COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — One of the Return to Nature funeral home co-owners, Carie Hallford, appeared in an El Paso County courtroom Monday as a judge decided not to accept a plea deal on her state case.

Hallford is accused of abusing nearly 200 bodies in partnership with her husband at the time, Jon Hallford. The alleged crimes took place over a time span ranging from 2019 - 2023.

News5 has been extensively covering the case since it first broke in 2023. In August , Carie Hallford's husband, Jon, was in court for a similar hearing, where, after hours of victim testimony, Judge Eric rejected that plea deal, and Hallford would go on to change his plea from guilty to not guilty at a follow-up hearing in September .

In court on Monday, the families of the victims involved in th

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