Colorado couple arrested after funeral home ‘improperly stored’ 190 bodies
A husband and wife who owned a Colorado funeral home were arrested Wednesday in Oklahoma in connection with the improper handling of at least 190 bodies left in their care, authorities said.
The couple, Jon and Carie Hallford, operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs and Penrose, Colorado, which offered so-called green funeral options. The services advertised on the company’s website include funerals without chemicals or concrete vaults, including placing bodies in biodegradable caskets, baskets, shrouds or “even nothing at all.”
The Hallfords were arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma. They had not been formally charged, but were held on suspicion of abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery. according to a statement of the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Colorado Springs.
District Attorney Michael J. Allen said at a news conference Wednesday that the probable cause affidavit in the case had been sealed, but added, “The information in that affidavit is absolutely shocking.”
Last month, a foul odor led investigators to the funeral home, where they found at least 115 rotting bodies, officials said, describing the scene as gruesome. The bodies were “improperly stored” in what Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller described as a “dangerous scene.”
“The working conditions were very tragic,” said Chris Schaefer, director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said at the news conference, adding that the lapses they faced “impacted all of our personnel.”
Because the Hallfords were arrested in another state, their first appearance in El Paso County District Court in Colorado will be determined during the extradition process, the district attorney’s office said. Bond was set at $2 million, Mr. Allen said.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Wednesday that he was “relieved” the criminal case went ahead even as the families of the deceased were in pain. “I know this will not bring peace to the families affected by this heartbreaking incident, but we hope that those responsible are held fully accountable in a court of law,” he said.
The Hallfords could not immediately be reached Wednesday; The funeral home’s telephone number was out of service.
Last month, Mr Keller said it could take months to determine the identity of the deceased using fingerprints, dental records or DNA. He said Wednesday that 110 people have been identified so far. About 137 families have been notified and 25 bodies have been released to their families.
State and federal agencies, including the FBI, assisted with the investigation, and Governor Polis issued a verbal disaster declaration to Fremont County to provide additional resources for that effort.
State regulators suspended the funeral home’s license, writing in an Oct. 5 letter that Mr. Hallford had “attempted to conceal the improper storage of human remains” on the property.
Mr. Hallford spoke to a funeral home supervisor last month, “acknowledged that he has a ‘problem’ with the property” and “claimed that he practices taxidermy there,” according to the letter.
Two weeks after the discovery, crews removed the remains of at least 189 people from the funeral home in Penrose, about 105 miles (170 kilometers) south of Denver. The bodies were then transported to the El Paso County coroner’s office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said last month. On Wednesday the counter stood at 190 people.
The district attorney’s office said multiple agencies were working to identify the bodies, and law enforcement officials were checking with affected survivors to fill out an online form with victim information. Mr. Allen also said prosecutors were reviewing the investigation’s findings to decide on the appropriate charge, which could include prison time and probation.