Chilling Secrets of the Funeral Home That Betrayed 200 Families

When a loved one dies, dealing with the loss itself is hard enough.

Approximately 200 families discovered, to their dismay, that the situation regarding their deceased relatives’ remains held at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado might even worsen.

As a deeply concerned mother, Heather DeWolf, whose beloved son Zach DeWolf passed away in 2020, shared her heart-wrenching struggle during Investigation Discovery’s gripping series The Curious Case of…The Funeral Home of Horrors. The series scrutinized the chilling misconduct of funeral home owners Jon Hallford and Carie Hallford, focusing on their questionable management of Return to Nature. “I placed my faith in them, believing they would be the ones to oversee my son’s final moments, his physical being,” Heather expressed, “All of us put our trust in them.

As Angelika Stedman, who lost her daughter Chanel in 2019, phrased it on ID show: ‘The remains I received… is it my daughter or concrete?'”

By making this adjustment, we have attempted to maintain the original meaning while using simpler and more natural language. The phrase “cremains” has been replaced with “remains,” and the question mark at the end of the sentence emphasizes the uncertainty and confusion expressed by Angelika Stedman in her statement.

Last year, both Jon and Carie admitted guilt for 191 counts each of desecrating a body. As per their plea bargains, according to the Colorado Sun, Jon accepted a 20-year prison sentence, whereas Carie is facing a possible term of 15 to 20 years. The exact cause of how their actions spiraled into such an unusual and disturbing situation remains uncertain.

As a die-hard fan of justice, I’m thrilled to share that Honorable Eric Bentley, the esteemed judge of El Paso District Court, has indicated that if the plea agreements are officially ratified, the sentencing is set for the 18th of April. I can hardly contain my excitement!

TopMob News attempted to contact the lawyers for Jon and Carrie, however, we have yet to receive a response. It should be noted that Jon’s attorney is a federal public defender who typically refrains from commenting on ongoing cases.

During the court hearing on November 22nd, Jon openly acknowledged that he intentionally handled and respected the bodies or remains of 190 people in a manner that would be considered deeply offensive by most families.

In court, Carie testified that although she hadn’t entered the Return to Nature building for a year as conditions worsened, she was aware of the activities taking place within its confines.

She acknowledged having sufficient knowledge to understand the severity of the situation, yet she opted against taking action or stopping it from happening further. Instead, she let it carry on.

However, it was the actions of the Hallfords that not only ignited a joint probe by multiple agencies but also spurred the creation of new state laws in Colorado—these were enacted in May 2024. The new regulations now demand stricter licensing standards for funeral directors, morticians, embalmers, and cremationists operating within Colorado.

And what happened to those 191 bodies?

The now-inactive website of the Return to Nature Funeral Home detailed its offerings, which encompassed cremation services and green burials.

An increasingly popular choice for end-of-life arrangements is a green burial, which involves not using any chemicals such as embalming fluids. This approach allows the deceased’s body to decompose organically and eventually blend peacefully with the earth.

According to NBC News, the website explains that Green Burial is a method of handling deceased loved ones with minimal harm to the environment. The site emphasizes that this approach promotes conservation of resources, decreases carbon emissions, and maintains habitats by excluding harsh embalming chemicals, metals, plastics, or artificial items.

The site explained that their burial practices involved the use of biodegradable coffins (without metal) or shrouds, or simply no container at all.

Their services, without add-ons such as a casket, started at $1,895.

In the year 2017, Jon Hallford and his spouse Carie Hallford (who is also known as him) secured a permit and inaugurated the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

They opened another facility in Penrose, a small town southwest of Colorado Springs, in 2019.

The Associated Press acquired court records indicating that Return to Nature was forced out of their property in Colorado Springs by May 2023. Their previous landlord claimed they had an outstanding balance of $120,000 in unpaid rent.

As it happened, Jon – a third-generation funeral director hailing from Oklahoma – also harbored an unusual secret in his personal life.

In May 2006, he failed to win a seat on the Muskogee City Council following his guilty plea for a misdemeanor firearm offense that had occurred the month prior. As reported by The Tulsa World, he was among three individuals who were accused of intruding upon a group of young women at a sleepover, while wearing masks and waving guns, acting as if they were robbers.

In March of 2006, Jon made this statement to a publication: “This incident occurred in August [previously], and it’s now just before the election, with charges being filed, and it has become an issue.” He confessed that his actions during the prank were a clear demonstration of poor judgment.

Prior to his departure from Oklahoma, Jon had been involved in several legal disagreements. In 2006, a court ruling mandated him to pay $8,000 to Creditors Recovery Corporation, as documented in court records that were acquired by the Denver Gazette.

2023 analysis of public records revealed that the proprietor of the Penrose building, HallfordHomes, had an outstanding property tax bill amounting to $5,000 for the year 2022.

Ultimately, it was the smell that drew authorities to Return to Nature in October 2023.

Deputies from Fremont County Sheriff’s Office initially paid a visit to the Penrose facility on October 3rd due to a reported suspicious event, as stated in their official announcement. The next day, they returned with a search warrant and investigators from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).

In a 2,500-square-foot building, over 115 bodies were discovered stacked throughout the premises during a press conference on October 6, as stated by Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper. Two large refrigeration units, intended for storing corpses if they aren’t buried or embalmed within 24 hours according to Colorado law, were malfunctioning, causing the bodies to decompose at room temperature.

A notice from Colorado’s Funeral Home and Crematory Registration Office, dated October 5, 2023, which was published by the Denver Gazette, indicated that Jon admitted to an issue at the location when contacted by the office’s head on October 4, explaining that he had been performing taxidermy within the premises.

The note in the letter pointed out that the establishment had been officially registered only up until November 2022, and it implicated Jon for attempting to hide the inappropriate preservation of bodies.

In the letter, they mentioned that the building was legally registered until November 2022, and they suggested that Jon had been trying to cover up the unsuitable storage of remains.

In June 2023, as reported by the Denver Post, a judge in El Paso County awarded a sum of $21,000 to another business due to Return to Nature’s failure to settle their bill for cremation services.

Up until August 2023, the funeral home continued to issue death certificates, as stated by FBI Special Agent Andrew Cohen in an affidavit dated November 7, 2023. This affidavit also noted that there was no evidence that state regulators ever conducted an inspection at the Penrose facility during its operational period.

Blanca Eberhardt, a mortician who collaborates with the emergency preparedness team of the state, commented on ID’s show titled “The Curious Case of…The Funeral Home of Horrors“. She described it as a common joke that if someone fails their boards or loses their license in another state, they should move to Colorado.

Stricter oversight might not completely eliminate any instances of improper handling, but as Chris Farmer, general counsel for the National Funeral Directors Association, stated to AP in 2023, “It’s better to detect it at six or eight bodies rather than 115.

After the “shocking” and “unsettling” revelation, as Sheriff Cooper described it, Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller stated that it might take several months to identify the deceased through methods such as fingerprinting, DNA testing, or dental records. Once identified, their families will be notified immediately.

As a steadfast supporter, I vow to exhaust all my resources to reunite their cherished ones with them at the earliest convenience, just as I pledged when I spoke previously. The sheer quantity and state of these remains will undeniably present difficulties.

Experts from the FBI who specialize in handling large-scale tragedies, like airplane accidents and incidents similar to 9/11, were summoned to assist with the investigation at the site. In addition, numerous state and local authorities joined forces for the same purpose.

Upon learning about the grim finding, those who had relied on natural cremation for their departed relatives’ remains and were yet to receive them began to ponder if their family members could have been part of the pile of bodies found.

Mary Simons, who tragically lost her husband to pneumonia in August 2023, shared with AP that it felt as if she was experiencing the pain of losing him once more. Essentially, it seems like she’s having to go through the grieving process all over again.

On October 17, 2023, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that at least 189 bodies have been found so far.

At a January 11, 2024 hearing, FBI Agent Cohen testified that among the discovered remains were adults, children, and fetuses. This testimony was given following criminal charges against the Hallfords. He stated that 23 bodies could be traced back to 2019, while 61 were from 2020. Moreover, he mentioned that many sets of remains had not yet been identified.

Cohen remarked, as reported by AP, that it appeared to be a sight one would wish to erase from memory yet found themselves unable to do so. He spoke of the harrowing scenes authorities encountered, such as flies and maggots infesting the building and bodily fluids scattered across the floor.

During the court proceedings, the prosecution pointed out text exchanges between Jon and Carie from 2020, suggesting that Jon had been worried about getting caught since then.

He emphasized in a letter to his wife, as stated by the prosecution, that his sole concern was ensuring we avoided going to prison.

As an overly enthusiastic fan, it appears that another supposed message from Jon to Carie, as per investigator Kevin Clark from the District Attorney’s Office, seemed to delve into methods of disposing of remains. The text stated: “Choices: A, construct a new device urgently. B, dig a vast pit and employ lye. In what location? C, excavate a shallow grave and kindle a massive blaze. In what location? D, I head to prison, which seems imminent.

Besides the accumulated corpses, investigators found out that the house had delivered pulverized concrete to some bereaved families in place of ashes.

Angelika Stedman, whose daughter Chanel tragically passed away on November 23, 2019, reportedly took a small portion of what she believed were her child’s ashes and mixed them with water, as detailed in the episode of ID’s series The Curious Case of…. The mixture solidified like cement does, she explained. This moment was incredibly painful for her, reminiscent of a knife being plunged into her heart and twisted. She questioned, “Where is my daughter?

At a 2024 hearing, FBI Agent Cohen stated that during their investigation, they discovered animal carcasses and packages filled with concrete at the Return to Nature compound.

Crystina Page believed that she was wearing her son David Jackson Page’s cremated remains, kept in a pendant she had worn since his death in 2019, around her neck. Tragically, David was just 20 when he was gunned down by law enforcement officers. In addition to carrying the urn containing David’s ashes across the country, Crystina has been tirelessly advocating for police reform and reform initiatives.

On October 24, 2023, I discovered a heart-wrenching truth: my son David had tragically passed away and was found at the funeral home. In a recent broadcast, I shared my harrowing experience. The coroner informed me that my beloved son was left exposed in the building, carelessly discarded from his body bag. He was callously dumped into the corner of a non-functional refrigerator, covered with numerous bodies, and left to decay for an unimaginable four years.

Heather DeWolf, who tragically lost her son Zachary Alexander DeWolf in 2020, shared on the program that she and Zach’s siblings closely examined the remains sent by Return to Nature and discovered small metal discs.

I swear, there was nothing mechanical within the being who calls himself my son,” I asserted, my voice trembling with conviction. “Someone else, I feel it deep in my bones. These ashes, they seem human, but they don’t feel like mine. If another soul has claimed a place in someone’s heart that should be reserved for my beloved son, then tell me, where is he? Who took him from me?

In response to the closing in of authorities on their business, Return to Nature, Jon and Carie decided to leave Colorado and move to Oklahoma, as stated in an affidavit filed by federal officials in November 2023.

In the town of Wagoner, Oklahoma, the pair were apprehended based on a warrant from Colorado. This warrant alleged that they had committed over 190 instances of mistreating a body, five acts of theft, four instances of money laundering, and more than 50 offenses related to forgery.

In Colorado Springs on November 6th, Attorney Michael Allen of the 4th Judicial District shared with reporters that additional details would not be disclosed at this time to safeguard the ongoing investigation. However, he emphasized that the charging documents were incredibly surprising and startling.

At a recent press conference, Crystina Page carried a red urn and expressed her feelings about it, as reported by AP. She said, “Over the past four years, I’ve marched throughout this country with this urn, believing it to be my son. Unfortunately, for four years, he has been lying there decomposing…This is the most dreadful sensation I’ve ever experienced in my life.

The arrests, she added, “makes it feel like there’s an end in sight.”

In April 2024, it was announced that the Hallfords faced federal fraud charges due to accusations that they misused around $900,000 from COVID-19 relief funds for personal expenses such as travel, jewelry purchases, cosmetic surgeries, and non-business costs. The indictment also alleged that they accepted $130,000 for funeral and cremation services they did not provide and on at least two occasions, mistakenly buried the wrong bodies.

In the federal case against them, Jon and Carie admitted guilt in October 2024 for separately conspiring to commit wire fraud, as stated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. Their agreement stated that they acknowledge participating in pandemic relief fraud and deceiving customers; in return, the prosecutors agreed not to demand a prison sentence exceeding 15 years for each individual.

In relation to their case in Colorado, they both admitted guilt in November 2024 for 191 counts of desecrating a corpse. This was for the 189 deceased bodies that were decaying and the two unintentional burials. According to AP, this was the charge they faced due to their actions. As part of their plea bargains, the remaining charges against them were dismissed.

TopMob News attempted to contact both Jon and Carrie’s legal representatives, however, we haven’t received any responses yet. Notably, Jon is being represented by a federal public defender, who typically refrains from making comments regarding ongoing cases.

The prosecution is suggesting that Jon could face a 20-year jail term, while Carie might receive between 15 to 20 years in prison. Their sentencing hearing is set for April 18, 2025.

2025-02-23 16:18

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