DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Monday rejected the plea agreement of a funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building after family members of the deceased argued that the agreement's 15- to 20-year sentence was too lenient.
"The sentence negotiated by the parties does not adequately account for the harms that these crimes have caused,” said State District Judge Eric Bentley, describing his rare decision to forego an agreement made by the prosecution and defense for funeral home owner Carie Hallford.
Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of dumping the bodies between 2019 and 2023 in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, and giving families fake ashes.
Jon and Carie Hallford both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse last year, and Bentley has now rejected both of their plea agreements after family members said the sentence wasn't enough, with one describing it Monday as a “slap in the face.”
Several asked for just under 200 years in prison for Carie Hallford, which includes tallying a year for each body discovered.
“We are not asking for revenge, we are asking for acknowledgment, for the court to see each victim as the human being that they were,” said Derrick Johnson, whose mother was part of the grim toll.
After the judge’s decision, Carie Hallford withdrew her guilty plea and a trial has been set for next year. Similarly, Jon Hallford previously withdrew his guilty plea and is scheduled for trial.
After the discovery of the bodies, families learned that their relatives’ remains weren’t in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead were languishing with nearly 190 other bodies.
“It’s not just the 191 victims; each of them has extended family who are deeply impacted by this, then there’s the 1,000 or so who will never know what became of their loved one's bodies,” said Bentley, referencing previous customers of Return to Nature who now question the fate of their relatives' remains.
Both Hallfords have also admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never did.
Officials said the two spent lavishly, buying a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry and cryptocurrency.
After pleading guilty in federal court, Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Carie Hallford’s sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for December.
