Judge rejects plea deal for funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies

Jon Hallford withdrew his guilty plea and is scheduled for trial

This combination of booking photos provided by the Muskogee County, Okla., Sheriff's Office shows Jon Hallford, left, and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home. (Muskogee County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

A Colorado judge has rejected a plea agreement for a funeral home owner accused of storing almost 190 decomposing bodies in a vermin-infested facility. The decision came after victims' families argued the proposed 15- to 20-year sentence was insufficient.

Carie Hallford, alongside her husband Jon Hallford, who operated Return to Nature Funeral Home, allegedly abandoned the remains in a rural town between 2019 and 2023. They are further accused of providing fraudulent ashes to grieving relatives and defrauding the federal government of nearly $900,000.

Jon and Carie Hallford both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse last year, and State District Judge Eric Bentley has now rejected both of their plea deals after family members asked for a more severe punishment.

A hearse and debris can be seen at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, Oct. 5, 2023, in Penrose, Colo

A judge rejecting a plea deal is very unusual, and Carie Hallford can now either withdraw her guilty plea or continue without the deal, meaning she could get a higher sentence.

Jon Hallford withdrew his guilty plea and is scheduled for trial.

After the discovery of the bodies, families learned that their relatives' remains weren't in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead were languishing with nearly 190 other bodies. Some said they had nightmares of what their loved one must have looked like in that building; others wondered about their relatives' souls.