Change-of-plea hearings set in fraud case for owners of Colorado funeral home where 190 bodies were found

A federal judge has canceled an October trial date and set a change-of-plea hearing in a fraud case involving the owners of a Colorado funeral home where authorities discovered 190 decaying bodies.

Jon and Carie Hallford were indicted in April on fraud charges, accused of misspending nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds on vacations, jewelry and other personal expenses. They own the Return to Nature Funeral Home based in Colorado Springs and in Penrose, where the bodies were found last year. They pleaded not guilty at the time.

The indictment alleges that the Hallfords gave families dry concrete instead of cremated ashes and buried the wrong body on two occasions. The couple also allegedly collected more than $130,000 from families for cremations and burial services they never provided.

The 15 charges brought by the federal grand jury are separate from the more than 200 criminal counts pending against the Hallfords in state court for corpse abuse, money laundering, theft and forgery.

Carie Hallford filed a statement with the court Thursday saying "a disposition has been reached in the instant case" and asking for a change-of-plea hearing. Jon Hallford's request said he wanted a hearing "for the court to consider the proposed plea agreement."

The judge granted their request to vacate the Oct. 15 trial date and all related dates and deadlines. The change-of-plea hearings were set for Oct. 24.

They're also due in district court for the state cases later this month.

In August, a judge also ruled that the Halfords must pay $950 million to the families of the loved ones who were left decaying. The judgment was ordered in a civil case and is unlikely to be paid out, the plaintiffs' attorney Andrew Swan said.

About 20 of the remains were still unidentified as of earlier this year. The funeral home was demolished in April.