By a shaded swoop of sidewalk in Colorado Springs’ Bear Creek Park, where the drone of nearby traffic disappears under the burble of brook and rustle of leaves, is a tranquil, unfinished, memorial honoring the victims of one of the most gruesome crimes ever to rock the American funeral industry.

The small plaque affixed to the back of the metal bench likely isn’t enough to spur recall in the unaware who wander by this tiny oasis across from the El Paso County Parks & Recreation administrative offices. For more than 1,100 families, forgetting the gruesome acts of Jon and Carie Hallford, of Return to Nature Funeral Home, will never be an option.

“DEDICATED IN LOVING MEMORY

TO VICTIMS AND FAMILIES

NEVER FORGOTTEN

PENROSE, CO 2023”

One year ago Friday,  officials following up on complaints about the Hallfords’ Penrose funeral home made a horrific discovery. Almost 200 bodies, in various stages of decomposition; decedents whose cremations were paid for by families but never performed by the company, which then provided fake ashen remains to the families. The discovery not only revived the families’ personal odysseys of grief, but hurled them into the middle of a ghoulish industry scandal and reignited a legislative cause célèbre in Colorado, then the only state in the nation not requiring funeral home directors to be licensed, or to have received any training in mortuary science.

According to charging documents, the Hallfords’ crimes may have begun soon after they opened their business in Colorado Springs in 2017, but the discovery that appalled a nation — and led to charges against the couple, and ultimately changes in Colorado law — was triggered by a property search executed on Oct. 4, 2023, at Return to Nature in Penrose.

A timeline of the past year:

Oct. 4 – Jon Hallford misses scheduled inspection at Return to Nature’s Penrose location following reports of a foul odor emanating from the building. Officials executed a search warrant at Penrose and discovered the mishandled remains.

Oct. 5 – News breaks of law enforcement presence at Return to Nature’s Penrose funeral home location. Neighbors speak of a foul smell deriving from the building, reporters on the scene witness abandoned vehicles and an AC unit that has been ripped from the building.

Oct. 10 – Human remains discovered in Penrose are transferred to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.

Oct. 14 – Vigil held for victims discovered inside the Penrose facility.

Nov. 7 – Colorado’s 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office files an arrest warrant for Jon and Carie Hallford.

Nov. 8 – Jon and Carie Hallford are arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma, on suspicion of abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery; held on a $2 million bond, awaiting extradition to Colorado. At a press conference, Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller confirms the count of bodies discovered at the Penrose facility to be 190 bodies.

Nov. 21 – Carie Hallford is booked in the El Paso County jail.

Nov. 22 – Jon Hallford is booked in El Paso County jail. Carie Hallford attends virtual advisement hearing, judge denies lowering $2 million bond

Nov. 24 – Jon Hallford attends virtual advisement hearing, Judge Carissa Cruson informs him that she had found probable cause for 190 preliminary counts of abuse of a corpse, 61 counts of forgery and four counts of theft and money laundering.

Dec. 6 – Hallfords make their first appearance in Colorado’s 4th Judicial District Court.

Jan. 4 – Jon Hallford’s bond is lowered from $2 million to $100,000.

Jan. 17 – Judge rules that all 260 charges against Carie Hallford will be bound over for trial following her preliminary hearing.

Jan. 29 – Jon Hallford posts the $100,000 bond to be released from the custody of the El Paso County jail.

Feb. 8 – Judge rules that all 260 charges against Jon Hallford will be bound over for trial. As he leaves the courtroom with his attorneys he is swarmed by reporters and victims, who chase after him for several blocks in downtown Colorado Springs.

Feb. 28 – Carie Hallford posts the $100,000 bond to be released from the El Paso County jail.

March 22 – Jon and Carie Hallford appear out of custody for the first of several arraignment hearings that would be postponed, a trial date was tentatively set for Oct. 14 but later vacated. Prosecutor Rachael Powell requests to readdress Jon Hallford’s bond over allegations that he lied to the court regarding the whereabouts of his children.

April 14 – The Gazette publishes story detailing allegations of Jon Hallford’s inappropriate and abusive relationship with his stepchildren, confirming kids have not been with Hallford since June 2023. A Colorado Springs police spokesperson confirmed that there was an active case number regarding the incident, but charges have yet to be filed against Jon Hallford.

April 14 – Jon and Carie Hallford are arrested again, and now face 15 charges of wire fraud at the federal level.

April 18 – Jon and Carie Hallford plead not guilty to all 15 federal charges. A federal judge rules that Carie Hallford can released from custody, and placed on home detention with an ankle monitor. Jon Hallford is not permitted to leave custody as the federal judge found him to be more liable for the actions of Return to Nature than his wife.

April 23 – The demolition of the former location of Return to Nature in Penrose where law enforcement discovered the 189 bodies is completed.

May 19 – The Gazette reported that nearly 1,000 families who used the services of Return to Nature are still lacking answers as to the whereabouts of their loved ones’ remains.

July 1 – Carie and Jon Hallford are offered plea deals in their state-level case to expire on Oct. 4. The plea deal, according to previous reporting from The Gazette, would see Jon Hallford sentenced to 20 years in the Department of Corrections while Carie Hallford would serve a sentence of 15 to 20 years.

Aug. 5 – A class-action lawsuit against the Return to Nature Funeral Home resulted in a judgment of nearly $1 billion. However, attorneys representing the victims confess that it’s unlikely the victims will see any money from the judgment.

Sep. 14 – Jon and Carie Hallford accept a plea in their federal-level case. According to Crystina Page, whose son David was found among the bodies at the Penrose funeral home, the Hallfords’ plea agreement states the couple will spend between 71 months and 15 years in prison.

According to Kate Singh, spokeswoman with the 4th Judicial District, four of the bodies recovered from Return to Nature’s Penrose location have yet to be identified:

“Our office continues to seek identifying information on four bodies related to the Return to Nature investigation,” Singh said in a statement to The Gazette. “If you or someone you know worked with the Return to Nature Funeral Home between September 2019 and September 2023, please complete the Seeking Victim Information Questionnaire.

“All persons arrested on suspicions of committing a criminal act are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

One year removed from the discovery of the hundreds of bodies at Return to Nature, the Hallfords’ Penrose location has been razed to the ground, its former office on East Pikes Peak Avenue is on the market, and the criminal proceedings against Jon and Carie Hallford appear to potentially be nearing an end.

A bill to put Colorado’s funeral home operators under state regulation for the first time in 40 years won near unanimous approval from the state House earlier this year. Senate Bill 173 requires licensing for funeral directors, mortuary science practitioners, embalmers, cremationists and natural reductionists, and it puts into place steep requirements that, hopefully, will keep bad actors from attempting to hang a shingle in Colorado, said Joe Walsh, president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association.

“It’s a night and day change, going from no license, where anybody could do business, to where – after January 2026 – they can’t do business if they don’t have mortuary school and pass the boards,” Walsh said. “Having worked in this industry for 30 years in Colorado, I can say that yes, these are the most sweeping changes that we’ve had.”

Walsh said he’s hopeful that the new laws will discourage bad actors, but “even states with licensure have problems,” he said.

On Oct. 24, Jon and Carie Hallford are scheduled to appear in federal court for a change of plea hearing, where it’s anticipated the couple will accept the federal plea deal on wire fraud charges.

The Hallfords will return to court for their state-level cases shortly thereafter, on Nov. 8, exactly one year after their arrest in 2023.

It’s still unclear if either will accept the plea deal at the state level, but the sentencing hearing is expected to give families an opportunity to face the couple who desecrated the bodies and memories of their loved ones.

Tanya Wilson, whose mother’s body was among those identified in Penrose, said that any semblance of justice must include the chance for victim families to face the convicted, and air their pain. Repeatedly delayed proceedings, she said, haven’t changed minds or dulled sentiments about that.

“Trying to keep up with two sets of charges, plea deals and hearings has been overwhelming,” Wilson said. “While I understand why it’s necessary, it’s hard to manage the conflicting emotions of wanting this to be over but also needing the Hallfords to be held accountable for every horrific act, in court.

“The waiting and anger have made it impossible to fully grieve and find any sense of closure.”

Healing and closure have been just as long and twisted a road for the almost 1,000 “unofficial victim” victim families, those who utilized Return to Nature’s services during the time period in question but whose loved ones’ remains were not identified among the Penrose bodies.

Heather DeWolf, who used Return to Nature for her 33-year-old son Zach’s cremation, still doesn’t know if the urn the Hallfords provided contain the remains of her son.

One year on, she said she doesn’t expect that answer will ever come.

DeWolf said communication from victim liaisons, and updates from investigators, essentially ended once it was determined Zach’s body was not among those found in Penrose.

In addition to cremations, Return to Nature also marketed its “traditional burial services.” One of those burials, of a veteran at Pikes Peak National Cemetery, was found to contain the wrong body.

“I wish someone would have held a meeting, or sat us all down, to explain what they knew and what they didn’t know, so we wouldn’t have to have spent the last year filling in the blanks,” said DeWolf. “I think they need to exhume every burial Return to Nature performed. That’s the only way we will ever know.”