COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado funeral home owner will be sentenced Friday for storing nearly 200 rotting human bodies in an office building over four years.
One of the bodies was mother of Derrick Johnson. The 45-year-old man learned from the FBI that the ashes buried behind his Maui home were not actually his mother’s remains. Instead, her body was languishing with 188 others in a building in Penrose, outside of Colorado Springs.
It was one of the largest discoveries of decaying bodies in a funeral home in the United States. He urged lawmakers to review the state’s lax funeral home regulations.
The Hallfords also admitted in a separate case to defrauding the federal government of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid for small businesses. Even as Hallford’s bills went unpaid, authorities said the couple spent lavishly, including on Tiffany jewelry, luxury cars and laser body sculpting as they pocketed the money clients paid for cremations.
They were arrested in Oklahoma in November 2023 and accused of abusing nearly 200 corpses. Attorneys for Jon and Carrie Hallford did not respond to an AP request for comment.
Hundreds of families learned from officials that the ashes given by the Hallfords were not in fact the remains of their loved ones, which were instead formed into a building at room temperature.
In Friday’s sentence, where Johnson is planning to speak, Jon Hallford will be given between 30 and 50 years in prison. He was already sentenced to 20 years in the case of federal fraud. Carrie Hallford’s hearing is in April after a judge accepted their plea deals in December.
Here are key takeaways.
The gruesome discovery
In October 2023, investigators were informed of an odor coming from the building, and donned layers of gloves, boots and respirators to enter the 2,500-square-foot building, according to an arrest affidavit.
There were 189 corpses piled around the building, sometimes so high they blocked the doors, the document said. Quikrete was also found, which investigators believe was used as fake ashes to give to families. Some were deleted for years, others several months, according to the affidavit. Decomposing fluid covered the floor.
Investigators identified bodies using fingerprints, hospital bracelets and medical implants, the affidavit said.
Windy lifestyle
The Hallfords pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and Jon Hallford was convicted in federal court of defrauding the federal government of nearly $900,000 dollars and defrauding clients.
They spent heavily, authorities said, buying a GMC Yukon and Infiniti worth more than $120,000, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, and luxury goods from stores such as Gucci and Tiffany & Co.
At their sentencing in federal court, Johnson, who was among those who received fake ashes, addressed the judge.
“While the bodies rotted in secret, (the Hallfords) lived, laughed and ate,” he said. “My mother’s cremation money probably helped pay for a cocktail, a day at the spa, a first class flight.”
Johnson’s mother
Johnson grew up with his mother, Ellen Marie Shriver-Lopes, in an affordable housing complex in Colorado Springs.
The neighborhood kids called her “mom,” some sleeping on the couch when they needed a place to stay and a hot meal. With a life spent in social work, Lopes often said: “If you have the ability and you have the voice to help: Help.”
Johnson talked to his mother almost every day. After growing frail from diabetes, Lopes died on Super Bowl Sunday in 2023. Johnson was by her side.
Return to Nature was hired to cremate Lopes’ body. Johnson met at the funeral home with Carrie Hallford, who gave him what he thought were his mother’s ashes.
Preparation for the sentence
After the call from the FBI, Johnson snapped, wracked by panic attacks and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
When he closed his eyes he imagined he was inside the building where his mother’s body was found. Johnson began seeing a therapist and joined Zoom meetings with other victims.
Johnson slowly improved in therapy, engaging more with his students and children. He began to practice what he planned to say in the Hallfords’ sentences. Closing his eyes, he thought of standing before the judge – and the Hallfords.
“Justice is, it’s the missing part of this whole equation,” he said. “Maybe somehow this justice will set me free.”
“And then there’s a part of me that’s afraid it won’t be like that, because it probably won’t.”