An all-natural funeral home had 115 rotting corpses improperly stored and emanating an 'awful' smell, investigators say

• Law enforcement in Colorado found at least 115 "improperly stored" bodies at a "green" funeral home.
• The owner of the home tried to cover up how the bodies were stored, per AP.

Law enforcement officers in Penrose, Colorado, were shocked to find over 100 decomposing bodies in a funeral home after investigating a "suspicious incident."

On October 3, officers from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the Return to Nature Funeral Home and returned the following day with a search warrant for the property, per a sheriff's office press release.

According to the release, officers found "improperly stored" human remains in the funeral home while searching the property. The Associated Press reported officers counted at least 115 "decaying bodies" and an "awful smell" at the home.

The "suspicious incident" that was a catalyst for the initial search has not yet been disclosed by law enforcement, per AP.

Although investigators have not released many details about the findings — the sheriff's office press release says media and resident information requests will not be answered — multiple agencies have been brought in to deal with the case.

The sheriff's office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, the Fremont County Coroners' Office, and the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies are involved, and trying to determine if there was any criminal wrongdoing involved, per the release.

The funeral home in question is a "green" one — meaning it does not use chemicals to embalm bodies, and burial vessels like coffins or urns are biodegradable, per the home's website.

According to Colorado law, these green burials are legal, but if a body will not be buried in 24 hours it needs to be properly stored in a refrigerator.

A document from the Colorado Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration said Jon Hallford, the owner of the home, tried to hide how he had been storing the corpses and said he was doing taxidermy at the home.

Hallford said he had a "problem" at the home in Penrose, which is one of Return to Nature's several homes, per the document.

According to KRDO, the home's business license expired in November 2022, and Hallford and his wife Carie are named as defendants in multiple civil lawsuits that claim the couple owes thousands of dollars to different entities.

One says the Hallfords owe a funeral services company over $20,000; another says the couple owes nearly $100,000 to the landlords of their funeral homes, per KRDO.

No one has yet been charged criminally for the findings.

The sheriff's office has asked families who used the home to reach out to investigators.

The CBI referred Insider to the press releases from the sheriff's office for information.

Representatives for the funeral home, the Fremont County Sheriff's Office, the Colorado Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration, the Fremont County Coroners' Office, and the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.