DENVER (AP) — Two Colorado funeral home owners accused of abandoning nearly 200 bodies collected payments from hundreds of families that were meant for cremations and burials and instead bought vehicles, crypto-currency, a $1,500 dinner in Las Vegas, and other personal items, while the bodies prosecutors and an FBI agent said Thursday.
Documents say John and Carrie Halford billed their “Return to Nature” funeral home business as a “return to the traditional way of burial,” offering biodegradable funerals and cremations for up to $1,895.
But instead of keeping their promises to bury clients’ loved ones with dignity, they resorted to using the money to live in ostentatious luxury including a $92,566 GMC Yukon XL and a $28,336 Infiniti SUV, bombshell records revealed.
Between 2019 and 2023, the pair also spent money on cryptocurrencies, lavish trips to Las Vegas and California, and four-figure binges on Tiffany & Co. and Gucci.
Meanwhile, the affidavit said the 189 bodies they had vowed to dispose of were stored “unrefrigerated, in rooms infested with maggots and liquid decomposition.”
John and Carrie Halford were arrested on multiple felony counts last year. AP
Some remains were placed on top of each other, or wrapped in sheets and tied with duct tape, and placed together in body bags.
In some cases, they reportedly gave families bags of mixed concrete in exchange for the ashes of their loved ones.
The affidavit states that when authorities finally executed a search warrant at the Penrose facility, the floors of storage areas were so slippery with the fluid of human decomposition that it posed a risk to officers trying to retrieve the bodies.
At one point during the investigation, officials discovered that “Return to Nature” had buried a female body at Pikes Peak National Cemetery in a grave that was intended for an honorably discharged male Army veteran.
John Holford was released from jail in January after posting $100,000 bond, while Carrie Holford remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond.
The two will stand trial on March 21 on multiple charges – including abuse of a corpse, forgery and money laundering related to their purchase.
Some of the bodies had been in the maggot-infested building for years before they were discovered following reports of a foul odor permeating the surroundings. Families who hired “Return to Nature” to cremate their relatives have told The Associated Press that the FBI confirmed their remains were among the decaying bodies.
