The Amazing Double Life of Paige Birgfeld

February 18, 2008

Paige Birgfeld lead an seemingly normal, if not peripatetic, life. A single mother of three in Grand Junction, Colorado, she worked hard to maintain her home and to care for her three beloved children. She worked hard at several enterprises to provide for her family. She did everything cheerfully and with a giant smile. She obviously loved life, no matter how difficult it might have seemed. Gorgeous, shapely, perky and full of life, Paige seemed to be an ideal woman leading a very good, if not ideal, life.

Paige at Moms Club
Paige Birgfeld

Whatever you needed, Paige was there for you. If you needed a costume for your child’s dance recital, from a class Paige probably taught, she’d sew the costume for you. If you needed a baby seat for your car, you could buy it from Paige. If you needed kitchen equipment, you’d call Paige to schedule a Pampered Chef show in your home. In fact, Paige was a very successful sales director with The Pampered Chef, a multi-national corporation based in Addison, Illinois. Paige earned two incentive trips with the company, the last one, to Atlantis in the Caribbean, took place last Spring. She even took her children on that trip.

On June 28, 2007, Paige left her home and went on an all-day picnic with her ex-first-husband. She was wearing a blue-flowered tube top and blue jean shorts, driving her red 2005 Ford Focus, Colorado license plate 022-00x. She left her three children in the care of her live-in nanny, as she often did.

Paige never returned and no one, that we know of, has seen her since.

Her car was found three days later, fully engulfed in flames, in a parking lot near her home. Her parents closed up their home in Denver and raced to Grand Junction to take care of their grandchildren while the search for Paige got underway.

Paige Smiling
Paige Did Everything With A Smile
Can You Help Bring Her Home?

It was during the search that a bizarre discovery was made. Paige had been leading a double life.

Paige Birgfeld Dixon Biegler has three names because she has been divorced twice. Her first husband, Howard Biegler, lives in Colorado and Paige had indicated to friends that their relationship was beginning to restart. She seemed to have high hopes for a reconciliation.

Her second ex husband, Rob Dixon, is the father of her three children. He has had his own run-ins with the law in the past and was the initial focus of local speculation. According to numerous media reports, Dixon is infamous in the area for donating millions of dollars worth of fire fighting equipment to fire departments around the state except that none of the equipment had been paid for. He also lost more than $3.24 million for a fire district board on which he served. He had invested the district’s money with the same New York investment firm that lost all of his own inherited fortune. (All but about $1 Million has been recovered. No charges have ever been filed in these cases. He was never named in any of the resulting lawsuits because he had filed for bankruptcy. Dixon lives outside Philadelphia now.) Dixon cooperated fully in the investigation, according to authorities. Dixon’s lawyer says his own scrapes with the law are not important. “He’s hoping the focus is on finding his wife,” the attorney told reporters.

Somewhere along the timeline of her life story, Paige Birgfeld’s story took an unusual twist. After high school, she attended the University of Florida on a scholarship, but dropped out to marry Howard Biegler. (The similarity in the names has also caused some confusion over the years and in this investigation.) She divorced Biegler, according to her friends, because he did not want to have children.

From there, Paige began a career as an exotic dancer in Denver, where she reportedly met Dixon. They married and eventually had three children together.

Rob and Paige moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in the late 1990’s and bought a large home that was part of a fast lifestyle, reportedly with lavish parties and a collection of automobiles. It was at that time that Paige began her home based businesses.

When Dixon’s finances began to fail a few years ago, Paige apparently began to utilize her exotic dance skills to bolster the family income. Dixon was arrested on a domestic violence charge after he allegedly slapped and shoved Paige while she was nursing their youngest child. Court records show that, in October 2005, he accused Birgfeld of giving topless massages, slapped her on the shoulder and punched her in the throat as she held their baby.

Dixon pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment after he was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault and misdemeanor child abuse. The case was dismissed after he complied with a year-long deferred sentence.

Paige also belonged to a local Mom’s club and some of her friends suspected there was more to Paige’s life than met the eye. She was a type-A personality, always doing something and more than willing to help out anyone in need. She sewed costumes for dancers, presented Pampered Chef shows and administered her “cluster” of consultants that she had recruited to The Pampered Chef business. She quickly rose to the level of Director and earned two all-expenses paid incentive vacation trips with the company. She took her children with her to Atlantis in the Spring of 2007.

Paige was a member of an online forum for Pampered Chef consultants where she developed a number of fast friendships. “None of us had any idea she led a secret life,” one member, who asked to remain anonymous, told us. “Frankly, we don’t care, either. She is a hard working mother who is dedicated to her children.”

A Pampered Chef Director from Michigan posted on the forum, “Paige didn’t win those trips, she earned them. It galls me when the media says she ‘won’ those trips. Winning has nothing to do with it, consultants earn those trips through dedication and hard work.”

Curiously, several days after her disappearance, her account was accessed but only one thread was opened. Whoever was accessing the account under her name logged off almost immediately, after other members noticed “she” was online. Site administrators immediately locked her account. Was it law enforcement who logged into her account? The site administrator said he didn’t know. “They haven’t contact[ed] me at all.”

Besides her home based businesses, Paige also had an office. It was on the second floor of a Grand Junction building, near a back stairway. The door read “Grand River Acupuncture” but she did not have a license for acupuncture. Other tenants report they hardly ever saw her during regular business hours, and if they saw her at all, she wore “skimpy clothing” and “high heels.”

Her father discovered yet another part of a secret life. He found a business card in her home that indicated Paige was working as an escort. A web site (now closed) featured Paige using a different name and contained a photograph of a suggestively dressed, woman’s torso, ostensibly Paige. Whether the photo was of her or not was never determined. Her slogan read, “Tired of chopped meat showing up when you ordered Fillet Mignon?”

Friends who knew her were devastated at the revelation of her secret life, caught completely unawares. “It does add complexity. She was associated with a lot of people that people who knew her didn’t know,” said Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey. Some of them are still quite bitter, but for the most part, everyone in the area wants closure.

Just the same, while these discoveries were being made, the search for Paige continued. Friends, relatives and concerned members of the community joined together to search for the missing mother. Shoulder to shoulder, the team marched through fields, continuing to look for Paige.

Vigil
About three dozen family and friends
held a candlelight vigil for Paige
on July 3 to pray for her safe return.

Contents of her purse were found strewn along the median of US Highway 50, a deposit slip, a shoe, a membership card and other items. Law enforcement has never released a list of everything that was found. Speculation of how those items landed on the median ran rampant. Some saw it as Paige, alive and being held against her will, tossing items out of a car in an attempt to leave a Hansel & Gretel trail of breadcrumbs. More pessimistic theories pictured Paige’s body in the back of a pickup truck, the wind pulling items from her purse, inadvertently left open by her murderer.

The search for Paige continued for weeks, including divers searching the muddy waters of the Gunnison River. The search was difficult and fruitless. The river was “…like chocolate milk,” divers reported. Despite the extensive efforts of searchers, no sign of Paige has ever been found.

On October 2, 2007, law enforcement cleared Paige’s two ex-husbands and named a primary person of interest in her disappearance. Lester Ralph Jones was named the lone remaining “person of interest” in the case. Authorities had searched Jones’ home in Grand Junction at least twice. Investigators focused on Jones and other people who had contacted Birgfeld by cellphone in the hours before her disappearance. Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said those callers included customers or “wannabe” customers of Birgfeld’s. Jones works as a recreational-vehicle mechanic across the street from the parking lot where Birgfeld’s car was found.

Hannibal Lester
Lester Ralph Jones - Person of Interest

Jones was arrested numerous times in Delta County, and in 1999, for kidnapping and other charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison and completed his parole in 2005.

As of this writing, he has not been arrested in the Birgfeld case and he has not made any public comment.

Paige remains missing and her case remains unsolved. The case has been profiled on the America’s Most Wanted website, ABC News did a prime time report last Fall, and another network news report is in the works.

The contents of this blog entry have been culled from media reports and interviews with people with an interest in the case. The media reports can all be found in Paige’s own forum here at Help Find the Missing.

If you have any information about this case, please contact us and we will pass it along to authorities. Can you help bring Paige home?

Written by Ghost Writer · Filed Under Missing Women, Paige Birgfeld | 13 Comments 

HFTM Brings One Home!

February 14, 2008

Christin Ann Sharpley was an attractive, 24 year-young woman who went missing from Arvada, Colorado on November 18, 2006. She was considered an endangered missing adult because nothing was known about her disappearance.
 
Christin left Arvada between 2 and 3 PM on November 18 with a male acquaintance to spend Thanksgiving with his parents. She never came home.
 
Fifteen months later, the case of Christin Sharpley came to the attention of Help Find The Missing. As with every new case that comes to our attention, the HFTM team began to do some research. It’s part of what we do whenever a new case comes in. We search for whatever kind of information is out there to be found.
 
Almost immediately, a staffer found another Christin Sharpley. Most notably, both Christins had a unique spelling of their names. Both bore a striking resemblance to one another.
 
Hmmmm.
 
The other staffers looked at the photos side by side and confirmed, this was the same person. A call was made to the Arvada Police Department with the tip. It didn’t take long to confirm, Christin was, in fact, Christin.
 
Help Find The Missing scored its first solved case.
 
This is just part of what we do here - from the first we hear of a case until it is closed. We search for clues. We try to keep on top of media reports and maintain information about the missing person here, on Help Find The Missing. We support those who are left behind, and we try to get the word out.

When the media spotlight fades, we will still be here.

We also wish to encourage everyone to take part in helping generate awareness for missing persons, not just for them, but also for those who care so deeply about them and are seeking answers. HFTM does not generate a single penny in revenue. The entire operation is privately funded. HFTM is staffed by volunteers who are filled with passion for the missing and the burning desire to bring them home.
 
Most importantly, we wish there weren’t any missing people to track, but since there are, we’re happy to help. It’s what we do.

Written by HFTM · Filed Under Found, Introduction | 1 Comment 

What Happened to Lisa Hatchell?

February 14, 2008

Some birthday present. Lisa Michelle Hatchell celebrated her 37th birthday, July 19, 2003 by vanishing into thin air.

Lisa Hatchell
Lisa Michelle Hatchell 

 Lisa, with her daughter and son, were living on the 5400 block of Warrington Avenue in West Philadelphia with Lisa’s boyfried, Tyrone Henderson. It’s been reported that Lisa and Tyrone had a fight over money, somewhere outside their home. The witnesses to that fight were the last people to ever see her.
 
Lisa’s aunt says she wouldn’t just leave. “It’s not like her to abandon her mother and two children unless she’s unable to make contact,” she said. Lisa’s children are fine, and living with Lisa’s mother, Alonie Walton. Lisa’s daughter asks about her mother sometimes and her son walks past his mother’s picture at least 10 times a day.
 
According to reports, after the fight and Lisa’s disappearance, police never did more of an investigation than a cursory look. On the Nancy Grace program, Alonie told Nancy, “I told the police department about him. That took me a year and a half to get them to take the report at first. Then they brought him in for a half an hour of questioning and he told — I talked to the detective after that. And after he told her [the dectective] it wasn`t the truth, and I told her that. Then they brought him in for a polygraph like three months later. That came back inconclusive. So they haven`t been in touch with Tyrone since. I don`t think they even know where he is at the present time.”
 
Alonie says someone out there knows where she is. “Lisa didn`t have no enemy. Lisa was a friend to everybody and everybody that don`t know Lisa loved Lisa like we loved Lisa. You know? She just was a friendly, outgoing person. And she didn`t bother nobody. You know, and that`s why I know if anything happened to her, it had to be Tyrone because nobody else had any, no reason to want to hurt her.”

Do you know what happened to Lisa? Do you know where Lisa is?
 
Missing Since: July 19, 2003 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: July 19, 1966
Height: 5′4″
Weight: 135 pounds
Hair: Black with red weave or braids
Eyes: Black
Piercings: Double pierced ears.
Distinguishing Characteristics:  She has previously fractured her left ankle. Hatchell has very small scars on both ankles from insect bites, a small scar under her neck, a birthmark on her outer right thigh.
Aka: Her married name is Cotton, but she may using her boyfriend’s last name, Henderson.

Lisa Michelle Hatchell’s thread on Help Find The Missing

Lisa Michelle Hatchell’s website

Lisa Michelle Hatchell’s Find Lisa Website

Lisa Michelle Hatchell’s myspace page

Written by Ghost Writer · Filed Under Cold Cases, Missing Women | 4 Comments 

The Laurie Depies Case Haunts Me

February 3, 2008

I originally wrote this entry for the HFTM Missing forum. It has been suggested to me that I repost it here, in the blog area. I thought that was a good idea, so here is my original post, as it appeared in the forum. The link to it follows the article.

___________________________________________

This is one of those cases that has stuck with me since the first time I heard about her disappearance. I have no idea why she has stuck in my mind but all these years later, I am still bothered by her disappearance.
Laurie in 1991
Laurie as she appeared in 1992.

Laurie As She Might Look at 32
Laurie as she might have appeared at age 32.
DOB: September 17, 1971
Missing: August 19, 1992
Age Now: 36 years
Sex: Female
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Height: 5′4″
Weight: 115 lbs
Missing From: MENASHA, WI

In January, 1995, according to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Larry D. Hall, a janitor from Wabash, Indiana, was being held in an Illinois jail in the kidnapping of Jessica Roach, a 15-year-old Illinois girl who was later killed. Jessica’s decomposed body, which had been mutilated by a combine, was found in Indiana. Hall’s rather gruesome diary included details of young women he had abducted. Hall was also an enthusiast of Civil War re-enactments, and such a reenactment had occurred in Kaukauna, near Menasha, at the time of Laurie’s disappearance. There were details of Laurie’s disappearance in the diary, according to the report.

The January 23, 1995 issue of the Journal-Sentinel continued the story.

The Civil War re-enactment took place Aug. 15 and 16, 1992, at the Grignon Mansion in Kaukauna, 10 miles from the site of the disappearance.

Hall’s brother denied that he was in the area on that date. “Larry has never been at any kind of re-enactment in Wisconsin. I was talking about Wisconsin with my mother just this morning. She said the last time Larry was in Wisconsin was when he was 4 years old.”

Hall was tried and convicted for the Roach kidnapping and murder, but the decision was later overturned on appeal. A jury at his second trial convicted him of the crime. Citation.

Hall was never charged with Laurie Depies’ disappearance and the case remains unsolved.

Hall was also a suspect in the disappearance of Tricia Lynn Reitler, a freshman at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana in 1993. She was last seen at approximately 8:00 p.m. on March 29, 1993. Reitler walked to Marsh Supermarket, which was approximately one-half mile from the university’s campus. Reitler purchased a soda and left the store, intent on returning to her dormitory in Bowman Hall. She never made it there and has never been seen or heard from again. While there was circumstantial evidence in Hall’s possession, he was never charged with the Reitler disappearance. Several items of Reitler’s clothing were found at a nearby school, but her body has never been located.

If Hall was involved in the disappearance of Laurie Depies and Tricia Lynn Reitler, he was very good at disposing of evidence.

Where is Laurie? Where is Tricia? I do not know, and I also do not know why these cases bother me so much.

There is a website for Laurie Depies, but as of this writing, it has not been updated since June, 2005.

Laurie’s thread on Help Find The Missing.

Tricia Lynn  Reitler’s thread on Help Find The Missing.

Written by TKG · Filed Under Cold Cases, Missing Women | 15 Comments 

Amber Wilde Missing Over 9 Years

February 2, 2008

Amber Wilde was a 19 year old, vibrant, college student at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, living in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin. She was from Campbellsport, in Washington County, Wisconsin. She disappeared on September 27, 1998.

Amber Wilde

Amber had suffered a bump to her head in a minor traffic accident on September 23. She asked her father, Steve Wilde, to call her the next day to make sure she woke up for class.

She didn’t answer. Steve drove from his home in Mayville, Dodge County, Wisconsin to Ashwabanon. There he found her apartment locked, both her purse and her car were gone.

Amber Wilde was also 4-1/2 months pregnant and had missed a doctor’s appointment. She was due in mid February.

Steve reported her missing on September 27. On October 1, one week later, her car was found in the parking lot of a bar, across the street from Lambeau Field. Her purse was in the trunk. The keys were in the ignition and the seat was pushed back. Amber was short and needed the seat pulled foward so she could reach the pedals.

The lead detective in the case said he was sure the car had not been in that parking lot, unnoticed, for more than a week. He also indicated that evidence was found in the car but he did not elaborate.

Source: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Police immediately suspected Amber’s former boyfriend, the apparent father of her unborn child. Wisconsin Highway 29 between Langlade and Brown Counties was under reconstruction at that time. Her former boyfriend reportedly had a connection to a road crew that was working the Highway 29 project in Shawano County.

Amber had attended the University of Wisconsin-Washington County after her graduation from Campbellsport High School. That campus is located in West Bend, Wisconsin. According to some news reports from years ago, the Green Bay police headed the investigation because she disappeared from the Green Bay campus. The theory is, though, that someone in Washington County knows something, but no one has stepped forward.

Source: The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

In December, 2007, new information in the case caused Green Bay police to return to a field in Shawano County. The field, which had been used as a staging area for equipment during the WI 29 project, had been the subject of a fruitless search in 2001. New information took police back to the same field with heavy equipment. A trench, about 30 feet wide and over 100 feet long, revealed nothing. Cadaver dogs had been very excited about the area until temperatures dropped, along with the dogs’ effectiveness. After a week of digging, the search was called off because of unseasonably cold weather.

Amber remains missing but her family remains hopeful. Perhaps you can help? If you know anything at all about the disappearance of Amber Wilde, please contact the Green Bay Police Department.

Investigative Agency: Green Bay Police Department
Phone: (920) 448-3221
Investigative Case #: 98-59126
NCIC #: M-156863774

For More Information, See They Are Missed

Amber has two threads in the Help Find The Missing forums:

In the Missing Adults Forum:  Amber Wilde 19, UGBW Student Disappeared in 1998 

New Developments In Old Cases Forum:  Amber Wilde - UWGB Student Missing Since Sept 27, 1998 - NEW SEARCH UNDERWAY 
 

Written by Ghost Writer · Filed Under Amber Wilde, Cold Cases, Missing Women | 4 Comments