PENROSE, Colo. — Every day since the discovery of nearly 200 bodies decaying under the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose has been emotionally and mentally taxing for affected families.
"I am not okay," said Crystina Page, a mother impacted by this case. "I am absolutely not okay."
Page said she's felt unsupported by resources meant to help her.
"The biggest is mental health resources," Page explained. "We’re not considered victims. So there has been absolutely no free resources for us for counseling."
Page said the most support she's been getting is from other affected family members, like Samantha Naranjo. Naranjo said her grandmother was one of the bodies found in October.
"We need true advocacy," Naranjo said. "We need someone who cares and someone who actually going to step up for us and at least communicate back to us with the proper communication."
11th Judicial District Crime Victim Compensation Administrator Keith Larsen was assigned to work with affected families in the case. However, Page and Naranjo said they feel he hasn't been a helpful point of contact.
"He’s done a horrible job of getting any of this taken care of," Page said. "He’s told me this is his first case and that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and that he had to meet with the 4th District to even understand how to process these applications."
In addition to what Page and Naranjo see as a lack of communication, they also learned Larsen has a background in the funeral industry.
The owner of Harwood Funeral Home told 9NEWS that Larsen used to work for the funeral home.
The discovery of new information frustrated families involved in the case.
"There’s this conflict of interest that’s makes us now wonder, is that why we’re not getting results?" Page asked.
"You worked in a funeral home, and you are now being an advocate for people who dealt with mistrust from a funeral home," Naranjo said. "That’s, to me, highly inappropriate to this case at hand. Also, a straight, blunt slap in the face."
It wasn't just any funeral home — the owner of Harwood Funeral Home said his funeral home caught the eyes of Jon and Carrie Hallford, the owners of Return to Nature, five to six years ago.
The owner said the Hallfords made arrangements to purchase the home from him but backed out a few weeks later.
9NEWS reached out to the 11th District Attorney's Office and emailed and called Larsen to verify if he knew the Hallfords during his time in the funeral industry. As of Friday, 9NEWS has not received a response.
Page and Naranjo said this information was unavailable to them when they started working with Larsen. They said their next steps feel uncertain — they’ve worked with Larsen for the last three months but feel set back after learning more about his professional background.
Page and Naranjo don’t know if removing Larsen or keeping him with this presumed conflict of interest will keep them further from getting justice for their loved ones.
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