Hey Lab Rats! We’re back just in time for Lab Reports! We share a listener's story of a haunted doll and a cautionary tale about stranger danger and escaping a potential serial killer.
For our first Mini-Episode, we discuss a 67-year-old mystery. On November 8, 1957, Pan Am Flight 7 departed San Francisco for Honolulu on what was supposed to be a routine trans-Pacific crossing. Instead, it vanished. Wreckage was later discovered scattered across the ocean, along with the bodies of some passengers, but no clear answers ever surfaced. Was it mechanical failure, sabotage, or something more sinister?
For Jessica’s Mini-Episode, we cover a Colorado nightmare. In October 2023, authorities uncovered 191 decomposing bodies inside Colorado’s Return to Nature Funeral Home, exposing a web of fraud and betrayal by owners Jon and Carie Hallford. We unravel how their eco-friendly façade collapsed into one of the most disturbing scandals in U.S. funeral industry history, from the grisly discovery to the Hallfords’ charges, sentencing, and ongoing trials. And to top it off - yet another Colorado funeral home has been caught in August 2025 doing some very similar things - Davis Mortuary in Pueblo, CO.
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Sources:
What Happened to Pan Am Flight 7?
The Mystery of the Lost Clipper
Aviation Mysteries: The Disappearance of Pan Am Flight 7 - Aviation Oil Outlet
Associated Press. (2024, August 5). Owners of Colorado funeral home where 190 bodies found ordered to pay $950m. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/05/colorado-funeral-home-ruling
Associated Press. (2024, October 24). Funeral home owner who sent families fake ashes pleads guilty to fraud. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/197c57fcec16b681ed0639e1f4389ab7
CBS News Colorado. (2024, November 1). Jon Hallford pleads guilty in Penrose funeral home case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/jon-hallford-penrose-colorado-funeral-home-bodies-discovered-sentenced-guilty-plea
Colorado Public Radio. (2025, August 22). Judge rejects plea deal for Return to Nature funeral director after emotional victim testimony. CPR News. https://www.cpr.org/2025/08/22/plea-deal-rejected-return-to-nature-funeral-director
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Colorado. (2025, June 27). Colorado Springs funeral home operator sentenced in gruesome fraud scheme. U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/colorado-springs-funeral-home-operator-sentenced-gruesome-fraud-scheme
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Colorado. (2024, October 19). Return to Nature funeral home owners plead guilty in federal court. U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/return-nature-funeral-home-owners-plead-guilty-federal-court
KRDO. (2024, February 23). Who are Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Penrose funeral home Return to Nature? KRDO. https://krdo.com/news/2024/02/23/who-are-jon-and-carie-hallford-owners-of-penrose-funeral-home-return-to-nature
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