Overview
- Hallford, 49, received 30 years in state prison for abusing nearly 200 corpses Friday, a term set to run alongside her 18-year federal wire fraud sentence before she serves the remaining time in state custody.
- She was ordered in March to pay more than $1 million in restitution in the federal case after admitting to a scheme that defrauded families and pandemic relief programs.
- Her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, is serving 40 years in state prison after a February hearing and 20 years in federal prison for wire fraud tied to about $882,300 in COVID-relief fraud.
- Authorities uncovered at least 189 decomposing bodies at the Penrose site in October 2023, a building the EPA later condemned and crews demolished in 2024, and all but two sets of remains have now been identified.
- Victims told the court they were handed fake cremains, including concrete mix, or the wrong remains, deepening their grief and fueling reforms that now require licensing, background checks, and routine inspections across Colorado’s funeral industry.