Colorado funeral home owners who abandoned bodies spent cremation, burial money on vehicles, $1,500 dinner

 A couple accused of dumping nearly 200 bodies at a Colorado funeral home they owned allegedly used vehicles, cryptocurrency, a $1,500 dinner in Las Vegas and other personal items to pay for cremations and burials.

According to the Associated Press, FBI agent Andrew Cohen testified before a packed courtroom Thursday that John and Carrie Halford purchased a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti for more than $120,000 with payments from the families of the dead. The money was reportedly enough to cover the cost of double the cremation of the bodies decomposing in his business's storage facility in Penrose.

John's attorney Adam Steigerwald argued that prosecutors have not proven that the money from his business account was spent to disguise the source of the funds, meaning it does not fit the crime of money laundering. He also said the couple used money they received from the federal Small Business Administration to purchase the Yukon.

Cohen said the money – which he received as an adjustment to a pandemic-era small business loan – was used to purchase the Yukon, which was fraudulently obtained after John lied and said that He is not behind in child support payments.

The testimony about the couple's spending practices came during a hearing where a judge decided that prosecutors presented enough evidence to show that John should be prosecuted. Earlier it was decided that Carey would also be prosecuted.

Both John and Carey were arrested in Oklahoma in November after being charged with 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering and more than 50 counts of counterfeiting. None of them have filed any petition yet.

During an earlier hearing for Carey, text messages were presented by prosecutors that suggested Halford had tried to cover up his financial struggles by leaving the bodies at the Penrose facility.

Cohen testified that the storage facility had temporary refrigeration units that were not in use at the time of the discovery of the decomposing bodies inside the vermin-infested building.

According to prosecutors, John was concerned about being caught as early as 2020 and suggested they throw the bodies into a large hole before treating them with lye or setting them on fire.

Prosecutors alleged, "My only focus is to keep us out of jail."

John is out of jail after posting $100,000 bond in late January while Carrie remains in jail on the same amount.