DENVER (KDVR) — A new television show shared the stories of victims affected by the funeral home owners who pleaded guilty to letting nearly 190 bodies decay at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose.
“The Curious Case of…” series aired its first season in January, releasing episodes about unexpected criminal cases and interviews with victims. Recently, the series aired its fourth episode, “The Funeral Home of Horrors,” which looked into the criminal case in Colorado.
“Jon and Carie Hallford’s ‘Return to Nature’ promises eco-friendly care but leaves bodies rotting in filth and gives families concrete in place of ashes. When investigators come calling, the Halfords flee, leaving families demanding justice and answers,” reads the HBO Max summary of the episode.
The episode starts with a woman yelling, “What did you do with my son,” at Jon while he walks along a street. The rest of the episode dives into the details of the case, including videos of the crime scene, an interview with a legal expert and people who knew the owners, the owner’s lives and social media posts, and details about several of the victims affected.
The episode comes after the Hallfords pleaded guilty in November 2024 to 191 counts of corpse abuse for the bodies found decaying and two instances where the wrong bodies were buried.
The cases devastated hundreds of families. Many learned their child’s or parent’s remains weren’t in the ashes they received, but instead decaying, sometimes for four years, in a bug-infested building, oftentimes stacked atop each other.
The show interviewed several victims, including the families who chose to send their loved ones to the funeral home only for the bodies to be found in the investigation. The victims included a brother and the mothers of the deceased who spoke on the trust they put into the funeral home owners. However, they were left heartbroken.
The 42-minute episode ends with a wrap-up of the case, including the funeral home owners’ guilty plea to corpse abuse and federal fraud, as well as regulations passed in Colorado since, including a bill requiring routine inspections of Colorado funeral homes.
The full episode can be viewed on Discovery Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime and several other streaming platforms.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
