DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Monday rejected a plea deal from a funeral home owner accused of hiding nearly 190 rotting bodies in a bug-infested building, after family members of the deceased argued that the 15- to 20-year sentence in the deal was too lenient.
“The sentence agreed upon by the parties does not adequately reflect the harm these crimes caused,” state District Judge Eric Bentley said in his rare decision to reject a plea and plea deal for funeral home owner Carrie Hallford.
Carrie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are charged between 2019 and 2023. dumping the bodies in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, and giving the families fake ashes.
In court Monday, several family members objected to the plea deal, describing the pain of discovering that their relatives’ remains had not been in an urn or had their ashes ceremoniously spread, but had lain with nearly 190 other bodies, some for four years.
Tanya Wilson said her mother was laid on a floor covered in maggots, “leaving her mark on the floor and leaving a permanent mark on my soul.”
Samantha Naranjo said she used to throw Halloween parties. Then she found out that her grandmother’s body had decomposed along with the others.
“It was hard for me to get excited about decorating my house with skeletons,” she said, tears choking her words, “when all I can think about is the building where my grandmother’s body lay.”
Both Hallfords pleaded guilty to 191 counts of abuse of a corpse last year, and Carrie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, argued Monday that the plea deal was fair and would bring closure.
But Judge Bentley has now rejected both of Hallford’s plea deals. Several family members on Monday asked that Carrie Hallford be sentenced to just under 200 years in prison, which includes a year for each body found.
“We’re not asking for revenge, we’re asking for recognition, for the court to treat each victim as the person they were,” said Derrick Johnson, whose mother contributed to the brutality of the victims.
Following the judge’s ruling, Carrie Hallford withdrew her guilty plea, setting the stage for a potentially months-long trial that will begin next year. Jon Hallford previously withdrew his guilty plea and will also stand trial.
Although Jon Hallford is accused of dumping the bodies, Bentley said Carie Hallford was allegedly the face of Return to Nature and “she knew her representation to clients was false, attracted clients and perpetuated the Hallfords’ crimes.”
The damage went far beyond the 191 victims, Bentley said, referring to both the community’s loss of trust and the nearly 1,000 other Return to Nature clients who now question the fate of their loved ones’ remains.
Bentley also said that rejecting the plea deal requires deterrence. For years, Colorado had some of the weakest regulation of the funeral home industry in the country, leading to numerous abuses involving fake ashes, fraud and even the illegal sale of body parts.
In August, authorities announced that an initial inspection of a funeral home owned by the county coroner in Pueblo, Colorado, found 24 rotting corpses behind hidden doors.
That investigation is not over, as authorities have reported slow progress in identifying the bodies, which in some cases languished for more than a decade.
The “back to nature” case helped usher in reforms, including routine inspections.
Both Hallfords also admitted in federal court that they defrauded the U.S. Small Business Administration of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and took funeral home cremation payments from customers.
Authorities said the two spent lavishly on a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry and cryptocurrency. After pleading guilty in federal court, Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Carrie Hallford’s sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for December.