Multiple Funeral Homes BUSTED Storing Hundreds Of Bodies For Cremation Scams

The business of death has become a mega industry in the United States. In 2024, the Cremation Association of North America estimates that 61.8% of all remains are cremated in the US. There is also a persistent and particularly nasty form of fraud that seems to be on the rise, cremation scams. Return to Nature Funeral Home had stashed nearly 190 dead bodies in a decrepit building while sending grieving families fake ashes.

Subscribe to stay connected to our stories

Support us by becoming a member on YouTube

Or Support us on Patreon

Buy Ring of Fire merch

Find us on social media!

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Death. It isn't a pleasant topic for many of us, much less a business model. However, the business of death has become a mega industry in the United States. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, there are more than 15,000 funeral homes in the US, which employ approximately 106,000 people. Funeral homes generate a total of $16 billion while crematories and cemeteries generate more than $4 billion in revenue. In 2024, the Cremation Association of North America estimates that 61.8% of all remains are cremated in the US. Sadly, it is not a surprise that this industry, like all business, attracted bad actors. Of course, there is petty fraud and price gouging, which is despicable given the grieving nature of their customers. But there is also a persistent and particularly nasty form of fraud that seems to be on the rise. I'm talking about cremation scams.

Just a few days ago, a Colorado funeral home owner was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison for cheating customers and defrauding the federal government of nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 aid. Jon Hallford, owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home had stashed nearly 190 dead bodies in a decrepit building while sending grieving families fake ashes. Hallford used pandemic aid and the payments of customers to buy a GMC Yukon and an INFINITI worth over $120,000. He also paid for laser body sculpting, trips to California, Florida and Las Vegas. He purchased $31,000 in cryptocurrency and luxury items at stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co., according to court documents. The 190 corpses were discovered in 2023 in a bug infested building owned by Return to Nature in Penrose, Colorado, a small town southwest of Colorado Springs. Hallford stashed bodies as far back as 2019 in the dilapidated building, sometimes stacking them on top of each other and at least two cases bearing the wrong body.

According to the Assistant US attorney, during the sentencing of Hallford, FBI agents had to put boards down so they could walk about the fluid from the decaying bodies. Agents were initially unable to enter some rooms as the bodies were piled too high and in various states of decay. In March of this year, Heights Crematory was shut down after over a hundred bodies were found improperly stored in sheets, bags and a trailer. At least one lawsuit is pending against the company by a widow of one of the deceased. According to the lawsuit, the crematory failed to refrigerate her husband's remains for nearly three weeks before the cremation process.

I don't even know if my, the remains I have belonged to my husband. Honestly. I mean, that's a question I have and also when I told our children about it, that was their first question as well is, is it their father?

Last year in Douglas, Georgia, deputies made a startling discovery while serving an eviction notice on Johnson Funeral and Cremation Services, 18 bodies in varying stages of decomposition. 39-year-old Chris Lee Johnson was indicted in January for more than 62 criminal counts, including 17 counts of abuse to a dead body, 17 counts of abandonment of a dead body, 18 counts of theft by deception, 9 counts of violation of vital records, and one count of insurance fraud. According to the indictment, the bodies had been taken to the funeral home between January, 2024 and August, 2024.