Body of deceased woman, 30 human cremains found at house after ex-funeral home owner evicted

DENVER (AP) — An arrest warrant was issued Friday for a former Colorado funeral owner who police say kept a woman’s remains in a hearse for two years at a rented home where they also found the cremated remains of up to 30 people, authorities said.

The grisly discovery occurred Feb. 6 during an eviction of a Denver house rented by 33-year-old Miles Harford, who owned Apollo Funeral and Cremation Service in the Denver suburb of Littleton, Denver police said. It had been closed since September 2022.

Harford, who police said is not on the run and is cooperating, is expected to be charged with abuse of a corpse, forgery of the death certificate and theft of the money paid for the cremation.

Denver Police Cmdr. Matt Clark said Harford acknowledged to police that he could not find a crematory to process the 63-year-old woman’s body and decided to store it in the hearse. The woman’s family told investigators they were given what they believed were the woman’s remains, which have been turned over to the Office of the Medical Examiner.

The other cremains found on the property appear to have been professionally cremated, officials said. Investigators are checking labels on the cremains and state databases in an effort to return the cremains to their families. DNA testing cannot be used, officials said.

The case is not related to one in which nearly 200 decomposing bodies were found in a funeral home in Penrose, Colorado, last October. The owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home — Jon and Carie Hallford, face hundreds of felony charges.

Colorado has some of the weakest rules in the nation with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators.