By Zachary Dupont and Stephanie Earls | Denver Gazette
By a shaded swoop of sidewalk in Colorado Springs’ Bear Creek Park, where the drone of nearby traffic disappears under the burble of brook and rustle of leaves, is a tranquil, unfinished, memorial honoring the victims of one of the most gruesome crimes ever to rock the American funeral industry.
The small plaque affixed to the back of the metal bench likely isn’t enough to spur recall in the unaware who wander by this tiny oasis across from the El Paso County Parks & Recreation administrative offices. For more than 1,100 families, forgetting the gruesome acts of Jon and Carie Hallford, of Return to Nature Funeral Home, will never be an option.