Wagoner Couple Awaiting Extradition To Colorado, Accused of Mishandling Bodies In Funeral Home

A grieving mother speaks out about having her son found as one of the nearly 200 bodies stacked inside a funeral home in Colorado.

The couple accused in that case remains in Muskogee County Jail as they await extradition to Colorado. They were arrested Wednesday near Wagoner.

The woman says she's been carrying around what she thought was her son's ashes and was devastated to learn he hadn't been cremated but was stacked with dozens of other bodies in a building.

The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado began investigating reports of a foul odor coming from the couple's business in early October.

The Return to Nature Funeral Home is in Penrose, Colorado.

An arrest warrant says investigators searched the building and found 190 decaying bodies stored in horrific conditions, some not even in body bags, with fluids and insects covering the floor. Some of the victims had died as far back as 2019.

“My son has been lying there rotting for four years. This was intentional, and not only did they think about doing this, but they followed through with it, they concealed it, and they did this to almost 200 families,” said Crystina Page.

She carries an urn full of what she thought were her son's remains; now, she has no idea what she's been holding onto.

“There's no way for us to know what's in here,” she says.

Colorado investigators say 110 of the 190 bodies have been identified and those had been reported to the state of Colorado as cremated or buried.

Page hopes all the families involved get justice.  

“I would like to see them locked up and to never be able to do this to another family again,” says Page.

Jon and Carie Hallford are in Muskogee County jail on a $2 million bond on felony charges of abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering, and fraud.

Colorado authorities will have 30 days to extradite the couple to Colorado. U.S. attorneys there say they will involve all the families in this prosecution.