(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — After nearly 200 bodies were found improperly stored at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, one family is still searching for their loved one.

Candace Payton tells FOX21 News her adopted brother Phil Power passed away in August 2023 from natural causes. The Paytons elected to cremate their loved one, and like nearly 200 other families, they chose the Return to Nature Funeral Home.

“The not knowing is the hardest part, not knowing where he’s at or what has happened or, you know, what type of person could do this to people,” Payton said.

Disturbing details revealed in court about Return to Nature Funeral Home case

In October, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office discovered nearly 200 bodies improperly stored at the funeral home in Penrose. As the case unfolds, the Payton family is still searching for what happened to Phil’s remains.

“We just want to find him so we can put him to rest,” Payton said.

The family said Phil was set to be cremated and then the family planned to take him to his final resting place in Kentucky.

“Carie Hallford [co-owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home] had reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, his ashes are ready, you can get them.’ But she never gave us a location to pick them up and we didn’t even know where he was cremated,” Payton explained.

Payton remembers her bother Phil as a joyful soul who often referred to himself as Phil-billy.

The family says Phil would defend those he loved to the end of the earth. As the family’s search continues, they said it’s hard to find closure.

“We never got any formal death certificate, never got any paperwork, never got any ashes back,” Payton explained. “I hate to use the word trauma, but it’s traumatic for the families and it’s traumatic for us. The guilt from choosing the funeral home that we chose, even though it could have happened to anybody and it happened to 190 families, that we know of.”

Penrose funeral home owner will go to trial

The co-owners Carie and Jon Hallford are charged with multiple felonies. As this family searches for answers, they have one message for anyone impacted by the Return to Nature Funeral Home.

“It’s hard, try to stay strong, lean on people,” Payton said. “There’s a community of us out there to lean on and I have talked to so many wonderful people that are involved in this. There are support groups, we do weekly vigils. Just lean on them, reach out and I think justice will prevail in its own way.”

As for the latest in this case, the probable cause affidavits for the Penrose funeral home owners will be released in February, according to El Paso County Judge William Moller.

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