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By Chloe Mayer
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A Colorado funeral home owner pleaded guilty to corpse abuse and theft on Monday in what looks set to mark the culmination of a gruesome case.
Miles Harford, 34, was arrested last year after he was accused of keeping the body of 63-year-old Christina Rosales covered in blankets in the back of a hearse for more than a year and giving her family someone else's remains after relatives paid for her cremation.
Newsweek reached out to the Denver Police Department via email for comment.
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Why It Matters
The Harford case was one of several similar cases involving fraudulent funeral homes in Colorado in recent years.
Jon and Carie Hallford left close to 200 bodies to rot in an abandoned building while allowing their loved ones to believe they had been laid to rest. They pocketed money for cremations but handed over dried concrete to grieving relatives instead. They are currently behind bars awaiting sentencing and may face up to 20-year prison terms.
Such cases sparked state legislators to introduce new regulations to monitor the funeral home industry, which had previously had little oversight.
What To Know
During the latest court hearing into Harford's charges, no details were provided about the exact nature of either the corpse abuse or the theft, the Associated Press reported.
However, Denver District Attorney John Walsh's office later released further details on Monday following Harford's guilty plea.
It emerged that Denver Police had first discovered the crime on February 6, 2024, when they were called to Harford's home on Quitman Street after multiple boxes of ashes were found during an eviction. Harford was accused of improperly handling at least 30 victims' cremated remains, which were allegedly stashed throughout his rental home and in the crawlspace beneath the property.
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Christina Rosales' body was then subsequently found in a car outside during a search; her remains had been in the hearse for around 18 months, the DA said, while her family was given somebody else's ashes.
Harford also stood accused of mishandling the cremated remains of around 30 other people and faced dozens of charges, including forgery, theft, and four counts of abuse of a corpse. However, the former owner of Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services made a plea deal this week that saw him admit one count of corpse abuse and one count of theft.
Harford was represented by lawyers from the state's public defender's office, which does not comment on its ongoing cases to the media. Walsh said Harford now faces up to 18 months in prison, which he hopes will "provide a measure of comfort to the friends and family of the deceased."
What People Are Saying
Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a statement: "Miles Harford was entrusted by friends and family of the deceased with providing professional and dignified cremation services. He violated that trust in an unimaginably harmful way — robbing those friends and family of their peace of mind and opportunity to grieve. Mr. Harford is now accepting responsibility for those actions, which we hope will provide a measure of comfort to the friends and family of the deceased.
"I want to recognize the prosecutors, investigators and victim advocates in my office, as well as the detectives with the Denver Police Department's Homicide and Fraud Units, whose work on the case brought about this successful outcome."
What Happens Next
Harford is due to be sentenced on June 9 and, under the terms of the plea agreement, could face up to 18 months in prison.
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