West

Mixed-up remains, rotting bodies, fake ashes: How grieving families uncovered these five funeral home horrors

Published

3 months ago

October 3, 2024

Press Room

Mixed-up remains, rotting bodies, fake ashes: How grieving families uncovered these five funeral home horrors

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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.

The Return to Nature Funeral home in Penrose, Colorado, where human remains were improperly stored.

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 rose is laid at a veteran's gravestone

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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Oregon

Homes at or under $500,000 on northern Oregon coast, Dec. 9 to 15

Published

12 minutes ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Homes at or under 0,000 on northern Oregon coast, Dec. 9 to 15

Prospective homebuyers considering the real estate market had a range of options in various neighborhoods throughout the region between Dec. 9 and Dec. 15. In this article, we outline recent property sales in the northern Oregon coast, all of which featured homes under $500,000.

Below, we provide an overview of the top six properties in each area, chosen for their proximity to the desired price range and the largest living spaces.

Please note that the properties in the list below are for real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of Dec. 9, even if the property may have been sold earlier.

1. $500K, 3 bedrooms / 2 baths

Situated in the 61000 block of N.W. Cochran Rd., Timber, this single-family home, consisting of three bedrooms and two baths, was sold in December for a price of $500,000, translating to $285 per square foot. The property, constructed in 1981, offers a living area of 1,755 square feet and sits on a 1.8-acre lot. The deal was finalized on Dec. 6.

2. $497K, 2 bedrooms / 1 bathroom

For a price tag of $497,000 ($248 per square foot), the single-family home, built in 1900 and located in the 37700 block of Parker Lane, Astoria changed hands in December. The home spans 2,004 square feet of living area, with two bedrooms and one bathroom. The property comprises a 0.5-acre lot. The deal was finalized on Dec. 6.

3. $484K, 3 bedrooms / 3 bathrooms

Priced at $484,000 (equivalent to $294 per square foot), this detached house, constructed in 2023 and situated in the 700 block of Quail Glenn Dr., Philomath, was sold in December. The home spans 1,648 square feet of living area, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The property comprises a 5,663-square-foot lot. The deal was finalized on Dec. 3.

$484K, single-family home in the 700 block of Quail Glenn Dr., Philomath

4. $475K, 2 bedrooms / 2 baths

At $475,000 ($270 per square foot), the detached house located in the first block of Whealdon Rd., Naselle offered another opportunity below the targeted price range when it changed hands in November. This property, built in 1981, provides 1,760 square feet of living space, featuring two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and sits on a 20.9-acre lot. The deal was finalized on Nov. 27.

5. $460K, 4 bedrooms / 1 bathroom

This single-family house, featuring four bedrooms and one bathroom, underwent a change of ownership in December. Located in the 24000 block of Highway 20, Philomath, the home spans 1,512 square feet and was sold for $460,000, or $304 per square foot. The property sits on a lot measuring 0.9-acre, and it was built in 1952. The deal was finalized on Dec. 3.

$460K, single-family house in the 24000 block of Highway 20, Philomath

6. $445K, 4 bedrooms / 1 bath

In December, a detached house, with four bedrooms and one bath, located in the 36800 block of Happy Hollow Rd., Blodgett, changed ownership. The property, covering 1,436 square feet, was built in 1943 and was sold for $445,000, which calculates to $310 per square foot. The lot size encompasses 1.2-acre. The deal was finalized on Dec. 3.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data.

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Utah

Inside Voices: The perspectives you read most in 2024

Published

35 minutes ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Inside Voices: The perspectives you read most in 2024

Happy Saturday, and welcome to Inside Voices, a weekly newsletter that features a collection of ideas, perspectives and solutions from across Utah — without any of the vitriol or yelling that’s become all too common on other platforms. Subscribe here.

Happy Saturday, friends. As we approach the end of the year, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for subscribing to Inside Voices and reading along each week. My hope was to create a forum for opinions you won’t find elsewhere and to share your own experience without any of the vitriol or yelling that’s become all too common on other platforms.

I’m especially grateful to those of you who have shared your perspectives, analyses and ideas. To celebrate that, I’d like to take a look back at some of The Salt Lake Tribune’s most read Voices pieces from 2024:

LDS women should join me in skipping church on Sunday | Kierstyn Kremer Howes
If Ryan Smith can’t afford his own entertainment district, I have no choice but to assume he is poor | Brian Higgins
‘Heretic’ brings back scary, suffocating memories of my LDS mission | Beth Adams
After three decades of being a Utah Jazz fan, I can’t do it anymore | Bryan Griffith
Christ put his trust in women, why won’t more LDS men? | Rosemary Card
Glen Canyon Dam has created a world of mud | David Marston
The Utah Jazz need to stop giving Karl Malone a platform | Ben Dowsett
For millennial women like me, LDS garments carry a complicated symbolism | Annie Mangelson
Natalie Cline bullied our child, and she should be impeached | Al and Rachel van der Beek
Weber State is embracing change in our approach to serving students. As its leader, I welcome scrutiny. | Brad Mortensen
I grew up in Park City, and I don’t recognize the place it’s become | Fletcher Keyes
Utah, it’s OK to go outside without winning | Brian Higgins
As a parent, I hated sending my kids to school so early. As a sleep researcher, I know how damaging it is. | Wendy Troxel
It’s time to step away | Paul Huntsman
I’ll be at my LDS church this weekend, pushing for change | Amy Watkins Jensen
Why Utah teachers say they’re leaving the profession | Tribune Readers
After six weeks on SLC public transit, I can’t give up my car quite yet | Elise Armand
I’m a Latter-day Saint and a horror expert. Here’s what ‘Heretic’ gets right — and where it went wrong. | Michaelbrent Collings
I’m in Oslo. But I see a big case of Stockholm syndrome in Salt Lake City. | George Pyle
As a former Republican senator in Utah, I’m embarrassed | Stuart C. Reid
Ogden has a rare piece of history. It shouldn’t sit around and gather dust. | Dana Parker
My LDS family adopted an American Indian child in the 1970s. It was wrong, and the church should apologize. | Thomas DeVere Wolsey
The University of Utah can’t ignore us — its staff and faculty — forever | Kristina Lynae
It’s time for Utah chefs to get off their gas | Victoria N. Stafford and Edwin R. Stafford
Liquor store refrigerators boldly usher Salt Lake beer-lovers into the mid-20th century | Brian Higgins

Thanks for sharing and for reading! If you’re interested in contributing an op-ed or Letter to the Editor in 2025, please take a look at our guidelines — which include several helpful prompts — and reach out to me at sweber@sltrib.com.

Utah Voices

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune)
CEOs and their families check out what organizers are calling the world’s largest cardboard fort at the Gateway, during the official launch on Thursday, August 6. The rooms of the fort are dedicated to educate visitors on how to build mental wellness. According to the press release nearly 40% of people say their company has not even asked them how theyÕre doing since the pandemic began, making these people nearly 40% more likely to experience a decrease in mental health. Utah ranks 48 out of 51 for its high prevalence of mental illness and low access to care, according to Mental Health America and in 2019, we had the 5th highest suicide rate in the nation. The fort, called Òroom HereÓ will officially open to the public on Friday, August 7 from Noon to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.

The following excerpts come from op-eds recently published in The Tribune.

Health insurance

“Too often, we’ve seen treatment denied because patients aren’t deemed ‘depressed enough’ by insurance standards, yet as I sit across from them, I see them suffering to the point of suicidal ideation,” writes Utah psychiatrist Alex Mageno. Read more.

Housing

“Utah has the space to provide support for the unhoused and suburban communities have a chance to lead this charge,” writes Chandler Whitlock, a master’s student at the University of Utah. “Society thrives when we support each other. We can utilize existing resources to support one of our community’s most vulnerable populations.” Read more.

Education

“In an era where people are concerned about controversial groups and bad actors infiltrating education, shared governance gives a name and a face to the people who are influencing education at the local level,” writes Utah teacher Sarah Nichols. “Parents consistently express trust for their child’s teacher and their own local schools. Removing teachers from the decision-making process will only weaken community influence on public education.” Read more.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

“The legislators who presented HB261 said that student clubs were to remain untouched, but this did not happen. Instead, this ‘anti-discrimination’ law has undercut some of the most important anti-discrimination organizations in the state,” writes Michael Lee Wood and Jacob S. Rugh at BYU. “We believe the Utah Legislature can correct their mistake and stay true to the aims of anti-discrimination, rooting out racism and interracial support by repealing HB261 in the next legislative session.” Read more.

Transgender rights

“Anti-trans laws are being proposed and passed almost every day in America. Federal lawmakers are condoning and/or encouraging violence against us. As a teacher and a trans person, my livelihood is in jeopardy,” writes Kiley Campbell. “My question would be: What does de-escalation do to help any of this?” Read more.

Share Your Perspective

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday December 17, 2024.

I’m gathering predictions ahead of the new year. What do you see happening — or what would you like to see happen — in Utah in 2025?

From Bagley’s Desk

I’m always looking for unique perspectives, ideas and solutions that move our state forward. Learn more about our guidelines for an op-ed, guest essay, letter to the editor and more here, and drop me a note at voices@sltrib.com.

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Washington

Potential Washington Nationals Target Jack Flaherty Sees Value Rise

Published

52 minutes ago

December 21, 2024

Press Room

Potential Washington Nationals Target Jack Flaherty Sees Value Rise

The Washington Nationals are finally starting to make some noise in the offseason, but there is still plenty of work to be done.

For quite some time this winter, the Nationals were a very quiet team in free agency. However, that recently changed as the they signed pitcher Michael Soroka to a one-year, $9 million deal.

The right-hander was an All-Star back in 2019, but has missed a ton of time because of injuries while bouncing back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen. Washington appears like they will be giving him a chance to be a starter in 2025, but it’s hard to expect anything from him after the last number of years.

While the Nationals do have five starters under contract now and projected to be in the rotation to start the season, they are really lacking a reliable veteran to help lead this rotation. The starting pitching market has been wild, but if Washington is hoping to compete, they should be thinking about adding another arm, even after signing Soroka.

Recently, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com wrote about the starting pitcher market and highlighted Jack Flaherty’s value on the rise, which could affect the Nationals. Passan pointed out that the “exorbitant” price of pitching helps Flaherty. And it’s not just deals for pitchers like Blake Snell and Max Fried.

He noted examples like Luis Severino’s $67 million, three-year deal and Frankie Montas’ $34 million, two-year deal, as examples. All of those, he wrote, lifts Flaherty’s potential value.

“However long Flaherty’s free agency takes to flesh out, he’s still bound to do well because every team needs starting pitching, and all it takes is one suitor to step up,” Passan wrote.

After seeing some of the other deals starters have received so far this offseason, it’s easy to understand why Flaherty’s value has gone up. While the right-hander isn’t an ace, he had a strong season in 2024 for both the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers. Also, he won a World Series, which never hurts a resume.

The right-hander showed top-end of the rotation production with the Tigers in 2024, as he totaled a 7-5 record and 2.95 ERA before being traded.

For Washington, they have to be thinking about adding a more established starter than Soroka this offseason. Besides MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin, there are a lot of question marks in this rotation.

Even though the price tag might be on the rise, the 29-year-old right-hander could be exactly what the Nationals need in their starting rotation to take a step forward in 2025 and beyond.

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