Ex-Funeral Home Owner Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison After Giving Families Fake Ashes

A former Colorado funeral home owner who helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies in a building was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison.

Fremont County coroner Randy Keller (C), and other authorities survey the area where they plan to put up tents at the Rturn to Nature Funeral Home where over 100 bodies have been improperly stored in Penrose, Colo., on Oct. 7, 2023. Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP

DENVER—A former Colorado funeral home owner who helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies in a building was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for cheating customers and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic small business aid.

Carie Hallford had faced up to a maximum of 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She and her ex-husband Jon Hallford took $130,000 from families for funeral services, including cremations, often giving them urns full of concrete mix instead. In two cases, investigators found the wrong body was buried.