Lakewood, CO – January 15, 2026 – A Colorado court has awarded more than $1.1 million in damages to a grieving family following a lawsuit against former funeral home director Miles Harford and his company, Apollo Funeral & Cremation Services, LLC, stemming from egregious misconduct involving the handling of human remains in a story we reported in December 2024.
The Frickey Law Firm filed suit on behalf of the family, asserting claims that included intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and interference with a corpse. In December 2025, the court entered judgment awarding $1,000,000 in damages against Apollo Funeral & Cremation Services, LLC, and an additional $100,000 in damages against Harford personally.
According to court filings, Harford and his company assured the family that their wife and mother would be treated with dignity, properly cremated, and honored with a funeral service. The family paid in advance for those services. Instead, investigators later discovered that her body had been wrapped in a blanket and left in the backseat of an inoperable hearse parked at a residential property, where it remained for more than a year. The remains were subjected to extreme weather conditions, including summer heat and winter cold, while no cremation or funeral services were performed.
False Cremation Remains Given to Family
The lawsuit further alleged that Harford and Apollo Funeral & Cremation Services deliberately deceived the family by providing them with the cremated remains of a different, unidentified individual. The family was falsely led to believe those remains belonged to their loved one. Authorities ultimately discovered at least 29 additional urns containing cremated remains on the property.
In addition to the mishandling of the body, the defendants were accused of financial fraud and falsifying the death certificate provided to the family. The family later learned that the remains they had compassionately spread while grieving their loss did not belong to their wife and mother.
The court found that Harford and Apollo Funeral & Cremation Services violated the family’s trust in a profound and devastating manner. The judgments reflect both the financial wrongdoing and the severe emotional harm caused by the defendants’ conduct, which the court determined warranted significant punitive consequences.
The case has drawn attention to broader concerns regarding oversight and accountability within the funeral services industry in Colorado.
Court: Denver County – District
Case Name: Rosales, George et al v. Apollo Funeral And Cremation Serv LLC et al
Case Number: 2024CV033027
*Photo credit: Image created with Google
