Prosecutors plan to give Colorado funeral home owners more time to consider state plea deal
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - El Paso County prosecutors plan to extend the timeline in which funeral home owners accused in a fraud scheme involving 190 decomposing bodies can accept a state plea deal.
Families of victims provided KRDO13 Investigates emails showing that on Friday, the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office plans to request another plea date. The change comes just days after Jon and Carie Hallford notified federal prosecutors they planned to plead guilty after being offered a plea deal of 15 years in federal prison.
The couple owned and operated the Return To Nature Funeral Home, where nearly 200 bodies were discovered in October of 2023 after neighbors reported an odor coming from the property.
The husband and wife were arrested less than a month later, and also currently face 260 criminal charges at the state level for Abuse of a Corpse, Money Laundering, Forgery, and Theft.
The plea deal offer for Carie Hallford is that if she pleads guilty to 190 counts of abusing a corpse, prosecutors will recommend a total of 15-20 years in state prison to run concurrently with the federal sentence she receives.
Jon Hallfords state plea deal would require him to also plead guilty to 190 counts of abusing a corpse for a total of 20 years in state prison to run concurrently with the federal sentence.
The couple is due in court on Friday. They will also face a federal judge on October 24.
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