WARNING: Some details presented in court on Thursday may be extremely disturbing to some readers, discretion is advised.

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Previously undisclosed details about the Return to Nature Funeral Home emerged during a court hearing on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 11, leaving the El Paso County courtroom shocked. The hearing presented graphic evidence of the horrifying conditions found in the funeral home back in October.

Carie Hallford, one of the funeral home co-owners, was in court on Thursday for a preliminary hearing. She is charged with multiple felonies after nearly 200 bodies were found improperly stored in their Penrose location.

Gasps and sobs could be heard from people in the courtroom, mainly comprised of family members of victims. So much so, the judge had to issue a warning, to not react to the evidence provided during the hearing.

FBI Agent Andrew Cohen testified, showcasing a diagram of the 2500-square-foot facility with 14 rooms labeled alphabetically A through N. The rooms, investigators disclosed, contained adult, infant, and fetus bodies, with up to 43 bodies discovered in a single room. Investigators initially had difficulty accessing some rooms because of how high bodies were stacked, one room showed a stack five bodies high.

The evidence painted a picture of the facility, depicting commercial shelves used to store bodies, other bodies strewn across the ground, or in hospital beds.

“It just brings all the grief back. But I owe it to my dad to see everything that I can see, to know and try to understand what happened,” said Lisa Ostly, whose father was identified at the funeral home. She sat through the full three-hour hearing.

Images presented during the hearing showed bodies in various states— most of them were wrapped in plastic and secured with duct tape, but some bodies were fully exposed, some still dressed in clothes, and others, covered in mold and insects.

Agent Cohen remarked, “The floor looks like something you’d like to forget but can’t.”

The once white/cream-colored floor of the funeral home was stained brown and red from bodily fluids. Investigators had to put cardboard throughout the building to prevent slipping. Other rooms looked as if the carpet was black with patches of brown, but investigators revealed all the black specks were insects.

Alongside the bodies and other items such as insect repellent, fans, and cleaning supplies, were also multiple bags of Quikrete concrete mix. Many family members suspect that the ashes they received were, in fact, concrete.

Agent Cohen confirmed that the Hallfords had purchased more than a quarter of a ton (more than 660 pounds) of Quikrete from Home Depot, as revealed in their bank records.

Cohen also revealed the bodies impacted extended beyond failed cremations. The funeral home was tasked with burying a veteran at the Pikes Peak National Cemetery. The casket of the veteran who had served 20 years in the U.S. Army was exhumed, only for investigators to discover the remains of a woman wrapped in plastic bags and duct tape inside.

During the hearing, texts between Carie and her husband/co-owner Jon Hallford were revealed, wherein they casually discussed the bodies at Penrose Funeral Home. One text from Jon said, “I want to take a shower… While I was making a transfer I got people juice on me…” then proceeded to talk about his burger order within the same text—a juxtaposition that family members found inhumane.

“But give me a hamburger with lettuce, hold the tomatoes like in the same text? How do you make sense of that?” said Ostly.

Surveillance footage reviewed by Agent Cohen showed the couple arriving at the funeral home in September 2023. Jon was seen bringing at least four plastic bags, presumed to contain bodies, on a cart. Texts between the couple further exposed financial troubles and discussions about the growing issues at Penrose Funeral Home.

In one text, Jon gives Carie options on what they can do, “Build a new machine… dig a big hole… dig a small hole and make a large fire… I go to prison, which is probably going to happen…”

The hearing, lasting more than three hours, will resume on Jan. 17, when a judge will determine if Carie Hallford’s case will proceed to trial.