Carie Hallford faced between 25 and 35 years in prison under a plea agreement. Some family members of those whose bodies were left to rot had urged Judge Eric Bentley to impose the maximum sentence.Â
But the judge said Carie Hallford made credible claims of being a victim of domestic violence and her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, was the driving force in their relationship.
Bentley added that 30 years was a "staggeringly huge sentence" and appropriate for her crimes.
Jon Hallford was sentenced to 40 years on corpse abuse charges at a February hearing in which he was called a "monster" by relatives of the victims.
Carie Hallford was the public face of Return to Nature, dealing with bereaved customers at the couple's funeral home in Colorado Springs. Jon Hallford performed much of the physical work, including at a second location south of Colorado Springs in Penrose.
That's where authorities found bodies piled throughout a bug-infested building after neighbours complained about a foul odour in 2023.
One of those corpses was the mother of Tanya Wilson, who told Bentley on Friday the family released what they thought were her ashes from a boat in Hawaii. It turned out her body was lying in toxic fluids on the floor of the Hallfords' makeshift mortuary.
"Carie Hallford annihilated that dignity," Wilson said.
Carie Hallford apologised in court on Friday, saying she was raised to know right from wrong but had lost who she once was.
She fought back tears as she said her marriage had been "a convoluted web of lies, deceit and abuse."
She said she was not a monster but deserved punishment.
Prosecutors alleged the Hallfords were motivated by greed. They charged more than $US1200 per customer, and authorities said the amount they spent on luxury items would have covered the cremation costs many times over.
Authorities recovered 189 sets of remains from the Penrose building and said another two bodies were improperly buried. Two of the remains have not yet been identified, but officials continue trying, Fremont County coroner Randy Keller said.
The case became the most egregious in a string of allegations involving Colorado funeral homes.
Colorado had been the only US state that did not regulate funeral homes before politicians adopted recent changes. The Hallfords' case prompted laws mandating routine inspections and adopting a funeral director licensing system.
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