DENVER, CO — Carie Hallford, 48, a former owner of a Colorado funeral home, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for her role in a fraudulent scheme that led to the abuse and neglect of deceased individuals and the defrauding of grieving families.
The charges stemmed from a case in which Hallford and her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, took money from families for funeral services, only to provide fake urns containing concrete mix instead.
The Scandal and Its Aftermath
Carie Hallford’s sentencing follows a wide-reaching scandal in which the Hallfords were found to have hidden nearly 200 decomposing bodies at their Return to Nature funeral home in Colorado Springs.
The Hallfords had taken more than $130,000 from grieving families, promising them funeral services such as cremations, but delivering instead urns filled with concrete. In two separate cases, the wrong bodies were buried, causing lasting trauma to families…