A Colorado funeral home owner who gave families fake ashes while storing nearly 200 bodies in a building has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Jon Hallford, co-owner of the ‘Return to Nature Funeral Home’, pleaded guilty to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse, according to the Associated Press via CBS News.
Authorities say Hallford and his then-wife, Carie, stored 189 decaying bodies in a building between 2019 and 2023 instead of cremating them as promised. Grieving families were unknowingly given bogus ashes while the remains piled up.
The deception unraveled on October 4, 2023, when investigators discovered the bodies inside the property.
Prosecutors said the couple also stole money meant for cremations, pocketing about $130,000 from clients.
They allegedly defrauded the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds and splurged on luxury cars, hefty jewelry and cosmetic treatments.
The scale of the abuse shocked the state and prompted Colorado to tighten its historically loose funeral home regulations.
At sentencing, anguished relatives called Hallford a ‘monster’ and pushed for the maximum 50-year term. A judge rejected an earlier plea deal that would have capped his sentence at 20 years.
Carie Hallford, who co-owned the business, is also scheduled to be sentenced on April 24 and faces 25 to 35 years in prison.
