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DENVER — Investigators who entered a Colorado funeral residence the place practically 200 deserted our bodies have been discovered encountered stacks of partially coated human stays, bodily fluids a number of inches deep on the ground, and flies and maggots all through the constructing, an FBI agent testified Thursday.
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Twenty-three of the our bodies had demise dates from 2019 and 61 have been from 2020, FBI agent Andrew Cohen stated. The stays included adults, infants and fetuses. They have been being saved at room temperature in a uncared for constructing within the small Rocky Mountain city of Penrose, he stated.
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“It seemed like one thing you’d wish to overlook however can’t,” Cohen stated throughout a listening to for one of many funeral residence’s co-owners.
Investigators additionally discovered animal stays and luggage of packaged concrete, Cohen stated. Prosecutors have stated some kinfolk of the deceased obtained pretend ashes quite than the cremated stays of their family members.
Police in November arrested funeral residence house owners Carie and Jon Hallford in Oklahoma after the married couple allegedly had fled Colorado to keep away from prosecution.
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The our bodies have been found in early October after neighbors observed a putrid scent. Close to the squat constructing was a put up workplace and some scattered houses, spaced out between dry grass and empty heaps with parked semitrailers.
The Hallfords are accused of abusing corpses, stealing, laundering cash and forging paperwork over a number of years on the Return to Nature Funeral Residence, which was primarily based in Colorado Springs and saved stays in close by Penrose.
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They’re every charged with roughly 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, 5 counts of theft, 4 counts of cash laundering and over 50 counts of forgery. Jon Hallford remained in custody on the El Paso County jail on Thursday after his bond was lowered from $2 million to $100,000 throughout a listening to final week.
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Jon Hallford’s legal professional, Adam Steigerwald, didn’t instantly return a phone message looking for remark. Carie Hallford’s legal professional, Michael Stuzynski, was in courtroom and never accessible for remark.
A number of households who employed Return to Nature to cremate their kinfolk have advised The Related Press that the FBI confirmed their stays have been among the many decaying our bodies.
Jon Hallford was nervous way back to 2020 about getting caught, based on prosecutors.
“My one and solely focus is holding us out of jail,” stated one textual content message he allegedly wrote, which was learn by a prosecutor in courtroom final week.
Additional particulars on how the our bodies got here to be mishandled haven’t been publicly launched after protection attorneys objected to unsealing affidavits within the case.
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The invention of our bodies prompted an effort to establish them utilizing fingerprints, dental data, medical {hardware} and DNA. Officers plan to stage the constructing the place the our bodies have been present in coming days. Cohen stated a number of dozen units of stays haven’t but been recognized.
In December, kinfolk who knew or feared their family members have been among the many deserted our bodies watched in individual for the primary time as Hallfords appeared earlier than a choose. One lady held up a photograph of her late son whom she thought might have been among the many mishandled our bodies.
Return to Nature began in 2017 and provided cremations and “inexperienced” burials with out embalming fluids.
The house owners missed tax funds, have been evicted from one among their properties and have been sued for unpaid payments by a crematory that give up doing enterprise with them nearly a yr in the past, based on public data and interviews with individuals who labored with them.
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