Colorado Funeral Home Owner Gets Sentenced

(MENAFN) A funeral home proprietor in the US state of Colorado, who kept 191 decaying bodies for years and provided grieving families with fraudulent ashes, was handed a 40-year state prison sentence, according to media outlets on Friday.

Jon Hallford, co-owner of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, faced condemnation from both families and the court for offenses committed between 2019 and 2023. During this period, human remains were discovered stacked and left to decompose inside a facility in Penrose, south of Colorado Springs, a news agency reported.

Authorities revealed that the bodies were scattered throughout the premises, with some piled atop each other. The floors were covered in decomposition fluids and swarming insects. The remains, which included adults, infants, and fetuses, had been stored at room temperature.

Judge Eric Bentley stated that Hallford inflicted “unspeakable and incomprehensible” suffering, adding that the situation challenged the notion that people are “basically good at the core.”

Relatives testified that they endured persistent nightmares after discovering that their loved ones’ remains had been left to decay. Many family members appealed to the judge to deliver the maximum 50-year sentence, labeling Hallford a “monster.”

“I’m a daughter whose mother was treated like yesterday’s trash,” said Kelly Mackeen, whose mother’s remains were among those mistreated.

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