PENROSE, Colo. — The couple who owns a Penrose funeral home where 190 bodies were improperly stored were arrested in Oklahoma on numerous charges, including abuse of a corpse, theft, and money laundering, the Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday morning.
All of the charges that Jon and Carie Hallford face in El Paso County are low-level felonies, which could result in prison time or probation, according to District Attorney Michael Allen. It's not yet known when they'll make their first court appearance since they were arrested in another state.
"For me personally, I hope these arrests will bring some measure of closure to those family members who have been impacted by this event," Fremont County Sheriff Alan Cooper said.
The sheriff's office searched the Return to Nature Funeral Home's property in Penrose on Oct. 4 after a report was made the previous day of "an abhorrent smell" coming from the property off Werner Road, according to an order of summary suspension.
Coroner Randy Keller said that they've been able to positively identify 110 of the bodies that were located and are still working to identify the others using dental records, fingerprints, and medical hardware. He said if those options don't work they'll move to DNA in an effort to ID them. They've released remains back to 25 families.
"Definitely good news, and it came a lot sooner, I think, than we actually expected," said Crystina Page, one of the victims in this case.
In Sept. 2019, Crystina's son, David, was shot and killed by El Paso County deputies. She took his body to Return to Nature Funeral Home to be cremated. She received cremains, and for four years believed they were David's.
“I don’t think that the people who aren’t affected by this could possibly understand the depth of what they did to us," she said.
Crystina said David was in the middle of a mental health crisis when he was killed. For the past four years, she traveled with the urn while calling for changes in policing.
“I still fight for my son every day. So this was almost a continuation for my family rather than a new trauma," she said.
About four weeks ago, she learned David's cremains were not in the urn. The FBI told her David's body was still inside the funeral home.
"My son has been laying there rotting for four years," she said.
She still feels connected to the urn she received from the Hallfords.
“I’m having a hard time letting go of it. The FBI wanted the entire contents and the urn, and we fought about it. They got some of the contents for testing, but I’m refusing to let go of the urn," she said.
She started calling the cremains by the name "Grandma Fido," and she plans to continue giving her the respect she wishes the Hallfords gave her son.
"This whole situation is just unreal," she said.
Wednesday afternoon, she went to get David cremated....again.
Anyone who has not yet been contacted but worked with the Return to Nature Funeral Home between September 2019 and 2023 is encouraged to fill out an online form. That information from the form will be used to assist with the investigation and to potentially identify remains.
Family members who believe their loved one was at the Return to Nature Funeral Home's property but have not been contacted can submit dental records from their loved one directly to the coroner by sending him an email.
"We will continue to work as quickly as possible to identify the remainder of the individuals in our care so we can help bring some closure to the families that have been revictimized by this horrific tragedy," Keller said.
Allen said the case is being prosecuted in the 4th Judicial District because the business is centered in Colorado Springs, despite the bodies being found in Penrose, which is in Fremont County. That county is in the 11th Judicial District, where Linda Stanley is the district attorney and is currently under investigation and could potentially lose her law license.
"I don't see any problems going forward with jurisdiction, it being prosecuted here. The statue is very clear on that and gives us a clear path going forward," Allen said.
The Penrose funeral home's license expired in November 2022. A class action lawsuit has also been filed against the couple.
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