NEED TO KNOW
- A former funeral home director was sentenced to 18 months in prison after police found a corpse in a hearse and the cremated remains of many others in his rental home
- Miles Harford pleaded guilty in April to one felony count of abuse of a corpse and one misdemeanor count of theft
- Multiple remains were found in February 2024 at Harford’s home in Denver during an eviction
A Colorado funeral home director who left a corpse in a hearse for over a year and hid the cremated remains of others has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The Denver District Attorney’s Office announced in a Monday, June 9 press release that Miles Harford, 34, received his sentence after pleading guilty in April to one felony count of abuse of a corpse and one misdemeanor count of theft.
His 18-month sentence is the maximum that can be given for the charges in Colorado.
“On February 6, 2024, Denver Police responded to Harford’s home on Quitman Street, where multiple boxes of cremated remains were found during an eviction,” the DA’s office said in its statement. “Police also discovered the remains of Christina Rosales in a hearse on the property.”
Harford had given the remains of a different person to the Rosales family after she died in August 2022.
Authorities continued, “Further investigation into Harford uncovered several other inappropriate funeral and business practices and resulted in the filing of additional charges against him.”
According to NBC News, Harford was also charged with forgery and theft, but the charges were dropped due to a plea deal that he struck.
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In February 2024, the remains of Rosales, a 63-year-old woman, and the cremated remains of “at least 30 people” were uncovered amid an eviction.
“Through the investigation, detectives have determined the woman’s remains have likely been stored and concealed in the hearse since shortly after her passing,” Denver Police Commander Matt Clark said in a press conference at the time. “The family previously received remains from the funeral home that they believed were their loved one.”
In a statement shared on the DA’s office on Monday, Denver District Attorney John Walsh said, “Nothing will ever undo the terrible pain that Miles Harford caused so many families, but it is our hope that this sentence will provide the family and friends of the deceased with some measure of justice.”
PEOPLE previously reported in January 2025 that the former director of Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services in Littleton faced two new charges after allegedly hacking into the business account of a former employer to pay a bill.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the separate charges to PEOPLE at the time.
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