Arrest affidavit for owners of Colorado funeral home: bodies "stacked on top of each other"

The arrest affidavits for the owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose are revealing some gruesome details about the conditions inside the facility. Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested Wednesday morning in Oklahoma on suspicion of committing the crimes of abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery, which are all felonies. 

The Hallfords remain in custody on a $2 million cash bond after their arrest in Wagoner, in eastern Oklahoma. The couple is facing extradition back to Colorado. 

The Fremont County Sheriff's Office began an investigation on Oct. 4 after neighbors reported an odor emanating from the Penrose facility located at 31 Werner Road. 

According to the affidavit for their arrests in Oklahoma, Jon Hallford told a Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies investigator that he was "using the building in Penrose to learn how to do taxidermy" and that he "knew he had a problem there." Jon Hallford never showed up for the appointment with DORA and that was the last communication law enforcement had with him. 

After the search warrant was issued, investigators found the 190 bodies inside the building and said the "conditions within the building were abhorrent" and that "bodies were located stacked on top of each other and some were not in body bags." The affidavit also goes on, "Human decomposition fluids and insects lined the floors" with some of the dates on the bodies listing death in 2019. 

According to investigators, the identified bodies were reported to the state by the funeral home as cremated or buried. 

Also detailed in the affidavit are allegations that the couple fled Colorado to avoid prosecution and Jon Hallford discontinued the use of his cell phone. The Hallfords also informed their landlord that they would not contest the eviction from their Colorado Springs business that served as the office location for the Return to Nature Funeral Home and that they would not be able to remove their property and "for the landlord to do what he wanted with it."

Investigators also found during a search that the couple wasn't at their home in Colorado Springs and that their toothbrushes were missing.  

All decedents were removed from the funeral home on Oct. 13 and transported to the El Paso County Coroner's Office.

Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller said 110 individuals have been positively identified and work is ongoing to identify 80 more. 

Additional Information from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office: 

Families who have not already done so are asked to go to https://forms.fbi.gov/penrose-funeral-home and complete the questionnaire to assist in this process.

If you believe you or your loved one might have been impacted and you have further questions, please send an email to penrosefuneralhome@fbi.gov. This is the most effective way to connect with resources; a person will respond to all emails from family members.