Penrose funeral home co-owner where 190 bodies were improperly stored released from Colorado jail

One of the co-owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose has bonded out of custody. Jon Hallford posted bond late Monday night. 

Earlier this month, a judge reduced his bond from $2 million to $100,000.

Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested in November of last year in Oklahoma on several crimes, including abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery, which are all felonies. 

At the same time he reduced the bond for Jon Hallford, the judge ordered that if he was released from custody, he must surrender his passport and have no contact with the victims. The judge also said he must have GPS ankle monitoring. 

Jon Hallford is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 8 at 1:30 p.m. for a preliminary hearing.

On Jan. 17, the judge reduced the bond from $2 million to $100,000 with an ankle monitor for Carie Hallford, co-owner of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose. According to court records, she remained in custody on Tuesday morning. 

Her next court appearance is scheduled for an arraignment on March 21. 

The Fremont County Sheriff's Office began an investigation on Oct. 4, 2023 after neighbors reported an odor emanating from the Penrose facility located at 31 Werner Road. 

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. 

All decedents were removed from the funeral home on Oct. 13, 2023 and transported to the El Paso County Coroner's Office.

Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller said more than half of the individuals have been positively identified and work is ongoing to identify the rest. 

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.