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8h ago

Colorado Funeral Home Owner Gets 40 Years for Storing 189 Bodies, Giving Families Fake Ashes

The punishment follows guilty pleas to nearly 200 corpse‑abuse counts stemming from the discovery of 189 stored bodies.

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Photographs of Ellen Marie Shriver-Lopes, whose body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., are stacked in her sister's home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother's body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., holds family photos in his aunt's home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Overview

  • Judge Eric Bentley sentenced Jon Hallford to 40 years in Colorado state court after he admitted to nearly 200 counts tied to the Return to Nature scheme.
  • Investigators found 189 decomposing bodies in a Penrose building in 2023, and officials say families were handed dry concrete made to resemble cremated remains.
  • Victims described the deception as devastating to their grieving, reporting nightmares, panic attacks and PTSD diagnoses to the court.
  • Hallford previously received a 20-year federal sentence for defrauding pandemic small‑business programs of nearly $900,000 and spending the proceeds on luxury items.
  • Co-owner Carie Hallford faces 25–35 years at state sentencing on April 24, with a separate federal sentencing set for March 16 as Colorado moves to tighten funeral‑home oversight.