A woman’s body and the cremated remains of at least 30 others were discovered hidden during an eviction this week at a home rented by a failed funeral director in Denver, police said.
Police said on February 6 that homeowners were carrying out a court-ordered eviction against Miles Harford, 33, owner of the now-closed Apollo Funeral and Cremation Service in the Denver suburb of Littleton. I made this disturbing discovery during my surveillance. .
“Mr. Harford appears to have experienced financial difficulties in his business. At times, he was unable to complete cremations to present the remains to his family,” said Cmdr.matt clarke He said this at a press conference on Friday.
Dozens of temporary urns, many filled with remains, were found stored in a small space in the house, and several more were found in an old hearse abandoned in the backyard.
The body of a 63-year-old woman who died of natural causes in August 2022 was also found there.
Hartford gave the stranger’s remains to the woman’s family immediately after the woman’s death and hid the body under a blanket in his car, police said.
Many of the other remains have long been hidden in Hartford’s possession, with some dating back to 2012, Clark said.
Police allege that Hartford had racked up large debts at multiple crematoriums in the Denver metropolitan area and was unable to meet the cremation requests of grieving families.
His business closed in September 2022.
Clark said, “Unbeknownst to the families who sought services from Apollo Funeral Services, Mr. Harford occasionally provided services to families by providing them with the cremated remains of another person in place of the family’s ashes.” They may have been able to provide it.”
“Through conversations with families, it became clear that many had experienced delays in obtaining cremated remains from Mr. Apollo and Harford. But some people didn’t receive it.”
Many of the replaced remains are likely those of poor people or people who have no living relatives.
Investigators took on the nearly impossible task of identifying the other 30 degenerates. Each person’s DNA was erased by the high heat of the cremation process.
Hartford was charged with abuse of a corpse, forgery and theft.
Police noted that it was unclear whether the incident was connected to the “green” Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, where nearly 200 decomposing bodies were discovered in October.
Owners John and Carey Hallford used funds from hundreds of customers on cars, cryptocurrencies and designer jewelry while leaving bodies to rot in their dilapidated facility. This was revealed in court documents released last week.
