Colorado Judge Denies Plea Agreement for Funeral Director Who Admitted to Violating 191 Corpses

Colorado judge rejects plea deal for funeral director who confessed to abusing 191 corpses

Judge Rejects Plea Deal for Colorado Funeral Home Owner Accused of Corpses Abuse

A judge declined a plea bargain on Friday for a Colorado funeral home owner who admitted to mistreating 191 corpses, following poignant statements from family members who expressed deep emotional distress upon discovering the neglect their loved ones suffered.

This rare decision to reject the plea agreement, which proposed a 20-year prison term, came after heart-wrenching testimonies from families demanding a harsher sentence.

Crystina Page, whose son David Jaxon Page, aged 20, was fatally shot by police during a mental health crisis in 2019, was among those who spoke out.

For years, her son’s remains lay unattended at the funeral home while Page held onto an urn she mistakenly believed contained his ashes.

"I cherished it, cried over it, held it close during sleepless nights, and kissed it," Page recounted. “It wasn’t him at all. … The loss of my son has shattered me in ways I cannot fix.”

For four years, Jon Hallford and his wife, Carie, operated a fraudulent scheme at their Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, maintaining a luxurious lifestyle while deceiving families. They accepted payments for cremations but concealed the bodies and provided families with dry concrete instead of ashes.

Page and others contended that the plea deal would have trivialized the atrocities committed against the 191 individuals whose remains were uncovered in 2023 at a location in Penrose, Colorado.

Under the proposed agreement, Hallford’s state sentence would run concurrently with a 20-year federal term, potentially allowing for an earlier release.

Colorado’s regulatory framework for overseeing funeral homes has faced scrutiny, and the state has been linked to several abuse cases, including approximately 20 decomposing corpses discovered at a funeral home in Pueblo this week.

Already sentenced to prison for federal fraud charges, Hallford’s plea deal rejection resets the proceedings of his separate state criminal trial.

He has the option to withdraw his guilty plea, which would lead to a trial, or maintain his guilty plea and let the judge determine his sentence without guarantees of leniency.

A court appearance is scheduled for September 12.

Defense Counsel Claims Trial Will Not Clear the Air

Several families attended the court, bracing for a potential approval of the plea deal, only to respond with applause at the judge’s ruling.

Judge Bentley remarked that he had never before rejected a plea agreement during his nine years on the bench, calling the action unprecedented. He indicated that the testimonies may have influenced his decision.

“There was an overwhelming sense that the justice negotiated did not reflect the true experiences of the victims,” Bentley stated.

Prosecutor Rachael Powell defended the 20-year sentence as suitable, noting that under the law, corpse abuse is classified as the least serious felony, with sentences ranging from probation to a maximum of 18 months.

However, defense attorney Adam Steigerwald expressed doubts that a trial would yield the clarity families were seeking.

"The answers they seek, unfortunately, largely do not exist," he said.

Samantha Naranjo, whose grandmother’s remains were found at the funeral home over a year after her passing, articulated her relief, noting that Bentley acknowledged the brutal experiences of the families involved.

“I feel heard,” she stated with tears in her eyes.

Carie Hallford faces the same charges as her husband and has also pleaded guilty, though her sentencing for the corpse abuse charges has yet to be scheduled.

The couple is accused of allowing 189 bodies to decay, alongside two instances of improper burials. Current reports note that four remains are yet to be identified, according to the district attorney.

Since obtaining their funeral home license in 2017, authorities have indicated that mismanagement of bodies began in 2019, with some decomposing beyond recognition and others found unclothed in fluids.

Fraudulent Actions During Pandemic Relief Funding

Amidst this growing tragedy, Jon and Carie Hallford allegedly defrauded the federal government of nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds.

With resources obtained from families alongside federal aid, the Hallfords indulged in luxury purchases, including a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth a combined total of $120,000, plus $31,000 in cryptocurrency.

In 2023, a foul odor emanating from the funeral home prompted police intervention. Investigators, equipped with hazmat suits, painstakingly removed the remains over the course of their investigation.

Hallford and his wife were apprehended in Oklahoma more than a month later.

Families eventually discovered that their rituals of grief—scattering a relative’s ashes in Hawaii or holding a son’s urn—were tainted by an elaborate deception, disrupting the healing process they hoped to achieve with these acts of remembrance.

>>>Source link

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top