Owners of Colorado funeral home where 190 decomposed bodies were found are arrested for abuse of a corpse, theft and money laundering

The owners of an eco-friendly funeral home in Colorado where 189 decomposing bodies were uncovered after a putrid odor was reported have been arrested.

Jon and Carrie Hallford were arrested Wednesday in Wagoner, Oklahoma on suspicion of abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery.

The owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose were charged just over a month after police raided their cemetery following reports from concerned neighbors of a ‘smell of dead animals’.

At least 190 bodies were removed after it was discovered they had been improperly stored, police said as they revealed the alleged abuses could date back to 2019.

The couple will now be extradited to Colorado ahead of their first appearance in El Paso County Court. Each has a $2 million bond but remains in custody.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis released a statement after the arrests saying, “I am relieved that criminal charges have been filed against the funeral home owner and that a criminal investigation is ongoing.

‘I know this will not bring peace to the families affected, but we hope that those responsible are held fully accountable in a court of law.

Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller confirmed that his department has managed to identify 110 of the bodies, but that investigators are still working “diligently” to identify the rest.

So far, 137 families have been contacted, with 24 bodies released to their loved ones, Keller said at a press conference broadcast by ABC news.

Fingerprints, dental records and medical hardware are used to identify the deceased, with DNA testing ready to be used in cases where this is not possible.

Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper described the impact on his staff as “undeniably very negative” as he thanked them for their hard work.

The police initially found 115 deceased, but this quickly rose to almost 200.

So far, at least one family has filed a lawsuit against the facility, which specializes in environmentally friendly funerals.

The family of Woodland Park resident Lindsay Maher used the service over the summer for her grandmother Yong Anderson’s funeral.

She claimed the funeral home provided “concrete dust” instead of her relative’s ashes.

“To say my family is shocked and outraged is an understatement,” she said.

‘My grandmother’s dying wish was to be cremated and have her ashes spread in the ocean.

‘It turns out that the ash we received from Return 2 Nature was actually just concrete dust and that my grandmother’s body had been in the abandoned building the entire time, rotting next to 114 other bodies from 114 other unsuspecting families.

“They forged my grandmother’s death certificate and gave my grieving family concrete dust.”

The investigation was launched after neighbors complained about the smell coming from the single-storey building.

Joyce Pavetti, 73, can see the funeral home from the stoop of her home and said she noticed a putrid odor in recent weeks. “We just assumed it was a dead animal,” she said.

Neighbor Ron Alexander thought the smell was coming from a septic tank, adding that the haze of law enforcement lights on Wednesday night “resembled the Fourth of July.”

Documents showed that Jon Hallford told the Colorado program director of the Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration that he practiced taxidermy at the facility.

He admitted he had a problem with the property and ‘was prepared’ to attend the property on October 4 for an inspection.

The company charges $1,895 for a “natural burial,” which does not include the cost of a casket and cemetery space, according to its website.

Bodies are not embalmed and buried in biodegradable caskets, shrouds or “anything at all,” the website said.

The funeral home also previously offered cremation services for $1,290, which included a tree planted in a Colorado National Forest.

Family members who want to spend four hours with their loved ones must pay $485, while a one-hour final private moment costs $285.

The funeral home describes its services as ‘a natural way of caring for your loved one with minimal impact on the environment.’

Under Colorado state law, green burials are legal and are defined as burials that take place without embalming.

However, unembalmed bodies must be properly refrigerated within 24 hours.

Anyone who used the funeral home between September 2019 and September 2023 is advised to contact police.