Paige Birgfeld: A Perfect Mama
This story begins in Grand Junction, Colorado, Paige Birgfeld’s hometown. And as far as small towns go, it’s the perfect place to raise her three children. Although at this point in Paige’s story, she was a two time divorcee, and her divorce from Rob, her second husband, was an incredibly difficult one. Putting all of her struggles to the side, Paige’s only focus was to provide the absolute best for her three children as a single mother.
Paige Birgfeld: A Perfect Mama
Divorcee
Once Paige and Rob had divorced, Paige was struck with a harsh truth – life as a single mom of three was incredibly challenging. As Paige now only had a single income, she worked an odd slew of jobs to provide the best for her children. Some of her jobs were selling nursing slings, selling cooking supplies, and running children’s dance studios. It didn’t matter to Paige what the job was, her only goal was to provide the best life for her kids.
Divorcee
Love Life
Paige’s first marriage was to Howard Ron Biegler, her high school sweetheart. Even though their relationship was filled with love and lust, the marriage didn’t last long. After their divorce, the two remained good friends. So when Paige got divorced for the second time, she rekindled her relationship with Howard and they decided to try again. Shortly after, they had another “first date”. Little did either one know that would be the last time they’d see each other.
Love Life
Reunion
This was Paige and Howard’s first date in a long time so they wanted a meaningful meetup. They chose to have a romantic picnic at Eagle, Co. (two-hours from Grand Junction). Even though it would be a bit of a drive, neither one minded as this was another chance at love.
Reunion
Special Picnic
On June 28, 2007, Paige and Howard met for their romantic picnic, despite the sticky summer heat. The date went really well and neither one minded the 120 mile drive in the end, it was a beautiful evening. As the night came to a close, Paige set off and the couple hoped to meet up again sometime soon.
Special Picnic
Heading Home
With a long drive back to Grand Junction, Paige hoped she’d make it back home before the kids went to bed. Even though it was a time of long summer days, dusk came quickly. Just before she was home, Howard called to check on her progress – Paige said the drive was fine and that she would be home soon. Meanwhile Paige’s three kids were desperately waiting for their mom to come home, their nanny said their mom would be home in an hour. That hour came and went. Hours passed and Paige Birgfeld was nowhere to be found.
Heading Home
Worry Kicks In
Currently the time is 11:00PM and Paige’s kids are filled with worry – their mother still isn’t home. When Paige last spoke to Howard, it was 9:00PM and she said she was almost home. Two hours had passed from that point. It didn’t make sense that Paige wasn’t home yet, especially considering she hadn’t checked in with anyone for such a long time. Something didn’t add up.
Worry Kicks In
Mom Is Still Missing
Paige’s youngest 8-year-old daughter urged their live-in nanny to phone the police, the search was on. A whole two days have passed since anyone heard from Paige Birgfeld. During this time, Dr. Craig Birgfeld, Paige’s brother and plastic surgeon in Seattle, moved his own family to Paige’s home to take care of his little sister’s three kids. “Callie and I decided at that time that our role was to be there for the kids and try to take care of them, be family there for them, just help them,” Craig said.
Mom Is Still Missing
No Calls
Howard had been waiting for Paige to call him back, but she never did. So the next day he tried to reach her. “He actually called the house and got our granddaughter, and she was the one that told him that Paige hadn’t been home since Thursday night,” said Paige’s father, Frank Birgfeld. Immediately after Howard called the police, “At that point the alarms start goin’ off and he touched base with us, touched base with the sheriff’s office. And things started getting in gear then.” However the police treated Howard as a prime suspect as he was the one to ultimately alert them about Paige’s whereabouts the night she went missing.
No Calls
No Chance
Even though Howard was the police’s prime suspect, Paige’s family didn’t believe he was involved with Paige’s disappearance. “We met with him recently, and I think he is very devoted to Paige, and very emotional that she’s not here,” Frank Birgfeld said. Even Paige’s brother said, “I’ve spoken to him on the phone since she went missing, and it’s obvious he’s pretty distraught and upset that she’s not around. And I know he’s broken up by this whole thing.”
No Chance
Out of Character
When Paige’s father was told his daughter was missing, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “This is a crime. There’s a crime here,” Frank said. Frank did not believe whatsoever that Paige would have ever left her three children behind, there was no chance. “My daughter, if she had two broken legs, she’d crawl over — she’d crawl on her elbows to get to her children,” said Frank.
Out Of Character
Family Matter
Stan Hilkey, the Mesa County Sheriff, was sure that there was no way Paige Birgfeld would have ever left her three children, not of her own accord. Everyone knew that eight-year-old Jess, six-year old Taft, and three-year-old Kohl, meant everything to Paige. “There’s nothing in out investigation at all that leads us to believe that she had abandoned her life or abandoned her children and–and gone off in that regard,” Hilkey said.
Family Matter
The Car Mystery
At this point, the police were knee deep in the investigation, when they received an alarming 911 call about a burning car. On Sunday, July 1, police found Paige’s red Ford Focus (the same car she was driving the night she disappeared) a mere two miles from her house. And yes, the car was engulfed in flames in an empty parking lot near her home in Grand Junction. “It at least suggests to me that that person is fairly savvy and intelligent enough to think that there’s a real possibility law enforcement could find evidence in that car that would implicate him or her,” said Pete Hautzinger, the District Attorney.
The Car Mystery
What’s Inside?
While police were excited for a new break, they were unable to find anything useful in the car. No remains were located in or near the car, it seemed that police had reached a dead end. “It looks like whoever is involved here is not afraid of committing a crime,” said Frank Birgfeld, Paige’s father. It dawned on Frank that something dark and twisted may have befallen his daughter, and it was almost unbearable, he said, “You know, it occurred to me I hadn’t cried in a long time. I’ve learned how to do that. That’s it.”
What’s Inside?
Clues
Now, police were able to locate one item from the inside of Paige’s car, and even better, the flames hadn’t ruined it! A really lucky break. However the police found that some of the pages leading up to the day Paige disappeared, were torn out. Just when police thought they had caught a break, something pulled them back.
Clues
The Planner
Paige’s family hoped that the planner would shed some answers regarding her disappearance, but they were only soul-crushingly disappointed. Craig’s wife, Callie said, “And I just remembered, you know, the little girl, Jess, going, ‘So do you know what happened to my mom? Do you know where she is?’ And I was like, ‘What do I say?’ So I said, ‘Wherever she is, she wants to be with you right now.'”
The Planner
Odd Position
Even though Paige’s car had no physical evidence, the police uncovered some vital information. Especially regarding the driver’s seat – which the police found had been moved to the full back position. But that doesn’t make sense considering Paige is 5 feet 4 inches tall, why would she need the seat so far back? The police tested a theory and had a fellow officer, who is the same height as Paige, sit in the seat. What did they learn? The officer’s feet couldn’t even reach the pedals.
Odd Position
The Search
At this point in the investigation, Paige had been missing for two weeks. The police knew they needed to expand their search, therefore they begin to search valleys and open areas near Paige’s home in Grand Junction – however this was a task that was going to be incredibly difficult. “Mesa County is a big county, its 3,300-square-miles with a lot of open space, a lot of canyons,” Sheriff Stan Hilkey said. Even though police knew this was going to be very challenging, Paige’s family deserved answers.
The Search
High Hopes
District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said, “There are hundreds of thousands of miles around us which could be used to hide a body.” Even though they were facing tough challenges, everyone was committed to the cause at hand. No one was about to give up, the Birgfelds’ deserved better.
High Hopes
River Is Searched
Of course the police searched the rivers in Grand Junction, they made sure to bring in specialty divers to execute the best job possible. Once the search perimeters were expanded, divers also searched the Gunnison River, which is a staggering 164 miles long. Unfortunately, searching the rivers didn’t provide any results – which the Birgfelds tried to reach as a good sign. That’s when the community stepped up and helped the police in their search.
River Is Searched
Community Helps Out
One Grand Junction community member marched forth and spearheaded the search for Paige, investigators were incredibly thankful for Connie Flukey. Flukey’s strategy in the search was to divide and conquer – each day she broke up hundreds of miles into far more manageable search areas that everyone could cover on foot. “I got here about 6:15 to start getting things set up and people start showing up at 6:30. We had people almost, I mean, jumping all over me and waiting for me to get teams out,” Flukey said.
Community Helps Out
Thankful
Callie Birgfeld was overwhelmed by the community’s efforts, especially for Connie Flukey’s selfless help, “And she [Connie Flukey] just gave hope. We were starting to become so dejected. And she just walked in and took charge.” The Birgfelds were incredibly touched by everyone’s support, they remained hopeful that Paige would be found, and soon.
Thankful
Search Pays Off
Success! The community’s search paid off – they were able to find personal items that belonged to Paige Birgfeld on Highway 50. Some of the items they located were Paige’s checkbook, a membership card to a local video store, and also her kids’ medical cards. “They did find some pretty critical pieces of information for us down on Highway 50,” said Hilkey.
Search Pays Off
Hope Remains
While Paige had been missing for weeks, her family remained optimistic, especially now that some of her items had been located. “Every search I pray that we find my sister. We’re halfway through this canyon. We haven’t found her yet. Still hoping we do, but part of me still praying that we don’t,” Craig Birgfeld said.
Hope Remains
Direction
Frank, Paige’s father, he was still hoping for a miracle. “I haven’t found her, not alive. As long as that condition exists I presume she is. I chose to hold out hope,” Frank Birgfeld said. “We’re coming, Paige. We’re coming. We are coming to get you.” However no one could have imagined the turn Paige’s disappearance was about to take – everyone was blindsided.
Direction
Ring, Ring
When the police looked into Paige’s phone, they found an unknown number that had been dialed shortly before her disappearance. No one in Paige’s family knew the number and it wasn’t saved in the contacts list either. Police had no idea that looking into the mystery number on Paige’s number would reveal such shocking news. Now as both of Paige’s ex-husbands had solid alibis on the night she disappeared, police were left with just one question – who in Paige Birgfeld’s life had any kind of motive to cause her harm? The answer to that particular question lead investigators to an even bigger mystery…one that shocked everyone.
Ring Ring
Paige Birgfeld’s Secret
As soon as police reached out to the mystery number, they were under the impression they’d get vital answers – instead, they stumbled upon a dark secret, one that Paige never revealed to a single soul. “First you find out Paige is missing then within a couple of days we started finding out about this other life that we didn’t know about,” said Paige’s sister-in-law, Carrie Birgfeld.
Paige Birgfeld’s Secret
Mystery Number
Howard had absolutely no idea that during his romantic picnic with Paige, she was texting the mystery man – the reason why shocked everyone. Furthermore the police uncovered that the mystery man’s name is Jim. However Jim didn’t know Paige as Paige, he only knew her as Carrie. The more police looked into Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance, the more puzzling the case got.
Mystery Number
Who’s The Guy?
What police did find was that on the day Paige disappeared, Jim had phoned her numerous times. Moreover, he phoned her just a few days before as well. As the police ransacked the contents of Paige’s phone, they believed they would locate Jim in a timely manner, however it was more complicated than they expected it to be.
Who’s The Guy?
Linking Game
The biggest problem was that Jim only used a prepaid Tracphone to contact Paige – this meant that there was no link to any credit card information or even a real name. Although police did find out that the prepaid phone was bought at Walmart on June 26th, just days before Jim called Paige many times. Just as the police closed in, the phone went dead causing investigators to kick it into overtime.
Linking Game
Meet Jim
Once the police went through Walmart’s surveillance video, they uncovered Jim’s real name, Lester Jones. By learning his real name, police quickly found that Jones worked directly across the street where Paige’s burning car was found. From that moment, Lester Jones became the main suspect in Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance.
Meet Jim
Interrogation
As police dug into Jones’ past, they discovered that in 1999, he had been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping. Plus he’s a pretty tall man, 6 feet, 5 inches tall to be exact. The same height as someone who would need to drive a car with the seat all the way back. At this point, the detectives are grilling Jones while his house and workplace are being searched. When they spoke to his wife, she said she was out of town the day Paige disappeared – Jones had no alibi.
Interrogation
“Jim”
When police searched Jones’ workplace, they came across a ton of damning evidence. Evidence such as Viagra, wigs, and also a food scale from Pampered Chef (where Paige had worked). Furthermore, this was the icing on the cake, “He also had the Tracfone packaging for the Tracfone that was used to call Paige. He had bras that happened to be the same bra size as Paige,” said D.A. Rubinstein.
Jim
No Comment
While police revealed what they found at Lester Jones workplace, they refused to comment on what they found in his home – even Paige’s own family didn’t know. “I can’t comment specifically as to what was or was not found at Mr. Joneses home,” said Hautzinger.
No Comment
The Link
Despite heavy police interrogation, Jones continuously pleaded his innocence. “First, he denied being at the Walmart at all. Then he said he was there to buy a soda. Ultimately, when shown the picture, he said he was there buying a Monster Cable,” Rubinstein said. Despite what Jones said, police used tracking dogs to sniff out Paige’s car, immediately the dogs alerted to the scent of Lester Jones in the front seat. When police told Lester what the dogs found, he denied being anywhere with “this lady.” With there was a lot of evidence to suggest Jones was responsible for Paige’s disappearance, there was no definitive proof.
The Link
Carrie
“I for one was shocked,” said District Attorney Pete Hautzinger. “I’ve been a prosecutor for 20 years and this is the first time I’ve encountered somebody from that socio-economic level and that kind of family involvement to be involved in this business.” Just what is Pete Hautzinger referring to? Something that left everyone with their jaws on the floor.
Carrie
Paige IS Carrie
That’s when police discovered that Paige was doing a lot more than teaching dance classes and selling kitchen products. With a few provocative ads, Paige was “Carrie,” a high-priced escort. Absolutely no one close to Paige knew the truth – her double life was finally exposed. However, in terms of the investigation, the pieces began to come together.
Paige IS Carrie
Paige/Carrie: The Truth
Naturally Paige’s family were distraught by the news, however they 100% believed that the only reason Paige was an escort was for her children. “She found herself in a position of being the breadwinner and trying to make ends meet,” her brother Craig Birgfeld said. After Paige’s divorce, she was getting swallowed up with debt and with three children to care for, it’s a huge responsibility to bare on your own. Especially as her ex-husband had no money and was paying a mere $500 a month in child support. Plus Paige a mortgage of $6,000 a month to pay. Things were adding up.
Paige/Carrie: The Truth
A Shock
When it came to Paige’s parents and their reaction about their daughter’s double life, everyone banded around them in support. “I think for Frank and Suzie — that the thought of their daughter even doing that — it didn’t even cross their minds because it’s their daughter,” Callie Birgfeld, Craig’s wife and Paige’s sister-in-law, said. “You don’t think your daughter’s gonna do that. So I think for them it was a really, really big shock.”
A Shock
Paige’s Past
Callie spoke with investigators more after learning about her work as an escort, she had some information they needed to know about Paige’s past. When Paige was younger, before she was married with kids, she bad been working as a stripper to stay afloat. “In Denver, when she was 21 years old, she said she had been making $400,000 a year doing it. And that, you know, she didn’t need to do it anymore,” Callie said.
Paige’s Past
The Reason Why
All of Paige’s friends didn’t even blink an eye at the news, one said, “I would say that whatever she was doing was for her children.” Another friend remarked, “It has no bearing on the kind of mother, friend that she is.” With this new information, District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said, “I think she was probably murdered by one of her clients.” Seeing as how Lester Jones was in custody, the police discovered he was actually a client of Paige’s – in fact, he was the same client she met on the night she disappeared.
The Reason Why
Belief
Police were certain that Lester Ralph Jones was the man responsible for Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance. “The fact that her car was burning so close to his place of employment is at least one significant fact,” Hautzinger said. “Common sense certainly would indicate that it’s something more than a coincidence.”
Belief
No One Else
Hautzinger also quickly pointed out, “There is something else that links Ralph Jones to the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld. One of the last conversations she had that night was with someone using a throwaway cell phone.” He added, “According to investigators, there is surveillance video from a local Wal-Mart showing a man they say is Jones buying such a phone.” The police were certain they had their man.
No One Else
No Charges, Yet
Now unfortunately as Paige’s body had not been found, police could not formally charge Jones with any crime. “Paige went missing in June of 2007,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubenstein. “We always knew that the case wasn’t something we were ever gonna be able to prosecute until we found her.”
No Charges Yet
Hiker Stumbles Upon The Truth
It wasn’t until Spring 2012 that a hiker found the truth. This hiker was out exploring a dry creek bed some 60 miles south of where searchers had discovered Paige’s personal items scattered all over Highway 50. “A hiker in the Wells Gulch area just happened by a human skull, and when they unearthed it, it had duct tape that was sort of around the jaw line area and around the back of the head,” Rubinstein said. But the question on everyone’s lips, was it Paige?
Hiker Stumbles Upon The Truth
Paige Is Finally Found
Forensic examiners located even more bones scattered along the creek, so they immediately got to work. Those same examiners came to the conclusion, after many tests, that the remains did indeed belong to Paige Birgfeld. For the Birgfeld family, this was a bittersweet ending. But at least it had an ending. However the path to justice was far from over.
Paige Is Finally Found
Bones
“We had her jaw, and her skull was found intact with the teeth, and we were able to get her dental records and verify … that the dental records matched up with the teeth,” said Rubenstein. Paige’s bones did present police with a lot of answers, answers that would lead to her real killer.
Bones
Location
Police were also sure that where Paige Birgfeld’s body had been found was significant – as it was near Highway 50. “Checks, business cards, driver’s license, other … documents that had Paige’s or her kids names on them that were strewn about the highway … about five miles before the area where her remains were found. That I think is indicative of somebody who is kidnapped throwing those items out,” Rubenstein stated.
Location
Fighter
Investigators felt that Paige’s bones told a story, a story of a fighter. They believed the scattered items where Paige’s was leaving behind a trail. Of course Paige’s family were overwhelmed with all the new discoveries. “My feelings were a heavy dose of sadness. Even when we were searching, you wanted to find her, but you didn’t want to find her,” Frank Birgfeld said.
Fighter
Peace, At Last
Throughout this whole tragic ordeal, Paige’s family experienced a lot of grief – her disappearance, years of uncertainty, the exposure of her secret life, and her heartbreaking death – the Birgfelds put this behind them and chose to remember Paige as she was, a loving mother, sister, and daughter. They would need this love, a trial was about to take place.
Peace At Last
Where’s Lester?
That’s right, Lester Jones was the man on trial for Paige Birgfeld’s murder – a whole nine years after she initially went missing. July 2016 is when the six week trial first kicked off, however the jury remained at a deadlock. While most of the jury did believe Jones was guilty, some felt there was too much reasonable doubt. Therefore a mistrial was declared and justice slipped through everyone’s grasp. However the Birgfeld’s were not giving up.
Where’s Lester?
Justice
A second trial took place not long after the mistrial. Just a few days after Christmas 2016, the new jury reached a verdict: Lester Jones was found guilty of murder in the first degree. Jones was convicted for the kidnapping and murder of Paige Birgfeld. His sentencing is life in prison, without the chance for parole. Finally, justice for Paige Birgfeld, the Wonder Woman mom.
Justice
Always.
“Motherhood was central to her life. The kids meant everything,” said Frank Birgfeld. “…as far as a legacy, I remember Paige’s smile. I would call it radiant. In her obituary, it was said that she was so radiant it made the sun jealous. And I think that would be, at least for me, what sticks with me the most.”
Always
