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3mo ago

Judge Rejects Plea, Sets February Trial for Return to Nature Owner in 191-Corpses Case

Victims’ testimony prompted a rare rejection of a concurrent deal in a case shadowed by Jon Hallford’s separate 20-year federal sentence.

FILE - A hearse and van sit outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., on Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Crystina Page, back, hugs a well-wisher outside the El Paso County Courthouse after a judge ruled against accepting a plea deal in the case of a funeral home owner who stored roughly 189 decomposing bodies in a building Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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Overview

  • Jon Hallford withdrew his guilty plea and entered not-guilty pleas to all 286 state counts after State District Judge Eric Bentley refused the agreement.
  • A jury trial is scheduled to start Feb. 9, with prosecutors initially seeking two to three months before the judge asked for a shorter timetable.
  • The rejected deal would have run any state sentence at the same time as Hallford’s 20-year federal term, and a new 30–50 year proposal was also declined.
  • Authorities say nearly 190–191 bodies were stored and families were given dry concrete resembling ashes; under Colorado law, abuse of a corpse carries up to 18 months per count.
  • Families welcomed the move to trial as a path to answers, as state oversight faces renewed scrutiny following 24 decomposing corpses found at a Pueblo funeral home with identifications still underway and no charges filed.