Colorado funeral home co-owner sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, $1M restitution
One co-owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home was sentenced on Monday to 18 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release and $1,070,413.74 in restitution. As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Carie Hallford pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Aug. 4, 2025.
Carie Hallford, 49, of Colorado Springs, owned and operated the funeral home in Colorado Springs and Penrose with her then husband and codefendant, Jon Hallford. They mishandled at least 190 bodies over a four-year time frame and defrauded the Small Business Administration through fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications. The couple faced charges in an indictment from the federal government for allegedly misusing nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.
Jon Hallford was sentenced in June 2025 to 20 years in federal prison and ordered to pay the same amount as Carie Hallford in restitution.
"The defendant defrauded grieving families she agreed to serve while deceiving the federal government in order to obtain benefits meant to assist businesses during the pandemic," said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski in a statement. "She denied families well-deserved dignity and showed blatant disregard for government rules. She lied and exploited families and systems to enrich her lifestyle with absolutely zero regard for the great harm she caused to so many."
According to the plea agreement, from as early as September 2019 through October 2023, Carie Hallford and her husband failed to cremate or bury at least 190 bodies, despite having collected more than $130,000 from grieving families for funeral services that were never provided. Prosecutors said the Hallfords failed to provide basic core services promised to some of its customers, either a cremation or a burial, and continued to collect payment from victims for funeral services and goods.
The plea agreement goes on to state that Carie Hallford handled much of the banking, invoicing, contracting with customers, filing of required paperwork, bookkeeping and communications with customers. Prosecutors said both defendants routinely prepared death certificates for the deceased and filed them with the State of Colorado's Electronic Death Registry.
On many of the death certificates, the defendants falsely stated that the "method of disposition" was by either cremation or burial when there was no disposition, as the bodies were left decomposing at the funeral home location in Penrose. To carry out and execute the above fraud scheme, prosecutors said the defendant and her husband worked together to cause multiple interstate wire communications to occur.
The plea agreement further states that from March 2020 to March 2022, Hallford and her husband conspired to defraud the SBA by submitting loan applications containing false information to obtain COVID-19 relief funds and received three separate disbursements from the SBA, totaling $882,300. The funds were obtained through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which was established to provide emergency support to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The investigation into the funeral home began in early October 2023 when neighbors reported a foul odor to the Fremont County Sheriff's Office. Investigators discovered at least 190 improperly stored bodies inside the building, which was demolished in 2024 after the EPA condemned the building, classifying it as a toxic waste site.
"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," said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly 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."
The couple was arrested in Oklahoma in November 2023.
A Colorado judge accepted plea agreements from Jon and Carie Hallford in December 2025. Both pleaded guilty to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse under an agreement with prosecutors. Jon Hallford was sentenced to 40 years in prison for corpse abuse.
Carie Hallford has been scheduled for sentencing on the state charges on April 24. She faces 25 to 35 years in prison.
