The co-owner of a Colorado funeral home was sentenced in state court on Friday to 30 years in prison for her part in a corpse abuse scheme that involved hiding nearly 200 decomposing bodies.
Carie Hallford, 48, was also sentenced to 18 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to a federal fraud charge related to the scandal. Hallford, who operated the Return to Nature funeral home in the Colorado Springs area with her then husband, Jon Hallford, defrauded dozens of grieving families by promising proper funerary services only to leave their relative's remains to decay in a neglected building.
The Hallfords collected over $130,000 for funeral services, often returning urns filled with concrete mix rather than ashes to families. Their crimes, first discovered in 2023 after authorities noticed a foul odor emanating from their building, prompted international media coverage and a crackdown on Colorado's loosely regulated funeral industry. The state has since passed laws mandating routine inspections of funeral homes, which in one case led to the discovery of 24 decomposing bodies at another business.
Jon Hallford also pleaded guilty to his role in the operation and was sentenced to 40 years in prison in February. His sentence displeased some victims' family members, who protested the plea agreement and called for a trial with a punishment of 191 years in jail – one for every instance of human remains recovered.
The Hallfords also pleaded guilty to defrauding the Small Business Administration by applying for Covid relief funds with false information. The couple received $882,300 in loans from the SBA, which prosecutors alleged they spent on luxury goods and travel.
Carie Hallford expressed remorse and asked for leniency in courtroom appearances, stating that she was afraid of Jon and in an abusive marriage. Her lawyer claimed that Jon threatened to kill himself and Carie. She filed for divorce last year, according to local media. A lawyer for Jon Hallford declined to comment on the abuse allegations.
Carie Hallford dealt with customers and handled much of the funeral home's finances, prosecutors said, while Jon Hallford disposed of the remains. Carie previously claimed she had not visited the building where bodies were kept in over a year before law enforcement discovered it. She stated in 2024: "I did know of the conditions. I knew enough that I knew how bad it was and chose to do nothing about it or prevent it and just allowed it to continue."
A group of Colorado families affected by the state's funeral home abuse scandals formed the nonprofit Colorado Remembers to support victims. In March, over a dozen families gathered for a memorial in Denver to project their loved ones' faces on the city's clock tower.
