A hearse and truck are parked outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, on Oct. 6, 2023. On Monday, a judge ordered the funeral home’s owners, Carie and Jon Hallford, to pay $950 million to families whose loved ones’ bodies were mishandled.
David Zalubowski/AP
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David Zalubowski/AP
Funeral homes promise more natural burials, pledging to cremate or bury bodies without using embalming fluids or metal caskets. But instead of “green burials,” authorities allege, Colorado-based Return to Nature left bodies to decompose at room temperature in its storage facility, which holds the remains of about 190 people. was found last fall.
On Monday, a judge ordered funeral home owners Carie and Jon Hallford to pay $950 million to families whose loved ones’ bodies were mishandled.
Andrew Swan, an attorney representing the victims, told NPR that the court’s new order would settle a class-action civil lawsuit — and set an example, even if the owners don’t have the resources to pay out the bulk of the large reward.
“We hope this judgment sends a clear message to the industry: Bad behaviour has significant consequences,” said Swan.
The Hallfords, now in their 40s, are now facing a series of criminal charges. In some cases, they are accused of give their customers fake urns instead of the ashes of a loved one. Prosecutors said other remains were buried in mislabeled graves.
A combination of funeral photos provided by the Muskogee County, Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office shows Jon Hallford and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home.
Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office/via AP
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Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office/via AP
While the families may attempt to collect the money they are owed under the settlement, Swan added, “Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the defendants have any significant assets.”
Swan said his law firm represents families for free or at no cost.
The Hallfords are arrested last November in Oklahoma in an apparent attempt to evade a growing list of federal and state criminal charges. The couple is charged with theft, fraud, abuse of a corpse, money laundering and document forgery, along with misuse of COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.
Federal prosecutor said in April that the Hallford family lied to get $882,300 in bailout money for their business — and then spent that money on themselves.
Return to Nature Funeral Home opened in 2017, billing itself as a more natural alternative to traditional funeral homes. It operates primarily in Colorado Springs, using its Penrose facility to store the remains of clients’ family members and loved ones.
But the local police department investigated the funeral home last fall after receiving calls about a strong stench coming from the building in Penrose, about 30 miles south of Colorado Springs. They found a large number of bodiesforcing authorities to undertake the difficult task of identifying the remains.
“Some of the dates on the bodies were dated to 2019,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. speak.
Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said last October that the situation at the facility was “horrifying.”
The shocking discovery at the Return to Nature facility has sparked public outrage and a new wave of grief for families as the final resting place of their loved ones is thrown into deep uncertainty.
It also led to new scrutiny of the law in Colorado, which is known to have a Lax laws regarding funeral homesIn May, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed three bills that put new regulations on the industry.
“To date, Colorado is the only state in the country that does not regulate funeral directors,” Colorado Public Radio reports.
