Body Count at Colorado Funeral Home With Decaying Remains Grows to 189

The number of bodies found at a rural Colorado funeral home has grown to at least 189, officials said Tuesday, two weeks after they reported that a foul odor had led investigators to the decaying remains of 115 people there.

Teams removed the remains of at least 189 individuals from the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, a facility about 100 miles south of Denver that provides green burial services, and transported them to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a news release on behalf of Sheriff Allen Cooper of Fremont County and Randy Keller, the county coroner.

It is unclear if the additional bodies were also decaying.

The number of people whose remains were found may continue to change as the investigation continues, officials said.

The Fremont County Coroner’s Office, advocates for victims and others will begin notifying families in the “next several days,” officials said. It was unclear how long that process will take.

“We are conducting extensive coordination efforts as we focus on the identification of the decedents and provide notifications to ensure the families are given accurate information to prevent further victimization as they continue to grieve their loved ones,” Mr. Keller said in a statement.

State regulators have suspended the funeral home’s license, and wrote in a letter dated Oct. 5 that the owner, Jon Hallford, had “attempted to conceal the improper storage of human remains” on the property. According to that letter, Mr. Hallford spoke to a funeral home regulator the day before and “acknowledged that he has a ‘problem’ at the property,” and “claimed that he practices taxidermy” there.

Mr. Hallford could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday at numbers listed under his name or at the number listed for the funeral home.

Sheriff Cooper said after the initial remains were found that no one had been arrested or charged in the matter. He said the owner of the funeral home, whom he did not name, had been cooperating.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation did not immediately respond on Tuesday evening to requests for comment regarding potential criminal charges.

The funeral home offered “green” burials, environmentally sensitive alternatives to funerals, which typically require embalming fluids and elaborate coffins.

Law enforcement officials are asking that families who believe they have been affected fill out a survey.