Hundreds of families who entrusted their loved ones’ remains to the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home have spent years hoping the courts would provide some version of closure after one of the most gruesome crimes in the history of the American funerary industry.

On Friday, El Paso County 4th Judicial Court Judge Eric Bentley handed down a sentence he said is unprecedented for a crime that did not involve murder or violent assault – but which victims of funeral home owners Jon and Carie Hallford said still fails to reflect the gravity of the harm and lasting trauma of their horrific misdeeds.

Bentley sentenced Return to Nature co-owner Jon Hallford to 40 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for 191 counts of “abuse of a corpse,” a sentence set to run concurrent with a federal sentence of 20 years handed down for charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud to which both Jon Hallford and his ex-wife, Carie, pled guilty last year. 

Carie Hallford is scheduled to be sentenced on state charges later this year.

The plea agreements on both federal and state charges allowed the Hallfords, who are now divorced, to avoid trial. The agreements also inspired their hundreds of victims to travel thousands of miles, in some cases, to share their stories and speak up to advocate for harsher penalties at every juncture. 

“Jon Hallford has taken away my ability to see my mother’s face,” said Tanya Wilson, addressing the court – and a packed courtroom – at Friday’s sentencing hearing in Colorado Springs before Bentley announced his decision. “When she died, we thought the worst had already happened. We were so wrong.”

Wilson’s late mother, Yong Anderson, was among the first bodies to be identified from recovered remains, in October 2023.

While the Hallfords’ crimes may not legally be classified as “violent,” Wilson said the effects have had a physical impact, and memories and grief forever corrupted.

Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s remains were identified in the funeral home, was among many who echoed the same sentiments and pain, speaking publicly on Friday. 

“This isn’t ordinary grief,” Johnson said. “We were subjected to psychological violence.”

Neighbors complaining of a foul smell at the Hallford’s Penrose funeral home triggered an investigation and the discovery of almost 200 bodies, in various stages of decomposition, with some dating back to the early years after the Hallfords opened their funeral home in Colorado Springs. 

The Hallfords “attempted to conceal their fraudulent activity by allowing the 190 bodies to remain in various states of decay and decomposition within the Werner Road location in Penrose,” where the bodies remained until their discovery, according to the indictment.

Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested in Oklahoma, on charges including theft, money laundering and forgery, and a more horrific crime of failing to cremate or bury bodies. The macabre money-making scheme netted them more than $100,000, which was spent on lavish personal items and family trips, all while bodies continued to decompose inside their isolated Penrose funeral home location, which has been torn down.

Before handing down the sentence, Bentley addressed the complications of toeing a line between justice and overstep, in a case that has never seen its like, and the delicacies of dealing with families whose pain and stories he has come to know intimately throughout the course of the lengthy court process.

“In my mind, a 40-year sentence will send a resounding message to the funeral industry. Believe it’s a message that desperately needs to be sent,” said Bentley.

Things have already changed at the state level, with tightened legislation regarding the funeral industry and oversight, and Bentley tipped his hat to victim families at Friday’s hearing for their efforts in bringing about those reforms.

As part of his plea deal, Jon Hallford is forever barred from engaging in any business involving the funeral or mortuary industry.

To those who worry that Hallford will only serve a fraction of the sentence, Bentley said, “Parole eligibility is just that. There is no guarantee you will ever be paroled.”

Angelika Stedman said Friday she plans to continue to do whatever she can to make sure her pain – and the unfinished, protracted grief of the daughter she entrusted to Return to Nature – continue to resonate with anyone who can decide what happens next to Jon and Carie Hallford.

A statement from Jon Hallford, professing profound regret and a vow to rehabilitate his life — delivered at the close of Friday’s sentencing — failed to move her.

“Every parole hearing. I’m going to be here, you better believe it,” Stedman said.