Tag: funeral home
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Colorado Springs funeral home improperly stored bodies, placed on probation
The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies has reprimanded the Evergreen Funeral Home in Colorado Springs for improperly storing bodies with an order for 12 months of probation, its order shows. The agency’s investigation began after an anonymous tip was submitted on Jan. 20, leading regulatory officials to find more human remains than “capable of storing”…
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Judge expected to decide Monday whether to accept latest plea agreements for Hallfords
An El Paso County judge is expected to decide Monday whether to accept new negotiations that would extend the prison sentence for Jon and Carie Hallford, coming on the heels of the court rejecting the original plea agreements for the owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home. The new agreements would see the Hallfords…
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Return to Nature: Judge rejects Carie Hallford’s state plea deal, 2026 trial
Return to Nature owner Carie Hallford is heading to trial next year after an El Paso County judge rejected her state plea agreement Monday, a similar ruling in recent months for her co-defendant, Jon Hallford. Carie and Jon Hallford came under a multi-agency investigation in October 2023 after a investigation on their Penrose Return to…
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Return to Nature owners plead guilty to federal wire fraud
DENVER • Return to Nature Funeral Home owners Jon and Carie Hallford appeared in federal court on Thursday to accept a plea deal, which could land the couple in prison for up to 15 years. In September, the Hallfords filed a notice of disposition and a motion requesting a change of plea on the federal 15 counts…
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Hallfords’ state plea process to be delayed
State prosecutors are planning to ask for a new arraignment date for the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home, to allow time for the federal plea process to finish. Plans to delay the state court proceedings were stated in emails between prosecutors and victimized family members, which were shared with The Gazette. The funeral home,…
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10th Circuit finds trial judge erred in sentencing duo who fraudulently sold body parts
A trial judge incorrectly calculated the sentences of a mother and daughter who pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining and selling body parts as part of an eight-year scheme, the federal appeals court based in Denver ruled on Tuesday. Megan Hess operated Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors in Montrose, catering to customers seeking cremation as well as medical-research…
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Motion to have Return to Nature owners in joined trial is denied
An El Paso County judge on Thursday ruled that the Return to Nature Funeral Home owners will face separate trials. Jon and Carie Hallford face 286 criminal charges stemming from the discovery of 189 bodies improperly stored at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose. The funeral home came under a multi-agency investigation in October…
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Colorado governor signs bills regulating funeral homes after discovery of 189 rotting bodies
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills into law Friday that overhaul state oversight of the funeral home industry after a series of gruesome discoveries, including 189 discomposing bodies in a facility and families being sent fake ashes. Cases such as the 189 bodies found in a Return to Nature funeral home location put Colorado’s…
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Return to Nature purgatory: At least 989 families remain without answers
In the days after her 33-year-old son, Zach, died in July, 2020, Heather DeWolf started taking a new route to and from work so she could slow-roll by the Colorado Springs funeral home that was handling his final arrangements. She knew the oldest of her three boys, an aspiring author and stand-up comic who favored…
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Return to Nature purgatory: At least 989 families remain without answers
In the days after her 33-year-old son, Zach, died in July, 2020, Heather DeWolf started taking a new route to and from work so she could slow-roll by the Colorado Springs funeral home that was handling his final arrangements. She knew the oldest of her three boys, an aspiring author and stand-up comic who favored…