International Courant
Investigators who entered a Colorado funeral residence the place almost 200 deserted our bodies had been discovered encountered stacks of partially lined human stays, bodily fluids a number of inches deep on the ground, and flies and maggots all through the constructing, an FBI agent testified Thursday.
Twenty-three of the our bodies had demise dates from 2019 and 61 had been from 2020, FBI agent Andrew Cohen stated. The stays included adults, infants and fetuses. They had been being saved at room temperature in a uncared for constructing within the small Rocky Mountain city of Penrose, he stated.
“It regarded like one thing you’d prefer to neglect however can’t,” Cohen stated throughout a listening to for one of many funeral residence’s co-owners.
COLORADO POLICE VOW ‘JUSTICE’ TO CHILDREN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY MOTHER BEFORE SHE FLED TO UK
Investigators additionally discovered animal stays and baggage of packaged concrete, Cohen stated. Prosecutors have stated some kinfolk of the deceased acquired pretend ashes slightly than the cremated stays of their family members.
Police in November arrested funeral residence homeowners Carie and Jon Hallford in Oklahoma after the married couple allegedly had fled Colorado to keep away from prosecution.
The our bodies had been found in early October after neighbors seen a putrid scent. Close to the squat constructing was a submit workplace and some scattered properties, spaced out between dry grass and empty heaps with parked semitrailers.
Seen right here is the Return to Nature Funeral Residence, in Penrose, Colo. , the place stacks of human stays had been found and bodily fluid a number of inches deep lined the ground, an FBI agent testified Jan. 11, 2024. (AP Photograph/David Zalubowski, File)
The Hallfords are accused of abusing corpses, stealing, laundering cash and forging paperwork over a number of years on the Return to Nature Funeral Residence, which was based mostly in Colorado Springs and saved stays in close by Penrose.
They’re every charged with roughly 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, 5 counts of theft, 4 counts of cash laundering and over 50 counts of forgery. Jon Hallford remained in custody on the El Paso County jail on Thursday after his bond was lowered from $2 million to $100,000 throughout a listening to final week.
Jon Hallford’s lawyer, Adam Steigerwald, didn’t instantly return a phone message in search of remark. Carie Hallford’s lawyer, Michael Stuzynski, was in courtroom and never obtainable for remark.
A number of households who employed Return to Nature to cremate their kinfolk have instructed The Related Press that the FBI confirmed their stays had been among the many decaying our bodies.
Jon Hallford was frightened way back to 2020 about getting caught, in keeping with prosecutors.
“My one and solely focus is maintaining us out of jail,” stated one textual content message he allegedly wrote, which was learn by a prosecutor in courtroom final week.
Additional particulars on how the our bodies got here to be mishandled haven’t been publicly launched after protection attorneys objected to unsealing affidavits within the case.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The invention of our bodies prompted an effort to determine them utilizing fingerprints, dental information, medical {hardware} and DNA. Officers plan to degree the constructing the place the our bodies had been present in coming days. Cohen stated a number of dozen units of stays haven’t but been recognized.
In December, kinfolk who knew or feared their family members had been among the many deserted our bodies watched in particular person for the primary time as Hallfords appeared earlier than a decide. One lady held up a photograph of her late son whom she thought could have been among the many mishandled our bodies.
Return to Nature began in 2017 and provided cremations and “inexperienced” burials with out embalming fluids.
The homeowners missed tax funds, had been evicted from one in all their properties and had been sued for unpaid payments by a crematory that stop doing enterprise with them nearly a 12 months in the past, in keeping with public information and interviews with individuals who labored with them.
Stacks of our bodies, fluids and flies discovered at Colorado funeral residence, FBI agent says
World Information,Subsequent Massive Factor in Public Knowledg
