Arraignment delayed again for Return to Nature funeral home owners

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — The court case has been delayed again for the Penrose funeral home owners accused of abusing nearly 200 bodies, which were discovered stacked on top of each other in October of last year.

Jon and Carie Hallford face over 200 charges related to their operation at Return to Nature Funeral Home in Southern Colorado. They both pleaded not guilty in April .

The two were scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, but the case was continued until Sept. 20.

One of the people in court on Thursday was Samantha Naranjo. Her grandmother, Dorothy Tardif, died in October of 2022. The family used Return to Nature Funeral Home.

“I had to put my grandmother to rest one year and two months after she passed away," Naranjo said. “They stole a lot from us. They stole a lot of closure, a lot of trust. They stole a sacred moment, and they stole the most vulnerable time in somebody's life.”

Naranjo carried a glass jar into the courtroom, containing what she believed were her grandmother's remains.

"We got confirmation that we did not have her cremains. Most likely, we have cement," she said.

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Attorneys for the Hallfords said they wanted more time to consider the plea deals offered by the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office .

According to an email obtained by Denver7, Jon would serve 20 years in prison and Carie would serve 15 to 20 years in prison under the proposed plea offer.

“Frustration. Disappointed in the sense of the courts allowing them to play this out and drag it along," Naranjo said. “I feel like there's enough evidence. There are enough things in place that we should be able to proceed.”

Naranjo said the consequences contained in the plea offers mean the Hallfords would still have the chance at a life after prison.

“To know that they're going to have a life after this is heartbreaking, because I'm forever scarred by this," she said. "It's going to affect me every time I have to put another family member to rest, especially when I have to put my mother to rest, knowing what happened to her mother. It's never going to go away.”

Hear more from Naranjo in the clip below.

Carie appeared in person in the courtroom on Thursday morning. Jon did not attend the short hearing, and is currently in a federal correctional institution in Englewood.