DENVER (AP) — Two Colorado funeral home owners accused of abandoning nearly 200 bodies took payments from families that were meant for cremations and burials and instead bought vehicles, cryptocurrency, a $1,500 dinner in Las Vegas and other personal items, prosecutors and an FBI agent said Thursday.
In a courtroom packed with families of the deceased, FBI Agent Andrew Cohen detailed that Jon and Carie Hallford used payments from the families to buy two vehicles — a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti — for more than $120,000, enough to cover cremation costs twice over for all of the bodies found in their business’ storage facility in Penrose, Colorado, last October.
Jon Hallford looked straight ahead seated at the defense table wearing a dark jacket, tie and glasses as Cohen testified. He did not appear to show any reaction.
Some of the bodies had been in the maggot-infested building for years before they were discovered following reports of a foul odor permeating the small mountain town. Families who hired Return to Nature to cremate their relatives have told The Associated Press that the FBI confirmed their remains were among the decaying bodies.