Woman sentenced for managing funeral home with rotting bodies
Amanda Pampuro
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CN) — A state judge on Friday imposed a sentence of 30 years on a woman who managed the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose and Colorado Springs, Colorado, where at least 191 bodies were left to rot instead of being cremated or buried as promised.
“Treatment of the dead gets at something that is hard to put into words — it goes to something really primal,” said Fourth Judicial District Judge Eric Bentley.
“Our society functions not primarily because of law, but because each of us treats the other with a level of basic decency and trust, and something about these crimes strikes at the very heart of that trust," he added.
Carie Hallford ran the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs with her then-husband Jon, providing ecofriendly end-of-life services to the community. A second location opened in Penrose in 2019, and in 2020, the Colorado Springs Gazette named the business the best funeral home around.
Although the funeral home’s troubles wouldn’t come to light for three more years, prosecutors say the couple had already begun defrauding customers. The ruse finally unraveled in 2023 when the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office investigated a foul odor and discovered 191 decomposing bodies stacked like lumber, rotting and pooling across the floor at the Penrose warehouse.
While Jon Hallford physically moved the bodies into the warehouse and was responsible for cremating them, most customers only knew Carie, who promised grieving families she would take care of everything.
Rachel Powell, chief deputy district attorney, pushed back on Carie Hallford’s attempt to downplay her involvement in the scheme since she spoke with clients, discussed their options, took payment and then provided fraudulent death certificates and remains to families. Based on cellphone data, Powell even argued she spent more time at the warehouse than her husband.
“Carie Hallford has a bachelor’s degree and a certificate. This is not a case where she didn’t know better,” Powell said.
Both Hallfords were arrested in 2023 on nearly 200 state charges of suspicion of abuse of a corpse, along with dozens of charges of theft, money laundering and forgery.
In October 2024, both Hallfords pleaded guilty to a single federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for accepting Covid-19 relief while committing the crimes. In exchange for the guilty pleas, the federal government filed to dismiss a dozen other related charges, including outright wire fraud and aiding and abetting. For the offense, a federal judge sentenced Jon to 20 years and Carie to 18 years in federal prison. Both Hallfords have appealed.
Bentley rejected a state plea deal in November 2025 that would have allowed each Hallford’s sentence to match their federal sentence. Rather than send the case to trial, prosecutors negotiated a new plea in exchange for Jon and Carie each pleading guilty to the abuse of corpse offenses. In exchange, Carie Hallford agreed to face a sentence between 25 and 35 years.
Her attorney, Beau Worthington, remarked at the rarity of a defendant pleading guilty in exchange for such a steep sentence.
“Ms. Hallford has expressed remorse and she takes responsibility,” Worthington said.
Carie Hallford apologized to the victims and asked the judge to grant grace and mercy.
“I want to start off by apologizing to all the victims and their family members,” she said. “I was raised to know right from wrong, make good choices and to be a good example for others.”
In February, Bentley sentenced Jon Hallford to serve 40 years. The couple filed for divorce in August 2025.
Throughout the day, a dozen people who hired the Hallfords to bury and cremate their deceased loved ones addressed the court.
“Today may mark the last of the sentencing hearings, but it doesn’t put a period on our suffering,” said Tanya Wilson, who trusted Return to Nature to care for her mother.
Over the years, the couple worked with roughly 1,178 clients. With only 191 bodies identified, Bentley acknowledged the hundreds of families who will never know whether their loved one was properly treated.
“I’ve never encountered a group of victims in a case that was so articulate, empowered and activated to produce social change and I commend you for it,” Bentley said. “I see a 30-year sentence in a way that is different from many of you, I see it as a gigantic sentence, and I see it was a way to reflect those harms that are truly unimaginable.”