Plea Deal Offered to Return To Nature Funeral Home Owners

PENROSE, Colo. (KRDO) — Relatives of the victims whose bodies were found inside the Return To Nature Funeral Home building in Penrose confirmed to KRDO13 Monday night that a plea deal has been offered to Jon and Carie Hallford.

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The Hallfords owned and operated Return To Nature Funeral Home, where nearly 200 bodies were discovered in October 2023 after neighbors reported an odor coming from the property.

The husband and wife were arrested less than a month later and now face 260 state-level criminal charges including abuse of a corpse, money laundering, forgery and theft.

The plea would allow Hallford to plead guilty to counts 71 through 261, abuse of a corpse, in exchange for a 20-year sentence in the Department of Corrections.

Carie Hallford would be allowed to plead guilty to the same charges in exchange for 15 to 20 years in the Department of Corrections.

The Hallfords have until October 4, 2024, to decide whether to accept the terms of the plea offer.

Reached for comment, the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office confirmed the terms sent in the email to victims Monday afternoon.

According to the same email, the Hallfords’ next court date is July 11 at 8:30 a.m.

At that court date, prosecutors expect the Hallfords to plead not guilty, which will lead to a trial date being set.

However, the email also indicates that it is possible that the Hallfords will accept the plea at that court date.

In addition to the state charges, the Hallfords also face 15 federal fraud counts, to which they have pleaded not guilty.

The plea deal involving the state charges would allow the Hallfords to serve their sentences concurrently with any federal sentences, meaning they would be allowed to serve them at the same time instead of one after the other.

Asked about the pending plea deal, Sheila Canfield Jones said: “It’s disappointing, but it’s not unexpected.”

Canfield, whose daughter was among the bodies found, added that the deal gives the Hallfords just over a month in jail for each victim, a length of time she said is insufficient.