Colorado judge accepts Hallfords' plea deals in funeral home case
A judge on Monday accepted plea agreements from Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of the now-defunct Return to Nature Funeral Home in southern Colorado, concluding intense courtroom hearings in a case involving nearly 200 mishandled bodies.
Victims' families spent nearly three hours in court delivering impact statements, many calling the plea insufficient and urging for a full trial. Earlier this year, the court rejected an initial plea the Hallfords had agreed to — each expected to receive roughly 20 years behind bars — after families said the punishment failed to match the scope of the alleged crimes.
Investigators uncovered more than 190 decomposing bodies last year inside the Penrose facility, many stored in unhygienic conditions.
Under the newly accepted plea deals, Jon Hallford faces 30 to 50 years in state prison, and Carie Hallford faces 25 to 35 years in prison. These sentences will run concurrently with their federal sentences; Jon Hallford was federally sentenced to 20 years plus restitution and Carie Hallford has not yet been sentenced, but faces a maximum of 15 years. She's set to be sentenced in March.
Families argued this falls short of justice, saying the pair should receive at least 191 years — one for each body recovered — plus additional time for the hundreds of other remains that may have been mishandled.
"This is not us coming and saying he was such a monster for what he did to my child that he should he serve nearly 200 years. This is a direct result of the actions that Jon and Carie Hallford took and they took those actions together," said Crystina Page, whose son was among the 191 bodies discovered.
El Paso County District Court Judge Eric Bentley approved the new plea agreements, acknowledging the unique challenges of sentencing in a case involving hundreds of victims.
The pair was also in a courtroom in Colorado Springs last week. They had already pleaded guilty to charges of abuse of a corpse, money laundering, and forgery earlier this year, but Bentley rejected those plea deals.
Sentencing dates in the state cases have been set for early 2026; Jon Hallford on Feb. 6 and Carie Hallford on April 24.
The investigation into the funeral home began in early October 2023, when neighbors reported a foul odor to the Fremont County Sheriff's Office, and investigators discovered 190 improperly stored bodies inside the building. The building was later demolished.
The couple was arrested in Oklahoma in November 2023 and extradited to Colorado.
The case has drawn attention to Colorado's funeral industry oversight.