The house owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Residence in Colorado have been arrested greater than a month after 190 improperly saved our bodies have been found inside their facility in Penrose. Jon and Carie Hallford have been arrested Wednesday morning in Oklahoma on suspicion of committing the crimes of abuse of a corpse, theft, cash laundering and forgery, that are all felonies.
Wagoner County Sheriff
Wagoner County Sheriff
The arrests have been made in Wagoner, in jap Oklahoma, and the Hallfords have been being held on a $2 million money bond.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Workplace started an investigation on Oct. 4 after neighbors reported an odor emanating from the Penrose facility.
Based on the 4th Judicial District Lawyer’s Workplace, as a result of the Hallfords have been arrested in a special state, their first advisement in El Paso County District Court docket can be decided throughout the extradition course of. District Lawyer Michael Allen mentioned that the possible trigger affidavit will stay sealed to guard the investigation.
”I need to warn you, the data contained in that affidavit is totally surprising,” mentioned Allen throughout a information convention to replace the investigation on Wednesday morning.
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All decedents have been faraway from the funeral dwelling on Oct. 13 and transported to the El Paso County Coroner’s Workplace.
Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller mentioned 110 people have been positively recognized and work is ongoing to establish 80 extra.
”People are being recognized via fingerprints, dental information, and medical {hardware}. As soon as we’ve got exhausted these strategies, we are going to transfer on to DNA testing, if essential,” mentioned Keller.
”We are going to by no means know what our households are literally carrying. A few of them could also be concrete mud, a few of them could also be different issues… we can’t ever know so I am unable to even describe the feelings our households are going via,” mentioned Chrystina Web page whose son was amongst these decedants discovered contained in the funeral dwelling final month.
Gov. Jared Polis launched this assertion following the arrest announcement, ”I’m relieved that felony fees have been introduced towards the funeral dwelling proprietor and a felony investigation is continuing. I do know this is not going to carry peace to the households impacted by this heart-wrenching incident however we hope the people accountable are held absolutely accountable in a courtroom of regulation.”
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The FBI and CBI had dispatched crews to the funeral dwelling final month as a part of the investigation.
A minimum of one household concerned within the investigation has filed a lawsuit towards the funeral dwelling.
Further Data from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Workplace:
Households who haven’t already executed so are requested to go to https://kinds.fbi.gov/penrose-funeral-home and full the questionnaire to help on this course of.
If you happen to consider you or the one you love might need been impacted and you’ve got additional questions, please ship an electronic mail to penrosefuneralhome@fbi.gov. That is the simplest strategy to join with assets; an individual will reply to all emails from members of the family.