More charges against Colorado funeral home owner who had corpse in back of hearse for over a year
FILE - The residence where a former funeral home owner kept a deceased women’s body in a hearse for two years as well as the remains of 30 cremated people is shown Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in southwest Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)
DENVER (AP) — An arraignment for a Colorado funeral home owner accused of keeping a woman’s corpse in the back of a hearse for over a year and improperly stashing the cremated remains of at least 30 people has been delayed again, this time because prosecutors have filed additional charges.
Miles Harford had been scheduled to enter a plea Monday to two counts of forgery, one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of theft during a court hearing in Denver that had been delayed four previous times.
Last week, prosecutors filed additional charges against Harford including three more counts of abuse of a corpse for treating bodies or remains “in a way that would outrage normal family sensibilities.” The names of the victims were redacted from the motion to add the new charges, but the crimes date back to 2019.
Harford also faces four more theft charges, including two involving at-risk victims.
There were no other details in court documents on the new charges, including how much money was allegedly taken from the four victims, how it was taken or in what way the three other corpses were abused.
Harford, 34, is represented by lawyers from the state public defender’s office, which does not comment on its cases to the media. His next court hearing is set for Jan. 17.
Harford was arrested in February after the body of Christina Rosales, who died of Alzheimer’s at age 63, was found covered in blankets in the back of a hearse and the cremated remains of at least 30 other people were found stashed throughout a rental property, from inside the hearse to the crawl space.
As of February, authorities had identified 18 people whose cremated remains were found, according to Harford’s arrest affidavit.
In March, prosecutors said more ashes were discovered at the home and that many more charges could be filed against Harford.
Harford’s case is the latest in a series of prosecutions over the past decade involving Colorado funeral homes, including one that illegally sold body parts and another where nearly 200 bodies were left to rot and families were allegedly sent fake ashes. The owners have pleaded guilty to state charges for abusing corpses and to federal charges for defrauding customers and the federal government
Colorado’s funeral home regulations have been among some of the weakest in the nation, but such cases have led to reforms. This year Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills into law to overhaul oversight of the industry and bring Colorado in line with most other states.