Naman Shrestha
The episode titled ‘The Funeral Home of Horrors’ of ‘The Curious Case of…’ explores the crimes and frauds that Jon and Carie Hallford committed against the customers of their funeral home. As the detectives work on the case, they uncover some dark truths about the couple and their business. Apart from not performing the services they were paid to do, the Hallfords even provided the families of the deceased with fake ashes. Featuring exclusive and insightful interviews with the officials linked to the case, the documentary covers all the intricate details related to the case.
The Foul Smell Coming From Jon and Carie Hallford’s Funeral Home Led the Police to Investigate the Property
Longtime couple Jon and Carie Hallford owned and operated the Return to Nature Funeral Home, which had two branches — one in the Colorado Springs area and the other in Penrose, Colorado. What made them popular was their claim of performing “green” natural burials without the use of embalming chemicals or metal caskets. However, their successful business found itself in the middle of a huge controversy when several residents of the Penrose area living near the facility reported smelling a foul odor in October 2023.
Immediately, several FBI and CBI detectives began investigating the Hallfords and the property, only to discover approximately 190 deceased bodies, some of them dating back to 2019, inside the building in different stages of decomposition. Upon digging deeper, the authorities learned that Jon and Carie used to defraud their customers by misleading them into believing that the remains of their loved ones would be buried or cremated as per their requirements and conditions.
Jon and Carie Hallford Were Taken Into Custody For Defrauding Their Customers
As per reports, the fraudulent funeral home allegedly gave various families dry concrete instead of ashes, buried the wrong body at least a couple of times, and received approximately $130,000 for the services they never provided or performed. Even after the discovery of the bodies, Jon reportedly claimed that the foul odor was due to his taxidermy hobby. Within a month or so after the investigation began, in November 2023, Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested in Oklahoma, where they had escaped to prevent getting prosecuted. The couple reportedly faced about 249 charges in connection to the investigation, including corpse abuse and forgery.
Having made thousands of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic, they spent all of it on extravagant expenses, such as buying a GMC Yukon and Infiniti, taking trips to Las Vegas, California, and Florida, shopping at luxurious stores like Gucci, and laser body sculpting. Further investigation led the detectives to find out that in the summer of 2020, the Hallfords had been discussing a way to dispose of the bodies and the possibility of getting caught. Not long after getting arrested, they were also charged with 14 counts of offenses in relation to defrauding not just their customers but also the US government. Moreover, in April 2024, the couple was accused of obtaining pandemic funds for personal purposes instead of using them for necessary business operations.
Jon and Carie Hallford Are Currently Awaiting Their Sentencing
Over 100 families affected by the misdeeds committed by Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, had filed an open civil lawsuit against Jon and Carie Hallford, apart from the hundreds of federal and state charges they already faced. In August 2024, the judge passed a verdict ordering the pair to pay over $950 million in fines to the family members of the people whose remains were mismanaged and found in a decomposing state in the maggot-infested funeral home. At the time, Jon was already in police custody, while Carie — who was out on bail — reportedly failed to show up at multiple hearings that had taken place over 10 months. Their absence and lack of acknowledgment of the suit motivated the judge to impose the fine.
On October 24, 2024, Jon and Carie Hallford accepted a plea deal regarding the federal charges in exchange for a lesser sentence, pleading guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The two accepted that over a period of four years, they deceived the family members of over 190 people for over $130,000 by sending them fake ashes to make them believe they conducted the cremation/burial services of their deceased loved one, but in reality, the pair never conducted any service and instead left the bodies to decompose in an establishment. In addition to that, they also admitted to committing fraud against the U.S. Small Business Administration by misusing over $800,000 obtained as COVID-19 pandemic relief funds as part of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
As part of the deal, they requested that the prosecutor should refrain from pushing for a sentence of over 15 years. However, according to court documents, the judge has yet to approve the same, and the sentencing is slated for March 20, 2025. As part of a deal for the state charges, the married couple pled guilty to 190 (or 191) counts of abuse of a corpse, reportedly including two instances of burying wrong bodies, on November 22, 2024. As per reports, the sentencing is scheduled to be held for this case on April 18, 2025. Reportedly, Jon Hallford is likely to be sentenced to 20 years behind bars, while Carie Hallford faces around 15-20 years. As of today, Jon is held at Teller County Jail in Divide, Colorado, while Carie Hallford is at Jefferson County Detention Facility in Golden, Colorado.
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