WAGONER, Okla. — 2 News obtained the arrest affidavit for two involved in the alleged improper disposal of about 189 bodies at their funeral home.
The new details in the affidavit show how federal agents were able to locate the Colorado Springs pair in Wagoner, Oklahoma.
According to the affidavit, on October 3, Colorado law enforcement officers received multiple tips of a horrible smell coming from the Return to Nature Funeral Home.
The funeral home is owned by suspects Jon and Carie Hallford.
Jon told authorities the following day that he was learning how to do taxidermy but thought there was a problem.
Jon missed an appointment with the Department of Regulatory Agencies scheduled for the following day.
DORA issued a statement after the missed appointment and when the case began developing against the couple.
The organization said the funeral home was operating unlicensed and they never received complaints while it was licensed through DORA.
The affidavit says "The conditions within the building were abhorrent; bodies we located stacked on top of each other and some were not in body bags."
Some of the bodies found in the funeral home dated back to 2019 and were severely decayed making identification of the remains challenging for investigators, according to the affidavit.
After discovering the bodies investigators say some families possibly received cremated remains that were not their loved ones.
This discovery led investigators to uncover multiple years of theft and fraud tying back to the couple, the affidavit said.
Colorado law enforcement got a search warrant for both Hallford's cell phones to look at records, use location tracking and get specific location data when either tried to use the phone according to the affidavit.
After Jon caught wind of the search at the funeral home phone record data showed the device was deactivated on October 4. This led investigators to suspect that Jon and Carie left Colorado to avoid being caught, says the affidavit.
Federal authorities executed multiple search warrants in Colorado looking at the couple's home and an additional business.
In mid-October, Carie's phone location indicated that the two left Colorado and were in Oklahoma. That is where they remained until their arrest.
After the phone pinged to a Wagoner cell tower and federal agents completed surveillance trips, investigators concluded the pair were staying at Jon Hallford's parent's home.
On Wednesday morning federal agents carried out the warrants and arrested Jon and Carie Hallford.
The couple is expected to be extradited back to Colorado to face their charges unless they fight the extradition.
They will appear at the Muskogee Federal Court on Thursday morning.
According to the affidavit, both are facing 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, 5 counts of theft, 4 counts of money laundering and over 50 counts of forgery.
Their bonds are set at $2 million each.
Investigators tell 2 News that 80 remains are still unidentified.
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