Colorado judge rejects plea deal for funeral home owner accused of corpse abuse

Nov. 3 (UPI) — A Colorado judge rejected a plea deal Monday for a Penrose funeral home owner, accused of abusing hundreds of bodies left to decompose over four years.

Fourth Judicial District Judge Eric Bentley turned down the prosecutors’ plea deal of 15 to 20 years in state prison for Carie Hallford, after families of the victims argued the sentence was not long enough.

“I find that the sentence negotiated in this case is not consistent with the impact of these crimes on the victims and the community,” Bentley said.

Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, were arrested one year ago and pleaded guilty to storing 190 decomposing bodies inside their Return to Nature funeral facility.

“Jon Hallford could not have carried out his crimes without Carie,” Bentley said. “Someone had to do the dirty work, the improper disposal of the bodies, but someone else had to sell the fraud to the public.”

The bodies were discovered following reports in 2023 of a foul odor coming from the facility. Many of the remains had been stored there since 2019. According to federal prosecutors, the couple misled families into believing that their deceased loved ones had been buried or cremated.

“You have to go to the deepest, darkest part of your soul to articulate this,” said Derrick Johnson, who hired the funeral home to cremate his mother. “We’re not asking for revenge, we’re asking for acknowledgement, for the court to see each human being as they were: mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends, a heartbeat, a legacy.”

Monday’s plea deal sends Carie Hallford’s state case to trial on Oct. 6, 2026. Jon Hallford changed his plea from guilty to not guilty in September following victim testimony. He is scheduled to go on trial on February 9, 2026.

The couple pleaded guilty and accepted plea deals in their federal cases, where they were accused of taking payments from customers for cremations that were never completed.

The couple also admitted to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Small Business Administration of more than $800,000 in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds. They face up to 20 years in federal prison when they are sentenced.