Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of the Back to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, faced additional charges after allegedly spending over $880,000 in COVID relief funds on personal expenses. This included vacations, cosmetic surgery, and other luxury items. They had been facing charges related to the abandonment of nearly 200 bodies in a building infested with maggots and flies. The indictment against them included 15 federal offenses with penalties of up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
The Hallfords fraudulently obtained three loans between March 2020 and October 2021 using COVID relief funds. They used the money to purchase cars, dinners, cryptocurrency, and tuition for their child. Court documents also revealed that they bought a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti, took trips to California, Florida, and Las Vegas, shopped at luxury retailers like Tiffany & Co. and Gucci, and paid for laser body sculpting. FBI agent Andrew Cohen testified that Jon lied about child support payments to obtain one of the loans, adding to the charges against the couple.
In addition to the financial misconduct, the Hallfords were also accused of presenting families with dry concrete instead of cremated ashes and burying the wrong body on two separate occasions. They collected over $130,000 from families for cremation and burial services that were never fulfilled. The money obtained through fraudulent activities could have covered cremation costs twice for all the bodies found in the facility where the 190 bodies were discovered in October.
The couple was arrested in November 2023 in Oklahoma after an investigation that started in October following the discovery of the bodies in a rural community building. Text messages presented as evidence suggested that the Hallfords were trying to cover up their financial difficulties by leaving the bodies at the facility, which lacked functioning refrigeration units. Jon Hallford allegedly suggested getting rid of the bodies by dumping them in a hole, treating them with lye, or setting them on fire as early as 2020 to avoid getting caught and keeping them out of jail.
The Hallfords faced 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering, and over 50 counts of forgery. The charges spanned from financial misconduct to mishandling of human remains and misleading grieving families. The disturbing case shed light on the shocking neglect and deceptive practices of the owners of a funeral home, raising questions about their ethics and disregard for the dignity of the deceased and their families.
The couple’s actions not only violated laws and regulations but also betrayed the trust of the families who sought their services during a vulnerable and emotional time. The misuse of COVID relief funds for personal gain in addition to the neglect of human remains highlighted a reckless and callous disregard for the wellbeing of others. The legal consequences they faced reflected the seriousness of their actions and the impact of their deception on multiple fronts, from financial fraud to ethical misconduct in handling the deceased. The scandal surrounding the Hallfords served as a cautionary tale about the importance of upholding integrity and accountability in industries that deal with sensitive matters such as death and mourning.
