Future of Return To Nature property still undetermined

PENROSE, Colo. (KRDO) - The people of Penrose and the families of the victims found in the Return To Nature building are already pondering what will come next for the property where the remains of their loved ones were found. 

Some of them have already suggested a memorial at the site in honor of the victims dumped there. 

Abby Swoveland’s mother, Sally, was among the victims, and it's still hard for her to visit the former funeral home that's now surrounded by a chain link fence.

Swoveland says part of the reason she chose Return To Nature to handle her mom’s remains is a promise that Carie Hallford made to her and other families. 

They say Carie promised to plant a tree in their loved one's memory. 

Shortly after the discovery, Swoveland created a GoFundMe page to fulfill the promise Carie made, planting a tree at the site for each of the victims recovered there. 

"I felt like our loved ones, and everyone who used Return To Nature, was owed not only their trees but owed remembrance and owed respect that they were not given,” she told KRDO. 

The EPA is expected to demolish the structure at the end of February. 

The debris will be dumped at a landfill south of Pueblo, and a layer of dirt will be scraped from the surface to make sure any contaminants are removed from the property. 

However, even after the building is gone, the property may be just as toxic on paper. 

There's a long line of issues with this property,” says Dale Gagas, a longtime realtor with Colorado Lifestyle Property and Auction in Penrose, which is located just a few blocks from the funeral home. 

Based on Fremont County property records, Gagas said the Hallfords bought the property in 2021 from Wade and Karen Brown, who still hold the deed. 

KRDO13 attempted to reach the Browns, but there was no response. 

If the Hallfords can no longer make payments, the Browns could foreclose on the property or release the Hallfords from the contract and sell it again. 

However, Fremont County county officials confirmed that the county has already placed a lien on the property for about $14,000 in unpaid property taxes over the course of several years. 

The property was actually supposed to be auctioned off in November, but due to the ongoing investigation, the auction was postponed. 

Gagas said it’s very possible that various government agencies could file additional liens to recover some of the cost of the initial response and cleanup. 

The EPA is overseeing the demolition and cleanup, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

The EPA has yet to respond to questions about whether it will seek to recover the massive cost, or what that dollar figure could be. 

The El Paso County Coroner’s office has also spent considerable time and resources handling, transporting, and identifying the bodies, but a spokesperson tells KRDO13 it has already been reimbursed by the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. 

CDHSEM did not respond to a request from KRDO13 for information about whether it will seek to recover those expenses, or the process to do that. 

In any case, the likelihood of recovering those costs is small. 

Fremont County public records show the 1.93-acre property value was assessed at $212,787, but Gagas points out that the figure includes the value of the building, which will soon be gone.

The value of the empty land would be far less, and well below the amount of money sought in the various liens that could be filed. 

Gagas predicts the land may very well end up in the hands of the lienholder(s). 

"It may end up belonging to the EPA or to those governing entities,” he explained, “somewhere down the line, they may have what's called a government liquidation auction.  It's excess assets that the government has, no reserve, whatever it sells for, it sells for." 

Despite the stigma from this tragedy, Gagas believes eventually it could sell at a highly discounted price and be redeveloped by a new owner.

However, that's not what Swoveland wants, and based on an unofficial survey of other families she believes the majority want to see something created at the site to serve as a reminder of what happened. 

“This can't just go away,” she says, “We've got an obligation to take what happened here and turn it into good, so this never ever happens to another family in Colorado.  It just can't.”