1 year ago

Relatives watch as the Colorado funeral owners accused of mishandling 190 remains appear in court

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Relatives who knew or feared their loved ones were among the 190 abandoned bodies found decomposing in a Colorado funeral home watched in person for the first time Tuesday as the owners of the business appeared before a judge. The Colorado Springs-based funeral home’s facility in Penrose, a Rocky Mountain town of about 4,000 people, is where investigators in early October discovered dozens of stacked bodies. When the director of the state office of Funeral Home and Crematory registration called Jon Hallford a day after the odor was reported, Hallford acknowledged having a “problem” at the site and claimed he practiced taxidermy there, according to an order from state officials dated Oct. 5. The FBI tracked Carie Hallford’s phone to Oklahoma, at the residence of Jon Hallford’s parents, where they found his car and obtained a federal court warrant for the couple’s arrest for allegedly fleeing Colorado to avoid prosecution.

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History of this topic

1 week, 6 days ago

More charges against Colorado funeral home owner who had corpse in back of hearse for over a year

Associated Press

DENVER — An arraignment for a Colorado funeral home owner accused of keeping a woman’s corpse in the back of a hearse for over a year and improperly stashing the cremated remains of at least 30 people has been delayed again, this time because prosecutors have filed additional charges. Last week, prosecutors filed additional charges against Harford including three more …

1 month ago

Colorado funeral home owners, accused of letting 190 bodies decay, plead guilty to corpse abuse

LA Times

The owners of a Colorado funeral home accused of piling 190 bodies inside a room-temperature building and giving the grieving relatives fake ashes pleaded guilty Friday to corpse abuse as aggrieved families looked on in court. Jon and Carie Hallford, who own the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs as far …

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Funeral Home Owner Accused of Neglecting Bodies in Douglas, Georgia

Live Mint

Funeral home owner in Douglas, Georgia, Chris Lee Johnson, has been arrested and charged with 17 counts of abuse of a dead body. The state's leading law enforcement agency began investigating over the weekend after Coffee County sheriff's deputies requested help while carrying out an eviction process. Authorities found 18 bodies in various stages of decomposition at Johnson Funeral & …

1 month, 4 weeks ago

Funeral homeowners accused of giving families fake ashes and leaving 190 bodies to rot plead guilty

The Independent

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1 month, 4 weeks ago

Owners of ‘horrific’ funeral home plead guilty to federal fraud charges

NPR

Owners of ‘horrific’ funeral home plead guilty to federal fraud charges toggle caption EPA Carie and Jon Hallford have pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges, one year after the married couple fled Colorado, leaving 190 decaying corpses in their funeral home. The Hallfords’ Return to Nature Funeral Home had touted its service as being more natural, pledging to cremate or …

4 months, 2 weeks ago

The owners of a Colorado funeral home are ordered to pay $950M over mishandled remains

NPR

The owners of a Colorado funeral home are ordered to pay $950M over mishandled remains toggle caption David Zalubowski/AP The funeral home promised a more natural way to be buried, pledging to cremate or bury bodies without using embalming fluids or metal caskets. On Monday, a judge ordered the funeral home’s married owners, Carie and Jon Hallford, to pay $950 …

4 months, 2 weeks ago

Families whose loved ones were left decaying in Colorado funeral home owed $950M, payout unlikely

Associated Press

DENVER — The Colorado funeral home owners who allegedly stored 190 decaying bodies and sent grieving families fake ashes were ordered by a judge to pay $950 million to the victims’ relatives in a civil case, the attorney announced Monday. That leaves the nearly $1 billion sum largely symbolic of the emotional devastation wreaked on family members who learned the …

5 months, 2 weeks ago

I wore my mom’s ashes around my neck. Then I found out her abandoned body was decomposing in a funeral home

The Independent

7 months ago

Colorado governor signs bills regulating funeral homes after discovery of 190 rotting bodies

Associated Press

DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills into law Friday that overhaul state oversight of the funeral home industry after a series of gruesome discoveries, including 190 discomposing bodies in a facility, families being sent fake ashes and the unauthorized sale of body parts. The cases put Colorado’s lax funeral home regulations — some of the weakest in …

7 months, 2 weeks ago

Rotting bodies and fake ashes spur Colorado lawmakers to pass funeral home regulations

Associated Press

DENVER — Colorado lawmakers passed a bill Monday to overhaul the state’s lax funeral home oversight, joining a second measure aimed at regulating the industry that passed last week. Both follow a series of horrific incidents at funeral homes, including sold body parts, fake ashes and the discovery of 190 decaying bodies. The case turned a spotlight on the state’s …

8 months, 1 week ago

Owners of a Colorado funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were found are charged with COVID fraud

Associated Press

DENVER — A couple who owned a Colorado funeral home where authorities last year discovered 190 decaying bodies were indicted on federal charges that they misspent nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds on vacations, cosmetic surgery, jewelry and other personal expenses, according to court documents unsealed Monday. The indictment reaffirms accusations from state prosecutors that Jon and Carie Hallford gave …

8 months, 1 week ago

Owners of Colorado funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were found charged with COVID fraud

LA Times

A hearse and debris can be seen at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., in October. The couple who owned a Colorado funeral home — where 190 decaying bodies were discovered last year — have been indicted on federal charges for fraudulently obtaining nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds from the U.S. government, according …

10 months ago

A former funeral home owner has been arrested after a corpse lay in a hearse for 2 years

Associated Press

DENVER — A former funeral home owner accused of keeping a woman’s corpse in the back of a hearse for two years and hoarding the cremated remains of 35 people has been arrested, authorities said. Thursday night’s arrest of Miles Harford, 33, comes in connection with the latest in a series of offenses by Colorado funeral home owners, including the …

10 months ago

Denver police seek help finding a former funeral home owner after body kept in hearse for 2 years

Associated Press

DENVER — Denver police are asking for the public’s help in finding a former funeral home owner who they say kept a woman’s body in a hearse for two years and kept the cremated remains of at least 30 people. The woman’s body and the cremains were found Feb. 6 during a court-ordered eviction of a house rented by Harford, …

10 months ago

Decaying bodies and fake ashes spur Colorado to confront lax funeral home oversight

Associated Press

DENVER — On the heels of two egregious cases of funeral home owners allegedly mishandling bodies and cremated remains, Colorado lawmakers aimed Wednesday at trying to shore up the state’s lax regulations that failed to prevent the horrific incidents. A bipartisan House committee unanimously voted in a hearing to introduce a bill that would bring Colorado’s regulations more in line …

10 months, 1 week ago

Woman’s corpse and 30 cremated remains found after ex-funeral home owner gets evicted from house

Associated Press

DENVER — A financially troubled former funeral home owner kept a deceased woman’s body in a hearse for two years at a house where police also found the cremated remains of at least 30 people, authorities said Friday in the latest case to underscore lax oversight of Colorado’s funeral industry. Temporary urns — plastic boxes the size of a shoe …

10 months, 2 weeks ago

Nearly 200 abused corpses were found at a funeral home. Why did it take authorities years to act?

Associated Press

DENVER — A county coroner reported suspicions about bodies being poorly treated by a Colorado funeral home more than three years before nearly 200 decomposing bodies were discovered inside a decrepit building in October, according to newly unsealed court documents that raise questions about how the mistreatment of corpses was able to continue for so long. The concerns raised by …

11 months, 1 week ago

Investigators found stacked bodies and maggots at a neglected Colorado funeral home, FBI agent says

Associated Press

DENVER — Investigators who entered a Colorado funeral home where nearly 200 abandoned bodies were found encountered stacks of partially covered human remains, bodily fluids several inches deep on the floor, and flies and maggots throughout the building, an FBI agent testified Thursday. Prosecutors also revealed text messages sent between the funeral home’s owners showing they were under growing financial …

11 months, 1 week ago

Investigators found stacked bodies and maggots at a neglected Colorado funeral home, FBI agent says

The Independent

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Investigators who entered a Colorado …

1 year, 1 month ago

Funeral home stored bodies for 4 years, deceived families about loved ones’ ashes, prosecutors say

Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The owners of a Colorado funeral home were arrested Wednesday in Oklahoma on charges linked to the discovery of 190 sets of decaying remains at one of their facilities, including some that apparently had been languishing there for four years. Investigators entered the Return to Nature Funeral Home building in the Rocky Mountain town of Penrose …

1 year, 1 month ago

Colorado funeral home stockpiled bodies for 4 years, police say

LA Times

The owner of a Colorado funeral home and his wife were arrested Wednesday in Oklahoma on charges linked to the discovery of 190 sets of decaying remains at one of their facilities, including some that apparently had been languishing there for four years. Investigators entered the Return to Nature Funeral Home building in the Rocky Mountain town of Penrose in …

1 year, 1 month ago

Family sues Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were found over alleged fake ashes

Associated Press

DENVER — A family filed a lawsuit Monday against a Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were found, alleging the owners allowed the remains of their loved ones to “rot” away while they sent families fake ashes. The gruesome discovery at Return to Nature Funeral Home occurred earlier in October after reports of an “abhorrent smell” coming from a …

1 year, 2 months ago

After 189 bodies were found in Colorado funeral home, evidence suggests families received fake ashes

Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were discovered this month appears to have fabricated cremation records and may have given families fake ashes, according to information gathered by The Associated Press from customers and crematories. The families that did business with Return to Nature Funeral Home fear their loved ones weren’t cremated at all …

1 year, 2 months ago

Evidence suggests families received fake ashes from Colorado funeral home

LA Times

Family photos show Sara Lee Swoveland, center in left image, whose daughter says she believes the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., gave her cement dust instead of her mother’s cremated ashes. The families that did business with Return to Nature Funeral Home fear their loved ones weren’t cremated at all and instead could be among the yet …

1 year, 2 months ago

Nearly 200 bodies recovered from a Colorado funeral home accused of improper storage

NPR

Nearly 200 bodies recovered from a Colorado funeral home accused of improper storage Enlarge this image toggle caption David Zalubowski/AP David Zalubowski/AP At least 189 dead and decaying bodies were recovered from the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado this week — that's roughly 75 more decedents than police originally believed to be onsite when they began investigating the …

1 year, 2 months ago

Remains of at least 189 people removed from Colorado funeral home, up from 115, officials say

The Independent

1 year, 2 months ago

Remains of at least 189 people removed from Colorado funeral home, up from 115, officials say

Associated Press

DENVER — The remains of at least 189 people have been removed from a Colorado funeral home, up from an initial estimate of about 115 when the decaying and improperly stored bodies were discovered two weeks ago, officials said Tuesday. The remains were found by authorities responding to a report of an “abhorrent smell” inside a decrepit building at the …

1 year, 2 months ago

At Colorado funeral home where 115 decaying bodies found, troubles went unnoticed by regulators

Associated Press

DENVER — As legal and financial troubles piled up at the Colorado funeral home where authorities last week discovered at least 115 decomposing bodies, the troubles went unnoticed by state officials who have long struggled to effectively oversee the industry. Last week authorities responding to an “abhorrent smell” entered the funeral home’s neglected building with a search warrant and found …

1 year, 2 months ago

Police found 115 bodies at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home while investigating putrid smells

Associated Press

CAÑON CITY, Colo. — The awful smell seeped from a neglected building in a small Colorado town for days, followed by a report that made police take a closer look at the “green” funeral operator’s storage facility. Hallford acknowledged that he had a “problem” at the property, the Colorado Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration letter said. Funeral home …

1 year, 2 months ago

Police found 115 bodies at Colorado ‘green’ funeral home while investigating putrid smells

LA Times

A hearse and debris can be seen at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., on Thursday. The awful smell seeped from a neglected building in a small Colorado town for days, followed by a report that made police take a closer look at the “green” funeral operator’s storage facility. Hallford acknowledged that he had …

1 year, 4 months ago

Three found dead at campsite were members of Colorado Springs family who planned to live ‘off grid’

Associated Press

The decomposed and partially mummified bodies of three people who were recently found at a remote western Colorado campsite were two adult sisters and one woman’s 14-year-old son, Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes said. Two were found in a tent down the road from a campsite in the Gunnison National Forest about nine miles from Ohio City, Colorado, Gunnison County …

1 year, 11 months ago

Colorado funeral home owner sentenced in body sales case

Associated Press

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A Colorado funeral home operator accused of illegally selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday by a federal court judge. U.S. authorities said that on dozens of occasions, Hess and her mother, Shirley Koch, who also pleaded guilty to mail fraud, transferred bodies or body parts to …

1 year, 11 months ago

Ex-Colorado funeral home owner to go to jail for 20 years for selling body parts

India Today

A 46-year-old woman who is the former owner of a funeral home in Colorado was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Tuesday for dissecting 560 corpses and selling body parts without permission. The accused, Megan Hess cheated the relatives of the dead and stole body parts using forged donor forms, officials told Reuters. She operated Sunset Mesa, a …

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6 days, 17 hours ago

Utah Tragedy: 5 family members dead, teen hospitalized with gunshot wound

India Today

In a tragic event on Tuesday, five family members, including three children, were discovered dead in their home in West Valley City, Utah. The deceased were two adults, an 11-year-old boy and two girls, ages 9 and 2, according to Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokesperson for the West Valley City Police Department. The family was found in a house in West …

West Valley City Vainuku

Syria: Mass grave near Damascus has at least 100,000 bodies, says US advocacy group

Firstpost

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are estimated to have been killed since 2011, when Assad’s crackdown on protests against his rule grew into a full-scale civil war A fighter of the ruling Syrian body walks, as people inspect the site of a mass grave from the rule of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, according to residents, after the ousting of al-Assad, in …

Syria Reuters Syrian Site Grave Bodies Mass

Syria: Hundreds of thousands of bodies could be buried in mass graves, advocacy group says

CNN

CNN — Syrians are starting to uncover mass graves across the country, shedding light on the magnitude of atrocities committed during the brutal rule of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad. Hundreds of thousands of bodies of people “tortured to death by the Assad regime” could be buried in a mass grave east of Damascus, according to Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of …

Syria Cnn Syrian Regime Grave Bodies Mass

1 week, 4 days ago