DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Monday rejected the plea agreement of a funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building after family members of the deceased argued that the agreement's 15- to 20-year sentence was too lenient.
"The sentence negotiated by the parties does not adequately account for the harms that these crimes have caused,” said State District Judge Eric Bentley, describing his rare decision to forego an agreement reached by the prosecution and defense for funeral home owner Carie Hallford.
Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of dumping the bodies between 2019 and 2023 in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, and giving families fake ashes.
In court on Monday, several family members objected to the plea agreement by describing the pain of discovering their relatives' remains weren’t in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead were languishing with nearly 190 other bodies, some for four years.
Tanya Wilson said her mother was put on a floor covered in maggots, “leaving her mark on that floor, and leaving a permanent mark on my soul.”
Samantha Naranjo said she used to host parties for Halloween. Then she learned her grandmother's body was left decaying with the others.
“It’s been hard for me to get excited to decorate my home with skeletons," she said, tears choking her words, "when all I can think of is the building that my grandmother’s body laid in.”
Both Hallfords pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse last year, and Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, argued Monday that the plea agreement was fair and would bring closure.
But Judge Bentley has now rejected both Hallford's plea agreements. Several family members asked for just under 200 years in prison for Carie Hallford on Monday, which includes a year for each body discovered.
“We are not asking for revenge, we are asking for acknowledgment, for the court to see each victim as the human being that they were,” said Derrick Johnson, whose mother was part of the grim toll.
After the judge’s decision, Carie Hallford withdrew her guilty plea, setting the stage for a possibly monthslong trial starting next year. Jon Hallford previously withdrew his guilty plea and is scheduled for trial, too.
While Jon Hallford is accused of dumping the bodies, Bentley said that Carie Hallford was allegedly the face of Return to Nature, and “it was her representation to customers that she knew to be false that brought in customers and kept the Hallfords' crimes going.”
The harm extended far beyond the 191 victims, said Bentley, referencing both the community’s loss of trust and the nearly 1,000 other customers of Return to Nature who now question the fate of their relatives' remains.
Bentley also said he considered the need for deterrence in rejecting the plea agreement. Colorado, for many years, had some of the weakest funeral home industry regulations in the nation, leading to a slew of abuse cases involving fake ashes, fraud, and even the illegal selling of body parts.
In August, authorities announced that during their first inspection of a funeral home owned by the county coroner in Pueblo, Colorado, they found 24 decomposing corpses behind a hidden door.
That investigation is pending as authorities have reported slow progress in identifying corpses that, in some cases, have languished for more than a decade.
The Return to Nature case helped trigger reforms, including routine inspections.
Both Hallfords have also admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never did.
Officials said the two spent lavishly, buying a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry and cryptocurrency. After pleading guilty in federal court, Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Carie Hallford’s sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for December.
FILE - This combination of booking photos provided by the Muskogee County, Okla., Sheriff's Office shows Jon Hallford, left, and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home. (Muskogee County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
FILE - A hearse and van sit outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., on Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
