Irene Lucero watched the smartly-dressed former funeral director in court Tuesday as he stood at the podium, shoulders back. She hopes the ashes Miles Harford gave her were those of her son and his wife, but it costs too much for a test to be sure. It’s been eight years and life moves on for the 83-year-old.

Lucero plans to attend every one of Harford’s court dates because she believes he swindled her out of thousands of dollars during a time when her family was in a state of confusion and sadness.

In 2016, her daughter-in-law Shirley Bueno-Lucero died suddenly of a brain aneurism. Four years later, her son Ronald, 50, also died. 

“His body was found at The Comfort Inn,” Lucero said. “The coroner said he had diabetes.”

When Shirley died, they didn’t know what to do.

“Her family couldn’t afford it,” said Lucero.

She said they went to the Yellow Pages and found a “cheap cremation” with Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services.

Harford did such a good job handling Shirley’s cremains, she said she trusted him to handle Ronald’s viewing and cremation and even prepaid around $1,000 for her own cremation. The $3,000 viewing never happened and she isn’t holding out hope for the other $1,000.

Harford was in Denver County Court Tuesday morning. He will not have a preliminary hearing because out-of-custody defendants who are not charged with mandatory Department of Corrections offenses are not entitled to one, according to his public defender, who did not identify herself in court. During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present their evidence to a judge, who decides if there’s enough to send the case to trial. 

This was an unfortunate development because that hearing would have shed light on a case which confounded the Denver metro area since February 6 when police discovered the dead body of a woman inside an “inoperable” hearse which was parked on a driveway in Harford’s back yard.

Denver Police investigators also found the cremains of at least 30 people in a crawl space underneath Harford’s rental home and in a U-Haul parked in the street.

Harford is accused of keeping woman’s body inside the hearse for a year-and-a-half. When it was drivable, co-workers say he rode it back and forth to work. The woman was identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner as Christina Rosales, who died in August 2022.

In relation to Rosales’ case, he faces  two counts of forgery, one count of theft and one count of abuse of a corpse.

It’s unclear how many cases there are since the shocking discovery last month in the 2500 block of South Quitman Street. Prosecutors have hinted in court that there may be more victims, but a spokesperson told The Denver Gazette that there are no further charges at this time.

At Harford’s last hearing earlier this month, 2nd Judicial District Chief Deputy District Attorney Jake Friedberg said: “We almost daily are hearing from additional past and present customers of Mr. Harford.”

Irene Lucero was one of those victims and might not have known that Harford was in financial trouble had he not been arrested.

He had no comment as he walked out of the courthouse Tuesday with a friend. 

Harford has been out of jail on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond and Denver County Judge Andre Rudolph scheduled his arraignment for June 3 when he is expected to enter a plea and the court will possibly set a trial date.