Former funeral home owner accused of keeping body in hearse at his house for over a year

DENVER — A Colorado man who used to operate a funeral home in Denver was arrested Friday after investigators earlier this month found a woman’s remains in a hearse and other cremations at a house he used to rent.

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The Denver Police Department said that on Feb. 16, they issued an arrest warrant for Miles Harford, 33. The arrest warrant was issued after authorities found a woman’s body in a hearse in the house that Harford had rented, according to KUSA. The woman reportedly died in 2022.

Police said that Harford was evicted from the house, which is how the woman’s body was found. The woman was identified as Christina Rosales. Her family told KUSA that she had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and then Alzheimer’s disease before her death.

Harford worked at Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services from 2012 to September 2022.

“It appears Mr. Harford had accumulated significant debt with several metro area crematories,” Denver Police Commander Matt Clark said last week, according to KUSA. “As a result, these businesses would no longer work with Mr. Harford, and he was unable to complete the cremation that had been prearranged by the family of the woman.”

Clark said that Harford put the woman’s body in the hearse at his house rental. He covered her with blankets and gave her family someone else’s cremains. A search warrant was also obtained for a U-Haul that was parked in front of the house. Inside, authorities found six urns. During the investigation, investigators reportedly found cremains of at least 25 people.

The cremains found at the house appeared to belong to people who died between 2012 and 2021, The Associated Press reported.

Harford initially cooperated with the investigation but has not been able to locate him, KUSA reported. Investigators on Thursday officers a $2,000 Crimestoppers award for any information leading to Hartford’s arrest, the AP reported. On Friday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that they had Harford in custody.

Harford is facing multiple charges including abuse of a corpse, forgery and theft, KUSA reported.

Additional charges may be added depending on the investigation, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said last week, according to the AP.

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