The owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose are now behind bars following an arrest in Oklahoma.
The El Paso County District Court will work on the extradition process to Fremont County for Jon and Carie Hallford to face charges. The FBI was the agency that arrested the Hallfords on a Federal Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution charge.
During a news conference Wednesday, Nov. 8th, 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said, “The suspects were arrested on suspicion of committing multiple crimes, including money laundering, theft, forgery and abuse of a corpse—all felonies.”
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On October 13th, 190 bodies were discovered to be improperly stored at Return to Nature funeral home in Penrose. Allen said that his office wouldn’t be releasing the probable cause affidavit until a later date but admitted that the ‘the information contained in that affidavit is absolutely shocking.’
Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said at the press conference, “For me personally, I hope these arrests will bring some measure of closure to those family members that have been impacted by this event.”
Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller provided an update on the positive identification of 110 bodies so far. Keller remarked that, “every individual removed from the Return to Nature facility has been treated with the utmost care and respect.”
Bond for Jon and Carie Hallford is set at $2 million, cash only.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against the Hallfords.
The FBI also noted that all identified victims will be granted access to a web page, hosted by the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which will contain case information as they are able to share it.
