Funeral home gave grieving relatives concrete instead of ashes, man alleges in new lawsuit

A Colorado man has started the legal process to seek a class-action lawsuit against Return to Nature Funeral Home on Monday after learning a family member's body allegedly wasn't cremated.

Richard Law filed the lawsuit in Fremont County District Court after law enforcement accused the funeral home of mishandling nearly 200 bodies. In the lawsuit, Law claims his father, Roger Law, is among the bodies recovered despite dying from COVID-19 and allegedly being cremated in 2020. The lawsuit alleges the funeral home routinely gave grieving relatives crushed concrete instead of ashes.

Andrew Swan, a member of the legal team representing Law and other families, told USA TODAY on Tuesday he's disturbed by the funeral home accepting more burials and allowing them to pile up.

"It's not like Return to Nature received 189 bodies all at once," Swan said. We know that starting three years ago when bodies were filling up, they kept taking more money and more bodies. They were doubling down time and time again."

Law contacted the funeral home and made arrangements for his father's body to be cremated. He paid $1,430.71 but said in the lawsuit Return to Nature pretended to cremate Roger and gave Law false ashes.

Authorities removed 189 bodies from the funeral home on Oct. 13, Fremont County Coroner Randy Keller and Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said in a joint press release on Oct. 17. They said the number of bodies recovered could increase.

Susan Medina, spokesperson for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation told USA TODAY on Tuesday the number of bodies recovered still hasn't changed and declined to share further information about criminal charges, citing the active investigation.

"Return to Nature Funeral Home and its owners took advantage of these families’ trust and lied to them about what happened to their loved ones’ bodies," according to the lawsuit. "In some cases (including in Roger’s case), the owners went as far as to return counterfeit ashes to the decedents’ families and falsify the decedents’ death certificates."

The website for Return to Nature Funeral Home is no longer accessible as of Tuesday. According to the Wayback Machine, an internet archive website, the funeral home's website was last active on Oct. 18.

The Facebook page and phone number connected to the funeral home are both inactive as of Tuesday. The home has been in business since 2017, according to public records, and has locations in Colorado Springs and Penrose.

Owners Jon and Carie Hallford and Return to Nature are listed as defendants in the lawsuit. They didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on Tuesday. No attorney was listed for the Hallfords or the funeral home.

The lawsuit seeks a trial by jury.

Some of the affected families also allegedly received fake ashes of their loved ones.

"On information and belief, Defendants routinely gave crushed concrete and other counterfeits to its customers to deceive them into believing that their loved ones had been properly cremated."

Law's father was identified among the removed bodies through his fingerprints, which Swan said thrust Law back into the grief process.

Law sought a class action lawsuit due to the number of families affected across Colorado and the U.S. The lawsuit could involve all immediate family members of those who weren't buried or cremated at Return to Nature Funeral Home.

"Roger deserved better. So did the other 188 victims found at the Penrose Property," according to the lawsuit.

Contributing: Associated Press