Funeral home proprietor in the United States, responsible for concealing 191 decomposing corpses, to receive a sentencing decision
In a series of disturbing events, two Colorado mortuaries have found themselves under scrutiny, with one owner, Jon Hallford, facing sentencing for 191 counts of corpse abuse in state court on Friday.
The ordeal began with the discovery of 191 decaying corpses in a building in rural Colorado, which led to the suspension of the Return to Nature Funeral Home's registration. Hallford, the owner of the funeral home in Colorado Springs, has already pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges, including abuse of a corpse, forgery, and money laundering. His wife, Carie, who co-owned the funeral home, is also accused of the same crimes and has pleaded guilty, but her sentencing on the corpse abuse charges has not been scheduled yet.
The bodies were hidden in a bug-infested building, and grieving families were handed dry concrete that resembled ashes instead of their loved ones' remains. The state regulators have revealed that some of the bodies had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years.
Meanwhile, in Pueblo, Colorado, several bodies in various stages of decomposition were found behind a barricaded door at Davis Mortuary. The facility has been suspended after the first annual inspection of the facility under rules adopted last year in response to prior crimes within Colorado's funeral industry. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal investigation into Davis Mortuary.
Before the law changed, allowing for random inspections, Davis Mortuary did not have any complaints. However, during an inspection, a room hidden by a cardboard display was found, containing the decaying corpses. The owner and Pueblo County coroner, Brian Cotter, asked inspectors not to enter the room.
Tanya Wilson, who hired the Return to Nature Funeral Home to cremate her mother, is travelling from Georgia to speak at the sentencing. Along with other families, she wants Judge Eric Bentley to reject the plea agreement because Hallford's state sentence is expected to run concurrently with his 20-year federal sentence, which could result in him being freed many years earlier than if the sentences ran consecutively.
Dozens of families are expected to deliver victim impact statements after learning their loved ones slowly decayed among piles of others. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) is responsible for conducting licensing inspections and regular inspections of funeral homes in Colorado.
In a separate incident, the operators of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, similar to Jon Hallford, did not pay their taxes and were evicted from a property.
These shocking discoveries have raised questions about the oversight and regulation of funeral homes in Colorado, and the state regulators are working to ensure such incidents do not happen again. Friday's sentencing hearing will focus on state charges related to the mistreatment of the bodies.
