DENVER (AP) — A household filed a lawsuit Monday in opposition to a Colorado funeral dwelling the place 189 decaying our bodies have been discovered, alleging the house owners allowed the stays of their family members to “rot” away whereas they despatched households pretend ashes.
The ugly discovery at Return to Nature Funeral House occurred earlier in October after experiences of an “abhorrent odor” emanating from a constructing about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Denver.
Legislation enforcement has began figuring out the stays and started notifying households that their family members have been among the many our bodies — generally years after they have been allegedly cremated and given as ashes to grieving family.
The lawsuit accuses Return to Nature and its house owners, Jon and Carie Hallford, of deliberately inflicting emotional misery, negligence, fraud and violating various Colorado legal guidelines, amongst different claims.
Calls and texts despatched to numbers listed for Return to Nature and house owners have gone unanswered for the reason that discovery of the decaying our bodies. No arrests have been made.
“In dying, these women and men deserved to be handled with respect and dignity. As a substitute, they have been defiled,” mentioned Andrew Swan, an lawyer who can be representing households, in an announcement.
The Related Press reported earlier this month that the funeral dwelling appeared to have fabricated cremation data and will have given households pretend ashes.
The person who filed the lawsuit on behalf of different households, Richard Legislation, despatched his father’s stays to Return to Nature in 2020 after Roger Legislation — who owned a shoe enterprise and had an irreverent humor and quiet religion — died of COVID-19.
The funeral dwelling claimed to cremate his father and despatched the youthful Legislation what seemed to be ashes. Three years later, his father’s physique was recognized within the constructing.
“For almost three years, Return to Nature Funeral House and the Hallfords allowed my father to rot together with almost 200 others,” he mentioned.
