New details emerge about 200 bodies found in October, including fluids, maggots and incriminating texts between owners

Investigators who entered a Colorado funeral home where nearly 200 abandoned bodies were found encountered stacks of partially covered human remains, bodily fluids several inches deep on the floor, and flies and maggots throughout the building, an FBI agent testified on Thursday.

Prosecutors also revealed text messages sent between the funeral home’s owners showing they were under growing financial pressures and had fears that they would be caught for mishandling the bodies. As the bodies accumulated, one of the co-owners even suggested getting rid of them by digging a big hole and treating them with lye or setting them on fire, according to the texts.

Jon and Carie Hallford to face charges of theft, forgery, money laundering and approximately 190 counts of abuse of a corpse

Relatives who knew or feared that their loved ones were among the 190 abandoned bodies found decomposing in a Colorado funeral home watched in person for the first time Tuesday as the owners of the business appeared before a judge.

Jon and Carie Hallford own Return to Nature Funeral Home, which has a facility in Penrose where investigators in early October discovered dozens of stacked bodies, some that had death dates as far back as 2019, according to a federal affidavit. The pair stand accused of abusing corpses, stealing, laundering money and forging documents.