Demolition of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose began Tuesday after a ceremony for the families of the deceased victims who were placed in the building and abandoned by those who were entrusted with the care of their remains.
Carie Hallford, 46, and her husband, Jon Hallford, 43, are accused of accepting payment from families of decedents for cremations, piling 189 bodies in the Penrose facility, and giving families falsified death certificates and bags of concrete powder in place of their loved ones’ ashes. The couple is charged with several felonies, as well as 15 federal crimes.
“The beginning of demolition today hopefully marks a day of closure and the continued healing for all victims associated with this horrific event,” Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller said during the ceremony. “…I would ask that everyone realize that my office has walked the path with every family here. It has been very emotional for us, as well, and I want you to know that we share in your pain, grief and anger.”
In early October, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was contacted regarding a foul odor from the building at 31 Werner Road.
Upon further investigation, 189 bodies ranging in age from a stillborn baby to some in their 80s, all in various stages of decomposition, were discovered stacked in several of the rooms inside the building. The earliest date of death for the bodies was September 2019, and the most recent date was August 2023.
All decedents were removed from the facility as of Oct. 13 and transported to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.
As of Tuesday, Keller said all but 17 have been identified.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its contractors conducted an assessment of the property on Nov. 15 to determine the next steps in conducting a “removal action,” including demolishing and disposing of building materials.
After the assessment, the EPA determined that demolition of the building is necessary to safely remove biological and hazardous materials found in the building. EPA developed a work plan to conduct the demolition, which began Tuesday and is expected to take 10 days, depending on the weather.
To prepare the site for demolition, EPA’s contractors have conducted rodent control and sprayed a disinfectant and odor suppressant into the interior of the building.
For the disinfectant process, officials used peroxyacetic acid, or PAA, essentially vinegar.
Excavators started to break up the building from the top down and will remove large pieces of the structure while working to keep it within the foundation footprint. During this process, EPA will use water and other liquid solutions for dust suppression, but not in quantities that would cause runoff of contamination from the interior of the building to the ground surface outside.
The debris will be loaded into lined trucks. Once the trucks are full up to a certain point, they will be wrapped, sealed and covered before being transferred to the landfill in Otero County.
Once the building and concrete foundation slab have been removed, EPA will conduct a shallow surface scrape of soils on the footprint of the building. The soils will be transported to the landfill through the same process as the building materials.
Once EPA has completed its role, the property will be turned back over to either the County or the property owner.
For more information on the demolition process, visit response.epa.gov/PenroseFuneralHome.
Officials to honor victims of Penrose funeral home prior to demolition of building
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