A Colorado funeral home where 189 decaying bodies were discovered this month appears to have fabricated cremation records and may have given families fake ashes, according to information gathered by The Associated Press from customers and crematories.
The families that did business with Return to Nature Funeral Home fear their loved ones weren't cremated at all and instead could be among the yet unidentified corpses authorities discovered after responding to a report of an"abhorrent smell.""My mom's last wish was for her remains to be scattered in a place she loved, not rotting away in a building," said Tanya Wilson, who believes the ashes she spread in Hawaii in August were fake.
Sara Lee Swoveland's death certificate is seen in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. Public records show the Hallfords and their company, which opened in 2017 and offered cremations and"green" burials without embalming fluids, were beset by recent financial and legal troubles. Among the problems were a forced eviction, unpaid taxes and a lawsuit by Wilbert, which received a $21,000 judgment in June because Return to Nature failed to pay for"a couple hundred" cremations, Epps said.
A sign covers the broken back window of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. Authorities could be waiting to bring charges until they determine if there are any more improperly stored bodies, said Ian Farrell, a criminal law expert at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
When Abby Swoveland called Wilbert Funeral Services, listed on the death certificate, and learned they had long ago stopped doing business with Return to Nature, she was devastated.Associated Press reporters Thomas Peipert in Colorado Springs, and Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed.Israel pounds Gaza, evacuates town near Lebanon ahead of expected ground offensive against HamasArmy private who fled to North Korea charged with desertion, held by U.S.
'Hours, maybe days' left before window closes for hostage release, says negotiator with previous Hamas experience An Army private who fled to North Korea before being returned home to the United States earlier this month has been detained by the U.S. military, two officials said Thursday night, and is facing charges including desertion and possessing sexual images of a child.A former Haitian official considered one of the main suspects in the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in 2021 was arrested Thursday in Haiti's capital, the police informed.
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