The owners of the Return to Nature funeral home have been offered a plea deal in their state-level case, according to an email sent to impacted family members and acquired by The Gazette. 

Jon and Carie Hallford face 286 criminal charges stemming from the discovery of 189 bodies improperly stored at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose. 

Return to Nature purgatory: At least 989 families remain without answers

According to the email sent out to family members, a plea deal has been offered to both Jon and Carie Hallford. The offer — according to the email — would see both Jon and Carie Hallford plead guilty to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse. If accepted, Jon Hallford would serve a mandatory sentence of 20 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections while Carie Hallford would serve a sentence ranging between 15-20 years in the Department of Corrections. 

Motion to have Return to Nature owners in joined trial is denied

Crystina Page, a victim whose son David was found amongst the bodies at the Penrose funeral home, expressed significant displeasure with the plea deal offered by the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office based in Colorado Springs. 

“I haven’t slept yet, most of us got the news when we were on the Zoom call last night. We’re pissed. I don’t know how we’re going to get through this,” Page said when speaking with The Gazette. “I know for myself that I’m represented; my son is represented. I know one of those charges will represent him. If they decided to take the plea deals, we have over 1,000 families who won’t have representation.

“To be honest with you, I don’t care if he’s in jail or not. That doesn’t do anything for me, knowing where he is geographically, that doesn’t help me. What does have an effect on me is these families not having answers — Heather needs to know what happened to her son.”

According to previous reporting from The Gazette, hundreds of families who are not listed as victims in the case remain without answers regarding what happened to their loved ones after they worked with Return to Nature Funeral Home. 

The email sent to families notes that the offered plea deal could be accepted at the Hallfords’ upcoming arraignment date on July 11. At the Hallfords’ previous hearing in June, where an El Paso County judge ruled that the Hallfords could not be tried together, both sets of attorneys informed the court that their clients intended to plead not guilty at the next arraignment hearing and set for trial. 

The offer will expire on Oct. 4, according to the email sent from families. 

Michael Stuzynski, an attorney representing Carie Hallford, stated he was unable to comment on any potential plea negotiations in a brief phone conversation with The Gazette. 

“Court order prohibits us from making comments on this case as well as the rules of professional conduct,” Stuzynski said. 

The Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The funeral home came under a multi-agency investigation in October after reports of a complaint about a foul odor in the area. Investigators said they found more than 180 bodies in various states of decomposition there that were not properly stored. The Hallfords were arrested in Oklahoma in November 2023.

In addition to their state case, the Hallfords also face charges at the federal level in connection to the Return to Nature business. In April, the Hallfords appeared in federal court in Denver and pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of wire fraud. 

At the Hallfords’ previous state-level hearing, prosecutor Rachael Powell told the court the trial in the Hallfords’ federal case is set for Oct. 22. 

Because of the federal charges, Jon Hallford is being held on a no-bond hold pending the outcome of his federal case, despite being released on a $100,000 bond in his state-level case. 

Carie Hallford remains out on a $100,000 bond at the time of writing.