ones had been cremated and had received materials that were not their ashes, court records said.
The couple was arrested on Nov. 8 at the home of Jon Hallford’s father in Oklahoma, according to a federal arrest warrant alleging they fled the state to avoid prosecution. The federal charge was dropped after their arrests.
Carie Hallford was booked into the El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs on Tuesday and Jon Hallford was returned to Colorado on Wednesday.
How did they get away with it? As it turns out, the state of Colorado doesn't have much oversight of funeral homes.
Authorities found the bodies inside a 2,500-square-foot (230-square-meter) building with the appearance and dimensions of a standard one-story home.
Colorado has some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the nation with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators.
There’s no indication state regulators visited the site or contacted Hallford until more than 10 months after the Penrose funeral home’s registration expired. State lawmakers gave regulators the authority to inspect funeral homes without the owners’ consent last year, but no additional money was provided for increased inspections.
Hallford told authorities that he was doing "taxidermy" on the property. That's a vision I will have a hard time getting out of my mind. Were customers getting their loved ones “stuffed” so they could be put on display?
As I wrote when I first reported on this story: "This story proves that just because something is “green” doesn’t mean it automatically smells good."
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