Judge to weigh plea deal of funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies

A Colorado funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building took a plea deal last year for abusing corpses, but on Monday, family members of the deceased will argue that the deal's 15- to 20-year sentence isn't enough. Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of piling the bodies in the building in a rural town between 2019 and 2023, giving families fake ashes and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000. Last year, both Jon and Carie Hallford pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse, but State District Judge Eric Bentley rejected Jon Hallford's plea deal in August after victims argued the sentencing was too lenient.