EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A judge in El Paso County has accepted a plea agreement in the criminal case of two owners of the Return To Nature Funeral Home, where nearly 200 human bodies were found improperly stored in 2023.
For the past two years, Denver7 has been committed to covering this story and the updates that have followed. In October 2023, neighbors in Penrose reported a foul odor near the funeral home where investigators made a “horrific discovery.” Fremont County officials removed 189 human bodies.
The Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested in Oklahoma and face more than 250 felony charges, including 190 counts of abuse of a corpse and 50 counts of forgery. The funeral home was demolished on Jan. 17, 2024 where investigators determined “demolition of the building is necessary to safely remove biological and hazardous materials found in the building.”…