Funeral home owners plead guilty to nearly 200 counts of abuse of a corpse, wife back in custody

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - On Friday, the two funeral home owners who stand accused of taking money from families and leaving their loved ones bodies to decompose in a funeral home in Penrose, instead of cremating them, pleaded guilty and agreed to a plea deal for up to two decades in prison each.

Jon and Carie Hallford, the owners of Return to Nature Funeral home both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of Abuse of a Corpse, a Class 6 Felony, for leaving bodies to decompose in their funeral home between the years 2019 to 2023.

The charges stem back to October 2023, when the couple's Penrose location was found to have nearly 200 bodies decomposing, stacked on top of one another, in what a county coroner called a 'biohazard' at the time.

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In addition to Abuse of a Corpse, the couple also faced 70 more charges including money laundering, forgery, and theft, totaling over 260 felonies from their initial arrest in November 2023, in Oklahoma.

On Friday, Jon appeared in an orange El Paso County jail jumpsuit, after he was transferred from the Teller County jail, where he had been staying since early September. Carie appeared at the courthouse with her attorney, as she has been out on bond.

Judge Eric Bentley accepted the guilty pleas from both defendants, but clarified that he has reserved the power to toss out the plea agreement up until the sentencing date, in which the case would then be scheduled for trial instead.

Families of victims packed the court room on Friday morning, some of them attending their first court hearing, after staying out of the year-long-saga.

"It was very gratifying. It was very vindicating for them to be in prison for the longest amount of time. I think is is important." said Heather DeWolf, who believes her son's body was possibly one of the many left inside the Hallford's property.

Bentley also made Jon and Carie verbalize to him, the reason's they were guilty of the near 200 Abuse of a Corpse charges.

"It really does boil up in me when I'm sitting there looking at them and hearing them." said Samantha Naranjo, whose Grandmother was identified in the Penrose building. "It felt good to hear them admit guilt to what they did. Not a lot of people get that type of justice. They disrespected my grandmother so inappropriately that I did not want her to be plastered in the trial. I felt this was the most respectful way about getting our justice."

Jon, acknowledged his role in mistreating the many bodies, that court documents previously showed he would roll using a wheelbarrow into the Penrose building, and dumped them inside.

Prosecutors re-stating the evidence that led to those charges being wagered against the couple, after hearing from Mr. Hallford, saying that investigators found bodies in a multitude of materials, such as: disposable body bags, plastic garbage bags and plastic totes. Other bodies were simply laid on ground, left on metal gurneys or stacked on top of one another in small and large piles. Some, even submerged by the large amount of decomposition matter covering the floor of the building.

During the descriptive statements by the prosecution, which is a team from 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen's office, families began to tear up, sniffling, and comforting one another, as they were reminded of nightmarish situation that's led them all to court in the first place.

Meanwhile, when it was Carie's turn to tell Judge Bentley why she was guilty, she appeared to speak in less of a scripted fashion as Jon did, explaining her role in the scandal, before admitting her culpability.

She stated that her husband, Jon, wanted to protect her from being exposed to the conditions within the Penrose building, and that subsequently, she had not actually been inside it for 'well over a year'. She added however, that she did not specifically know the conditions inside, but that she 'knew enough', and how bad it was. She concluded by conceding that she chose to do nothing about the building's situation, nor tried to prevent it from happening, and allowed it to continue.

Judge Bentley asked Carie, if she knew that she was still responsible for the actions that led her to being charged with Abuse of a Corpse, to which she stated 'Yes'.

Soon after, before the court went to recess, Judge Bentley then pulled a shocking move and revoked the bond for Carie Hallford, who has been out of custody in both her state and federal cases since February 2024. The decision came after roughly 10 seconds of deliberation in silence, as families held their breath.

"Oh, my gosh. It was amazing. It was just amazing, that collective sense of relief, you know? I think that's what we were all feeling in those moments," said Dewolf.

The couple are now both in custody, awaiting their sentencing date on April 18, 2025. The two also have a federal sentencing date on March 20, 2025, over a Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud charge filed by U.S Attorney's in April 2024.

Carie will be held in El Paso County Jail, while Jon will be transferred back to federal custody until the respective sentencing dates.

KRDO13 Investigates has been tracking this story from the beginning, since we broke it to you in early October 2023. You can view all of our reporting here.