 Good morning, I'm Rick Kyle division chief of investigations for the Denver police department. My name is spelled R. I see K K Y le I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on this case that resulted From the recovery of human remains at a residence in the 2,500 block of South Quitman Street Recognizing that were there would be a lot of interest in this case We arrange this press conference to walk through the chronology and answer any questions that we can answer after we presented that chronology First I want to share our condolences with the families that are impacted by this situation Lose it losing a loved one is hard enough, but when the loved ones remains are mishandled It just adds to the grief and causes further unnecessary pain This has been a very complex and taxing investigation And I want to commend the thorough and compassionate work of the Denver police major crimes bureau and crisis services bureau Along with the members of the Denver district attorney's office as well as the office of the medical examiner In a debt in addition to investigating the criminal aspects of this case Our teams are working with the impacted families and ensuring that they receive the support that they need To provide further details of this case. I'd like to introduce commander Matt Clark of our major crime bureau Good morning. I'm commander Matt Clark. I oversee the major crimes division for the Denver police department Thank you for being here today as we provide information regarding the active investigation It's being conducted by the police department the Denver district attorney's office and the Denver office of the medical examiner Related to the discovery of a deceased woman's body as well as the recovery of numerous professionally cremated remains That were found in a residence in Southwest Denver This is a unique investigation. It's been difficult for the investigative team not only because of the complexity of the case But also the concern and sensitivity for the families who have been impacted The investigative team has been working diligently on this case since the discovery on Tuesday, February 6 2024 in addition to the investigative agencies the professional staff of the department's victim services team Continues to play a critical role in our outreach efforts to families I'll provide background information regarding the recovered remains and detail what we've learned through the investigation to this point At the end. I'll attempt to answer any questions With the understanding that we're still working to connect with some of the families that were impacted in this case And we're also working to understand the operations of the funeral director and his business Additionally, we do anticipate a criminal filing against an individual and want to ensure a successful prosecution on Tuesday, February 6th 2024 the Denver Sheriff's Department served an eviction at a single-family residence in the 2,500 block of South Quitman Street A sheriff's deputy was standing by while the homeowners removed the tenants property from the residents During the process of removing the property the homeowner discovered several boxes in the crawl space that were determined to be Temporary urn boxes containing cremated human remains, which I will refer to as cremains Investigators from both the Denver Police Department's homicide unit and the Denver office of the medical examiner Responded to the residents to examine and recover the items Nearly three dozen temporary urns were located some of which were empty for context These urns are black plastic boxes similar to the size of a shoebox The owners found that the tenant was storing an Inoperable hearse in the backyard of the residents as part of the eviction process that vehicle was towed from the backyard to the street While looking in the vehicle investigators discovered additional urns inside that vehicle Detectives entered the vehicle to recover the urns and upon doing so discovered the body of a deceased woman Who was covered with a blanket in the back of the vehicle a search warrant was sought to recover the body and further process the scene The woman's body was removed and transported to the medical examiner's office Medical examiner's team has since confirmed the body was that of a 63 year old woman who died in August of 2022 Through the investigation detectives have determined the woman's remains have likely been stored and concealed in the hearse since shortly after her passing The outreach team has met with the woman's family and learned the family Previously received remains from the funeral home that they believe were their loved one Investigators also executed a search warrant on a U-Haul vehicle that was recovered in front of the residents through that process They located six additional urns containing cremains All the recovered cremains appear to be associated with individuals who passed away between 2012 and 2021 at this point we believe we have recovered the remains of At least 30 individuals The investigative team is currently cross-referencing information from tags and labels that were found with the cremains To attempt to identify the families The investigators and advocates are working to connect with each family regarding the discovery as you can imagine These are extremely difficult conversations to have and the information comes at a shock to many of the families Several of whom believe they had the entire remains of their loved one Through the investigation, it was determined that the tenant of the residents on South equipment was 33 year old miles. Hartford h a r f o r d Mr. Hartford operated a funeral service between 2012 and 2022 in Littleton, Colorado that was called Apollo funeral and cremation services Mr. Hartford appears to have experienced financial trouble in his business At times he was not able to create complete cremations to provide Remains to families for services unbeknownst to families who sought services from Apollo funeral services Mr. Hartford may have occasionally provided family members with another person's cremated remains in lieu of their family members remains So services could be held Through conversations with the families it has come to light that many experienced delays in obtaining cremated remains from Apollo and mr. Hartford Some expected pieces of jewelry with their loved ones cremains, but never received those Investigators also learned that Apollo funeral services completed cremations for individuals who were indigent or Persons whose next of kin was not known The team is working to determine if the services mr. Hartford provided in those cases account for some of the cremation The cremains recovered at the residence In regard to the deceased individual recovered in the hearse that appears mr. Hartford had accumulated significant debt with several metro area crematories As a result these businesses would no longer work with mr. Hartford And he was unable to complete the cremation that had been pre-arranged by the family of the woman Mr. Hartford appears to have placed the woman's body in the back of the hearse and concealed her with blankets until she was recovered on Tuesday, February 6th 2024 Mr. Hartford provided the family with the remains of another person Investigators have obtained an arrest warrant for 33 year-old miles Hartford for investigation of abusive corpse forgery and theft These charges at this point are related specifically to the woman's body that was recovered from the hearse At this time we do not believe there is a connection between the case involving mr. Hartford or Apollo funeral services and the extensive funeral home Investigation that's occurring in Fremont, Colorado. We have been in contact with investigators Working that case We've set up a hotline and would ask anyone who did not receive the cremated remains of a loved one from Apollo funeral Incremention services or mr. Hartford to call that number And number seven two zero nine one three six six one zero seven two zero nine one three six six one zero This will put collars in contact with a member of the department's investigative outreach team so we can figure out how to best Assist them as I mentioned this is a complex case that involves some very difficult conversations with families We currently have two specific focuses. The first is compassionately caring For the families that were impacted by this case These families are being supported by the department's victim services team and the staff at the Denver medical examiner's office The second involves a determination regarding crimes that may have been committed by mr. Hartford or anyone else Investigators have previously been in contact with mr. Harvard Hartford Excuse me who is believed to be in the metro area and we are now working to facilitate his arrest on the warrant we obtained We anticipate and additional charges may be filed once we have a better understanding of mr. Hartford's operations and his handling of the human remains that may or may not have been provided to families in this case The determine on criminal charges will be made by the Denver district attorney Before I conclude I want to address a potential question that may also be a concern for several of the families Who work with Apollo services? For cremation services. This is regarding the challenges associated with identifying individuals post cremation Once the cremation process is completed obtaining viable DNA Samples becomes a very difficult task due to the intense heat and the chemical changes that occur. I've had several calm Conversations with our forensic scientists in this crime lab and have learned the extreme temperatures involved in the cremation Process alter the molecular structure of DNA often rendering it fragmented and highly degraded That makes it exceedingly difficult to extract genetic material sufficient for identification Consequently traditional DNA testing methods often prove ineffective Significantly limiting our ability to determine the precise identity of the individuals in question as a result The police department and the medical examiner's office will not be conducting DNA testing on the remains recovered from the residents or those that may have been previously provided to families by mr. Hartford We remain dedicated in our mission to To respectfully handle the cremated cremains that we have and supporting the impacted families I would like to share that the Family of the woman whose body was recovered from the hers is requesting privacy in this Like to introduce Denver District Attorney Beth McCann. Good morning. I'm Beth McCann the Denver district attorney And I just want to let you know that we are anticipating filing the the counts that Commander Clark mentioned and that would be abuse of a corpse, which is a class 6 felony Forgery of a public document, which is a class 5 felony and theft Based on a payment of $1,200 that we believe we can prove Mr. Hartford accepted from the family of the woman that whose body was discovered and of course did not Deliver what he had promised in terms of cremation. That is a class 1 misdemeanor So the abuse of a corpse Charge as a class 6 felony One of the allegations of that charge is that a person commits this crime If they treat the body or remains of any person in a way that would outrage normal family Sensibilities so that's the area where we will be focusing When we do have once mr. Hartford is arrested and we proceed with the case The forgery of the document, which is a class 5 felony Relates to what we allege Happened in that mr. Hartford provided false information on a death certificate related specifically again to the woman Whose body was discovered and as I mentioned the theft charge would be based on the amount of money that he Obtained from that family In guaranteeing that he would then perform cremation Of the body which we allege he did not do so We do anticipate the possibility of additional Criminal charges dependent upon the Denver police department further investigation So I think that's pretty much all I have to say but happy to answer any questions We we join with the police department in expressing our Condolences and certainly our great sympathy to any families whose loved ones Have been impacted by this incident and we certainly Want to be as cooperative as possible with the medical examiner's office and the Denver police department in Contacting families and trying to help them through this process and if possible identify Others who have been impacted so it is an unusual situation and We intend to fully prosecute once mr. Hartford is arrested. Thank you So we don't believe that this particular case is related to what's happened in South Colorado however This situation does Raise the possibility that this kind of thing is happening in other parts of the state And it's my understanding that there is legislation being proposed and contemplated to Require licensing and supervision of funeral homes, which I fully support So that's all I know about that There need to be a better process Well presumably In a reputable funeral home, there is adequate identification So when the body is is obtained In at least in my experience, which is not a lot with my two parents You actually view the body in the funeral home and the the cremation takes place right away But I don't think there are any regulations about that or any requirements So I think that's part of what the legislature will look at and what a regulatory be through through the Department of Regulatory Agencies what kind of regulations they will propose once the legislation is passed So that's certainly something I think they will look at is how How secure is that identification process and usually there's a tag that has the name and birth date and so forth That accompanies the body that then is is with the cremains But that's something I'm sure there'll be public hearings about how best to do that if the legislation passes your office been in touch with the family that first charge is based on a normal family and whether they'd be Outraged can speak can you speak to the conversations that have had so my office has not contacted the family the Denver police department has Normally the way that works is the Denver police department works with families of crime victims Until the case actually gets filed and once the case is filed then my office will take over the victim contact But I know they have a very Active and successful victim services unit in the Denver police department They are the ones that have been in contact. So I don't know if you want to say anything further So the investigative outreach team, which is the homicide personnel members the medical examiner staff and our victim services team Have had direct contact and multiple contacts with the family of the woman who was whose body was recovered They're devastated. They're shocked. They were hurt by this they Believed and they were processing their grief with the remains that they had and had had services with that And then they come to find out that that was not the person that was processed and in fact she was being held in that in that hers there I know So in terms of There are a number of the remains that we have that have identification tags or The possibility of us connecting with families and either reuniting them with those remains Or processing and determining how those were handled to determine if there's criminal Copability on on mr. Hartford's part. So that's that's kind of our focus at this point Well, I think a normal family would be outraged which is what the statute provides You know, it's it's there's enough grief associated with the death of a family member And then to understand and realize that the trust you placed in the person that was going to Do the cremation and provide you with the remains You've lost that trust and you don't really know You know what happens to the family member I mean in this case, they do know that this woman's body was in this hearse for considerable amount of time and I think most family members would be outraged by that kind of behavior and certainly grieved considerably I Well, that's a difficult question a little bit a little bit outside my expertise but What I would recommend is that they have the process where they can view The body of their loved one in the actual funeral home at the time the cremation takes place Which is what happened with my parents, but I don't know if Commander Clark or Has a better answer to that I think Given what's been happening. I think your people probably need to Do a little more research before they choose a funeral home and Look for reviews or recommendations. Maybe family members have used this funeral home in the past I think unfortunately and I think Commander Clark alluded to this that Oftentimes people don't have a lot of resources to pay for either a burial or a cremation and so Maybe they're you know, there aren't as many options for people who don't have the ability to pay for a More reputable kind of situation, but I think doing research learning more about The company that you're working with Would be my advice So So I I think I'm pretty sure that The Denver Police Department will not be doing Any kind of exhuming of a body unless there's some sort of probable cause to believe that a crime actually occurred And there would have to be evidence of that You know, I think people Have to evaluate their own situation and try to come to the best decision that they can within their resources for how to honorably respect Their loved ones who have passed away and that's really an individual Family choice So But I'm I don't think we wouldn't get involved unless there was some indication of criminal behavior I mean in this case it was fortunate that the Denver Sheriff had been Contacted to come and help with an eviction and in that process You know, you had a law enforcement person there the sheriff who knew that this was not normal or Usual and was able to get the Denver police and the medical examiner's office involved right away so if certainly if a family is suspicious about some remains or if they find something in In a in a house or in a apartment building that appear to be remains of humans That's a situation where the police should be called so that they can do an investigation But you know, we we have to have some indication that there's some foul play So it's it's not impossible it's it's there I'm told that there are Processes that can be undertaken to attempt to extract genetic material for identification testing Again, that's not something that we are going to be undertaking nor is the medical examiner's office The process for returning the remains we do have cremains that are In sealed bags and have tags and if we can associate those back through the crematories and the records they have to an individual We're going to work with the medical examiner staff and they're going to coordinate the return of those remains to the families that would like those I'm going to defer to the medical examiner's office on that I think they'll have a process for for handling those respectfully No, he's not on the run mr. Hartford's not on the run we've been in contact with him We obtained the warrant we wanted to get this information and share this information and we're working to facilitate an arrest of him So The cremation or the Apollo funeral and cremation services was in another county We've had communication with those counties. We've looked at the at the building There's nothing more that can that we can obtain or there's no need for us to obtain a search warrant for it at this point We've again, we've had contact with him in terms of the criminal prosecution and working with the other law enforcement agencies Denver intends to handle And process the remains and the cases that result from those remains that are that we recovered in Denver And so even though they may have made a sale or or an agreement in a different county We will have venue and jurisdiction on that I'm not sure what they've done with it My understanding is the investigative team has talked to either the current tenant or the landowner there And and we are confident that there are no further remains in that facility But I'm not sure what the storefront is being used as now There was there have been conversations with him without getting into the details recognizing a future prosecution He does acknowledge that he could not Find a crematory to process the woman's body and then he Felt that at that point he just stored it in the hearse and then provided remains to the family so they could have their services Because It's correct sir Denver sheriffs conducts evictions in the city and so they were executing a court-ordered eviction at the location and The homeowners the ones responsible for moving the property and they discovered it and alerted the sheriffs We actually had contact with mr. Hartford prior to issuing an arrest warrant We're working to facilitate his arrest I'm not sure that the terms of what caused that So the abuse of a corpse is an F set felony six which is our lowest level felony That carries a one-year to 18 month possible sentence the forgery of the public document which is a class 5 felony carries from one to three years and theft which is the misdemeanor would be up to 364 days in jail, so Really three years is probably the maximum Based on what we know now and what we're able to charge right now Well, we'll have to see We we don't really make those kinds of decisions until we get the final investigative materials from the Denver police and then we Look at the individual he'll have an attorney and there will be discussions about What might be an appropriate resolution of the case it could go to trial or there may be some kind of plea agreement? Sure, I mean they could contact our office, but typically the Denver Police Department does the investigative work So if they contact our office, that's fine We will refer them to the investigative team at the Denver Police Department They can also contact. I think the phone number that commander Clark gave Would be one way also to get in touch with the Denver police if people feel like they have additional information or if they have Have concerns about the remains that they got the cremains Or if they if they feel like they have possible claim One more Yes, sir It's it's a very resource intensive process with a very low likelihood of success And it would we have some very serious cases being processed by the Denver Police Department's lab the state labs that would potentially Push those cases to it, you know, put them in a line And so we're focusing right now on reuniting people Families with the remains that we have and and then helping them process moving forward But we're not in the we don't have the the ability at this point to undertake that