A couple who own a funeral home in Colorado will have to answer to court next March for having left 189 bodies to rot, using the families’ money earmarked for their cremation to pay for the trafficking.
$1,500 dinner in Las Vegas, $19,000 in Amazon orders, $1,600 at Gucci: between November 2021 and February 2022, the co-owners of the “Return to Nature” funeral home would have paid the trafficking at the expense of the families of 189 deceased, the preliminary investigation noted Thursday, according to ABC 7 Denver.
On Thursday, the Denver court judge ruled that there was indeed enough evidence in Jon and Carie Hallford’s case to go to trial next March, according to the American media.
The couple faces more than 200 charges related to allegations of improper storage of 189 bodies inside the funeral home located in Penrose, Colorado, according to the American media.
The horror was discovered there last October, when the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was called to the funeral home for a “horrible odor” emanating from the premises.
“It sounded like something you’d like to forget, but you can’t,” FBI Special Agent Andrew Cohen testified during Carie Hallford’s preliminary hearing in mid-January, according to ABC 7. Denver.
This time, it was her partner’s turn to go to court. The latter is also accused of money laundering, specifically linked to the purchase and sale of two vehicles, purchased and resold between November 2021 and May 2023.
In the funeral company’s accounts, the investigation would have revealed personal expenses through professional expenses, including a $1,500 dinner in Las Vegas, trips worth several thousand dollars to California, Florida and Las Vegas. , more than $31,000 in cryptocurrencies, $8,500 in laser body sculpture and thousands of dollars in jewelry, the American media reported.
According to the FBI agent, the couple allegedly charged their clients up to more than $800 for the cremation of the bodies by asking to pay the money in advance, while the average cost of the service is only $250 to $300 in Colorado, according to ABC 7 Denver.
