A Colorado woman who once co-owned a funeral home has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after admitting she played a role in concealing nearly 200 decaying bodies alongside her former husband. The case, which drew widespread outrage, pushed state officials to tighten regulations on an industry long criticized for weak oversight.
Carie Hallford accepted a plea deal in state court that exposed her to a sentence ranging from 25 to 35 years. The 30-year term was handed down Friday. This follows an earlier, separate federal case last month in which she received an 18-year sentence for fraud. In that proceeding, she claimed she had been manipulated and abused during her marriage.
Addressing the court, Hallford expressed remorse, saying she had been taught right from wrong but had strayed far from those values.
Her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, was sentenced in February to 40 years in prison on charges related to the abuse of corpses. During that hearing, grieving families described him in harsh terms as they recounted the suffering caused by the discovery.
Under the plea agreements, both of their state sentences will run at the same time as their federal terms.
The couple operated a funeral home called Return to Nature in Colorado Springs. Carie Hallford handled interactions with families, while Jon Hallford oversaw much of the physical operations, including work at a second site in Penrose. It was at that location in 2023 that authorities uncovered bodies stacked inside a building plagued by insects, after neighbors reported a strong, disturbing smell.
One of the victims’ relatives, Tanya Wilson, told the court her family had believed they were scattering her mother’s ashes during a ceremony in Hawaii. Instead, they later learned the body had never been cremated and had been left decomposing in hazardous conditions. Like many other families, they had been given remains that were not genuine.
Wilson described how her family had carefully prepared her mother for what they believed would be her final journey, tending to her appearance and dressing her with care to honor her life. She said those efforts were completely undone by what happened, accusing Carie Hallford of destroying her mother’s dignity.