West
Mixed-up remains, rotting bodies, fake ashes: How grieving families uncovered these five funeral home horrors
Funeral home horror stories have cropped up across the country in an industry riddled with mishaps.
For forty years until this May, Colorado’s funeral directors did not need licenses to operate, and they faced minimal oversight. A litany of horror stories that emerged from the state were “bound to happen,” Bill Booker, owner of Roller Funeral Homes and member of the Arkansas State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors told Fox News Digital.
But even in states with tighter regulations, cases of frightful mix-ups and mismanagement crop up, traumatizing already-grieving families and sparking public outrage.
“I would assure the public that plenty of safeguards are in place, and these instances couldn’t go on for very long outside the situation that was in Colorado,” Booker said. I “I think most funeral professionals consider themselves to have a sacred trust between their clients and themselves and really aspire to be in this profession.”
Regardless, when funeral home mismanagement makes the news, those in the profession are shaken.
“A lot of the work in the funeral profession is done when no one else is present — no one but the funeral director and the deceased,” Booker said. “People need to have the proper education but also the proper heart to serve the public at such a tender time.”
1. Hundreds of bodies left to rot by Colorado funeral directors who misused COVID relief funds on vacations, lavish lifestyle
In April, nearly 200 decaying, maggot-infested bodies were found abandoned in a building by Colorado Springs’ Back to Nature Funeral Home owners John and Carie Hallford, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The couple were charged with five counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering and over 50 counts of forgery.
Instead of their deceased relatives’ ashes, the Hallfords allegedly presented families with dry concrete and buried the wrong body on two occasions. In total, they collected $130,000 from bereaved families for cremation and burial services that they never followed through with. In court, an FBI agent testified that the money was enough to cover cremation costs for all the abandoned bodies twice over.
The mugshots of Jon Hallford, left, and Carie Hallford, right, the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home. (Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office via AP, File)
MOURNING LOVED ONES TARGETED BY ‘DESPICABLE’ FUNERAL HOME SCAM
Based on text messages exchanged by the couple, the accumulation of bodies began four years before the grisly discovery. In their messages, the couple had discussed dumping the bodies into a hole, then treating them with lye or setting them on fire.
A later indictment claimed that the Hallfords also used $882,300 in COVID pandemic relief funds to buy cars, dinners, cryptocurrency, their child’s tuition and a slew of vacations.
“In Colorado, it was just a matter of time that someone who was not regulated, not licensed, with no governmental oversight, they eventually lose their sense of right and wrong, and the results are just horrifying,” Booker told Fox News Digital.
The Hallfords were ordered to pay out more than $1 million to the families of the deceased in August, CNN reported.
2. Former Colorado funeral director arrested for hoarding cremated remains, woman’s body in hearse for two years
Two years after his mortuary business closed, a funeral director was found with the cremated remains of up to 30 people in his rented home this February.
Police made the sickening discovery during a court-ordered eviction of 33-year-old Miles Harford from his Denver home on February 6, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Harford also kept the remains of a deceased woman inside a hearse for two years. He acknowledged to police that he owed money to several crematories in the area and that none would cremate the woman’s body, so he decided to store it in the hearse, the Colorado Sun reported.
Seen here is the Return to Nature Funeral Home, in Penrose, Colorado, where stacks of human remains were discovered, and bodily fluid several inches deep covered the floor, an FBI agent testified. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
INVESTIGATION OF COLORADO ‘GREEN’ FUNERAL HOME UNCOVERS MORE DECAYING BODIES: OFFICIALS
His business, Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services, had been closed since September 2022.
Booker said that “greed” or “the lack of a moral compass” could have motivated Harford.
“Maybe [he didn’t] intend to make a pattern of this. But when you go down that road once, and no one detects it, you can do it again and again,” Booker said.
A warrant issued for Harford’s arrest at the time listed potential charges of abuse of a corpse, forgery of the death certificate, and theft of the money paid for cremation.
3. Long Island sisters sue funeral home for $60 million after wrong man buried in their father’s plot, wearing his favorite t-shirt
Stacy Holzman and Megan Zaner claim that a South Carolina funeral home mistakenly sent the wrong person’s remains to New York for burial when their father died out of state, and that New York funeral directors insisted it was the correct body even though the women didn’t recognize the man in the casket.
The Long Island sisters sued Fletcher Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Fountain Inn, S.C., and Star of David Memorial Chapels in West Babylon, New York, for $60 million in damages after the interment imbroglio last February.
The women suspected that something was awry when they asked for a final look at their dad. Although the man was wearing his favorite Led Zepplin shirt, his face didn’t look quite right.
A photo of an empty morgue at a crematorium. (Fox News )
STACKS OF BODIES, FLUIDS AND FLIES FOUND AT COLORADO FUNERAL HOME, FBI AGENT SAYS
“Where is his facial hair?” Stacy Holzman asked the funeral home, according to CBS News. “The funeral director said it’s standard practice that we shave everybody.”
The man also had an autopsy scar on his forehead, but the women had asked that their father be buried according to Jewish tradition, which does not allow for autopsies.
“Again, the funeral director is dismissing it, saying, ‘Oh, it’s standard for if somebody passes in a hospital,’ and I’m like, ‘No, this isn’t right, I don’t recognize him,’” Holzman told the outlet.
Weeks later, the South Carolina funeral home confirmed the women’s suspicions. In the lawsuit, they claim that his body had been left “abandoned” inside the morgue “without dignity or respect.” The bereaved daughters buried their father later without his favorite clothing.
The Star of David said in a statement that the family “confirmed the identification of the deceased at the cemetery” before the burial, Fox News Digital previously reported. Star of David said it “took swift and decisive action to contact the family and offer whatever services needed to lessen their grief” after Fletcher notified them of the mistake.
“We deeply regret any sorrow experienced by the family for the mistake made by the funeral home in South Carolina,” the Star of David said, adding that “families are under a great deal of stress when they identify their deceased.”
Booker said that he had “never seen” a body mix-up during his 44 years in the funeral profession.
“I don’t know what all the background information is, but I would like to hope that the people who pass away went through an extended illness and maybe don’t look like themselves as often,” he said. “A mistake could happen in the healthcare setting where the wrong identification is put on the deceased person . . . two people passed away at approximately the same time, there’s a missed identification between the deceased, and you have two funeral homes that are impacted by that.”
4. New Jersey funeral home nearly buries woman 20 years younger in place of 93-year-old woman
The family of Kyung Ja Kim, who died on November 10, 2021, sought a $50 million settlement from two funeral homes, a funeral director and a mortician after the wrong woman was almost buried in their mother’s stead.
Kummi Kim, the woman’s daughter, told NorthJersey.com that their family thought that embalming technology had gotten so good that it made their deceased mother look much younger.
Kyung Ja Kim wore dentures, and the other woman’s body had a full set of teeth, the family’s attorney told the outlet. The dentures were later found under the casket pillow.
A person lays a rose on the grave of a soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, United States military cemetery, on Memorial Day, which is held annually to honor those who died while serving in the armed forces in Virginia, United States on May 29, 2023. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mourning family members, many who had traveled from Korea, began to throw shovelfuls of dirt onto the woman’s casket during burial. The family realized that something was amiss when funeral director Haemin Gina Chong tried to hurry mourners away.
Chong allegedly showed Kummi Kim a photo of the 93-year-old, asking whether it was her mother. When Kummi Kim replied in the affirmative, Chong allegedly directed the cemetery to lift the casket out of the grave and bring it back to the funeral home, leaving friends and family flabbergasted.
5. Texas funeral home sued for allegedly letting body “literally rot” during Winter Storm Uri in 2021
Julietta Guerra sued Integrity Funeral Home in south Houston last February, claiming that her son, Edward Silva, had not been embalmed for four days.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Silva had died unexpectedly on February 9, 2021. According to Guerra’s lawsuit, funeral home director Hilda Rojas assured the woman that her son would be embalmed by Feb. 12 and that “they would make him look like he was real.”
Guerra was allegedly told that her son’s body wasn’t ready yet on February 12, then again when she called the next day.
On February 14, Winter Storm Uri hit Houston. Guerra and her husband drove to the funeral home when they were unable to reach them by phone. The door was locked, and the mourning parents noticed that there weren’t any generators as they drove around they building.
Guerra arrived at the funeral home on Feb. 22 with a beautician to do Silva’s hair and makeup. The lawsuit said he was “severely decomposed” and smelled so strongly that the beautician told Guerra’s sister to not let her see her son. The funeral home director allegedly did not say anything to any family member beforehand about the state of the body.
The funeral suit that the family had brought for Silva also would not fit because of “extreme post-mortem swelling,” according to the lawsuit. The clothing ultimately had to be cut open and draped over his body for him to be able to wear it.
The family was forced to hold a closed-casket funeral, with many of more than 100 mourners “retching” at the smell.
“No family should have to endure the desecration of their loved one’s body like the Guerra family did,” family attorney Omar Khawaja said. “We intend to hold Integrity Funeral Home at Forest Lawn Cemetery accountable for their egregious conduct.”
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Montana
Rob McManus, Jenavieve Lynch win titles for Montana State at Big Sky Conference track and field championships
GRESHAM, Ore. — Montana State seniors Rob McManus and Jenavieve Lynch stood on the top step in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and hammer throw, respectively, in a strong Friday for the Bobcats at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships.
The Bobcat men tallied 44 points on Friday to increase their total to 49 through seven events, and the women collected 36 points after seven events. The men sit in second place after three days of competition, while the women are in fifth. In total, Montana State collected two individual titles, five All-Big Sky honors, 15 scoring performances and five program top-10 marks on Friday. Additionally, the Bobcat women collected 16 advancing times on the track, while the men added three.
The Bobcats tallied three scoring performances in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, led by McManus’ third straight Big Sky title with a time of 8:34.32. He earned the victory by 3.52 seconds to earn his fourth consecutive medal in the event, including a silver in 2023 and gold in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Ben Saelens earned a seventh-place result with a time of 8:59.29, finishing just three hundredths of a second shy of his own personal best. Eli Boppart claimed the eighth and final scoring position with a time of 9:07.42 as all three Bobcats entered in the event secured points for Montana State, which earned 13 points thanks to their efforts.
The women’s hammer throw trio of Lynch, Sydney Brewster and Sydney Mattfeldt all scored on Friday behind Lynch’s Big Sky title in the final field event of the day. Lynch recorded a mark of 55.67 meters/182 feet, 7 inches on her third attempt to sweep the 2026 Big Sky indoor and outdoor titles in the weight throw and hammer throw, respectively. She has earned All-Big Sky honors in those two events during each of the last two seasons.
Brewster placed fifth in the hammer on Friday with a mark of 53.31m/174-11, and Mattfeldt took eighth with a mark of 51.10m/167-8. Friday marked Mattfeldt’s second scoring performance in the hammer and Brewster’s first.
Tilde Bjerager earned Montana State’s first scoring performance of the weekend on the women’s side with a runner-up finish in the high jump to earn All-Big Sky honors. She cleared 1.74m/5-8.50 in her collegiate debut in the event to collect eight points for the Bobcats. The mark places her fifth in Montana State history in the outdoor high jump.
Bob Hartley and Jordan Lasher finished third and fourth, respectively in the pole vault to claim 11 points for the Bobcat men. Hartley vaulted to fifth in Montana State history with his personal-best mark of 5.24m/17-2.25 to take home bronze for the first time outdoors and the second time in his career following his third-place finish at the 2025 Big Sky Indoor Championships. Lasher posted a mark of 5.14m/16-10.25 to follow up his third-place finish indoors earlier this season with a fourth-place result in Gresham.
Matt Furdyk and Easton Hatleberg combined for 10 points in the hammer throw as Furdyk placed third for all-conference honors and Hatleberg took fifth place. Furdyk recorded a mark of 62.30m/204-4 on his final attempt for his second career All-Big Sky honor in the hammer throw. Hatleberg posted a mark of 59.92m/196-7 on his sixth and final attempt to earn four points for the Cats.
Claire Rutherford and Madi Siana clocked respective times of 34:25.66 and 34:38.35 in the women’s 10,000m to finish fourth and fifth. The duo combined for nine points for the Bobcat women, with Rutherford collecting her five points in her collegiate 10,000m debut.
Niamh Motley earned a fifth-place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase thanks to a pass on Northern Arizona’s Tess Hannigan in the final 100 meters of the race. She clocked a time of 10:15.52 to claim the No. 3 spot on Montana State’s all-time top-10 list, obliterating her own personal-best time by 26 seconds.
Trystin Chapel placed eighth in the long jump to claim one point for Montana State. He posted a mark of 6.87m/22-6.50 on his second attempt to score for the Bobcats.
Montana State advanced four runners to Saturday’s final in the women’s 200m. Caroline Hawkes clocked a 23.77 to post the fastest time in the prelims, Jaeden Wolff finished third with a 24.27, Brooke Reuter posted a 24.37 for sixth place and Peyton Garrison secured the eighth and final spot with a time of 24.57.
Three Bobcats will run in Saturday’s 400m hurdles final after clocking three of the five fastest times in the prelims on Friday. Bjerager led the pack with a time of 59.41, Olivia Lewis posted a 1:00.32 for the third-fastest time in the field and Giulia Gandolfi won her heat with a time of 1:00.74 to place fifth overall.
Bjerager and Millie Hubbell both earned qualifying times for Saturday’s 100m hurdles final, with Bjerager posting the fastest time in the prelims with a 13.59 and Hubbell clocking a 13.89 to finish second in her heat and sixth overall. Bjerager improved her own No. 3 time in program history by one hundredth of a second with her performance.
Hawkes clocked the fastest time in the 400m prelims to advance to Saturday’s final. She posted a time of 54.12 on Friday and will look to sweep the Big Sky indoor and outdoor 400m titles with a win on Saturday.
Harvey Cramb crossed the finish line first in the 800m prelims on Friday to punch his ticket to Saturday’s final. Cramb clocked a time of 1:48.84 to advance and provide a strong scoring opportunity for the Bobcats.
Jett Grundy advanced to the final in the 400m on the men’s side, winning his heat with a time of 47.19 to place second overall in the prelims.
Nash Coley finished third overall and first in his heat the 400m hurdles prelims with a time of 52.28 and will run in Saturday’s final.
Two Bobcats advanced to the final in the women’s 1,500m as Kalei Moravitz placed fifth and Annie Kaul took eighth in the prelims. Moravitz clocked a time of 4:34.00 to finish fifth in her heat and qualify based on time, and Kaul crossed the finish line in 4:40.28 to win her heat and earn an automatic qualification to Saturday’s final.
Later in the day, Kaul and Moravitz also clocked top-eight times in the 800m to advance to Saturday’s final. Kaul was the second overall finisher in the prelims with a time of 2:07.53, while Moravitz finished second in her heat and eighth overall with a 2:11.68.
Wolff and Reuter claimed the final two spots in the 100m final with their performances in the prelims on Friday. Both runners crossed the finish line in 11.88, with Wolff finishing seventh and Reuter taking eighth thanks to a tiebreaker that found them just one thousandth of a second apart. Reuter improved her No. 8 time in Montana State history with the result.
Full results from the Big Sky Outdoor Championships are available here.
Montana State will open its fourth and final day of competition in Oregon on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT. The men’s discus featuring Matt Furdyk and Talon Holmquist will kick off the field events, while running events will get underway at 12:30 p.m. with the women’s 4x100m relay, in which Garrison, Hawkes, Reuter and Wolff are expected to compete.
Pitching can be the ultimate difference during a double-elimination Nevada high school baseball state tournament.
So after Bishop Gorman ace Hudson Ciulla threw an efficient 67 pitches in the Gaels’ opening win of the tournament on Thursday, he knew the team could call his number again in the championship round Saturday.
Gorman coach Matt Stoner did just that, and Ciulla made the most of his second outing.
After four strong innings from starter Noah Ramos, Ciulla pitched a perfect final three innings to help Bishop Gorman secure a 5-3 win over Bishop Manogue to win the Class 5A state championship Saturday at Las Vegas High School.
“It’s awesome, it’s a weight off our shoulders,” said Ciulla, a senior right-hander. “It’s been something we’ve been dreaming of my whole life, winning state, especially as a senior. To go out on top, it couldn’t be a better feeling.”
It’s the 10th baseball state title for Gorman. Since the Gaels (32-6) had not lost in the double-elimination tournament entering Saturday, Manogue (30-10) would have needed to beat the Gaels twice on Saturday to claim the title.
“It’s what they talked about doing all year and they went out and did it,” Stoner said. “The team really loved each other and it was special. It was just the togetherness. They wanted it from Day 1 of fall ball. They talked about it, and I said, ‘You talk about it, you got to do it.’”
Gorman’s strong pitching
Manogue gave itself a chance through Saturday. The Miners kept up with Gorman by managing enough runs and limiting the Gaels’ bats. But things changed when Ciulla entered the game in the fifth with Gorman holding a 4-3 lead.
The Gonzaga commit had five innings and 83 pitches to work with before hitting the tournament limit, but Ciulla breezed through the Miners lineup. He struck out seven of the nine batters he faced and did not allow a base runner.
Ramos, who has dealt with forearm tightness throughout the entire season, pitched the Gaels to a win in the region title game on May 9, and got the Gaels to the fifth inning.
“When we pitch and play defense, we can play with anybody,” Stoner said. “Noah Ramos did an incredible job, he’s been battling the injury bug all year and he came in and got us to the fifth inning, which is what we wanted.
“And then, there’s nothing to say about Hudson Ciulla. He’s been amazing this week, he’s been amazing all year for us. He just came in and dominated and that’s what he does. He was exceptional today.”
‘Went through the fire’
Gorman fell behind early when Nate Lemieux hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to give the Miners the lead. The Gaels evened the score in the bottom of the inning on a Chase Wilk RBI double and DaMari Hall following Wilk with an RBI infield single.
“I have so much faith in this team that I knew we were going to come back,” said Wilk, a senior Minnesota commit. “Just doing whatever I can to help the team, that’s my mindset. … That belief just carries me through my play and all of us.”
Wilk and Hall delivered again in the third. With the bases loaded, Wilk recorded a long single after a Manogue outfielder dropped a fly ball. Then Hall had a sacrifice fly to give the Gaels a 4-3 lead.
“We went through the fire,” said Hall, a Washington State football commit. “Last season was tough, we played a lot of good competition this year, including this game. We’ve been down a lot this year, but there’s never a doubt that our bats are going to get going, our pitchers are going to throw strikes and we’re going to be out on top.”
Hall scored an insurance run in the sixth on a Soren Savarda sacrifice fly. Hall finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two stolen bases, and Wilk was 2-for-3.
“You sit up there and you don’t worry about (the seniors such as Wilk and Hall),” Stoner said. “You know that they are going to do something to help us win. They both stepped up. They have a calming sense about them. I think we were trying too hard on offense (today), we were trying to make it happen instead of doing it. But I’m really proud of them.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
May 16, 2026
The New Mexico Forestry Division would like to update you on wildfire activity on the Line Fire and the Mimms Fire that is requiring the attention of suppression resources in New Mexico.
Line Fire – Quay County – Final
Yesterday, good work from response crews kept the Line Fire within its footprint and allowed firefighters to establish line around the entire right flank. These lines held under hot, dry and windy conditions throughout the day, raising containment to 90%. Over the coming days, resources will continue to secure the remainder of the fire’s edge until the incident is fully contained and out. The fire’s size is now estimated at 30,144 acres. This will be the final notification on this fire unless there are significant changes.
The Line Fire was discovered at 6:14 p.m. Thursday, May 14 near HWY 54 south of Nara Visa in Quay County.
Acres: 30,144 acres estimated.
Containment: 90% contained.
Start Date / Time: 6:14 p.m. on Thursday, May 14
Fuels: Grass.
Cause: Lightning.
Location: HWY 54 south of Nara Visa in Quay County.
Ownership: State and private in New Mexico and Texas.
Structure Threat: None at this time.
Evacuations / Closures: None at this time.
Weather: Today sunny, with highs near 95. Patchy smoke after noon. North wind 5-10 mph becoming south 15-20 mph in the afternoon. Red Flag Warning in effect until 8 p.m. this evening.
Resources: Forestry Division, Quay County, local volunteer fire department resources. Six type-6 engines, one fixed-wing aircraft.
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Mimms Fire – Quay County
Yesterday, response crews and air resources on the Mimms fire were able to establish and hold fireline around the western edge, raising containment to 20%. Fire behavior remained active in the interior, producing a slop over that was caught on the north side. Spot fires were seen up to three-quarters of a mile ahead of the fire front.
Today’s objectives include holding and improving line to keep the fire within in its footprint, while working to extinguish heat along the flanks and the head. Crews and heavy equipment will cut grader and dozer line on the east and west flanks, while keeping their focus on the fire’s eastern edge. The Sparks fire burn scar to the southwest will be used a containment feature if necessary. Aviation resources have been requested.
Acres: 4,000 estimated.
Containment: 20% contained.
Start Date / Time: 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 14
Fuels: Grass, pinon/juniper
Cause: Lightning.
Location: North of HWY 156, northwest of Jordan, east of Sparks Fire footprint.
Ownership: Private.
Threats: Structure threat has passed.
Weather: Today sunny, with highs near 95. Patchy smoke after noon. North wind 5-10 mph becoming south 15-20 mph in the afternoon. Red Flag Warning in effect until 8 p.m. this evening.
Resources: NM Forestry Division, Oregon Department of Forestry, local volunteer fire departments, NM Department of Transportation. Total personnel: 68.
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Mimms Fire, seen from the air, May 15, 2026. Credit: NM Forestry Division
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