Colorado funeral home owner kept corpse in hearse for over a year

In Colorado, Miles Harford, a funeral home owner, faced multiple charges for serious crimes involving human remains. His arraignment was delayed after prosecutors filed additional charges against him, including three counts of abuse of a corpse for handling remains in a way deemed disrespectful. This behavior included keeping a woman's corpse in the back of a hearse for over a year. The body of Christina Rosales, who died from Alzheimer's, was discovered under blankets in the back of a hearse along with the cremated remains of at least 30 others improperly stored around his rental property. Authorities managed to identify 18 of those remains as belonging to known individuals and indicated that more ashes were found later. These events date back to actions that occurred in 2019. Harford now faces a total of eight counts of abuse of a corpse, forgery, and four counts of theft involving at-risk victims. His next court appearance is scheduled for January 17, continuing a troubling narrative of mismanagement within Colorado's funeral industry. In recent years, the state has seen a rise in scandals associated with funeral homes, including previous incidents of body parts being sold and numerous bodies abandoned. This has prompted calls for reform in funeral home regulations, which have historically been some of the weakest in the U.S. The recent allegations against Harford continue this trend of unsettling revelations, reflecting a need for stronger oversight. In response to this growing concern, Colorado's legislature enacted new measures to enhance the regulation of funeral homes, adopting two laws aimed at improving industry standards and protecting consumers from fraudulent practices. These developing legal battles signal a potential transformation for an industry that has been scrutinized for years, placing a spotlight on the ethical treatment of the deceased and clients' rights to proper funeral services.