Chrystina Page, right, holds back Heather De Wolf, as she yells at Jon Hallford, left, the owner of Back to Nature Funeral Home, as he leaves with his lawyers following a preliminary hearing, Feb. 8, 2024, outside the El Paso County Judicial Building, in Colorado Springs
A funeral home owner who hid 189 decomposing bodies in a building over four years and gave grieving families fake ashes has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The court heard that Colorado funeral home owner left family members having recurring nightmares about decomposing flesh and maggots since learning what happened to their loved ones. Jon Hallford was given 40 years in state prison on Friday, February 6.
Judge Eric Bentley told Hallford he caused “unspeakable and incomprehensible” harm.
“It is my personal belief that every one of us, every human being, is basically good at the core, but we live in a world that tests that belief every day, and Mr. Hallford your crimes are testing that belief,” Bentley said.
The defendant apologised and said he would regret his actions for the rest of his life. “I had so many chances to put a stop to everything and walk away, but I did not,” he said. “My mistakes will echo for a generation. Everything I did was wrong.”
His ex wife, Carie Hallford, who co-owned the Return to Nature Funeral Home, is due to be sentenced on April 24. She faces 25 to 35 years in prison.
Both pleaded guilty in December to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse under an agreement with prosecutors. The Hallfords lived a lavish lifestyle whilst stashing the bodies, according to court documents.
They purchased a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency and expensive goods from stores including Tiffany & Co and Gucci.
Prosecutor Shelby Crow told the court: “Clearly this is a crime motivated by greed.” The Hallfords charged more than $1,200 per customer, and the money they spent on luxury items would have more than covered the cost to cremate all of the bodies, according to Crow.
The couples also pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges as it was said they cheated the system by receiving government aid of nearly $900,000 in the pandemic due to being a small business. The state prison statement will be served concurrently with the federal sentence.
A family member told the court she was “heartbroken” that her mother was “treated like yesterday’s trash”. Kelly Mackeen’s mother’s remains were handled by Return to Nature.
She told the court: “I’m a daughter whose mother was treated like yesterday’s trash and dumped in a site left to rot with hundreds of others.
“I’m heartbroken, and I ask God every day for grace.”
The courtroom was full of family members of the deceased who spoke of their grief. The Hallfords stored the bodies in a building in the small town of Penrose, south of Colorado Springs, from 2019 until 2023, until investigators responded to reports of a stench from the building.
Bodies were found stacked on top of each other, with swarms of bugs and decomposition fluid covering the floors, according to investigators. The remains — including adults, infants and fetuses — were stored at room temperature.
The bodies were identified over months with fingerprints, DNA and other methods. Investigators believe the Hallfords gave families dry concrete that resembled ashes.
Many family member’s struggled with guilt after learning that the ashes they had spread or kept at home were not actually their loved ones.
After families learned that what they received and then spread or kept at home were not actually their loved ones’ remains, many said it undid their grieving process, while others had nightmares and struggled with guilt.
It was previously reported by AP that the Hallfords missed tax payments, were evicted from one of their properties and were sued for unpaid bills, according to public records and interviews from fellow employees. Judge Bentley rejected previous plea agreements between the Hallfords and prosecutors that called for up to 20 years in prison with family members of the deceased saying the agreements were too lenient.
