COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jon Hallford, co-owner of the shuttered Return to Nature funeral home, was sentenced Friday to 40 years in prison — the longest sentence ever handed down in Colorado for abuse of a corpse.
The punishment closes one of the darkest chapters in the state’s history, after investigators found 190 decaying bodies stacked in a Penrose facility that smelled so bad deputies had to wear hazmat suits to enter.
Families left the courtroom with tears, relief, and anger all at once. Many had begged Judge William Bain for the maximum 50 years. They got the toughest sentence Colorado law allows under the plea deal.
Victims Finally Speak Their Pain Out Loud
One by one, relatives stood before the judge and described nightmares that began in October 2023.
Samantha Naranjo told the court her grandmother’s body was found maggot-infested and leaking fluids onto others.
“We made history today,” Naranjo said, voice cracking. “But I wish we never had to.”
Heather DeWolf buried what she thought were her son Zach’s ashes two years ago. DNA later proved none of the remains belonged to him.
“I live every day wondering whose ashes I have on my shelf,” DeWolf said outside court. “Forty years doesn’t give me my son back. It doesn’t give me answers.”
Crystina Page lost her 29-year-old son. She was one of the few who found Hallford’s courtroom apology sincere.
“For the first time, he looked at us and said he was sorry,” Page told reporters. “That meant something.”
The Apology Families Waited Years to Hear
Jon Hallford spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest.
His voice shook as he faced the gallery packed with grieving relatives.
“I can only imagine how empty my words sound to you,” he said. “But I am so sorry. This was never planned. I take full responsibility for everything that happened.”
His son Haiden submitted a letter read in court that called the events “a terrible tragedy” and insisted his father had shown remorse from day one.
How the Nightmare Unfolded
The Hallfords advertised “green burials” with no embalming and biodegradable caskets. Families paid between $1,000 and $2,000 expecting dignified natural returns to the earth.
Instead, bodies piled up inside a building with no refrigeration. Some had been there since 2019.
Key facts from the investigation:
- 190 bodies recovered, many in advanced decomposition
- 23 bodies stacked on top of each other in one room
- Families given concrete mix instead of ashes in some cases
- Facility had broken coolers and overflowing insect traps
- Hallfords continued taking new bodies while hundreds went unburied
FBI agents described the smell as “unbearable” even through respirators.
The Sentence and What Comes Next
Judge Bain called the case “unprecedented in Colorado history” before handing down 40 years on state charges. The term runs concurrently with Hallford’s 20-year federal sentence for defrauding customers.
Co-owner and wife Carie Hallford will face her own federal sentencing later this year. Victims plan a Denver remembrance ceremony before her court date.
Crystina Page says the fight isn’t over.
“We’re going to keep pushing the DA until every family knows exactly what happened to their loved one,” she said.
Outside the courthouse Friday afternoon, relatives hugged and cried in the cold Colorado air. Some carried photos of those they lost. Others simply stared at the ground.
Forty years behind bars cannot undo the horror. But for the first time in three years, families say they can start breathing again.
They buried empty urns. They held funerals for strangers. They lived with questions no parent or child should ever have to ask.
Now Jon Hallford will spend the rest of his life answering for it.
What happened at Return to Nature should never happen again anywhere. These families made sure of that today.
