The owner of a Colorado funeral home who, along with her husband, improperly stored the remains of approximately 190 decomposing bodies, was sentenced on Monday to 18 years in prison.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado, Carie Hallford, 49, of Colorado Springs, was sentenced on Monday. In addition to her 18-year sentence, the judge added three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August 2025.
Hallford and her then-husband, Jon Hallford, owned the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, a facility located about 100 miles south of Denver. The business offered services that included cremation and burials in biodegradable caskets and shrouds, The New York Times reported.
Under Colorado law, green burials are legal but state code requires that a body not buried within 24 hours must be properly refrigerated, The Associated Press reported.
In October 2023, Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller said the investigation was opened because residents in the area complained about an odor coming from the funeral home, KKTV reported. Authorities found bodies that were stored improperly, according to the television station.
Prosecutors said in Monday’s news release that the Hallfords “mishandled at least 190 bodies over four years” and defrauded the Small Business Administration through bogus COVID-19 loan applications.
Jon Hallford was sentenced in June 2025 to 20 years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution, the news release stated.
During Monday’s court hearing, Carie Hallford apologized to the relatives of the deceased, adding that she had endured years of an abusive marriage, the Times reported.
“Over time I became someone else,” she said.
Amanda Koldjeski, an FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge, said in a statement that Carie Hallford “defrauded grieving families she agreed to serve.”
“She denied families well-deserved dignity and showed blatant disregard for government rules,” Koldjeski said. “She lied and exploited families and systems to enrich her lifestyle with absolutely zero regard for the great harm she caused to so many.”
“It takes an exceptionally sick person to even think of a fraud scheme like Jon and Carie Hallford’s, let alone carry it out. Their disregard for fundamental human dignity is almost beyond belief,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly said in a statement. “I hope the victims take some solace in the serious sentences handed down to both Hallfords.
“This case doesn’t right the wrongs the victims have suffered, but it does stand as an unequivocal condemnation of the Hallfords’ horrific criminal conduct.”
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