Federal investigators have worked to ensure the families of 189 people found decomposing in a Penrose funeral home won't be re-victimized by the investigation, but now some of those families are reporting suspicions that Return to Nature Funeral Home falsified their loved one's records and gave them fake cremated ashes.
FBI investigators confirm they've begun the process of identifying the remains of those found inside the Return to Nature Funeral Home. The last body was removed from the facility on Friday, October 13. Now investigators are making plans to meet with families. Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller asked families for patience as the investigators work to identify each of the victims, noting that the number could rise as the identification process continues.
"While some identifications have been accomplished quickly, further identifications are more complicated and may take several weeks or even months to complete," Keller said in a video released by his office on Thursday, October 20.
Jesse Elliott's family was contacted to meet with a victims' advocate and a representative from the coroner's office sometime next week. However, investigators won't confirm over the phone whether his mother was among those found inside the Penrose facility.
Elliott's mother, Yong Anderson, lived with him and his family in their Woodland Park home in her final years before passing away at the age of 76 in early June.
"My mom didn't want to be embalmed or have her organs removed, so we had a direct cremation," Elliott told News 5 adding that his family chose Return to Nature funeral home as it had five-star reviews online.
"We thought it was safe," Elliott said.
Anderson wanted her ashes scattered in Hawaii where she spent much of her life, but when the day of her ceremony came, Elliott said the concerns that had kept him up at night about how Return to Nature was doing business were validated.
"That is when we realized these do not look at all like cremains. We reached out to Jon Hallford regarding our thoughts of the cremains only to receive defensive responses. My sister kept enough of the cremains to have examined once she returned to her home in Georgia which another funeral director examined and concluded they were likely as not cremains at all," he said.
Elliott raised concerns about his mother's ashes when he first received them in a tamper-proof box before leaving for Hawaii. He described them as heavy, weighing six pounds in his estimation and after looking at them, Elliott compared the ashes to powdered sugar or cement mix where each granule is the same size as if it were manufactured.
"We believe the cremains are fake. We personally noted how consistent the cremains were like powdered sugar and uniform in color grey-beige without any other variation," Elliott said.
When he questioned funeral home owner Jon Halloway and his wife, Carie, they assured him it was his mother's remains, even though Elliott said they came without a cremation tag. Halloway told Elliott that given the company worked exclusively in green burials it did not include the metal cremation, tag identifying the remains, as it would not decompose.
Later Elliot said he called the company listed as the crematory on his mother's cremation record and learned from Wilbert Funeral Services that it stopped doing business with Return to Nature in November 2022. So, Elliott said, her cremation record is false.
In a civil lawsuit filed in March 2023 by Wilbert Funeral Services against Hallfordhomes, LLC and Carie and Jon Hallford, it won after court records show the Hallfords did not attend the court hearing. The records show the Hallfords owed the company more than $18,000.
Federal investigators did not respond to our request to confirm whether they are aware of reports of falsified cremation reports and fake remains. The Hallfords have not responded to any request for comment and their business locations are shuttered.
From the day Elliott's mother passed, he tells News 5 that the interactions with the Hallfords felt odd. To start, they wanted payment before getting many details about what Elliott and his sister wanted, which was a direct cremation and urn.
"They wanted $1,470 upfront for the cremation and an urn. We never got the urn," Elliott said.
More than a week after his mother passed away, Elliott called Return to Nature to learn when he'd get his mother's ashes and was told by Carie Hallford they were "behind" due in part to COVID and supply chain issues. Then the following day, Elliot said, he called again and was reassured by Hallford that the medical examiner had completed his work and Elliott's mother had been cremated. When Elliott offered to stop by rather than having her remains delivered, Hallford insisted he not come by the East Platte Avenue location, telling him there was a leak in the basement and after discovering mold, it was not appropriate to have customers in the building," Elliott recalled.
It turns out, according to court documents, the Hallfords were evicted from their East Platte Avenue location. In a suit against the Hallfords, court records show they owe more than $97,320.26 in back payments.
Investigators have said the Hallfords are cooperating with the investigation into the improperly stored remains at their business.
Have a story you'd like News5 Investigates to look into? Send an email to News5Investigates@KOAA.com.
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