Current:Home > MarketsFuneral home owner accused of abandoning nearly 200 decomposing bodies to appear in court -Thrive Capital Insights
Funeral home owner accused of abandoning nearly 200 decomposing bodies to appear in court
View
Date:2025-04-15 07:50:13
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado funeral home owner who authorities say abandoned nearly 200 bodies in a building infested with maggots and flies was set to appear in court Thursday to hear prosecutors’ evidence against him.
Jon Hallford and his wife, Carie Hallford, who owned the Back to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, are each charged with 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering and over 50 counts of forgery. In addition to their funeral home, they used a building in the nearby rural community of Penrose as a body storage facility, prosecutors say.
The couple were arrested in November in Oklahoma. Carie Hallford had an evidentiary hearing last month. Neither one of them has entered a plea yet. Investigators have been gathering since October, when the bodies were found.
Several families who hired Return to Nature to cremate their relatives have told The Associated Press that the FBI confirmed their remains were among the decaying bodies.
At Carie Hallford’s evidentiary hearing, prosecutors presented text messages suggesting that she and her husband tried to cover up their financial difficulties by leaving the bodies at the Penrose site. They didn’t elaborate. The building had makeshift refrigeration units that were not operating at the time the bodies were found, FBI agent Andrew Cohen testified. Fluid from decomposition covered the floors, he said.
According to prosecutors, Jon Hallford was worried about getting caught as far back as 2020 and suggested getting rid of the bodies by dumping them in a big hole, then treating them with lye or setting them on fire.
“My one and only focus is keeping us out of jail,” he wrote in one text message, prosecutors allege.
veryGood! (8529)
Related
- The GOP and Kansas’ Democratic governor ousted targeted lawmakers in the state’s primary
- Did 'Veep' predict Kamala Harris' presidential run? HBO series sees viewership surge
- The best 3-row SUVs in 2024 for big families
- EtherGalaxy Trading Center: How to choose a cryptocurrency exchange
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- A former candidate for governor is disbarred over possessing images of child sexual abuse
- Matthew Macfadyen felt 'miscast' as Mr. Darcy in 'Pride & Prejudice': 'I'm not dishy enough'
- A plan to replenish the Colorado River could mean dry alfalfa fields. And many farmers are for it
- Golf's No. 1 Nelly Korda looking to regain her form – and her spot on the Olympic podium
- CoinBearer Trading Center: Advantages of IEOs
Ranking
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Prosecutors file Boeing’s plea deal to resolve felony fraud charge tied to 737 Max crashes
- Timothée Chalamet’s Transformation Into Bob Dylan in Biopic Trailer Is Anything But a Simple Twist
- CirKor Trading Center: What is decentralization?
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- Judge orders release of Missouri man whose murder conviction was reversed over AG’s objections
- All the revelations from 'Dirty Pop,' Netflix's new Lou Pearlman documentary
- The Spookiest Halloween Decorations of 2024 That’re Affordable, Cute, & To Die For
Recommendation
Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
FBI searches home of former aide to New York Gov Kathy Hochul
Coco Gauff joins LeBron James as US flag bearers for opening ceremony
Biotech company’s CEO pleads guilty in Mississippi welfare fraud case
Taylor Swift Cancels Austria Concerts After Confirmation of Planned Terrorist Attack
Wisconsin agrees to drop ban on carrying firearms while fishing following challenge
NovaBit Trading Center: Approved for listing: A decade in the making, reflecting on the journey of Ethereum ETF #2
Watch: Whale of New Hampshire slams into fishing boat, hurling men into the Atlantic