Colorado woman pleads guilty in funeral home case involving 190 decomposing bodies

The co-owner of a Colorado funeral home where nearly 200 bodies were left to decompose, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal prosecutors announced.

Carie Hallford, 48, of Colorado Springs, entered the plea in federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. Her sentencing is set for December 3.

Hallford was responsible for managing customer accounts, death certificate filings, communications, and bookkeeping, according to the plea agreement.

Her husband, Jon Hallford, was sentenced in June to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution.

According to the plea agreement, the couple operated the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs and Penrose, collecting more than $130,000 from grieving families between 2019 and 2023 for cremation or burial services that were never provided.

Instead, at least 190 bodies were left to decompose in hazardous conditions at their Penrose facility. In many cases, the Hallfords falsely claimed on official death certificates that the deceased had been cremated or buried.

Federal and state investigators discovered the decomposing remains on October 5, 2023, triggering a major hazmat response. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later condemned and demolished the building, designating it a toxic waste site due to serious health risks.

In addition to defrauding families, the couple also submitted false loan applications to the Small Business Administration during the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving more than $882,000 in emergency relief funds through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.

She and her husband used interstate wire communications to carry out the scheme, which spanned multiple years and violated federal regulations, prosecutors said.