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[Pauli]

Missing Junction woman's vehicle found ablaze
Rocky Mountain News

Monday, July 2, 2007

http://media.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/content/img/photos/2007/07/02/435134094_e_t220.jpg (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/photos/2007/nov/13/28112/)

A missing Grand Junction woman's car was found engulfed in flames last night, a television station reported this morning.

KJCT said police and fire departments responded to the blaze about 10 p.m. in northwest Grand Junction.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents are at the scene today, KJCT said.
Mesa County authorities have been looking for Paige Birgfeld, 34, who has been missing since Thursday.

Birgfeld was last seen wearing a blue-flowered tube top and blue jean shorts and riding in a red 2005 Ford Focus, Colorado license plate 022-OOX.
The woman also goes by the names Paige Dixon and Paige Beigler. She is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, about 110 pounds with sandy blond hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Mesa County sheriff's office at 970-244-3500.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/dr...5611853,00.html (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5611853,00.html)

[Pauli]

"7/2/07 morning update 5:05 a.m.

Breaking news over night, the search for the missing woman, Paige Birgfeld takes a turn, as her car is found in flames last night.

Her car was reported engulfed in flames last night at around 10 p-m in an industrial parking lot.

The Grand Junction Fire Department and Grand Junction police responded to the scene at 727 23 road.


We are also told that investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation will be at the location this morning to process the scene."

They did not mention yet if she has been found




KJCT8 (http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6735762&nav=menu580_1_1)

[Pauli]

Search continues for missing motherGRAND JUNCTION – The search continued Tuesday for a missing 34-year-old woman after her car was found burned just south of I-70.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation collected clues from her car and the area around it as Mesa County Search and Rescue teams have searched the area for any signs of Paige Birgfeld.

Birgfeld was reported missing by family members last Thursday and her car was found on fire Sunday night south of I-70 on Road 23, about two miles from her home.

Passersby said the red Ford Focus was fully engulfed in flames on the passenger's side.

Investigators are now looking into whether Web site postings by Birgfeld may be connected to her disappearance. She reportedly posted messages on ChefSucess.com indicating she was worried about the return of her ex-husband, Rob Dixon.

She wrote in March that her children asked if their dad was going to kill her.

Birgfeld's father, Frank Birgfeld of Denver, says it does not appear Dixon has been in the Grand Junction area recently.

Authorities in Mesa County say they have not ruled out the car fire as a random act of vandalism.

About three dozen family and friends held a candlelight vigil for Birgfeld Monday night to pray for her safe return.

Paige Birgfeld was last seen wearing a blue strapless top with flowers and blue jean shorts. She is 5 feet 4 inches tall, 110 pounds, with sandy hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to call the Mesa County Sheriff's Office at 970-244-3500.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=73067

[Pauli]

Paige Birgfeld said in her Web postings at www.chefsucess.com (http://www.chefsucess.com/) she had several businesses, including one as a consultant with The Pampered Chef, as well as providing dance lessons for children and selling baby gear. Her main source of income was from a modeling agency, she said in a post.

Frank Birgfeld found a business card in her car that suggested she also was working as an escort, according to The Rocky Mountain News.

Court records show that Dixon in October 2005 accused Birgfeld of giving topless massages and 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 Birgfeld’s background, Robinson said, “should not be an issue. We all hope she is found safe.”

Paige Birgfeld used the Ford Focus that was found burned out only occasionally, her father said. She generally drove her children around in a van.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/cont...gfeld_folo.html (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/04/7_4_1a_Birgfeld_folo.html)

[Pauli]

Missing woman's work worries dad

He says modeling job could be tied to disappearance

Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, July 4, 2007


http://media.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/content/img/photos/2007/07/03/435141857_e_t220.jpg (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/photos/2007/nov/13/28217/)

A missing Mesa County mother of three whose car was found torched a few miles from her upscale home may have been working as a model or escort at the time of her disappearance, her father said Tuesday.

Now, Frank Birgfeld worries that one of his daughter's many entrepreneurial jobs could be at the root of her mysterious disappearance.

Paige Birgfeld, 34, was last seen about 9 p.m. Thursday and was officially reported missing Saturday. She was last seen wearing a blue flowered tube top and blue jean shorts.

Her red 2005 Ford Focus was found engulfed in flames Sunday night in a parking lot of an industrial area in northwest Grand Junction, about three miles from her home.

Frank Birgfeld, of Centennial, said he saw a business card with his daughter's name on it indicating that she was involved in modeling. It's a business neither he nor some close friends knew anything about.

"I did not know what that is," said Birgfeld, former vice president and district director of the National Association of Securities Dealers. "As a dad, I don't know that I like the sound of it. It is an area that is ripe for speculation."

His daughter also sold baby carriers, had a dance company called Brain Dance and was an independent sales director for the Pampered Chef, an Illinois company that sells kitchen items through home-based salespeople.
Authorities tight-lipped

In April, Paige Birgfeld posted a message on a Pampered Chef-related Web site indicating that her "modeling agency" provided her primary income. There is no record of a modeling business under her name with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.

"I got a hunch this wasn't because she had an irate Pampered Chef customer," said Frank Birgfeld, who was busy plastering the Grand Junction area with fliers Tuesday.

But that isn't the only line of speculation related to his daughter's disappearance. Another is that she left on her own.

Her father rules that one out, though, describing his twice-divorced daughter as "an absolutely devoted mother" who would never leave her children. Indeed, many of her Internet postings refer to her children and how involved she was in their lives.

"When you hear 'missing person,' there is always the idea that maybe they just found their circumstances untenable and left," Frank Birgfeld said. "That is not the case here. Once you remove that, the rest of the scenarios get bad."

Authorities, meanwhile, are tight-lipped about the case.
"I don't know of any specific evidence that says there was foul play involved," said Lt. Jim Fogg of the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.
But, he added, "We're definitely treating it as a very serious missing persons case."

Tempestuous relationship
Recent Web postings by Paige Birgfeld hint at various scenarios.
For instance, she told friends 2 1/2 months ago that she had recently hooked up again with her first husband. And Web posts on a Pampered Chef forum indicated she was worried what her second husband, Rob Dixon, might think.

"(My first husband) and I didn't have any kids, they are all from my second husband, who won't like hearing about me having anything to do with the first husband again," she wrote under her former name, Paige Dixon, on April 18.

Other posts told of her tempestuous relationship with Dixon, whom she divorced last year, and talked of fears for her safety.

On March 24, she wrote, "Oh, man! My children would ask me if Dad was going to kill me. I can't imagine what they were thinking life would be like after he killed me."

Dixon's attorney, Scott Robinson, said he was familiar with the worrisome writings on the Web.

"Either she is the victim of foul play or she has staged her own disappearance and left behind evidence to implicate Rob," Robinson said. "Rob is still hoping that the latter is true."

Dixon was not in Colorado last week and only learned of his ex-wife's disappearance on Sunday, Robinson said.

Robinson said Dixon has returned to the state and is cooperating fully with investigators.

Court records show that in October 2005, Dixon allegedly slapped his wife on the shoulder and punched her in the throat as she held their baby after accusing her of giving topless massages.

Dixon was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault and misdemeanor child abuse. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of harassment.

The case against him was dismissed last month after he completed terms of a yearlong deferred sentence, Robinson said.

Additionally, in October 2004, the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction reported that authorities were called to the family's $909,000 home after Paige Birgfeld reported that her husband threatened her and their children. Police determined Dixon was not a threat to himself or anyone else and he was not arrested.

Robinson said Dixon has stayed out of trouble for the past year and has an amicable relationship with his ex-wife.

"They've basically joined forces to make sure things are going well with the kids," who are 8, 6 and 3, Robinson said.

Controversial figure
Rob Dixon is a controversial figure in Grand Junction for other reasons.
He was once on the board of the Grand Junction Rural Fire Protection District. In that role, he recommended investing fire district funds in a New York Internet company in which he had once owned stock, the Sentinel reported.

Once the investments, which totaled $3.24 million, became public knowledge in 2004, the fire district attempted to get its money back. It has since received all but about $1 million, the Sentinel reported.

Dixon was not named in any of the lawsuits filed in connection with the case because he had filed for bankruptcy, it said.

Robinson said the Sentinel report mischaracterized Dixon's role in the fire district's troubles.

"He's hoping the focus is on finding his wife," Robinson said.

Paige Birgfeld, who graduated from Littleton's Heritage High School, said in her online posts that her divorce from Dixon left her with "huge" bills.

Her father confirmed that she has struggled to hang on to the house and take care of her children by taking whatever jobs she could find, including working as a mystery shopper.

"She will hustle to make a dollar to make ends meet," he said.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5614726,00.html

[Pauli]

The search for Paige
Updated: July 26, 2007 05:27 AM
http://kjct.images.worldnow.com/images/6777951_BG1.jpg http://kjct.images.worldnow.com/images/static/gfx/pxl_trans.gif
07/24
Search expands to river The search for Paige Birgfeld continues, now volunteers began searching for Paige around the Colorado River on Monday. Search coordinators also expressed concern that there are not enough volunteers to maintain the massive search. They still need your help please contact 254-1567 for more information.

07/21Person if Interest confirmedThe Mesa County Sheriff's Department confirms, that a man living in a home at 3072 Hill Ave. that has been searched twice, is a person of interest in the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld.

Lester Ralph Jones is that person, but Sheriff's officials are also making the point today, that there are multiple other people on that list.

Those other names are not being released, and neither is exactly how many people are on that list, but her two ex-husbands, who have been on the list since the beginning are still on it.

The Sheriff's Department is confirming that multiple search warrants have been issued, and not necessarily just residences have been searched, since Page Birgfeld went missing more than 3 weeks ago.

Now 56-year-old Lester Jones, does have a criminal record going back to 1999 involving multiple cases, which according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations records, includes a conviction of 2nd degree kidnapping and assault for one case.

The Sheriff's Department won't confirm if Jones was a client of Birgfeld's escort service Models Inc.

Also, Sheriff's officials say that details of any search warrants will not be released until an arrest is made.

No one has been taken off the list since Paige's disappearance, including her two ex-husbands.

Right now investigators are trying to confirm both of their allibies.

Search moves to North Grand Junction

After six days of searching for Paige Birgfeld,crews are shifting their focus this morning in hopes of finding the missing mother of three.


search coordinators say they are 99.9 percent sure that paige is not in the Whitewater area so the focus will shift back to Grand Junction.


search crews with the Jennifer and Abby recovery foundation plan to begin the new search at Canyon View Park.




http://www.kjct8.com/global/story.asp?s=6777951

[Pauli]

Junction search 'focused on finding Paige'

Friends, family search miles of highway for clues

David Montero, Rosa Ramirez and Ellen Miller, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, July 16, 2007

WHITEWATER — Police and volunteers are combing a stretch of U.S. 50 today for clues that may lead to the whereabouts of a missing Grand Junction mom.

Paige Birgfeld's checks, a check register and some undisclosed personal items were found yesterday along the highway southeast of Grand Junction.

Connie Flukey, a spokeswoman for Abby & Jennifer Recovery Foundation, said Birgfeld's family and some 30 volunteers, along with Mesa County authorities, are "looking under everything."

"We'll be here until we run out of anything to look at," Flukey said this morning.

She said they've focused on the stretch between Grand Junction and Delta.
"We're focused on finding Paige. We're looking at any little thing that can be related to her or could possibly relate to her," she said.

A dry drain system is located in parts of the search area.

"It's a nasty drain out here. But we're looking under everything, over everything."

The searchers will continue this week until Birgfeld is found, Fluke said.
Some of the missing mom's friends have signed up to help, but of the searchers, "about 95 percent never knew her," Flukey said.

"They are just concerned people in the community," she said, adding that business owners have taken off from their job to look for Birgfeld.

The Salvation Army has donated food and beverages for the volunteers, Flukey said.

Heather Gierhart, a spokeswoman for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, said investigators had found Birgeld's personal items along the highway for the past two weeks.

"We're not commenting on any of the items. They are personal items that belonged to Paige," Gierhart said.

She also said authorities continue to believe the woman did not disappear on her own.

"We're still fairly certain she didn't walk away and that there was foul play involved."

Gierhart said the search area is expanding rather than shrinking because Birgfeld's items have been found scattered along the highway.

Frank Birgfeld, Paige's father, said the fact that some items have been found is encouraging.

"Is this the proverbial trail of bread crumbs left by Paige," he said yesterday. "You kind of like the sound of that as a dad."

His daughter has been missing since the night of June 28. Her car was found burning in a gravel parking lot of an auto parts distribution warehouse July 1. The investigation into her disappearance has revealed much about her life — including that she juggled several jobs, ranging from Pampered Chef salesperson to running an independent escort service.

Her first husband, Ron Biegler, said Birgfeld was an "extremely trusting" person who could have found herself in over her head.

"She always saw the good in people," Biegler said. "But she could be a little naive to the dark side of what some men are capable of."

Described as a very caring person and devoted mother, Birgfeld held a series of jobs to make ends meet. She sold Pampered Chef merchandise, ran a dance class for preschoolers and was always looking for other business opportunities. Her mother said at one point she was looking into breeding dogs.

"I knew she wouldn't be able to do that," Suzanne Birgfeld said. "Not all of them make it, and she would have a hard time with that."

The devotion people in Grand Junction feel for Birgfeld was reflected by those who went out looking for her.

Riina Stockemer said she has known Birgfeld for six years. Both women have children about the same age. Stockemer, 34, had a colorful bruise on one knee, the result of trying to jump over a ditch, and said she will "stay until they tell us to go. Paige is my friend. It's hot, but we have a breeze today, so it's better than yesterday."

Paige Birgfeld's older brother, Craig, continued looking for his sister all day yesterday. Frank Birgfeld said "he didn't miss a shift."

Anyone with information about Paige Birgfeld can call 970-244-3500.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5630929,00.html

[Pauli]

missing mom | denver & the west
Double life tangles probe
By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 07/16/2007 01:13:02 AM MDT

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0715/20070715__20070716_A1_CD16BIRGFELD%7Ep1_200.JPG (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1587427 )Paige Birgfeld, 34, missing mother of three in Grand Junction, Co. lead a double-life, also working for an escort service. ( | Picasa 2.6)

Grand Junction - In the middle of the clutter of Pampered Chef orders on Paige Birgfeld's home-office desk is a sheet of smiley-face stickers. She used them as rewards for the three children she doted on - the children whose "I luv u mom" drawings are pinned to a wall behind her chair.

Smiley faces also appear on Paige's "Naughtynightlife" website, where she advertised her services as the escort Carrie. "Tired of chopped meat showing up when you ordered Filet Mignon?" she wrote alongside a revealing photo.

Men would use a smiley or a frowning face to rate the services of the women who advertise there. Carrie had recently earned three smiley faces - including one posted three days before she vanished - for "extra" services that may have crossed legal boundaries.

This single mother living in a million-dollar home, going to Moms Club meetings, wowing friends with her potluck dishes and selling kitchen ware often transformed into a miniskirted escort who advertised in-call and out-call erotic massages and slipped in and out of a tucked- away office across town with an assortment of men.

The truth of Birgfeld's double life has devastated a wide circle of friends and has the town buzzing with lurid details. And it has complicated an investigation into her disappearance.

"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.
Since Birgfeld disappeared June 28, family, friends and investigators have been trying to piece together her two identities. They have found hints about a woman who was coming home that day with promises she would finish building a treehouse for her children but had made arrangements to meet a male client first.

Investigators are narrowing down a handful of "persons of interest" who were clients of Birgfeld's escort business - a list gleaned from cellphone records in the hours before she was expected home.

Birgfeld, 34, was last seen on a Thursday in Eagle when she met with her first ex-husband, How ard Biegler of Aurora. She had recently rekindled a relationship with him, according to information she shared on her Pampered Chef website. Biegler spoke to her by cellphone about 9 that evening when she was close to returning to her home in the suburbs north of Grand Junction.

She never returned. She was not reported missing until that Saturday morning, when her live-in nanny called authorities at the urging of Birgfeld's oldest child. That Sunday night, Birgfeld's Ford Focus was found burning in a parking lot at an industrial area about 3 miles from her home.

Investigators concluded the fire was arson and likely was set with the intention of destroying evidence. They also believe Birgfeld had been the victim of foul play.

Hilkey said Biegler and Rob Dixon, Birgfeld's second ex-husband, have not been eliminated as suspects but are not on the "persons of interest" list.
Public speculation initially focused on Dixon because he is infamous for donating millions of dollars' worth of firetrucks and other equipment to departments around the state. Much of the equipment was not paid for.

Dixon also lost more than $1 million for a fire-district board he served on. He invested the district's money with the same New York investor who helped Dixon lose his inherited fortune.

Dixon and Birgfeld moved to Grand Junction in the late 1990s and bought a home where they lived a flashy lifestyle that included lavish parties and nine cars.

They met in the Denver area, where she graduated from Heritage High School. Her father, Frank Birgfeld, a former vice president and director of the National Association of Securities Dealers, said she was average- looking in high school and not one of the popular girls. She was never a cheerleader or involved in athletics, but she was scrappy. The slight Birgfeld was suspended for a day for breaking the nose of much larger girl she caught stealing from her locker.

"Somewhere after high school, she became a beauty," Frank Birg feld said.
His daughter attended a year of college at a Florida nursing school before she dropped out to marry Biegler. The marriage lasted two years. Birgfeld told friends she left because Biegler didn't want to have children.

Birgfeld also told friends she had worked a stint as an exotic dancer before she married Dixon in 1998 in Las Vegas. The couple had three children: Jes, 8; Taft, 6; and Kohl (called "Trigger" by the family), 3.

When Dixon's finances were failing in 2004, there are indications Birgfeld began using her exotic-dancer skills to make money. An arrest affidavit relates that Dixon was arrested on domestic- violence charges after he slapped and shoved Birgfeld in 2005. The impetus for the altercation was finding underwear in her car that he told the court led him to believe she was performing topless massages "at the least."

Some of Birgfeld's friends from her Grand River Play Group and her Moms Club suspected there was something more in her life but didn't question the high-energy, dedicated mother with the big smile. She always was the first to bring over a meal when someone had a baby. She opened her home for club parties on holidays. She expertly sewed costumes for dance recitals. She gave homemade food gifts to her Pampered Chef clients.

"Paige has that need to give and help out others," said Jaime Silvernail, a close friend who lived at Birgfeld's for a short time while she and her husband were house-hunting.

Tenants in the office building where Birgfeld, since March 2006, based what she called her Grand River Acupuncture business suspected something.
She would enter the office in late afternoons and evenings with men - as many as four in a day. They were in business suits and cowboy get-ups. Some were described as "scroungy-looking."

She would be dressed in skimpy clothing and high heels. Her office was decorated with drapery, soft lighting, a massage table and cushy chairs, unlike the other utilitarian office spaces in the building.

Much of the time, no one saw her because the building is locked and mostly vacant at night. The last time she was seen by other tenants was the Tuesday before she disappeared.

Her family said they knew she was involved in many enterprises trying to make ends meet but had no idea about the escort service.

"I am so shocked. I don't think anything could shock me any more," said Birgfeld's brother, Dr. Craig Birgfeld, a plastic surgeon in Seattle.

He and his family, along with Paige Birgfeld's parents, are staying at her home, waiting for information, passing out fliers, fielding calls from major networks and hoping every telephone ring in the 14-room house will bring her voice.

Since her divorce last year, Birg feld made and sold baby slings, so successfully hawked kitchenware that she won two all-expense-paid vacations for herself and her children, worked as a mystery shopper reporting on service at various businesses, gave dance lessons to children and bought several properties in the Denver area as investments.

Her favorite activity was anything she did with her kids. She told friends she had no need to join a gym because she got all the workout she needed swimming and jumping on the trampoline with her kids, now in Arizona with Dixon's parents.

"I'm not sure they have grasped this," her father said. "They just know they aren't with their mother."

Silvernail said she and other mothers are praying for news. But she doesn't agree with authorities that Birgfeld led two lives.

"I don't really see it as leading a double life. I can see where you would have a mom do whatever she could to protect her children. I see this as one more thing to help her children," she said. "Paige loved her kids more than life itself."

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6383828?source=rss

[Pauli]

Searchers Find Missing Woman's Checkbook Along Highway

Search Intensifies For Paige Birgfeld

POSTED: 1:45 pm MDT July 15, 2007

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- The search for a Grand Junction woman who has been missing for two weeks intensified over the weekend as hundreds of volunteers set out in search of information in the case.Searchers found 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld's checkbook and a series of checks along a two-mile stretch of a highway.Friends, relatives and volunteers spent all day Sunday looking in the area where her car was found on fire about two miles from her home.

The mother of three was last seen on June 28. She was reported missing two days later.Birgfeld worked as an adult dancer and a topless masseuse, officials said. She was the owner of Models Inc, which provided exotic dancing, erotic massage and escort services.After restarting her relationship with her first husband, Paige Birgfeld was known to have met with him Thursday in Eagle and to have spoken with him by telephone that night, telling him she was near her home, according to police.Her first and second husbands have cooperated with investigators.Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Mesa County Sheriff's Office at 970-244-3500.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/13684900/detail.html

[Pauli]

Information from accident could help in Birgfeld case


By AMY HAMILTON The Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Information surrounding a traffic accident could help authorities piece together clues in the case of a missing Grand Junction woman.

Mesa County Sheriff’s investigators want information from motorists who were diverted around an accident the evening of June 28 at 23 and G roads. Paige Birgfeld’s Ford Focus was found burned out at about 10:30 that night at 727 Road 23 near the location of the crash.

“We can’t say why we’re looking but we’re interested in the detour routes that people took,” said spokeswoman Heather Gierhart of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department. “I think there were many detour routes. There are so many people who could have information or could have seen something.”

Gierhart said investigators aren’t interested in the accident itself, but in things people may have seen while rerouted around the accident. People with information should call Mesa County Sheriff’s investigator Peter Burg at 244-3263.


http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/cont...ld_sidebar.html (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/07/18/7_18_6a_Birgfeld_sidebar.html)

[Pauli]

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[Pauli]

Police search house in missing woman case

Denver Post Staff Writers
Article Last Updated: 07/19/2007 02:06:35 AM MDT

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0714/20070714__20070715_C2_CD15BIRGFELD%7Ep1_200.JPG (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1589992 )Frank Birgfeld joins search director Connie Flukey to chart the progress Saturday of volunteers looking for his daughter. (Special to The Post | Ed Kosmicki )

Authorities searched a Grand Junction-area home for evidence Wednesday morning in the disappearance of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, a mother of three who vanished three weeks ago.

It was the second time in the past two weeks police investigators have searched the home, located in the 3000 block of Hill Avenue in Clifton, just northeast of town.

Authorities would not reveal what or whether anything has been seized from the home or its connection to Birgfeld's disappearance. A judge has sealed the search warrants of the home and police are barred from releasing any details, Mesa County Sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Gierhart said.

Authorities have said they suspect foul play. The local mother of three vanished June 28. Recently, about two dozen items that likely belong to her were found scattered along U.S. 50, south of Grand Junction.
The missing woman's father, Frank Birgfeld, said it sounds like police are closer to finding her.

"Finding the perpetrator will put me closer to finding my daughter," said Birgfeld, who is scheduled to appear on Good Morning America todayon Thursday to talk about her disappearance.

"It sounds like we're closer than we have been, but I don't know. I've been out literally beating the bushes for the last few days."

Police have not named a suspect in the case, but have only revealed that Birgfeld's previous two husbands have been questioned in the past.

Property records indicate and neighbors verified the identities of the couple living at the Hill Avenue home as Lester Ralph Jones, 56, a mechanic and Elaine Jones, 52, a credit union worker.

The Joneses could not be reached for comment.

Investigators from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and detectives on loan from the Grand Junction Police Department aided the Mesa County Sheriff's investigators in the latest search of the home.

Two weeks ago, police searched the single-family, ranch-style house "CSI" style, said Tom Miller, a next-door
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0714/20070714__20070715_C2_CD15BIRGFELD%7Ep3_200.JPG (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1589991 )

neighbor and friend of the Joneses. He described the Joneses as generous. "To see it (the search) come back has got me a little more concerned," Miller said.

The couple has lived in the house about two and a half years, Miller said. During that time, he has never seen anyone who fits Birgfeld's description.
A neighbor living on the other side of the Joneses also said he has never seen anyone there who looked like her.

"This is totally off the wall," said Paul Nichols. "They seem really decent."
According to the CBI, Lester Ralph Jones, who friends say goes by his middle name, has served at least five years in prison for convictions of first-degree assault and second-degree attempted kidnapping in 1999 in Delta County.

According to Elaine Jones' ex-husband, Richard Chinn, a retired teacher from Hotchkiss, the 1999 criminal charges against Lester Ralph Jones stemmed from an domestic disturbance with Jones' previous wife.

Since Birgfeld's disappearance, investigators have said they believe she was working as an escort and went by the name "Carrie" in addition toselling kitchenware through Pampered Chef.

The investigation has focused on the escort business. Police said they have been talking to customers who saw her in the days before she disappeared.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6406051

[Pauli]

Search conducted in probe of GJ woman's disappearance

Associated Press - July 19, 2007 12:24 PM ET

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - Sheriff's officials say they may have gathered information they hope will be a key piece of evidence in determining the whereabouts of a missing Grand Junction woman.

Thirty-4-year-old Paige Birgfeld hasn't been seen or heard from for three weeks, and was officially reported missing June 30th.

Her car was found in flames a day later, about two miles from her home.
A search warrant affidavit regarding yesterday's hunt for clues has been sealed, but Mesa County sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Gierhart says authorities hope that what they found will be "very fruitful" in the probe.

Neighbors say they saw about five people, including authorities with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, going through items in and around the house yesterday.

Gierhart won't say if the people who live there are "persons of interest" in the case.

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6812516

[Pauli]

Report: Police Name 'Person of Interest' in Disappearance of Mom Who Led Double Life as Escort

Saturday, July 21, 2007

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Investigators have named a "person of interest" in the disappearance of a 34-year-old mother who led a double life as a popular escort model, MyFOXColorado.com reported Friday.

Paige Birgfeld vanished three weeks ago while returning from a visit with her first ex-husband, who told police she planned to keep two appointments with "clients."
Investigators have twice searched the home of Lester Ralph Jones in connection with the case, and Friday named him a person of interest in the case.

Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hikley has said their investigation was focusing on the escort service Birgfeld was running at the time of her disappearance. Sources told MyFOXColorado.com that Jones was a client of the escort service, Models, Inc.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290220,00.html

[Pauli]

Person of Interest' Named in Missing Woman Case
_
Investigators in Mesa County have, for the first time, named a person of interest in the disappearance of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld.

Investigators have twice searched the home of Lester Ralph Jones in connection with the disappearance, and Friday named him a person of interest in the case.

Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hikley has said their investigation was focusing on the escort service Birgfeld was running at the time of her disappearance. Sources tell Fox 31 that Jones was a client of the escort service, Models, Inc.

Fox 31 has also obtained the criminal history of Lester Ralph Jones, including a 1999 guilty plea in a kidnapping and assault case involving a former wife.

The police report obtained by Fox 31 says Jones tailed his then wife in a car at speeds over 100 miles per hour, allegedly side swiped her car off the road, rammed her, and put her in his car at gun point, according to witness statements in the Police Report.

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/...TY&pageId=3.2.1 (http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3834503&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1)

[Pauli]

Person of interest' named in case of missing mother
http://www.9news.com/assetpool/images/070720071640_07-20-07-lester-jones-NEW.jpg

http://www.9news.com/imageenlarge.aspx?storyid=74025

[Pauli]

Transcript: Police go 'On the Record' about Paige Birgfeld's Reported Double Life

Friday, July 20, 2007



This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," July 19, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tonight, the Joneses. They live just 12 miles from Paige Birgfeld (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Paige%20Birgfeld%27%29;)'s million-dollar Colorado home. Do Lester and Elaine Jones (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Elaine%20Jones%27%29;) know something about the missing mother and escort service boss's disappearance? Let's go live to Colorado. Sheriff Stan Hilkey from the Mesa County (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Mesa%20County%27%29;) sheriff's department joins us. Welcome, Sheriff.
SHERIFF STAN HILKEY, MESA COUNTY, CO: Thank you for having me.
VAN SUSTEREN: Sheriff, I understand you can't give us the particulars of these searches, but you have now searched their home twice, is that correct, sir?
HILKEY: Yes, we have.
VAN SUSTEREN: Have you searched other homes?
HILKEY: I can't comment on any other search warrants. They'd all be sealed at this point. So unfortunately, I can't give that information.
VAN SUSTEREN: I can understand the information contained within the search warrant and the main parties, but the actual existence of search warrants are quite public when people go in and search. Are you saying you can't even tell me whether other search warrants have been executed?
HILKEY: I think the ones that have been executed are pretty well known, and any of the other ones — any other search warrants would be sealed anyway, and I couldn't talk about them.
VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of the execution of the search warrants, was the — was it productive?
HILKEY: Well, I think any time that we can get a look at something and try to, you know, discover if there's any clues or evidence, it is productive. And even eliminating things is productive. But we're not talking about the specific items that were found or that we're looking for.
I think in any kind of an investigation, some things, you know, are done publicly and some aren't, but it doesn't signal any change in the ambitious pace of this investigation or the determination of the people that are trying to solve it or find Paige.
VAN SUSTEREN: Sheriff, Paige was last seen or at least spoken to on the night of June 28. Have you be able to go back and figure out what she had been doing in the 24 hours preceding her disappearance (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27disappearance%27%29;)?
HILKEY: Yes, that has been a part of the investigation, and I think investigators are pretty comfortable for the timeframe prior to her coming back to Grand Junction (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Grand%20Junction%27%29;) on that Thursday evening.
VAN SUSTEREN: What was she doing for that 24 hours? I mean, where had she been? What had she been doing?
HILKEY: Well, it's been talked about pretty freely here with regard to — she met with her first ex-husband in Eagle, Colorado, in the day prior to coming back to Grand Junction. I can't give you specifics, because I just don't know them, about the entire 24 hours. But that information is known to our investigators, and they feel pretty comfortable with that.
It's the time that she came back to Grand Junction and those people that she was meeting with or wanting to meet with her that have really been the focus of this investigation.
VAN SUSTEREN: About what time do you think she hit the city limits of Grand Junction on the 28th, having left Eagle, where she had seen her first husband?
HILKEY: I'm sorry, I don't have that particular fact. I know it was in the evening.
VAN SUSTEREN: So she left her first husband's home in Eagle or meeting with him, drove to Grand Junction and never went home. She went to see someone or someone nabbed her or something happened at that point, right?
HILKEY: Yes, that's what we believe, is it's that period of time, getting back to Grand Junction, that is the most critical right now for us to understand what happened to Paige.
VAN SUSTEREN: You have spoken to husband number one and husband number two. Would you characterize both of them as being fully cooperative?
HILKEY: Yes, they're both cooperating with our investigators. We believe that we know where each of them was during the time of that missing — during those hours where she went missing. And frankly, there are other people, other persons of interest in this investigation that we're focusing on.
VAN SUSTEREN: The area from where you found her car to the home of the Joneses, where there's been a second search warrant executed — is the area in between where you found the items that belonged to her, to Paige, that have been apparently tossed out of the car or out of her possession?
HILKEY: I'm sorry? What...
VAN SUSTEREN: Is that the same direction...
HILKEY: What did you want to know about...
VAN SUSTEREN: Between the place where you found her car and the Joneses, between those two points, is that where you found her personal items, or were they in another direction from the car?
HILKEY: They're in a general direction, probably not — not in the line of sight with that house, no. But the items were found south of Grand Junction on highway 50, and that home is in east Grand Junction.
VAN SUSTEREN: Sheriff, thank you, sir, and good luck.
HILKEY: Thank you. We appreciate you helping us keep this story going.
VAN SUSTEREN: As much as we can, sir, we will. Thank you.
Chuck Murphy, assisting managing editor for The Denver Post, joins us. Chuck, the Joneses — their house has now been searched twice, and that, of course, is not insignificant. What can you tell me about this couple?
CHUCK MURPHY, DENVER POST: Well, Ralph (ph) Jones is a mechanic. His wife is a credit union manager or credit union employee. They've lived in this house for about two-and-a-half years. Ralph Jones (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Ralph%20Jones%27%29;) has a criminal history — he goes by the name Ralph, by his middle name, according to his neighbors. He has a criminal history involve assault and attempted kidnapping. Our understanding is that's the result after domestic situation that occurred in a county near Grand Junction in 1999.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is that with a woman other than his current wife?
MURPHY: That's correct. It was his previous wife at the time.
VAN SUSTEREN: Chuck, what's sort of tie between — if you even know, I don't know if we know — between Paige Birgfeld and this couple?
MURPHY: There is no known tie, nothing that stands out that we see. Neighbors tell us that they had not seen anyone who looks like her at the Jones house. We don't see any business relationship between them. There doesn't appear to be any obvious tie. And yet the sheriff's office has been out there twice.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know if the sheriffs have searched any other home?
MURPHY: We do not. As you mentioned to the sheriff, search warrants are public, but whether that search warrant is tied to a particular case or not is not. So it's surprising to me, if they have searched other homes, that they have not told media that those were also related to the Birgfeld case. This, with the exception of her own home, is the first one that we know of where they have described it as related to her disappearance.
VAN SUSTEREN: Has anyone from your newspaper made attempts to talk to the Jones couple and to find out what they have to say?
MURPHY: Yes. We don't know where they are, and neighbors don't know where they are. To the best of our knowledge, no one is in custody. No one has been arrested for this or in relation to this. But we have not been able to locate them. And as far as neighbors know, they were not present during the search.
VAN SUSTEREN: Can you provide any sort of fill-in-the-blanks? Is there 24 hours between the time that she left Eagle, where husband number one was, and the time she hit Grand Junction the night she disappeared, June 28? Are you able to fill in any of the timeline of what she was doing?
MURPHY: Well, based on her first ex-husband's statements to police, there's not a long window. She had been with him in Eagle, in the mountains, and they had been discussing or had been working toward a reconciliation of their relationship. She then drives from there to Grand Junction, an hour-and-a-half or so, and had told him that she would contact him once she got home. He called her at about 9:00 o'clock, and she was not home yet. That's the last contact anybody knows of with Paige Birgfeld.
VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know if he knew of her other occupation, running the escort service? And what — you know — do you have any information on that?
MURPHY: He had suspicions, apparently, but I don't know that he had any great detail about what she was doing in her other life in Grand Junction.
VAN SUSTEREN: Husband number two at the time of her disappearance, June 28, was where?
MURPHY: I believe he was in Arizona at the time. There doesn't seem to be any reason to doubt — as the sheriff noted, they have both been cooperative with him. The couple's children are with his family. And he immediately came to Grand Junction. Now, I do not know that he has a rock- solid alibi for that period of time, and the sheriff's office has always maintained that he, as well as the first husband, are persons of interest in the case.
VAN SUSTEREN: And of course, anybody who knows her would in theory be a person of interest, when you can't find anybody, so in all fairness to them...
MURPHY: Exactly. And no one has been described as a suspect. So it's anyone who had contact with her. Anyone is a person of interest.
VAN SUSTEREN: Chuck, thank you.
MURPHY: You bet.
Paige Birgfeld visited her first husband, Ron Beigler (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Ron%20Beigler%27%29;), the very night she disappeared. John Romero, KDVR-TV reporter, spoke to Ron Beigler about that visit. John Romero joins us. Welcome, John. And what did husband number one say?
JOHN ROMERO, KDVR-TV DENVER: Hi, Greta. Well, Ron told me along the lines of what Chuck just described, that that had gotten back in touch early this year, had seen each other for the first time in March since the separation of their first marriage, and that they had made a rendezvous in Eagle that evening, on the 28th. It was a picnic, he said, and that broke up later in the evening.
Now, what Ron told me of interest during our interview and discussion yesterday was that at some point that evening, Paige had called him and told him she was going to see one or possibly two clients that evening. And he knew what that meant. He was fairly aware of the circles of the world that she was working in, in that part of her life, and that she had told him she was going to see one or two clients that evening. So that puts her at work with her escort service on the night that she disappeared.
VAN SUSTEREN: Was he trying to sort of warn her off going to see clients? I mean, it's typically a rather — it can be a rather dangerous occupation, assuming her clients were related to her day job, but to her night job.
ROMERO: No, I got the strong sense from Ron that he had made his peace with what she was doing, that the breakup of their first marriage in part, he said, was because of her work as a stripper at a now defunct strip club in Denver. And I think whatever issues he had with that, he had kind of since gotten over and was ready to kind of reconcile with her. He told me in very clear terms that he felt they were together in the sense that they had rekindled the relationship, they were in an established relationship, at the time of her disappearance.
VAN SUSTEREN: When did husband number one and Paige break up? Or the marriage dissolve.
ROMERO: In 1998, he told me. They were married in '95, and then it broke up in 1998. It had been reported in The Post that there were some issues over whether (ph) or not the children, and Ron also told me that he was becoming more and more uncomfortable with her activities as a stripper and that he was also aware that she had met the man that would become husband number two. So he was aware of that kind of burgeoning relationship.
VAN SUSTEREN: Is there any — where was husband number one that night of June 28? He says that she left Eagle and went to Grand Junction. Where was he?
ROMERO: He turned around and drove back to his home, which is in Aurora, a suburb just to the east of Denver. And as far as we know from police, they believe his alibi. The sheriff has told me, as he has told others, that they are sort of leading their investigation away from any potential involvement from either of the two ex-husbands.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Husband number two — was he aware that — and he was the divorce, so they weren't married (INAUDIBLE) Was he aware that she had rekindled her relationship with husband number one, and were there any problems with that dynamic?
ROMERO: I really don't have a good answer for you on that one. Husband number one intentionally steered away from husband number two. In fact, he told me that the reason why they were doing these rendezvous in kind of neutral locations was that he did not want to go to Grand Junction, in part because he did not want any kind of involvement with husband number two. So I don't know what...
VAN SUSTEREN: That's a — I mean, that sort of...
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: That raises sort of an interesting question. If husband number one doesn't want to come to Grand Junction to see husband number two, yet she's divorced from husband number two, you know, what's the problem there?
ROMERO: Well, he was — you know, and the police have said this in as many words — he had what's been described as a pretty notorious temper. There was, you know, an incident or charge or allegation of domestic violence in that relationship. He was a guy who was known to have had a temper, who I guess husband number one wanted nothing to do with for some fairly obvious reasons.
VAN SUSTEREN: John, thank you.
ROMERO: And Greta, if I could add one thing.
VAN SUSTEREN: Yes.
ROMERO: To follow up on a point Chuck made, we have some very new reporting today out of our affiliate in Grand Junction, which we discussed tonight (INAUDIBLE) They have a source close to a friend and neighbor of Mr. Jones, Lester Jones, who confirms to them Lester Jones (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:siteSearch%28%27Lester%20Jones%27%29;) was a client of Paige Birgfeld's escort service. So that has, for the first time that we know of, established a relationship between Lester Jones or Ralph Jones and Paige Birgfeld.
VAN SUSTEREN: Which, of course, may then explain why the search warrant of his home, and maybe others have been searched, as well. Thank you.
Andrea Land knows Paige Birgfeld. Andrea Land joins from us Grand Junction. Welcome, Andrea.
ANDREA LAND, FRIEND OF PAIGE BIRGFELD: Thank you, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Andrea, when was the last time you spoke to your friend or saw her or both?
LAND: I talked to Paige on the day that she disappeared at about 12:40 in the afternoon. She called me to invite me to a Pampered Chef meeting that was going to be happening. And then the last time I actually saw her was two days prior to her disappearance. Several of the moms in our club were at a good-bye dinner for a couple of other members, and she attended that.
VAN SUSTEREN: When she called you at 12:40 on the day she disappeared, June 28, did she say the meeting was that night or was it some future night?
LAND: It was a future night. She was telling me to put it on my calendar for July 16 because I had expressed an interest in signing up as a Pampered Chef consultant.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Did she — how long was that conversation on the 28th?
LAND: It was rather short because I was in the middle of some other conversations, which I now, of course, regret. But she sounded like her normal, bubbly, happy self and was really excited about the meeting.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. So you basically — I mean, both of you have children. You're both mothers. So this — your relationship was basically around the children and your friendship? I mean, you don't know anything about this escort service, do you? Or do you?
LAND: No, I really don't know anything about it. I was aware that she had, you know, danced at one point, and it really wasn't something that we pried into. But I'd like to dispel this idea that she was duplicitous and leading a double life because there were some people who did know about it, and if anybody had asked Paige, she would have told them. It just wasn't something that she advertised.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did you know about it?
LAND: No, I did not.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did you have the kind of friendship where — I mean, did you — I mean, was it more than just a business or club relationship, where you talked about personal life?
LAND: Oh, yes, definitely. I mean, she had talked to me about her rekindling her romance with Howard, who she actually — she married her second husband because Howard didn't want children, according to her. But we talked about a lot of things. And I just never asked, you know? I didn't feel like it was my business to pry into her personal life. I didn't ask her, you know, where she was making her money because it's just not something we talked about.
VAN SUSTEREN: It — I mean, would you agree that that might be a risky lifestyle, running an escort service?
LAND: Well, certainly. I mean, it can be dangerous to do, but so is on-line dating. So is general dating. I think anytime a woman is alone in a situation, she's vulnerable.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did she seem like a risk taker to you? I mean, is this a woman who...
LAND: No.
VAN SUSTEREN: Not at all?
LAND: Not at all, actually. She was very, very — she doted on her children. She is the type of person who've involved in everything having to do with school and the kids. She really is not a risk taker. And I think more than likely, she was just doing what she thought she had to do to put food on the table and keep her kids in the home that they had known their whole life.
VAN SUSTEREN: Andrea, thank you.
LAND: Thank you very much, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: And of course, we'll keep you, the viewers, updated on developments in the hunt for Paige Birgfeld as we get information on the story.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290182,00.html

[Pauli]

Map shows Lester Ralph Jones' work, RV repair shop.. right by where Paige's car was found burning.

MAP:
http://i10.tinypic.com/5xs1si1.jpg

Paige's Dad said he was interviewed at the car sight and could PLAINLY SEE the RV repair place over the shoulder of the interviewer.

[Pauli]

Jul 20, 2007 1:25 pm US/Mountain Police Name 'Person Of Interest' In Birgfled Case

Grand Junction Woman Reported Last Seen June 28

Man, 'Person Of Interest' Lived At Home Searched Twice

(CBS4) GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. Investigators in Grand Junction named the resident of a home in Fruitvale that they have searched twice in connection with the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld a "person of interest" in the case, authorities said Friday.

Lester Ralph Jones' home was searched for a second time on Wednesday. Jones was working as a maintenance man at an RV repair shop a few feet away where Birgfeld's burning car was found two days after she was reported missing, KREX-TV in Grand Junction reports.

Birgfeld, 34, was last seen June 28 and was reported missing two days later. Her car was found on fire July 1.

Police have said her disappearance may be related to her work for an escort service.

Investigators spent 8 hours at the house in Fruitvale Wednesday. A search over the weekend of the area where her car was found also revealed some clothes and other personal belongings of Birgfeld's.

The personal items were about 10 miles from where her burned car was found, a few miles from her home in Grand Junction.


Follow link to see video

http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_201153112.html

[Pauli]

Man gets10-year termfor shooting,kidnapping
By AARON PORTER

DELTA — A Crawford man who shot at his estranged wife's boyfriend early this year and later kidnapped her was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

While driving through Hotchkiss on Jan. 6, Ralph Jones, 48, encountered his 31-year-old wife, Lisa Jones, in a vehicle with her boyfriend, Joe Bear, according to court documents. Jones tried to force his wife to stop several times during an ensuing high-speed chase on Colorado Highway 133.

The chase ended abruptly after Jones sideswiped the couple's vehicle on a county road near Paonia. After firing two shots at Bear, who was fleeing down a nearby railroad track, Jones pulled his wife from the car and threatened to kill her, court documents state.

Shortly after his release from jail, Jones violated his bond conditions by kidnapped his estranged wife on Jan. 30, according to an arrest warrant. She escaped in Jones' vehicle when he entered a Delta hotel to obtain a room for the night.

Authorities captured Jones the next day, after he flew to Oklahoma in search of his wife.

Jones pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to six felony charges stemming from the original assault and violence charges, as well as violating conditions of the bond from the shooting incident.

http://web.archive.org/web/200001161...5712.0484.html

[Pauli]

http://i15.tinypic.com/6gkjrex.jpg


http://i15.tinypic.com/53fgeoz.jpg

http://i9.tinypic.com/4xwnk08.jpg

[Pauli]

Images from the Mesa County Clerk's office of the home of Elaine & 'Ralph' Jones

http://i8.tinypic.com/6chwrbp.jpg


http://i9.tinypic.com/4orn8tj.jpg

[Pauli]

July 26, 2007
The search for Paige Birgfeld is going south and into the rugged country of Grand Mesa.

The Abby and Jennifer Recovery Center, which has coordinated the month-long search for the missing mother of three and escort-service owner, will fire up the search in Delta County this weekend, Director Connie Flukey said.

“We’re going real high and real low,” Flukey said.

The 10,000-foot mesa is the predominant geographical landmark between Grand Junction and Delta, and searchers with the center two weeks ago found Birgfeld’s checkbook and other items near the intersection of a remote route to the top of the mesa and U.S. Highway 50, which connects the two communities.

The find was the first indicator of Birgfeld’s presence in the Grand Valley since she disappeared June 28 after a meeting in Eagle with her first husband, Howard Beigler, with whom she was hoping to reunite.

Finding Birgfeld’s belongings fired up the searchers, who Flukey said have eliminated what the center considers the high-priority areas in the Grand Junction area.

The imposing mesa, then, is the next most likely area that needs investigation.


“In our minds, we would feel better if that area was eliminated” as a place where Birgfeld might be, she said.

The mesa also towers over the Gunnison River, which cuts through high desert below as it travels from Delta to its junction with the Colorado River in Grand Junction.

Most searchers will comb the areas on foot, but people who can search on horseback or all-terrain vehicle also are encouraged to join the effort.
“We’re darned excited,” Flukey said. “We’re going to find Paige.”...........

post will be set up in Delta in the parking lot east of the Bill Heddles Recreation Center, 530 Gunnison River Drive.

Registration will be held from 2 p.m. to dark Friday, and the search will commence Saturday morning. Searchers also can register Saturday...............

https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/use...feld_follo.html (https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/userreg/ursignup/signup.jsp?UrUsecase=800100&%20SendBackURL=%2Fnews%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fstories% 2F2%3Cbr%20/%3E007%2F07%2F26%2F7_26_07_Birgfeld_follo.html)

[Pauli]

Missing mom search shifts to mesa

Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, July 26, 2007

The search for Paige Birgfeld is moving to the soaring, rugged Grand Mesa, where an army of volunteers on foot, horseback and ATVs plan to search Saturday.

The 34-year-old Grand Junction mother vanished after she returned to town June 28 after a day trip to Eagle. Her red Ford Focus was found burning in a Grand Junction parking lot July 1.

Authorities suspect foul play in her disappearance.
Searchers decided to focus on the 10,000-foot plateau east of Grand Junction after discovering Birgfeld's checks, a check register and other undisclosed personal items scattered along U.S. 50, a route that leads toward the south end of the Grand Mesa, on July 15.

"We thought, 'Let's clear that area and pray we find her," Connie Flukey, director of the Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation, said of the Grand Mesa.

Dozens of volunteers have already "cleared many hundreds of square miles of areas around Grand Junction that we thought would be real hot spots."
Flukey said Mesa County sheriff's investigators have not relayed any leads suggesting the mother of three might be found on the plateau.

After weeks of grueling, fruitless searches, Flukey said volunteers remain inspired by Birgfeld's family members.

Her surviving children — ages 8, 6 and 3 — occasionally visit the search center to give volunteers high-fives and crayon-decorated thank you cards.
"Her 8-year-old daughter gave me a note saying, 'Thank you for looking for my mommy,'" Flukey recounted. "I'll tell you what, everybody's got motivation."

People interested in volunteering for Saturday's search can register Friday from 2 p.m. until dusk at Bill Heddles Recreation Center, 530 Gunnison River Drive, in Delta. Volunteers also can call (970) 260-1821.

Investigators earlier named a 56-year-old Grand Junction man, whose home they've searched twice, as a "person of interest" in Birgfeld's disappearance.

Lester Ralph Jones has not been named a suspect, however, and sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Gierhart said she could not discuss details of the searches at Jones' house because of a judge's order sealing the warrants.
Gierhart said Jones is on a long list of people of interest whom authorities are exploring because of their ties to the woman.

Investigators have focused some of their work on Birgfeld's cell phone records and her escort business, a line of work her family and friends knew little about before she disappeared.

To them, she was a dedicated mother who sold Pampered Chef and other products in a home-based business.

Authorities have said both of Birgfeld's ex-husbands are cooperating fully.
According to court records, Jones has domestic violence in his background. He was arrested Jan. 6, 1999, in Delta County and charged with multiple offenses stemming from an incident with his then-wife.

He pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in the heat of passion and felony menacing, and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was divorced from the woman a year later.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5645930,00.html

[Pauli]

The search for Paige keeps officials on alert
http://kjct.images.worldnow.com/images/6865065_BG1.jpg http://kjct.images.worldnow.com/images/static/gfx/pxl_trans.gif

Monday evening crews responded to a report of a body in the Colorado River, just Southeast of the Redlands Parkway bridge.

The Grand Junction Fire Department and Mesa County Sheriff's deputies searched about a quarter mile area of the river.

According to the Sheriff's Department, four people were rafting when one of them spotted what she said was an elbow.

The Sheriff's Department said they take those claims very seriously, especially during the search for Paige Birgfeld.

After about an hour on the water, search crews determined the report was unfound and they cleared the scene.

Meanwhile the Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation is leaving Delta after searching there this weekend for Paige Birgfeld.

They will return to Grand Junction to begin another search using private searchers.

The foundation does need some supplies including food and water as well as a trailer that could serve as a mobile command unit.

If you'd like to help with the search or make a donation Please call 254-1567.

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6865065

[Pauli]

Searching for Paige


Missing Mom's Secret Life Exposed as Family and Friends Search to Find Her


http://a.abcnews.com/images/Primetime/abc_ptl_missing_mom_070731_ms.jpg
Paige Birgfeld, seen above with her family, disappeared June 28. During the search for this devoted mother of three, her family discovered a shocking secret -- a double life Paige led that few knew about. Did it have something to do with her disappearance? (ABC News)

July 31, 2007
Grand Junction, Colo., sits nestled in the heart of a massive valley. Surrounded by the majestic mesas and canyons of the western Rockies, it is quiet, peaceful and so vast it's easy to imagine that someone could vanish there without a trace.

Frank Birgfeld's daughter Paige did just that when she disappeared earlier this summer. Now he searches the Colorado River for his daughter, convinced that she can be found.

"I think the word is effervescent," he said. "She was … she's the kind of person when she comes in the room and meets you, she always gives you a big smile."

Paige Birgfeld is 34 years old, an attractive model and dancer and a struggling businesswoman. Twice divorced, Paige is a single, devoted mother of three. For Frank, the hardest part is not being able to follow his fatherly instinct to help his daughter.

"She's out there somewhere, and I can't protect her," he said.
Paige's disappearance is riddled with questions. Was it a kidnapping? Did she run away?

Or did it have to do with a secret life the soccer mom was hiding from everyone — including her own family?

Strange Disappearance, 'Persons of Interest'

On the night of June 28, Paige was driving home alone to her children, but she never made it to her front door. Upon receiving a call from the sheriff's office informing them that their daughter was missing, Frank and his wife, Suzanne, immediately jumped in their car and drove the three hours to Grand Junction, desperately calling Paige's cell phone, to no avail.

The next day, Paige's car was found just 2 miles from her home — vandalized and set on fire. Paige's family led a group of volunteers in their massive search over hundreds of square miles, through desert scrub brush and murky waterways.

Within days of her disappearance, investigators and volunteers found several personal items belonging to Paige a few miles southeast of Grand Junction: a checkbook and a video-store membership card. The clues initially seemed promising, but they didn't lead to Paige.

There are, however, a broad range of "persons of interest" — individuals whom police have not named as suspects, but whom they are talking to. According to the police, one of those on their list is her first husband, Ron Beigler. Shortly before Paige's disappearance, it seemed the couple was discussing rekindling their relationship and Paige met with Beigler just hours before her disappearance. Beigler denies having had anything to do with it.
Then there's Rob Dixon, Paige's second husband and the father of her children. In October 2005, Dixon was charged with slapping and punching Paige inside their million-dollar home.

According to Paige's friends Riina Stockemer, Barbara Campbell and Andrea Land, Dixon is a man with a violent temper.
"Lately, she was very concerned about him being around the kids. She had a lot of worry that it wasn't a healthy situation," Campbell said.
Dixon was the first person that Land and Campbell thought of in connection with Paige's disappearance, but Dixon had an alibi. He was almost 2,000 miles away in Philadelphia at the time his ex-wife went missing.
Police have also talked with Ralph Jones, a convicted felon with a violent past who works at an RV dealership just a few hundred feet from where Paige's car was found. While Jones has not been named a suspect, his home has been searched twice.
It turns out that Jones knew Paige well -- intimately, in fact. Jones was a client of Paige's in her secret double life.

'A Little Extra on the Side'

"I knew that a couple of years ago she was learning to give massages. But, you know, lots of people give massages. … So, I knew she was doing a little extra on the side," Campbell said.
The "extras"? For the right price, Paige would perform massages topless. She even had an ad in the local paper and her picture posted on a Web site called Naughty Nightlife. In her profile, she wrote "Tired of chopped meat showing up when you ordered filet mignon?"

Paige's jobs selling cookware and teaching dance to children didn't pay nearly enough to cover her mounting debts, the cost of raising three children and the $6,000 mortgage on her million-dollar home. Paige is, by all accounts, a very confident woman, comfortable in her own skin. So why did she keep this other life a secret from her family?
"I think she realized we would not approve and actually, now that I think about it, I think, you know, this was one of her strong points. She was a beautiful, gorgeous model. And if she was able to legitimately use that, she was trying to keep the house and the kids together," said Paige's mom.




http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=3422819

[Pauli]

Handgun found~
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According to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department:
• A Ruger 9mm handgun was found near 23 and H Roads in the early morning hours Wednesday.

[Pauli]

Gun Found Near Missing Woman's Car

Posted: 11:58 AM Aug 5, 2007
Last Updated: 11:58 AM Aug 5, 2007
Reporter: Associated Press

A gun has been found less than a half-mile from where authorities found the burned out car of a missing Grand Junction woman.
A man reported finding an unloaded nine-millimeter handgun about six inches off the road.

The area is near where Paige Birgfeld's car was found July first.
The 34-year-old mother of three was last seen June 28th and reported missing two days later.

A search along an area highway over the weekend of July 18th turned up several of her belongings.

Investigators haven't said where the items were found.
Investigators say the gun was booked into evidence.
No record was found on an initial check of its serial number.
It's not know if there's any connection to the case.

Friends and family have described the twice-divorced Birgfeld as a devoted mother who sold kitchen products out of her home and held other jobs to support her children.

Authorities say they've discovered that Birgfeld also had an escort service, a discovery that came as a surprise to many who knew her.

http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/8922927.html

[Pauli]

Gun found near missing woman's car; search dogs aid case

Associated Press - August 6, 2007 12:04 AM ET

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) - A gun has been found less than a half-mile from where authorities found the burned out car of a missing Grand Junction woman.

A man reported finding an unloaded nine-millimeter handgun about six inches off the road, near where Paige Birgfeld's car was found July first. It's not known if the gun is connected to the case.

Birgfeld is a 34-year-old mother of 3 who was last seen June 28th. She was reported missing two days later.

Yesterday, search dogs released near where Birgfeld's car was found led investigators to a nearby RV dealership where Lester Ralph Jones works.
Jones has been described as a "person of interest" in the case.

Sheriff's officials weren't saying what the dogs might have found.

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6889556

[Pauli]

Search for missing Junction mom narrows
By Nick Martin
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 08/08/2007 08:49:43 PM MDT

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0808/20070808__birgfeld%7Ep1_200.jpg (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1612581 )
Paige Birgfeld, 34, the missing mother of three in Grand Junction, lead a double-life, also working for an escort service. ( | )

Investigators today combed the Gunnison River and a nearby commercial sewage facility in the search for a Grand Junction woman who has been missing for weeks.

Highly-trained dogs brought in from out of state led investigators to the two locations over the weekend, according to a Mesa County sheriff's spokeswoman.

Mother-of-three Paige Birgfeld, 34, disappeared June 28 and is thought to be the victim of foul play.

Sheriff's officials have not named any suspects but say they are investigating multiple persons of interest.

Divers from metro Denver and Mesa County are looking for any sign of Birgfeld along a stretch of the river south of Grand Junction.
"We're looking for anything," said sheriff's spokeswoman Norma Mestas.
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Photos taken by the Mesa County Sheriff's Office today in their search for Paige Birgfeld. Image courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff's Office (Mesa County Sheriff's Office | NA)

"But worst-case scenario, we're looking for Paige Birgfeld." Volunteer searchers, including Birgfeld's family members, used rafts last week to look along miles of the river and its banks.

They were led to the river after finding a 15-mile trail of Birgfeld's personal belongings, scattered along U.S. 50 south of the city and ending at roads that cross the river, said her father, Frank Birgfeld.

Frank Birgfeld was among the volunteers who floated the river last week without finding her.

"What they're saying is, well, if Paige is in the river, she's hung up on the bottom," Frank Birgfeld said today. "I want to find her, but I'm not sure I want to find her there."

For the divers working today, searching the Gunnison means they have to fight strong currents.

Earlier today, investigators were also searching inside a sewage facility near U.S. 50 and Bridgeport Road, but Mestas said that search was called off at about 11:30 a.m.

"I don't know if anything was found," Mestas said.

Sheriff's investigators believe the key to finding Birgfeld may be in her secret role as an escort who sometimes went by the name "Carrie."
On top of selling kitchenware and teaching dance lessons to preschoolers, authorities
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/0808/20070808__SEARCH2%7Ep1_200.jpg (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1612974 )
Photos taken by the Mesa County Sheriff's Office today in their search for Paige Birgfeld. Image courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff's Office (Mesa County Sheriff's Office | NA)

have said she also worked for an escort agency called "Models Inc." in Grand Junction. The sheriff's office has said its investigators were in touch with people who may have had contact with "Carrie" in the days before she disappeared.

Search warrants have been executed in recent weeks at several locations throughout Mesa County, a sheriff's spokeswoman said recently.
But most of those warrants have been sealed to the public.

The only such searches to be made public were on the Grand Junction-area home of Ralph and Elaine Jones, which was searched twice.

Ralph Jones, 56, has been named a person of interest in the case.
Jones is an RV mechanic who served time in prison for assault and attempted kidnapping, according to records from the Colorado Bureau of Investigations.

Birgfeld's car was found days after her disappearance, engulfed in flames a few dozen feet from an RV repair shop.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_6573519

[Pauli]

Divers search for missing mom along Gunnison

Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, August 8, 2007


http://media.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/content/img/photos/2007/08/09/080807search_e_t220.jpg (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/photos/2007/nov/13/29777/)

Metro rescue divers are searching the waters of the Gunnison River for a missing Grand Junction mom.
The divers are searching for signs of Paige Birgfeld, focusing on a stretch of the river and an open waste-water pit south of Whitewater, said Norma Mestas, spokeswoman for the Mesa County sheriff's office.

Information developed by sheriff's investigators spurred the search of the waste-water pit at a septic facility off north of U.S. 50 near Bridgeport Road, she said.

Dog teams searched the river area of U.S. 50 over the weekend, prompting additional efforts today, Mestas said. Investigators were directing about 35 fire rescue and volunteer divers as well as deputies who probed the river between Whitewater and Bridgeport Road, Mestas said.

The search has been hampered by recent rains, which raised the river level 18 inches and made water murky.
The area is just a few miles south of where some of Birgfeld's belongings were found along the highway south of Whitewater last month.

The 34-year-old Birgfeld, a mother of three and an escort service owner, has been missing since June 28. Her burned-out car was later found on the northwest outskirts of the Western Slope city.

Five members of the Metro Dive Team are searching the area today and through mid-day Friday if necessary, said Andy Lyon, a spokesman for South Metro Fire Rescue, whose agency participates in the dive team along with other regional rescue squads.

The dive team often assists other agencies in searches across Colorado, he said. "If we can do it safely, then our guys come back with more experience. And, hopefully we bring some closures to the families by finding these victims."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5664291,00.html

[Pauli]

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[Pauli]

River like 'chocolate milk' hinders search



Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, August 9, 2007


The search for a missing Grand Junction mom in the Gunnison River continues today, despite muddy storm runoff that is blinding divers.
"Chocolate milk is how they describe the river," said Norma Mestas, spokeswoman for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

Recent rains have boosted the river level 18 inches and made water murky as 35 searchers scour the Gunnison south of Grand Junction for signs of Paige Birgfeld.

The 34-year-old mother of three, who was running an escort service that she kept secret from her family, vanished June 28.

Four days after her disappearance following a day trip to Eagle, her burned-out car was found on the outskirts of Grand Junction. Authorities suspect foul play.

The search has moved north from sections the divers scoured yesterday, proceeding up an 11.5-mile stretch of the Gunnison between Bridgeport Road off U.S. 50 and the town of Whitewater, Mestas said.

The searchers, including members of the Metro Dive Team and volunteer water rescue divers, are taking solo turns in the water, she said. The plan is to search until about 4 p.m., then call off the search if nothing promising is found.

The river ranges in depth from 4 feet to 13 feet and varies in temperature from 50 degrees to 70 degrees, Mestas said.

Five members of the Metro Dive Team have been unable to use an underwater camera or a side-scanning sonar because of river conditions, said Andy Lyon, a spokesman for South Metro Fire Rescue.

"The water is muddy. Down at 16 feet, where they're working, it's so dark they can't see anything," said Lyon, whose agency participates in the dive team along with other metro water rescue squads.

"They're basically feeling their way along," he added.

On Wednesday, searchers spent three hours draining a wastewater pond and wading through the shallow muck, Mestas said. But the effort proved fruitless.

Information developed by sheriff's investigators spurred the search of the pond at a septic facility north of U.S. 50 near Bridgeport Road, she said.
Dog teams searched the river area of U.S. 50 over the weekend, prompting additional efforts Wednesday and today, Mestas said.

The river-search area is just a few miles south of where Birgfeld's checks, a check register and other belongings were found along the highway south of Whitewater last month.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5665752,00.html

[Pauli]

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[Pauli]

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[Pauli]

The search for Birgfeld: holding on to hope

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BY ROBERT GARRISON
Nearly two months have gone by and still no sign of the Grand Junction woman, Paige Birgfeld, but she has not been forgotten. Sheriff officials say they are still looking for the mother of three.

After 56 days of searching for Paige Birgfeld officials say they aren't giving up hope but have very few leads to go on.

Paige Birgfeld was reported missing on June 30th when she hadn't been heard from or seen for days. Search crews with the Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation have been combing the Grand Junction area looking for any sings of the missing mother.

Birgfeld's car was found on fire just days after she was reported missing. Blood hound dogs as well as dive teams from Denver was brought in hoping to find any clues as to where Paige could be. The Mesa County Sheriff's Department as well as the Colorado Bureau of Investigation started searching for Birgfeld in early July.

The Mesa County Sheriff's Department said the Birgfeld case is still active and remains their top priority. Meanwhile, Crews with the Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation have searched the Grand Junction, Whitewater, and Delta area's with no sign of the missing woman.

Back in July the Sheriff's Department confirmed the did have persons of interest list, included in that list was a man by the name of Lester Ralph Jones and Birgfeld's two ex-husbands.

Birgfeld was involved in an escort service, as well as the Pampered Chef Limited, and selling gear for babies.

If you have more on this case, you are asked to contact the Sheriff's Department.
http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=6972396

[Pauli]

Suspect named in Birgfeld disappearance
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Lester Ralph Jones
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GRAND JUNCTION - Mesa County Sheriff's investigators have formally named Lester Ralph Jones the sole suspect in the disappearance of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld.


Jones had been named as a person of interest earlier in the investigation, and searched his home on two occasions this summer.

Birgfeld's two ex-husbands were also considered person's of interest, but authorities now say other persons of interest have been eliminated. Birgfeld has not been seen since the evening of June 28th.

Authorities have been investigating the case as one involving foul play. Sheriff's officials have not arrested Jones and are still looking for more information in this case, specifically involving Jones's activities between June 28th and July 1st.


Anyone with information should call the 244-3500.

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=7158994

[Pauli]

Man named lone suspect in missing Junction mom case

Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, October 2, 2007


One of the key people of interest in the disappearance of Grand Junction mom and female escort Paige Birgfeld has been named the only suspect.
Officials with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office today said that all other persons of interest have been cleared and that 56-year-old mechanic Lester Ralph Jones is the lone remaining suspect in a case authorities believe involves foul play.

Birgfeld's two ex-husbands, Rob Dixon and Ron Biegler, are no longer considered persons of interest in the case, and neither is anyone who had contact with her or wanted to have contact with her on the night she disappeared, authorities said.

"We were able to eliminate all the other people we were looking at," sheriff's office spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said.
Birgfeld, 34, the mother of three young children who also sold kitchen goods, disappeared June 28. Her car was later found torched in an industrial area.

Authorities have searched Jones' home at 3072 Hill Ave. in Grand Junction at least twice.

Anyone with information about Jones' activities between June 28 and July 1 should call 970-244-3500 and press 0.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5712850,00.html

[Pauli]

Suspect Named in Birgfeld Disappearance

Fox 31 obtained the criminal history of Jones, including a 1999 guilty plea in a kidnapping and assault case involving a former wife.

The police report obtained by Fox 31 says Jones tailed his then wife in a car at speeds over 100 miles per hour, allegedly side swiped her car off the road, rammed her, and put her in his car at gun point, according to witness statements in the Police Report.

The report also says Jones fired two shots at the male passenger in his then-wife's car.

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/...TY&pageId=3.2.1 (http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4523642&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1)

[Pauli]

Suspect named in missing mom case
By Nancy Lofholm
The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 10/02/2007 06:14:31 PM MDT


http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2007/1002/20071002__LesterRalphJones%7Ep1_200.jpg (http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=1675295 )Lester Ralph Jones has been named a suspect in the disappearance of Grand Junction mother Paige Birgfeld. (Mesa County Sheriff's Office)

Mesa County Sheriff's Office investigators Tuesday named a Grand Junction mechanic and ex-convict as a suspect in the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld.

Lester Ralph Jones, 56, was formerly referred to as a "person of interest" in the case, along with Birgfeld's two ex-husbands and other unnamed associates of Birgfeld's. The sheriff's office announced that the other persons of interest have been cleared and Jones upgraded to the sole suspect.

Birgfeld, the 34-year-old mother of three young children who operated a modeling and escort business, disappeared June 28. Her burned-up car was located two days later. Several months later, some items from her wallet were found scattered along U.S. 50 south of Grand Junction.

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.

Jones was arrested numerous times in Delta County in 1999 for kidnapping and other charges related to altercations with his ex-wife. He was sentenced to five years in prison and completed his parole in 2005.

He has not been arrested in the Birgfeld case. He could not be reached for comment.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7063753

[Pauli]

Parents offer reward for missing daughter

Ellen Miller, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, October 8, 2007


GRAND JUNCTION — The parents of a Grand Junction woman missing more than three months offered a $15,000 reward today for information leading to her recovery, saying they believe someone has information about what happened to the mother of three young children.

"For us, every day, every hour, is agonizing," said Frank Birgfeld, of Centennial, with his wife, Suzanne, and mother, Evelyn Plummer, at his side.
Paige Birgfeld, 34, who sold Pampered Chef products and operated an escort service her family and friends knew nothing about, vanished June 28 when she failed to arrive home after a day-long trip to Eagle.

Two days later, someone torched her car in the parking lot of a manufacturing company adjacent to Interstate 70, not far from her upscale home.

Birgfeld urged anyone with information to call a cell phone number he set up for the purpose, at 303-886-5632. He said callers can remain anonymous, and he'll give them code words to identify themselves to claim the reward if Birgfeld is found.
Birgfeld said more than three months of investigation and numerous searches, both by authorities and community volunteers, have led him to conclude, "This was not a spontaneous hiding (of his daughter). Either someone did some planning, or she's alive."

Mesa County sheriff's investigators believe Paige Birgfeld met with foul play, and last week they named Lester Ralph Jones, 56, of Grand Junction, as a suspect. He has not been arrested and could not be reached for comment, despite numerous efforts.

Birgfeld's three children are with their father, Rob Dixon, from whom Page Birgfeld was divorced. Dixon and the elder Birgfelds both have filed for custody and the case is pending.

Birgfeld also said he is trying to find an attorney in Denver who prepared a will at his daughter's request. He said he believes she made a will and later amended it, but he does not know which attorney in Denver did the work "and there are a lot of lawyers in Denver."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5717449,00.html

[Pauli]

Reward deadline on Monday: No word yet on Paige

BY KJCT NEWS 8 TEAM
GRAND JUNCTION - The father of the missing mother Paige Birgfeld wants immediate answers and hopes that someone has answers. Frank Birgfeld waits everyday hoping to hear that his daughter is somewhere to be found.

Birgfeld decided that the final day to collect his $15,000 reward would be Monday, October 15, 2007. So far, no one has approached him about this unsolved mystery.

He and his family just want to find Paige regardless of the amount, Frank stated. "We are just crushed over this the days go by with us having just an absolute black hole of despair and just as a human thing to do we certainly ask if somebody knows to let us know," he said.

Frank Birgfeld is asking anyone to call him directly with information about Paige's location. His number is 303-886-5632. He'll provide the caller with a means of identification to collect the reward if Paige is found. The caller does not have to identify themselves.

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=7215866

[Pauli]

Father to suspect: Help clear your name

“I have gone to his shop,” Frank Birgfeld, Paige’s father, said. “I hand delivered to him a letter, a letter that I typed. I noted that he has denied having any involvement with her disappearance, yet clearly there are some links based on the sheriff’s investigation. ... I requested that he meet with me.”

The letter, in an envelope with Lester’s name on it, was handed to a clerk at the front counter of his place of work, Birgfeld said.

Nearly a month later, Birgfeld says: “I have not heard from him.”
...
Those searches, although greatly scaled down, continue.

“We don’t tell where we are going or where we have been,” Birgfeld said.

The places volunteers will go to search are often areas pointed out to Birgfeld by anonymous tipsters.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/cont...gfeld_folo.html (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/10/26/102607_1a_Birgfeld_folo.html)

[Pauli]

Family, friends gather for remembrance of missing mom

Sunday, October 28, 2007
If they could, the intimate group of friends and family who gathered Saturday night to talk about Paige Birgfeld would have given anything to summon her back.

Almost four months after the doting mother of three young children vanished from their lives, those who knew her best remembered her as she would have liked: smiling; with a child on each hip; helping others.

Everyone laughed while watching a video, in happier times, of a MOMs Club party where Birgfeld and friends dressed up, danced and got silly. It was a scene Birgfeld’s father, Frank Birgfeld, had seen before, but he couldn’t bear to watch it again. The footage was the last video shot of his 34-year-old daughter before she disappeared.

“This is a duty I can’t do,” Frank said before exiting the room....

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/index.html

[Pauli]

Birgfeld denied custody rights
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GRAND JUNCTION - Paige Birgfeld is still missing and last Friday Magestrate Stephanie Rubenstein denied her father custody of his three grandchildren. Birgfeld is in the process of appealing the decision.

He says the final decision wasn't for or against him, instead it was a way for the Magestrate to clear the docket to make room for other cases. The Magestrate sided with Rob Dixon the father of the three kids, saying Birgeld and his wife have no standing.

Birgfeld and his wife have been taking care of the childred since their mother went missing more than four months ago.

http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=7282556

[Pauli]

Suspect list in missing mom case down to one: mechanic
By Ellen Miller, Special to the Rocky
October 31, 2007

Four months into the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of a Grand Junction mother of three young children, authorities have narrowed their suspect list to one.
That suspect is Lester Ralph Jones, a 56-year-old mechanic who was convicted eight years ago of kidnapping and assaulting his second wife during a messy divorce.

Paige Birgfeld, the 34-year-old woman who disappeared in June after a day trip to Eagle, told her friends she had a regular car mechanic, who is now believed to have been Jones, said her father, Frank Birgfeld.

Scent dogs brought in to pick up Birgfeld's trail from her abandoned and burned car led investigators to the RV repair shop where Jones works, Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey confirmed in an interview.

Beyond that, Hilkey wouldn't say what led investigators to Jones.

Efforts to reach Jones at work and at his home for comment were unsuccessful. Hilkey wouldn't say whether investigators have talked to him, saying he was "not aware of any conversations that may have taken place."

Legal troubles

Birgfeld's double life - she sold Pampered Chef products but also operated an escort service her friends and family knew nothing about - has led to many theories.

Initially, the sheriff's department said Jones was on a long list of "persons of interest" that included Birgfeld's two ex-husbands. But now, he is alone on the list.

Jones, who goes by his middle name, Ralph, lived most of his life in the North Fork Valley of Delta County. He owned a mechanic's shop, drove a school bus and served as fire chief in Crawford, according to a friend, Dale "Gabby" George, Crawford's director of public works.

"We worked in the ambulance together for years," George said. "I took trips to Denver with him and his boys for basketball. But then he got in hot water, and he didn't get a good deal. He went off one morning, but the trouble was isolated, I'm sure of that."

Jones was acquainted with former Delta County Sheriff Bill Blair.

The twice-divorced Jones was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in the heat of passion and attempted second-degree kidnapping as a crime of violence eight years ago.

The charges stemmed from a January 1999 incident, when he was separated from his second wife. Jones rammed a car carrying her and another man on a Delta County road.

He fired two shots at the fleeing man. Jones put his estranged wife into his car and then drove her into Paonia.

His only prior legal trouble was a 1996 citation for violating a restraining order - parking near the home of his first wife while their divorce was pending.

Five-year sentence

After his arrest in the 1999 incident, but before his guilty plea to reduced charges, Jones and his estranged wife went on a ride and on their way back stopped in front of Blair's house.

Blair heard Jones tell his wife, "If you're afraid of me, here's the sheriff's house."

Blair said he went outside and the couple left. They went to Delta to find a motel, and as Ralph Jones was checking in, his wife "took off in a hurry and was stopped," Blair said.

The wife told the Delta police officer who stopped her for speeding that she'd been kidnapped and raped, but declined to be examined for evidence of rape.

Jones told investigators his wife had called him and suggested dinner, a drive and the motel.

Charges in that incident were dropped when Jones pleaded guilty in the January incident.

He was sentenced to five years in prison and was sent to community corrections in Grand Junction in May 2001. He completed his sentence and successfully completed his parole in December 2005.

He is married again and lives in a quiet neighborhood in unincorporated Mesa County just east of Grand Junction.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/dr...5735753,00.html (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5735753,00.html)

[Pauli]

Missing mom's parents can't seek kids' custody

Ellen Miller, Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

GRAND JUNCTION — A county court magistrate has denied the parents of a Grand Junction woman missing since June the chance to seek custody of their daughter's children.

Frank and Suzanne Birgfeld, of Centennial, filed for custody of their three grandchildren a month after their daughter, Paige Birgfeld, disappeared. Authorities are investigating the case as foul play.

Mesa County sheriff's investigators have said neither of Paige Birgfeld's two ex-husbands is a suspect.

Mesa County Magistrate Stephanie Rubenstein ruled that because the children are in the care of their father, Rob Dixon, in Pennsylvania, the Birgfelds do not have standing to challenge the father for custody.

They can, however, seek grandparent visitation and Rubenstein ordered them to enter into mediation with Dixon to determine a visitation schedule.
"We're going to appeal to a real judge," Frank Birgfeld said. "It's not a well-reasoned decision — it's amateur-hour work — and it's just trying to manage her docket. She orders it to mediation, a tactic to save her from deciding and it smacks of inexperience."

Magistrates work under the supervision of the chief district judge.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5736046,00.html

[Grande]

REMINDER - Please Help Keep Paige's Disappearance in the News

Paige Birgfeld, mother, sis... more

by Carolyn K.
December 18, 2007 07:00 AM EST comments: 5

Her story is losing ground and her family is losing hope. Please vote for the Paige Birgfeld story - it's approximately the 16th one down on the list.

If we can keep it in the news, maybe someone will come forward with some onformtaion so her parents and children can find some peace. We coming up on the 6-month anniversary of her disappearance.

Please vote daily and get your friends and family to do the same.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/gen/spcl/top10.html

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977206855

[The Kitchen Guy]

Link: GJ Sentinel Poll closes (http://www.gjsentinel.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/communities/breaking/entries/2007/12/19/vote_for_the_top_story_of_the.html)

Voting for year’s top story ends

GJSentinel.com’s polls for the top 10 local news and sports stories have closed.

Readers have chosen “Former law officer Patrick Strawmatt kills two Mesa State students in a DUI collision on I-70” as the top local news story of 2007, followed closely by “Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld disappears; foul play feared.” “The financial impact of arts and entertainment on the local economy” was a distant third.

In sports, readers chose “Fruita Monument’s Steve Kasica loses his track shoes at state meet, but wins 800 meters anyway” as the top story, followed by “Grand Mesa Junior Girls softball team reaches Little League World Series” and “Fruita’s Joe Meinhart, Grand Junction’s Robert Tucker win 5A state wrestling titles; Tucker Lane finishes his career at Nucla with three titles.”

Expanded coverage of the year’s top news and sports stories is coming at year’s end on GJSentinel.com and in the pages of The Daily Sentinel.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Story - Percentage of Vote - Votes
Link: Grand Junction Sentinel Poll (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/gen/spcl/top10.html)

Cone zone: Roadwork makes city a maze for drivers. 0.59% 24

Sheriff Stan Hilkey asks to lift term limits for his office. Voters refuse. 0.22% 9

The financial impact of arts and entertainment on the local economy. 8.36% 340

Amorita Randall of Grand Junction, featured in New York Times Magazine article, falsely states she served in Iraq. 0.07% 3

John Atchley, a 20-year-old diabetic, disappears after a party, sparking a large search effort. He's found dead in a canal weeks later. 0.15% 6

Grand Junction celebrates its 125th anniversary. 0.79% 32

Fire destroys three homes in Mesa. Boy charged with arson. 0.07% 3

Summer wildfires in Utah. 0.02% 1

Grand Valley's first Internet sex sting nabs 31 people, including a man who worked at the GJ Regional Center and a DOC employee who gave legal direction to prison inmates. 0.34% 14

Western Colorado experiences a shortage of doctors. Factors include population growth, aging population, poor Medicare reimbursement rates. 0.17% 7

Controversy over potential energy development on the Roan Plateau. Gov. Bill Ritter, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., took a stand against drilling there, supporting wording in the new energy bill preventing the top of the plateau from being developed. 0.81% 33

Mercaptan fumes from Van Gundy salvage yard nauseate people, forcing school and business evactuations. 0.07% 3

Oil and gas development's effects on Grand Valley. 0.69% 28

Racial tension in Rifle after Latino girl attacks white girl at Rifle High School. 0.27% 11

Colorow Kennels in Olathe fails a state inspection. 0.07% 3

Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld disappears; foul play feared. 39.81% 1620

Teenage boy dies in Alternative Youth Adventures hike in Montrose County. 0.02% 1

The national illegal immigration issue and its effect on western Colorado. 1.72% 70

Former law officer Patrick Strawmatt kills two Mesa State students in a DUI collision on I-70. 40.77% 1659

Changes in the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. 0.05% 2

Crandall Canyon mine in Utah caves in; efforts to rescue six lost miners fail. 0.20% 8

The Grand Valley experiences a housing crunch, forcing some Mesa State students to live in a hotel at the start of the semester. 0.00% 0

Brandon Moore charged with murder in death of 2-year-old stepson. Case serves as a catalyst for child abuse awareness and public campaigns. 1.28% 52

Johnnie Walker, Grand Junction High School activities director, resigns after being arrested in Internet sex sting. 0.52% 21

David Varley resigns as city manager six months after taking the job. We learn he entered a treatment center in Arizona and flew there with the police chief on the taxpayers' dime. Varley's resignation was the last in a string of top-level resignations within the city. 0.52% 21

Real estate prices shoot up in the Grand Valley. 0.42% 17

LATE STORY SUBSTITUTION: Samuel Lincoln found guilty of attempted murder. Co-defendant Charles Pruitt makes plea deal that keeps him out of prison. 0.15% 6

Tanker truck crashes into 26 1/2 Road overpass on I-70, killing two and disrupting traffic. 0.29% 12

Expansion of St. Mary's Hospital. 0.05% 2

Disgraced Democratic donor Norman Hsu falls ill on train while traveling through Grand Junction, ends up in Mesa County Jail. 0.93% 38

Gas prices remain high. 0.22% 9

Mesa County Public Library forced to re-evaluate community display policy after controversies. 0.05% 2

Growth at Mesa State College. 0.12% 5

Derrick Coates, jailed June 15, 2006, on an attempted-murder charge in a shooting incident, officially cleared and released shortly before Thanksgiving. 0.07% 3

Hanging Lake tunnel cracks, traffic diverted all summer for repairs. 0.10% 4

[The Kitchen Guy]

And the winner is…

Link: Dennis Herzog | Wednesday, December 19, 2007, 01:48 PM (http://www.gjsentinel.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/communities/herzog/entries/2007/12/19/index.html)

We thought we were on to a pretty good idea a month or so ago when we decided to let GJSentinel.com readers decide the top local stories of 2007.

For many years the news staff has decided that.

Why, we thought, is our judgment any better than readers?

Well, the results are in. They’re not terribly surprising, except in one instance, and we know the reason for that (more about it later).

What we didn’t expect was that there would be intense competition for the top spot. Posters on the The Pampered Chef’s user forum (http://chefsuccess.com/f18/) did everything they could to ensure that the story about the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld would be the No. 1 local story of 2007. They urged people to vote and vote often.

They, of course, understandably want to create as much publicity as possible about the disappearance of the Grand Junction mother of three. They have been active in the search for her since the day she disappeared. And, as you can see, were genuinely upset when some readers decided they’d do the same thing and push the tragic story of former law officer Patrick Strawmatt, who killed two Mesa State College students while he was driving drunk on I-70.

What both groups did was within the rules. Our goal was to get people to use GJSentinel.com, and they did. Unfortunately for the Paige Birgfeld disappearance supporters, the Strawmatt story ended up No. 1. You can read about the latest developments in that story when we recap it on Dec. 30. But all was not lost. We’ll also recap the Paige Birgfeld story and if there are new developments we’ll report those, too, as we will anytime there is new information. In fact we’ll write about all of the top 10 local news stories and top 10 sports stories. Tentative plans call for them all to run on Dec. 29 and 30.

But about that No. 3 story, which turned out to be the impact the Grand Junction arts and culture community has on the local economy. I don’t want to minimize the impact, nor do I want anyone to think I’m not supportive of arts and culture in Mesa County. But I suspect that had the newsroom voted on the top stories we would have come out with the same top two. The order may have been reversed, but Birgfeld and Strawmatt were both huge stories in 2007. I doubt, though, that the arts would have been No. 3.

I’m told by good sources in the newsroom that one reason the arts story ended up where it was is that one arts and entertainment reporter for The Daily Sentinel e-mailed a few people and urged them to vote for that story. That, too, I suppose, is within the rules.

I don’t really care why you voted. I just want to thank all of you who did for taking the time to let us know what you think.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Remember the vote on the website of the GJDS for the top ten news stories of 2007 in Grand Junction? Well, they're out. Here's our choice for number one, although we got outvoted:

No. 2 story of 2007: GJ mom with secret life vanishes

By GARY HARMON
The Daily Sentinel
Link: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/12/29/123007_1b_No_2_Birgfeld.html)


Saturday, December 29, 2007

Authorities have a suspect and a mystery, but they don’t yet have a case in the disappearance of a 34-year-old mother of three with a shadowed, sexy life.

Paige Birgfeld’s last known whereabouts were Eagle, where she drove June 28 for a liaison with her first husband. It wasn’t until June 30, however, that law enforcement was informed she hadn’t returned to her north Grand Junction home.

Her disappearance was disquieting enough, but on July 1, her 2005 red Ford Focus was found aflame in a business parking lot about two miles from her 14-room house, and near a business where Lester Ralph Jones worked.

Jones, it turned out, was among several men connected to the secret life of Birgfeld, who operated Models Inc. and was known to her customers as “Carrie,” an escort and exotic dancer. She also opened an acupuncture office, but didn’t hold a license to perform acupuncture.

A month after her disappearance, Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said it was clear that Birgfeld’s disappearance had no innocent explanation.

“Nothing during the course of our investigation has led us to believe that Paige walked away from her family or that she left of her own free will,” Hilkey said. “Unfortunately, we do suspect foul play in her disappearance and the subsequent arson of her vehicle.”

Investigators chipped away through the remainder of the year at the stories of her first husband, Howard Beigler and second husband, Rob Dixon, and other men they described as “persons of interest.” Investigators eventually ruled out all of them but Jones in Birgfeld’s disappearance.

Authorities, however, have made no arrests and Jones, who lives at 3072 Hill Ave., remains free.

Jones was sentenced in 1999 to five years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for kidnapping, in connection with a domestic violence case in Delta County.

Hilkey devoted full resources to Birgfeld’s disappearance and called in help as well from the Grand Junction Police Department’s investigations unit.

Frustrated, they eventually mobilized volunteers under the auspices of the Abby and Jennifer Recovery Center to search selected parts of Mesa County and Delta County after some of her belongings were found along U.S. Highway 50.

No other clues of Birgfeld’s whereabouts emerged, however, and she remains a missing person thought to have disappeared as a result of foul play.

Dixon was awarded custody of the children she had with him, over the objections of her parents, Frank and Suzanne Birgfeld, who were denied guardianship.

Today, her disappearance is a constant source of pain and discussion among her friends and acquaintances from across the country who, like her, sold Pampered Chef products.

Birgfeld, a frequent participant in discussions on www.chefsuccess.com, now is remembered on the site with a white ribbon next to the logo and a frequently updated thread on the “Chef’s Lounge” forum.

# # #

[The Kitchen Guy]

The ABC Affiliate in Grand Junction, KJCT-TV8 (http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=7561994), has issued a year in review. Their number one story for the year is Paige.

Link: KJCT (http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=7561994)


Top Stories of 2007

A look back at the faces and places that captured your attention over the past 12 months.

Mother of three goes missing


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paige Birgfeld, a Grand Junction mother of three was reported missing on June 30th. The car she was driving was found fully engulfed in a parking lot just miles away from her home just a few days later.


Investigators took a close look at Birgfeld's ex-husband Robert Dixon.. But was later removed from the suspect list by authorities.
Around the second week into her disappearance, it was discovered Paige was part of an escort business.
For the next few weeks, members of the community with the Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation searched for clues in the desert, along Highway 50.
By October, Lester Ralph Jones, at first named as a person of interest was the primary suspect. Although to date, he has not been arrested.


# # #

Follow the link to see the rest of the story.

[The Kitchen Guy]

The members of the forum called Chef Success, where Paige was a regular poster, are used to finding an update thread every morning. Since the Chef Success server is currently down, I'm posting the update here, temporarily.

There were no new developments in this case, as a result, there is nothing to update.

That's it. That's all we know as of 12:30 AM EST.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Birgfelds wait for break in daughter’s case in Mesa County

Link: Grand Junction Free Press (http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20080117/COMMUNITY_NEWS/310732099/0/FRONTPAGE)

By Paul Shockley and Marija B. Vader
January 17, 2008

She’s out there.

Perched on a hill north of Grand Junction, Frank Birgfeld sits in his daughter’s home and takes in a sweeping view — Colorado National Monument’s fiery red rocks tower in one direction.

At the massive bay window in the living room at 2512 Oleaster Court, he points out at the roughly 5-mile semicircle where authorities six months ago were convinced his daughter would turn up.

“We’re no closer now with 30 degrees and snow,” said the teary-eyed father of Paige Birgfeld.

For now, he and others who continue to search for Paige are just waiting for the snow to melt.

Paige Birgfeld was last seen alive June 28 en route to Grand Junction. A massive search revealed clues, but no body and only one suspect, Lester Ralph Jones.

“It’s been frustrating it hasn’t been successful,” Birgfeld said. “As a dad I want to be protective ...”

Living at the house

Frank Birgfeld and his wife, Suzanne, have lived in their daughter’s home caring for the family pets, an array of dogs and cats.

And continuing to search for Paige.

This week, construction workers came by to do some minor work on the house. The Birgfelds believe one day they might have to sell it. It’s still in their daughter’s name.

They bought all the furnishings after Paige’s second ex-husband, Rob Dixon, declared bankruptcy. They maintain the house and pay the bills.

This week, the Birgfelds talked about Christmas with their grandchildren, their suspicions about their daughter’s whereabouts and accepting psychic help to try to locate Paige.

Psychic help

Since Paige disappeared, many well-minding people have offered help in the psychic realm. Many of the clues are vague, and that frustrates Paige’s parents.

One psychic from Florida said a crime was committed with a knife, and the knife is under a stair.

Another psychic contacted the search group and said Paige is in a body of water near trees.

One psychic quoted Paige as saying, “He cooked the books, and he knows I know,” Suzanne Birgfeld said.

“All we want is for them to say not that the body is out in a field, but that it’s right there,” Suzanne Birgfeld said, pointing to a specific place.

“We’re kind of at sea here,” following all leads, regardless of their veracity, Birgfeld said.

The couple continues to get calls from people volunteering information who would rather talk to the Birgfelds, not the sheriff’s department.

The three children Paige gave birth to with Dixon smile out of many frames in the living room. The Birgfelds wanted custody of the children, but Dixon, as the father, has full custody. A lower court ruled the Birgfelds had no standing. Two weeks ago, the appeals court upheld that decision.

Christmas

Despite the custody case, Dixon agreed to allow the children to spend a week at Christmas with their Birgfeld grandparents and Paige’s brother, Craig, and his family in Seattle. The Dixon kids live with their father near Philadelphia, the Birgfelds said.

Christmas was a busy time, with Paige’s kids playing with their cousins, Craig’s kids.

They all miss Paige, her bright, wide smile and her energy, Suzanne said.

Birgfeld continues to ask: Why Paige?

It’s possible — not probable — her disappearance is coincidental, but “I don’t think it’s random. I don’t think it’s burglars ... hiding her has taken some time,” Birgfeld said. “I don’t see this as spontaneous.”

Birgfeld concluded, “We need to look at the other end of the spectrum: Where would she never be found? Where is a place where you could never find her?”

Ideas include an abandoned mine or in a barrel with chemicals, Birgfeld said.

“The search has not ended.”

One suspect

Mesa County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said the 56-year-old Jones remains investigators’ lone suspect in Paige’s disappearance.

Benjamin said the possibility others are involved hasn’t been discounted.

“Until we can definitively say what happened to Paige, our options are still open as to what that looks like,” she said.

Jones — whose Pear Park home was searched twice in July — has not been charged three months after the sheriff’s office publicly named him as a suspect.

Walk through Hotchkiss

Jones grew up in Hotchkiss. Birgfeld walked through that small Delta County town recently “and just talked to people about Jones,” he said. “I was told a common expression — he was a fairly unremarkable man. I took that to mean neither positive nor negative, just a guy.”

Despite repeated attempts, Jones has so far declined interview requests.

Hotchkiss residents who knew Jones said his personality changed after he was married. He was in an altercation with his wife, and spent more than a year in jail for it.

During his incarceration, Jones had plenty of time to mull over what he did wrong in that incident.

“You have plenty of time to think — where have you gone wrong? A person could hatch a plan he could use in the future, without ever intending to use it in the future,” Birgfeld said.

“That to me is a little scary.”

[The Kitchen Guy]

Link: GJ Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/03/12/031308_1A_Birgfeld_TV.html)

'48 Hours' zooms in on Birgfeld case


By AMY HAMILTON
The Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

A national television show is putting together a program about missing Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld.

Birgfeld’s mother, Suzanne Birgfeld, said Wednesday that producers of the CBS News show “48 Hours” had been filming at their home for an hour-long segment they expected to air in May. A producer for the show was not immediately available by phone for comment Wednesday.

Despite the extra attention, Mesa County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said there are no new developments in the case.

Paige Birgfeld was last seen June 28, 2007, in Eagle, when she met with her first husband. Police were notified June 30 that she had not returned home, and her burned-out vehicle was found the next night in a parking lot about two miles from her north Grand Junction residence.

The Sheriff’s Department has said it suspects foul play in her disappearance and has listed Grand Junction man Lester Ralph Jones, 56, as the lone suspect in the case, but no arrests have been made. Jones was among several men connected to Birgfeld’s secret life as an exotic dancer and escort known as Carrie to customers of her company, Models Inc.

Authorities have twice searched Jones’ home at 3072 Hill Ave. Jones also worked at a business across the street from where Paige Birgfeld’s burned vehicle was found.

The Sheriff’s Department and volunteers launched a massive search last summer for Paige Birgfeld. Searchers found some checks with her information on them on the side of eastbound U.S. Highway 50 near Whitewater, but no other clues have been released by investigators.

Suzanne Birgfeld said Wednesday she and her husband, Paige’s father, Frank, are trudging through the painful process of selling their daughter’s home and her belongings. Frank Birgfeld plans to resume searching for his daughter in the spring after the snow melts, Suzanne said.

“He can’t not do it,” she said.

Suzanne said people still avoid calling the home number because Paige’s voice is on the answering machine.

Benjamin said the Sheriff’s Department has been contacted by producers from “Dateline NBC,” who plan to be in town next week. Benjamin said staff members of that show indicated they would hold off on airing the segment until new developments formed in the case or an arrest is made.

ABC’s “20/20” aired a short segment on Birgfeld’s disappearance last summer.

Benjamin added that occasionally Denver television stations call and request interviews. Since fall, Sheriff Stan Hilkey has declined interview requests until new information surfaces in the case.

[Grande]

:hifive:

:s1gyahoo:

[The Kitchen Guy]

Hang on to your hat, Grande, it gets better.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Birgfeld case eyed for Mesa County grand jury

Link: GJ Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20080313/COMMUNITY_NEWS/566536380)

By Paul Shockley
Free Press Staff Writer
March 13, 2008

GRAND JUNCTION — District Attorney Pete Hautzinger on Wednesday said a Mesa County grand jury may be hearing evidence in the case of missing mother Paige Birgfeld by the summer.

Hautzinger confirmed a grand jury was seated on Friday at the Mesa County Justice Center.

“It might be worthwhile if we haven’t moved further along (in the Birgfeld investigation) by late summer or early fall,” the DA said.

“Based on everything I know, I believe (Birgfeld) is no longer living.”

Hautzinger said his opinion is based largely on Birgfeld’s “devotion to her children” — not a collection of evidence in the case.

A Grand Junction resident who was called — but ultimately not selected — for the months-long grand jury process told the Free Press that Hautzinger spent most of his presentation Friday before would-be grand jurors discussing the Birgfeld investigation, gauging what people knew about the case through media reports. He also probed opinions.

“He wanted to know if someone didn’t have a reputable job, would they be more deserving of being killed, than, say, a bank robber or a priest,” the resident said, recounting a question offered by Hautzinger while sizing up the jury pool.

“He asked specifically if we knew (Birgfeld’s) profession.”

The resident, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said roughly 80 people responded Friday to Chief Judge David Bottger’s courtroom before hearing from the DA.

Nearly three hours into the process, 12 regular grand jurors were selected along with two alternates.

Aside from Birgfeld, the resident said Hautzinger discussed the prospect of several “meth-related” cases being presented, but the DA didn’t delve into specifics.

The resident also said would-be grand jurors would have to be available for service up to a year — meeting periodically when called by court officials.

It wasn’t clear when they will start meeting.

In a lighter moment Friday, the source said Bottger drew laughs with remarks after Hautzinger poured cups of water for several jurors — one juror was struck with a coughing fit during the presentation.

“It must be an election year,” Bottger reportedly quipped.

Hautzinger and Bottger declined comment on events inside the courtroom on Friday.

12 months of service

State law says a grand jury must be called in counties with populations of 100,000 or more “at the first term” of each year.

They’re called through a motion filed by the court or the district attorney.

A grand jury hears only from prosecution witnesses.

Jurors’ service is up to 12 months, but the term can be extended up to 18 months. A grand jury may choose to issue an indictment, decline an indictment or, in some cases, issue a report.

Prosecutors, however, aren’t obligated to file formal criminal charges identical to a grand jury indictment, according to state law.

“I could defer that, given the fact in any criminal case you get one crack at it,” Hautzinger said.

A case with no body

A grand jury in Mesa County was halfway through its term in December 2002 when an elk hunter near DeBeque found the skeletal remains of 18-year-old Coty Vernon of Gypsum.

She’d been missing since February 1998.

Jason Garner was indicted for Vernon’s murder and convicted at trial in November 2004.

Hautzinger presented evidence to the grand jury in that case.

In the Birgfeld case, Mesa County Sheriff’s investigators in October named 57-year-old Lester Ralph Jones as the lone suspect in Birgfeld’s disappearance in late June 2007.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said Jones’ status hasn’t changed.

Birgfeld, 34, a mother of three children who led a double life running her own escort service, was last heard from June 28 returning to Grand Junction from Eagle after spending the day with her first husband, Howard Beigler.

Her car was found burning the night of July 1 in a parking lot at 727 23 Road. Jones worked at a nearby business as a mechanic.

The actions of Rob Dixon, Birgfeld’s second husband, were also a focus of a grand jury in Mesa County. No indictments were returned in February 2006 after months of investigation focused on the botched investment of public dollars by board members with the Grand Junction Rural Fire Protection District.

Dixon was one of four board members who invested $3.24 million in Fire District funds into a New York-based Internet service provider.

[Grande]

GOOD DEAL KG, thanks!

[Pauli]

Great news KG :)

[Grande]

Slowly saying goodbye
By AMY HAMILTON
The Daily Sentinel
Saturday, March 15, 2008

Nearly nine months after the disappearance of Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld, some of her friends reluctantly embarked Saturday on the task of selling household items and seeking a buyer for her sprawling home north of town.

A garage sale that continues today at 2512 Oleaster Court offered a glimpse into Birgfeld’s life. For sale were: bolts of colorful fabric, a reminder of her love of sewing; toys that her kids have outgrown; merchandise from her business as a Pampered Chef consultant; and other mementos of the 34-year-old mother of three who inexplicably vanished June 28.

Friends are overseeing the garage sale because Paige’s parents, Frank and Suzanne Birgfeld, are visiting their grandchildren this week in Philadelphia. Paige’s second ex-husband Rob Dixon has custody of the kids and lives there.

The timing of the garage sale with Frank and Suzanne’s trip probably wasn’t coincidence, friends said.

“I always just think if it was my kids, I couldn’t do it, either,” said Connie Flukey, who helped orchestrate the sale. “We’ve seen them suffer enough already. This is hard enough for them to know that all her stuff is going to be gone.”

Flukey said most of the shoppers seemed to know the items belonged to Birgfeld’s family, and some people probably purchased more items than they needed to show support for the family.

Friends of Paige Birgfeld in the MOMs Club gathered in January, seven months to the day of her disappearance, to again say goodbye to their friend.

“It was a big relief for all of us,” Andrea Land said. “I think we all felt about 50 pounds lighter.”

A massive search effort was launched in the weeks following Birgfeld’s disappearance, but it produced few clues to her whereabouts or condition and prompted the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department to determine foul play was involved. Now, every time the media delivers another story about Birgfeld, who led a double life as an escort, those old wounds open back up, Land said.

“Every time it resurfaces, it hurts just as much as the first day,” she said.

Land said she and others plan to search for Birgfeld’s remains again once the weather warms. Searching feels empowering and is “better than sitting around and waiting,” she said.

Land said the only way she will fully feel closure in the case of her missing friend is if her remains are found or if someone is prosecuted for her murder. Grand Junction man Lester Ralph Jones, 57, is the lone suspect in the case, the Sheriff’s Department has said, and a grand jury may investigate the case, Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said last week.

“Being in limbo is the hardest part,” Land said. “It’s the most surreal thing. Nobody ever thinks it will ever happen to them.”

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/03/15/031608_1b_Birgfeld_garage_sale.html

[The Kitchen Guy]

The search will continue begining this Saturday.

The search resumes for Paige Birgfeld

Posted: May 15, 2008 06:45 PM EDT
Source: KJCT TV Grand Junction (http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8332498) (Video available on the site, follow the link)

It's been almost a year since Paige Birgfeld disappeared.

Mesa County Sheriff's investigators suspect foul play--and many questions remain about her disappearance.

Today...her father says he is still searching for answers and he won't give up.

Last summer searches cowered parts of Western Colorado. They turned up clues...but no sign of Paige.

Now that spring has arrived, Paige's father says he is ready to begin searching again.

Frank Birgfeld told KJCT that over the fall and winter he did a lot of planning and research. Examining maps of the area...and gathering ideas for new places to look for his daughter.

Birgfeld says most search efforts will be organized by the Abby and Jennifer Foundation.

"It's not just a matter of gathering a bunch of people saying go look where you want and be back at 4 o'clock. It's much more picking out spots having ample manpower so that when you are finished you can say there is nothing there," Frank said.

The Abby and Jennifer Foundation will be doing a search this Saturday. Volunteers should meet at Canyon View Park at 9:30.

[The Kitchen Guy]

The most interesting piece of this puzzle is located at the end of this report:

Search for Paige Birgfeld Continues Saturday

Source: KKCO Television, Grand Junction (http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/19012529.html) (Video Available - Follow the Link)

It's been more than 11 months since Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld was first reported missing. Although she has not been found, friends and family of the mother of three say now, they're more determined than ever to find her.

It was a common sight last summer -- search teams scouring the Western Slope, working tirelessly to find Paige Birgfeld. Now, almost a year later, crews say that drive to find her is still there.

"She didn't disappear off the face of the earth, she's out there somewhere," said Connie Flukey, Head of the Abby & Jennifer Recovery Foundation. "Obviously we've all missed her."

Members of the Abby & Jennifer Foundation say now that the snow has melted, and that they've helped Frank Birgfeld sell his daughter's million dollar home, now is the time to start the search again.

"Seeing them have to leave their daughter's home -- Frank will not go home until he finds her," said Flukey. "So I am determined. I have passion. I will help this man get his life back."

The foundation is staging a massive search effort Saturday morning. Volunteers will meet at Canyon View Park at 9:30am. Organizers are asking volunteers to bring a sack lunch and a water bottle.

"Anyone is welcome to come," said Flukey. "I definitely know people still want to get involved and we would appreciate it."

Flukey says last time a search this big was organized was back in September. Then, she says, the focus was to find objects or clues that might lead to Paige's whereabouts. But as new tips, leads, and other hints have become available, that focus has changed.

"Now it's a totally different search," said Flukey. "We'll probably be expanding it past the yards where we went before and it will be a little more thorough."

New efforts that she hopes will lead them to Paige.

"I'm hoping we find her quick," said Flukey. "If we don't, I just pray to God that some way, somebody is led to her and this is all over for the family."

Family and friends of a Grand Junction woman missing for nearly 11 months are again combing several areas hoping to find her.

Paige Birgfeld's father, Frank Birgfeld, says now that the snow has melted finding the missing mother of three is again his top priority. He has sold her home and will be living in Grand Junction, both of which he says will give him more time to search.

The Jennifer and Abby Foundation also says it will resume search efforts for Paige Saturday morning. The group is asking volunteers to meet at Canyon View Park at 9:30am, and to bring a bag lunch and water.

The group says it plans on doing a more thorough search of areas they've checked before, and will look in new areas they think could be connected to Paige.

Frank Birgfeld tells 11 News he is searching with one other person in an undisclosed location today.

[The Kitchen Guy]

The Search Continues For Paige Birgfeld

Posted on May 17, 2008 by David Dietrich
Source: KREX-TV (http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2588)


The search continues for Paige Birgfeld, and with warm weather finally here, her father, Frank Birgfeld and volunteers are hard at work searching new locations.

For months, Paige's family has been holding on and hoping for the best.

With these new searches underway, Frank says they're taking a precise approach to the new locations of interests.

The Birgfelds have been working behind the scenes with the Jennifer and Abby Recovery Foundation and today the group has re-ignited a search effort for Paige who has been missing for almost a year.

If you would like to help in the search for Paige you can contact Connie Flukey with the Jennifer and Abby Recovery foundation at 245-1567.

[The Kitchen Guy]

The search did not reveal anything, however, the search will continue.

Friends, Family Continue Searching for Missing Grand Junction Woman

Posted: 7:29 PM May 17, 2008
Last Updated: 8:02 PM May 17, 2008
Reporter: Tim Ciesco
Source: KKCO-TV (http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/19046939.html)
Video Available - Follow the Link

t has been almost a year since Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld was first reported missing. But friends and family say they haven't given up hope that they'll find her. Now that the snow has melted, and Paige's estate has been sold, they say the time to start searching again is now.

"We talked about how weird it felt to wake up this morning," said Andrea Land, a friend of Paige. "It almost felt like we were waking up a year ago."

Land, a member of the Mom's Club Paige Birgfeld started, says not a day goes by that she doesn't miss her friend. She and other members of the club began searching with the Abby & Jennifer Recover Foundation last July after Paige was first reported missing.

When she heard that a new search was taking place, she says she didn't have to think twice about lending a helping hand.

"It was a relief to be able to come out and do something because the waiting has been hard," said Land.

No one knows that better than Paige's father, Frank Birgfeld. He says he hasn't stopped searching since day one, and that he won't stop until he finds his daughter.

"This is my life now," said Frank Birgfeld. "I really wish I could get in a different line of work."

Saturday morning, Frank and dozens of volunteers gathered at Canyon View Park before spreading out across the Grand Valley to look for her. This time around, Frank says they have a new strategy.

"We're trying to back track in some areas we've already looked at," said Frank Birgfeld. "We've seen some holes and some things, and we want to make sure that where we covered was all done."

So crews searched in the brush, along canals, and in wood piles, keeping an eye out for anything that might have overlooked. But just because nothing big turned up during their latest efforts, they say it doesn't mean they're ready to stop searching anytime soon.

"Even if we find one hair from her head and that gives us closure and is the evidence to prosecute someone, it's worth this time," said Land.

Crews say the one good thing that came from Saturday's search is that they're able to narrow down the list of places where Paige could still be.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Search for Paige Birgfeld resumes

Posted: May 17, 2008 07:19 PM
Updated: May 17, 2008 09:44 PM

Source: KJCT-TV (http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8341713)

BY SARA GOLDENBERG
SGOLDENBERG@KJCT8.COM

GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT)- Paige Birgfeld, a mother of three children, has been missing for 324 days. Her father, Frank Birgfeld, has not given up hope that he'll find answers in his daughter's disappearance.

10 months and 19 days from the day she went missing, he joined volunteers as they searched the Grand Valley for clues.

But this search was different from searches we saw last year. The search teams did some back-tracking of places they had searched before.

They went back to specific places, and were not expecting to find a body.

"You just see this vast territory and you wanna say, where do I even start?" said Frank Birgfeld.

He's gone on countless searches looking for his daughter. He won't say he's confident he'll find her. But he says he can still hope.

"I wish I hadn't had to learn the positives this way, it would've been better in a book. But there are a lot of positives," he said.

A dozen volunteers, all familiar now to Frank, returned with determination to find Paige.

"We still have hope. She's out there somewhere. We have not found her, somebody has not found her, but she's out there," said Connie Flukey of the Abby & Jennifer Recovery Foundation.

Frank says most volunteers didn't even know Paige. They spent the winter poring over maps and deciding where to look next.

"At the end of the night I don't seem any closer, but the next day I get up and do it again," he said.

Frank keeps going because he says it's just "the thing to do".

"Whoever did this to Paige is still out there. And the question is, who's next?"

With the help of the community, he hopes now is the time to find her.

"We're coming, and there's somebody out there that felt entitled to take her life. We're going to find her because that person needs to be put away and his family needs closure," said Flukey.

Frank says there will be more searches in the next weeks, and every place they don't find Paige could lead them closer.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Search resumes for woman missing almost 1 year

written by: Colleen Locke , Producer
created: 5/17/2008 5:53:14 PM
Last updated: 5/17/2008 9:06:53 PM

Source: KUSA-TV (http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=91972)

GRAND JUNCTION - Searchers resumed looking for a missing Grand Junction mother of three on Saturday.

Paige Birgfeld has not been seen since June 28, 2007. Her car was found burned a few days later.

Searchers say they wanted the sale of her estate to be completed and the snow to melt before resuming large-scale efforts.

"It was a relief to be able to come out and do something because the waiting has been hard," Andrea Land, a friend of Paige Birgfeld said.

Birgfeld's father, Frank, was among the dozens of volunteers looking for clues on Saturday.

"This is my life now and I really wish I could get in a different line of work," said Frank Birgfeld.

Searchers went back over areas they've already looked to make sure nothing was missed.

"Even if we find one hair from her head and that gives us closure and the evidence to prosecute someone, it's worth this time," said Land.

Lester Ralph Jones of Grand Junction has been named the sole suspect in the missing woman's disappearance. Jones was sentenced to five years in prison in 1999, for attempted kidnapping and assault. He was released in 2001.

Anyone with information on Birgfeld's whereabouts can call 303-886-5632.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Now that the AP has picked up on the story, it will likely appear in many more locations.

Dad, helpers renew search for missing Grand Junction woman

Associated Press - May 18, 2008 1:24 PM ET

Copyrighted Article can be seen on the website of KRDO-TV (http://www.krdo.com/Global/story.asp?S=8343000)

[The Kitchen Guy]

Search for missing Grand Junction woman renewed

Steve Lynn
Vail, CO Colorado
May 18, 2008
Source: Ski-Hi Daily News (http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/VD/20080518/NEWS/255679724/-1/REGIONAL_NEWS)

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado — Family members and volunteers have resumed the search for a missing Grand Junction woman nearly a year after she disappeared.

Thirty-four-year-old Paige Birgfeld was last seen in late June. Her father, Frank Birgfeld, and about a dozen volunteers returned over the weekend to several sites they searched last year to see if they missed anything.

Birgfeld had three children and was divorced twice. Friends and family have described her as a devoted mother who sold kitchen products and held other jobs to support her three children.

Authorities said Birgfeld also had an escort service, a discovery that surprised many who knew her.

No arrests have been made.

[The Kitchen Guy]

'48 Hours' airs Birgfeld story

By Paul Shockley - Grand Junction Free Press (http://gjfreepress.com/article/20080605/COMMUNITY_NEWS/679742869)
Grand Junction, CO, Colorado
June 5, 2008

So where’s Paige Birgfeld?

“I wish we knew,” “48 Hours” executive producer Susan Zirinsky said during an interview Wednesday.

“One thing is totally clear to me despite what any defense attorney will say: It’s impossible she just walked away from her life.”

Approaching a year since the 34-year-old mother of three children disappeared, Zirinsky’s true-crime program is about to take the mystery to a national audience.

About 11 months in the making tracking the Birgfeld case, CBS’ “48 Hours: Vanished” is scheduled to air next Tuesday, June 10, at 8 p.m. local time.

“We definitely have some interesting new information,” Zirinksy said. “Sometimes when you have a story even on regional interest, when you stop and put everything together it takes on a life of its own.”

Birgfeld, who led a double life running her own escort service, was last heard from June 28, 2007, returning to Grand Junction from Eagle after spending the day with her first husband, Howard Beigler.

Birgfeld’s Ford Focus was found the night of July 1, burning in a parking lot at 727 23 Road, kicking off months of extensive searching that included a suspect’s home and life being scoured by investigators, but bringing no resolution.

Zirinsky said her staff arrived in July interviewing various players in the case, before returning again in February.

“For the most part when we take something on, we don’t know where it’s going to lead, but there’s resolution in our scope,” she said. “We had none of those guarantees coming into this.”

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office in October named 57-year-old mechanic Lester Ralph Jones as the lone suspect in Birgfeld’s case.

Seven months later, authorities say nothing’s changed but haven’t brought charges. Jones’ pickup truck remains impounded as evidence at the sheriff’s office.

Zirinsky said Jones, Beigler and Birgfeld’s second husband, Rob Dixon, all declined to be interviewed for the “48 Hours” story.

But they aren’t the story, she said.

“This is about a person, family relations and a community,” Zirinsky said.

[The Kitchen Guy]

The Secret Life Of Paige Birgfeld

Link: CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/08/48hours/main4162450.shtml) Follow the link to see the promo video.

(CBS) When Paige Birgfeld’s family got the call that she was missing, no one was prepared for the revelations the investigation would unearth.

Birgfeld, 34, was a devoted mother of three, who lived in a beautiful home in an upscale Colorado neighborhood when she suddenly disappeared. The tireless hunt for Birgfeld, which included specialty divers and countless community volunteers, became more troubling when police discovered her car in flames.

Immediately, the investigation turned to the twice-divorced Birgfeld’s ex-husbands, but they were soon dismissed as possible suspects. That’s when the probe took the most shocking turn. Paige Birgfeld, doting mother, pre-school dance teacher and beloved community member, was a high-priced escort known to her clients as "Carrie."

As stunning as it was, it was the emergence of Birgfeld’s secret life that would eventually help police zero in on a suspect, a local mechanic with a record of violence who was also a client of hers. Now, with a suspect, but no body, authorities are reluctant to release any other information to the public.

Sources close to the investigation speak with 48 Hours and reveal insider information about the evidence linking the suspect to Birgfeld, in correspondent Harold Dow's report, Tuesday, June 10, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Frank Birgfeld's Reaction to CBS's 48-Hours

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Lindsey Eaton, KREX-TV CBS Grand Junction (http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2865).

The search still continues as the Sheriff's office and family are left asking questions about what happened and where Paige Birgfeld is.

CBS's 48 Hours aired last night taking viewers through her disappearance and her secret life.

Frank Birgfeld said after seeing the previous Dateline series, he was skeptical about how this one would turn out.

Paige's father says he was at first dreading watching the show, although it was tough to watch he was pleased afterwards.

Frank says he's going to continue his search...and says he won't stop until he finds her.

June 28th marks one year when Paige went missing.

[The Kitchen Guy]

A year later, friends and family still wonder where missing GJ mom is


By AMY HAMILTON
Link: The Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/06/21/062208_1a_Birgfeld_center.html)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Nearly a year ago, Frank and Suzanne Birgfeld got the call any parent would dread. “I’m from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department. Do you know that your daughter Paige is missing?” Frank Birgfeld said of the call to his cell phone June 30, 2007, in Denver.

In the next breath, the investigator asked whether the father of the 34-year-old Grand Junction mother of three knew his daughter worked in the adult entertainment business.

The call lasted a few minutes, but time stretched into eternity in that moment, Frank Birgfeld said.

The year that followed has been one of crushing disappointment and few clues.

The doting mother who led a secret life as an escort has not been found, and no suspect has been arrested.

“If we find Paige, charges will be promptly brought,” Frank Birgfeld assured.

For that reason, the 64-year-old has taken up a residence in Grand Junction, resuming a search for his daughter’s remains.

To date, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department has listed 57-year-old Lester Ralph Jones as the sole suspect.

Bloodhounds traced a scent from Paige’s burned-out vehicle to the front door of a business across the street on 23 Road where Jones worked. Authorities confirmed that Jones’ Pear Park home has been searched at least twice.

The days after Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance turned to months. Now, a year after her disappearance garnered national media attention, the unsolved crime has wreaked havoc on family and friends desperate for information.

Complicating matters is the contrast between the dual lives Paige led.

Known by friends and family as a model suburban mom and tireless provider for her children, Paige sold Pampered Chef products, taught dance to preschoolers and headed up a MOMs Club,

Paige Birgfeld alternately was known by men who sought her out in the escort business as “Carrie,” who gave topless massages.

Despite hundreds of hours of searching, prayer vigils and tearful gatherings among loved ones, Paige’s story after June 28 remains a mystery.

Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said finding Birgfeld’s remains is not necessary to press charges.

However, a lack of evidence, and Paige’s secretive history as an escort, would provide extra ammunition for defense attorneys at trial.

“The lack of a body or any ability to prove cause of death is a major, major problem in a homicide prosecution,” he said.

Hautzinger said he hasn’t made any decisions on presenting the case to a grand jury, and he doesn’t refute any facts presented on a recently aired national television program on Paige’s disappearance.

The “48 Hours Mystery” broadcast cited anonymous sources who claimed tens of thousands of dollars were found at Paige’s sprawling home in north Grand Junction. The show also said Jones is on video purchasing a disposable cell phone that had the same number that was listed as the last incoming call on Paige’s phone, information that hadn’t been released to the public previously.

Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said one lead investigator is now on the case that initially attracted a force of 13 investigators.

As time passes, investigators gravitate to the department’s newer cases.

If given a good reason or a credible tip, Hilkey said, investigators would immediately be assigned again to the Birgfeld case. He said one year is not a long time to investigate complex cases, adding some Mesa County murder cases have been solved years later.

----------------------

By the Numbers
$991,000: Selling price of Paige’s family home
$64,500: Cost in operations and overtime at Sheriff’s Department
8,400: Bottles of water distributed to searchers
200: Number of new registered searchers in Abby & Jennifer Recovery Foundation
110: Highest daily temperature during search
100: Average daily high temperature during search
80: Square miles searched by volunteers
10: Minimum number of national television and print media organizations who interviewed Sheriff’s Department officials
13: Sheriff’s investigators initially assigned to case
4: Number of counties searched
1: Sheriff’s investigators now assigned to case

[The Kitchen Guy]

...but at least, a mention of her again. This is, however, an interesting observation about Grand Junction. I've added emphasis in the paragraph about Paige so you can find it quickly.
-------------------------------------

‘48 Hours’ fishes on Helmick murder

by Paul Shockley
Link: Grand Junction Free Press (http://gjfreepress.com/article/20080623/COMMUNITY_NEWS/152318873/1076&ParentProfile=1059)

Mesa County: Monuments, mesas, memories and murder?

Louise Bashi, spokeswoman in New York with the CBS true-crime program “48 Hours,” said the show’s staff is doing “preliminary research” on the June 10 murder of 62-year-old Whitewater businessman Alan Helmick.

“Other than that I can’t comment on a story this early in development,” Bashi said.

Firm plans to air a segment on Helmick’s murder have not been nailed down, Bashi said.

Grand Junction resident Melody Sebesta, a childhood friend of Helmick’s who was quoted in the Free Press’ June 12 profile of Helmick and his business ventures, said she was contacted by an editor with the show after her words appeared in print and online.

Sebesta said that person indicated “48 Hours” would be back yet again in Grand Junction this week.

Mesa County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said she’s scheduled to meet today with a producer from the show.

“I really don’t have anything different to tell them than I’ve told locals,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin and the sheriff’s office haven’t said much. Alan Helmick was found by his wife, Miriam Helmick, shot in the head in what was initially reported as a possible robbery-homicide at the couple’s rural spread south of Whitewater.

Should a Helmick segment air, it would be the third time in four years a Mesa County homicide investigation has found a spotlight on the national television program.

An hour-long piece featuring the case of 34-year-old missing mother Paige Birgfeld aired on June 10, just a few hours after Helmick’s murder.

Birgfeld was last heard from one year ago Saturday driving home to Grand Junction after spending the day with her first husband in Eagle.

“48 Hours” also took Michael Blagg’s 2001 murder case to a national audience — following the story through Blagg’s 2004 jury trial conviction.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Online sex ads: Women or girls?

By AMY HAMILTON
Link: The Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/06/24/062508_1a_Prostitution_folo.html)

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Local law enforcement is taking a closer look at the area’s prostitution networks as women posing in online advertisements for the Western Slope’s sex trade are beginning to look more like girls than women, according to the Grand Junction Police Department.

Also, a recent prostitution sting, which netted the arrest of a Grand Junction man on suspicion of pimping his fiancee[sic], was prompted by the unsolved case of a missing 34-year-old local woman, Paige Birgfeld, who ran an escort business, authorities said.

“Prostitution seems like a victimless crime, but it’s not a safe crime,” said Grand Junction police officer Ricky Valdez, who worked with officers from the Police Department and Mesa County Sheriff’s Department on last week’s prostitution sting. “It’s hard to say that we have more (prostitution) here than other places. Is it here? Absolutely. Are there a lot (of prostitutes)? I don’t know.”

On Thursday, officers in the joint operation arrested Nathan McClure, 29, on suspicion of two felony charges of pimping his fiancee, Dharma Mae Johnson, 27, after an investigation at Motel 6 on Horizon Drive. Johnson, who received a misdemeanor summons alleging prostitution, told police the couple split the $200 per hour she charged for sex with men, according to an arrest affidavit.

In a separate case, Contessa Malene Burnside, 33, of Rifle, received a misdemeanor summons alleging prostitution.

Cmdr. Greg Assenmacher said the Police Department is concerned about the prospect of human trafficking, which can include the practice of sexual exploitation for another’s financial gain. If prostitution is present in Grand Junction, human trafficking may not be far behind, because the two are considered “synonymous,” Valdez said.

Though women featured on Web sites advertising sexual services on the Western Slope list themselves as adults, accompanying photos of the females appear to be minors, Assenmacher said. One police officer is assigned solely to work gang and prostitution cases, and authorities expect to conduct similar prostitution stings in the future, he said.

Investigators’ leads often are found through local advertisements and popular online Web sites, such as craigslist.com. That site can display up to nine new postings a day for sexual services offered locally, Assenmacher said.

Investigators also are watching local massage parlors and businesses that advertise similar services, he said.

“It all comes down to money and greed,” Valdez said of prostitution. “It’s a hidden world.”

[The Kitchen Guy]

Authorities Hit Snag with Birgfeld Investigation

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Rick Adams
Link: WREX-TV Grand Junction (http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3049)


With the one year anniversary of Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance two days away the biggest question around the investigation is still unanswered. Where is she? That roadblock has kept investigators from moving the case forward and from making any arrests. Although he has not been charged with anything, Lester Jones has hired an attorney. Colleen Scissors is representing Jones. Scissors is one of the area's most high profile lawyers known for taking on cases with some of the biggest legal questions.

[The Kitchen Guy]

BIRGFELD SERIES: The Searches

Local News Posted on June 27, 2008 by Kate Renner
Link: KREX-TV Grand Junction (http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3060)


The Jennifer and Abby Recovery Foundation has been searching high and low throughout the Grand Valley for the body of Paige Birgfeld.
In the beginning they searched to find her alive.
They still go out multiple times a week but the new goal is to recover Paige’s body as evidence.
The recovery foundation is short on funds so they've recently started asking for corporate sponsors.
If you're interested in helping out with the searches or donating to the cause you can contact Connie Flukey at 254-1567.

[The Kitchen Guy]

One Year Anniversary of Birgfeld Dissapearance Saturday


Posted: 8:54 AM Jun 27, 2008
Last Updated: 8:54 AM Jun 27, 2008
Link: KKCO-TV Grand Junction (http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/22032464.html)

Saturday marks the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld

One year ago, Paige Birgfeld was on her way back from Vail.

Her father says cell phone records showed she made it within five miles of her home in Grand Junction but she was never seen again.

Investigators are still hard at work solving this case and family and friends still search each day. Her friend Andrea Land says life, even a year after Paige went missing,
will forever be different.

There has been one suspect in the case, Lester Ralph Jones and no one has been arrested.
The Birgfeld search has caught national attention on popular syndicated news programs and shows.

The Birgfelds offered a reward totaling fifteen thousand dollars for any information in the search for Paige. So far, no one has come forward to collect.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Close friend and baby sitter remembers Paige Birgfeld one year later

Posted: June 28, 2008 08:16 PM EDT
Updated: June 28, 2008 08:23 PM EDT

BY MIKE DANIELS
MDANIELS@KJCT8.COM

Link: KJCT-TV (http://kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8573969)


GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT)- A year ago Saturday, Grand Junction mother of three, Paige Birgfeld mysteriously vanished, leaving her kids behind and a complex case to solve.

Her former baby sitter describes Paige as a loving mother, while her family still hopes she's alive. Her good friend and children's baby sitter believes two men who knew each other are responsible for her disappearance.

The Mesa County Sheriff's Department insists this case is still a high priority for investigators.

Each day is more difficult for Carol, who used to watch Paige's kids. She doesn't want to give her last name because of her ties to the investigation.

"She confided in me a lot, when she needed me to come, I knew what was going on," Carol said.

Carol says Paige was working as an escort at the time. But her ties to that industry played no part in her disappearance and her burned car in an empty parking lot.

"We don't know if Paige is in the state or not, who knows where she is. No one has a clue except for Rob Dixon and Lester Ralph Jones," Carol said.

Rob Dixon is Paige's ex-husband. Rob Dixon's lawyer, Scott Robinson, released this statement, "Rob Dixon does not and has never known Lester Jones, their paths have never crossed and anyone who says the two of them are aquatinted is not telling the truth".

On October 2nd of last year, deputies named Lester Ralph Jones the sole suspect.

"He was calling her all the time, wanting to go out with her.. wanting to get together. She wasn't comfortable around him, she had some threatening feelings," Carol said. Carol remembers a conversation with Paige about Paige's ex-husband Rob. "One of his close friends told her about six months before she disappeared that knowing Rob one of these days he's going to make you disappear, so watch your back," she said.

Carol says the friend that told Paige this was Lester Ralph Jones. "She was afraid of that, but she said, 'I couldn't live my life in fear, so I just have to continue on." Stan Hilkey Mesa County Sheriff says, "He is someone clearly on our radar screen." Jones' house has been searched several times by investigators. Several items have been confiscated as evidence.


"We're living a parents worst nightmare," said Frank Birgfeld, Paige's father. His daughter is still missing, and the case still not solved. "We want to present our district attorney a case that is solvable and provable to a jury, so the successful prosecution of holding someone accountable," said Hilkey.


Carol says she would like to know what happened to her friend, and is haunted by a conversation she had with Paige just before she went missing. "She was not comfortable regarding her ex-husband and Lester Ralph Jones, he's a dangerous man," Carol said.

Robinson went on to say, "Dixon does not know Lester Jones, and is not working in concert on anything and never has". We tried to contact Lester Ralph Jones, and went to his last known address. We also called his last known number, but were unable to get a comment from him. Signs on his property warn "private property keep out". Jones' attorney denied us an interview with her client.

On the one year anniversary, Paige's parents are spending time with Paige's three kids in Denver. Investigators continue to ask for the public's help in solving this case. For now, Lester Ralph Jones remains the only suspect in the missing persons case of the 34- year-old mother of three, Paige Birgfeld.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Reflecting on freedom this Fourth of July

By Mike Sterling
Link: Grand Junction Free Press (http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20080704/COLUMNISTS/596519185/1062/&ParentProfile=1059&Profile=1001&parentprofile=-1)

I’m reflecting on the Fourth of July and what it meant to me as a child growing up. Back then, it was the defining celebration of the greatest country in the world — “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” On that day we were proud to be free, and self-determined citizens of a nation built by real people, possessing real talents resulting in real and tangible results.

That was the legacy of our forefathers I hoped to pass on to my daughter, Christina (Tina) Goldie Sterling-Soffel.

Three years ago Tina called me, upset that she was forced into a DUI checkpoint after watching fireworks in Loma. “Why don’t they spend that money fighting real crime,” she said. The $3 million spent that year on “the heat is on” was justified later with a significant increase in the number of arrests.

My beloved, beautiful and talented daughter was killed on Jan. 15, 2008, when she stopped to render aid at an accident site. Stopping to render aid used to be a legal requirement attached to the “driving privilege.”

From the moment Tina was born I was in a continuous battle with all those around her over her safety and well being. Yet try as I might I couldn’t keep careless idiots from causing her harm. I brought her to Colorado in 1993. Tina’s high school years were reasonably good except for the small-town bigotry and discrimination she battled.

Through it all Tina worked hard and put herself through college. Many times she would get discouraged. She had to put her education on hold after her mother developed terminal cancer. Tina stepped up and supported her mother, who died in her arms.

She would express her anxiety to me often — most of her friends had already graduated. I would tell her to hang in there, that she would succeed and build a wonderful life. I told Tina that her work experience and achievements more than made up for the delay in getting her degree.

And so she did, she worked and got not one, but three degrees, completing in December 2007. While she worked and studied, she bought a home, married Michael Soffel and mentored his daughter and sister. Her future was full of promise; she and Michael were planning children. She somehow found time to volunteer for the Relay for Life and search for her missing friend Paige Birgfeld.

And then less than a month later, an idiot stole her life away in one brutal act of stupidity. Tina did not even have the opportunity to formally accept her hard-earned degrees — her family had to accept them in May posthumously.

All the sacrifice, hard work, hopes and dreams were gone in a blinding flash. One brilliant and beautiful young woman was killed. Gone forever. I will not see Tina have children; I will not see her children grow up. Every Christmas, Thanksgiving and Oct. 12 will be absent of her presence. I can’t hear her voice, see her beautiful smile, feel the warmth of her presence or witness the sparkle in her eyes. She’s gone. Forever.

She was killed by a moronic idiot in a hell-bent frenzy to reach the next exit two seconds faster. Ignoring the flashing hazards on the tractor-trailer in front of him. The moron shot around the semi and ended Tina’s life. With her brand new Chrysler parked safely off the right shoulder, Tina lay dying in the median. They tell me she took 10 minutes to die. Every night my soul screams, “What was she thinking for those 10 minutes? Why me? Where’s my Dad? How come he didn’t protect me?” The list goes on. My rage is only exceeded by my profound sorrow. The world lost a marvelous young woman on Jan. 15, 2008.

The DA now says there’s not enough evidence to prosecute the driver who killed her.

Meanwhile the volume is turned up on DUI and seatbelt enforcement.

Instead of celebrating my daughter’s magnificent achievements, this year I’m left to designing her tombstone and contemplating law enforcement’s mission statement.

At this writing I’ve just been informed of an event that adds bitter irony to everything. On June 25, a suspected drunk driver was arrested after his truck struck a guardrail on Interstate 70, catching his own vehicle on fire and sparking a 3-mile long string of fires after he continued to drive.

Apparently no one was hurt and no one died. No structure was damaged by the fire. He was arrested, and I suspect he’ll be facing some serious charges from the district attorney’s office. The irony? The fire burned up the cross Tina’s friends and family put up and signed at the site of her death.

Mike Sterling is a Cedaredge resident.

[The Kitchen Guy]

It's been almost a year since we heard from David Lohr, just a few days short of a year. He's writing for the Discover Channel now, and posted an entry in his blog there.

I'm not going to post it, but you're welcome to go read it, if you like.

Paige Birgfeld Case Remains a Priority for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office (http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2008/07/paige-birgfeld.html)

[The Kitchen Guy]

Birgfeld suspect’s truck returned

By Paul Shockley
Grand Junction, CO, Colorado

Link: Grand Junction Free Press (http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20080718/COMMUNITY_NEWS/585124122/1076&parentprofile=-1)

A pickup truck seized as evidence more than a year ago in the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld was quietly released Thursday by the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office to its owners: Lester and Elaine Jones.

Lester Ralph Jones around noon on Thursday drove away from the department’s impound lot behind the wheel of a Dodge Ram 4-by-4 truck, which is registered to his wife, Elaine.

http://gjimg.sv.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GJ&Date=20080718&Category=COMMUNITY_NEWS&ArtNo=585124122&Ref=V1&MaxW=550&title=1
Lester Ralph Jones, left in the blue shirt, leans against his pickup truck Thursday
afternoon in the public parking lot of the Mesa County Sheriff's Office. The truck
had been impounded as evidence more than a year following the June 28, 2007,
disappearance of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld.
--Photo by Paul Shockley


The truck was impounded by investigators under a search warrant days after the mother of three children went missing the night of June 28, 2007.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin confirmed the truck’s release Thursday from custody, but said little else.

“We no longer have it,” Benjamin said.

She declined comment on a series of related questions. Among them, Benjamin was asked if the truck’s return signaled a shift of focus in the investigation away from Jones.

As recently as three weeks ago, multiple law enforcement sources told the Free Press the truck would remain impounded indefinitely as evidence in the case.

Jones — a 57-year-old mechanic who investigators believe met with Birgfeld for the purposes of her escort business the night of her disappearance — saw his Pear Park home searched twice by sheriff’s investigators in July 2007.

Jones still lives there with his wife.

Items related to Jones’ pickup were of interest at the time of the July 2007 search warrants.

Neighbors described investigators removing, among other items, separate sections of a pickup’s bed liner, which had been stored in a backyard shed as well as inside the garage at the home.

Birgfeld, 34, who ran a local escort business, Models Inc., was last heard from driving back to Grand Junction the night of June 28, 2007, after spending the day near Eagle with her first husband, Howard Beigler of Aurora.

Beigler and Birgfeld’s second husband, Rob Dixon, were cleared of involvement in October at the same time Jones was named by the sheriff’s office as the lone suspect in the case.

Foul play is suspected in Birgfeld’s disappearance.

District Attorney Pete Hautzinger in March discussed the prospect of the Birgfeld investigation being presented to a Mesa County grand jury this year, but the DA at the time said he’d made no final decisions.

Colleen Scissors, Jones’ attorney, declined comment on Thursday.

Jones has declined numerous interview requests.

Reach Paul Shockley at pshockley@gjfreepress.com

[The Kitchen Guy]

Property Released to Suspect in Birgfield Disappearance

Posted on July 18, 2008 By: Terri Saunders
Link: KREX-TV Grand Junction (http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3356)

A truck taken as evidence in the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld is discreetly returned to its owners. Officials from the Mesa County Sheriff's Office say the truck was released to Lester Jones yesterday.
Jones is the only suspect in the disappearance of Birgfeld. He has not been arrested in connection with the case.

Investigators seized the vehicle under a search warrant last year.
Jones' home has been searched at least twice by investigators since the mother of three went missing.Sheriff investigators say they returned the truck, but the investigation remains active.

[The Kitchen Guy]

From a press release issued by the Mesa County Sheriff's Department, July 28, 2008

HUMAN REMAINS FOUND, INVESTIGATION ON-GOING

Coroner’s Office joins Sheriff’s Investigators on case

Mesa County, Colorado—Sheriff’s Officials are investigating a discovery of human remains found in the region. They are working closely with the Mesa County Coroner’s Office for identification purposes. The exact location of this discovery is not being released to allow law enforcement officials to return to the area for a more complete forensic search and analysis.

Further details will be released as the investigation develops.

[Grande]

Human Remains Found, Birgfeld Family Notified
Posted on July 28, 2008 by Peter Schaller

Human remains are found, and investigators with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office are trying to figure out who they belong to.
Details are limited at this hour, but authorities have confirmed that the remains were found in the region. Sheriff's officials are remaining very tight lipped, and not revealing the exact location of the discovery. We do know that Paige Birgfeld’s father Frank, has been notified by investigators regarding the find.

Right now there are only 11 people listed as missing in Mesa County, and that statistic tracks suspicious incidents all the way back to 1983. One of them is Paige Birgfeld, the mother of three who vanished last year. News Channel Five has learned that Paige’s father Frank got the call this morning from sheriff’s deputies about the find.The Birgfeld family is together today for Frank’s birthday in Seattle.

Frank says it’s not the first time he’s gotten a call like this. Tonight investigators are working closely with the Mesa County Coroner’s Office to identify the remains.

We’re told the exact location of this find won’t be released until law enforcement officials finish sweeping the area for clues. It could take weeks, maybe months for the Mesa County Coroner to identify the remains.

It's important to add the Sheriff's office won't comment if the discovery or any evidence found at the scene point to Birgfeld's disappearance. We will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest information as it becomes available to us.

http://www.krextv.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3461

[nanabillie]

Bless his heart. On his birthday. God bless them and give them peace.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Cops mum on finding dead person

By MIKE WIGGINS
Link: The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/07/28/072908_1a_human_remains_found.html)

Monday, July 28, 2008

Investigators with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the discovery of human remains in the region and suggested a search of the site for more evidence could last for some time.

Sheriff’s officials were extremely tight-lipped Monday about the details of the discovery, declining to say specifically where the remains were found or how officials learned about them.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said the remains were located in the “region” and that investigators were assigned to the case late last week. She said investigators have collected the remains and turned them over to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office, which will attempt to identify them and determine how the person died. Benjamin would not say whether any other evidence was collected.

Asked about the condition of the remains, Benjamin said, “We recognize the difference between human remains and skeletal remains, and this is definitely human remains.”

She also said investigators could spend quite a while in the area where the remains were found.

“We’re very, very interested in preserving this area as much as possible for as long as possible,” Benjamin said.

She said she doesn’t know whether the remains are connected to any missing-persons cases.

One of those cases involves Paige Birgfeld, a 34-year-old Grand Junction mother of three and operator of an escort service who has been missing for more than a year.

Paige’s father, Frank, said he received a call from the Sheriff’s Department on Monday morning notifying him about the discovery.

“They didn’t tell me anything more than you know,” he said in a phone interview from Seattle.

Frank Birgfeld said it’s not unusual for authorities to contact him when they uncover any clue connected to a missing-persons case. He said the Sheriff’s Department called him when a firearm was found along a local road and another time when a body was found in a river.

“I’ve kind of learned you don’t assume anything,” he said. “You just sort of wait until you hear what’s next.”

[The Kitchen Guy]

Channel 9, KUSA (http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=96632&provider=top) (the NBC affiliate) in Denver has weighed in, running pretty much the AP story with some additions.

Human remains found, father of missing woman notified

GRAND JUNCTION – The Mesa County Sheriff's department is investigating whether human remains found Monday belong to Paige Birgfeld, a 34-year-old mother of three who was first reported missing in June 2007.

Frank Birgfeld, Paige's father, has confirmed the Mesa County Sheriff called to tell him the department is investigating the discovery of human remains on Monday.

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office says the remains were found last week. It is not saying where the remains were found or who found them.

Birgfeld said he was specifically told the body could be Paige's, although he told KKCO-TV in Grand Junction, "he doesn't want to get his hopes up."

Birgfeld also said the sheriff's department has called him about other human remains that have been found in the past.

Paige Birgfeld was first reported missing on June 30, 2007. She was last seen by an ex-husband two days prior.

The burned-out shell of her car was found in a gravel parking lot of an auto parts distribution warehouse on July 1, 2007.

Since her disappearance, hundreds of searchers have combed remote areas near Grand Junction for the 34-year-old mother of three.

In late July 2007, searchers found a checkbook and a series of checks belonging to Paige about 10 miles from where her burnt-out car was found.

Searchers also found Paige's Blockbuster card and a couple of health cards.

In the weeks following her disappearance, details about Paige Birgfeld's double life have surfaced including the discovery she was working as an escort.

[Grande]

Investigators look west in remains probe
By Paul Shockley
Grand Junction, CO, Colorado

GRAND JUNCTION — A hiker’s discovery in Utah of a single bone prompted Mesa County authorities to head west late last week.

Grand County Utah Sheriff’s Deputy Curt Brewer on Tuesday said his agency and the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office continue to search grounds where the find happened — he declined to say where specifically in Grand County authorities are working.

“It appeared this bone had been out there quite some time,” Brewer said.

The deputy described the bone as an apparent section of skull. According to Brewer, there’s no conclusive determination whether it’s human or animal.

That’s in contrast to a Mesa County Sheriff’s news release distributed Monday, which said investigators have been assigned to a human remains find in the region.

The bone has apparently crossed state lines at least once.

Brewer, who said he was unsure when the discovery happened, said a hiker came across the remains and brought it back to Grand Junction.

Officials involved in the investigation say it could take weeks to months to identify who it belonged to.

Brewer said Grand County has a single missing persons case: The 1995 disappearance of former Hayden, Colo., mayor Dick Roberts, 51.

Hayden Police Sgt. Gordon Booco said Roberts’ pickup truck was found in Grand County.

“It’s a cold case at this point and leads have been few and far between,” said Booco, declining to discuss other details in the investigation.

Mesa County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said the agency has 11active missing person cases dating back to 1983, including the June 28, 2007, disappearance of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld.

Reach Paul Shockley at pshockley@gjfreepress.com.

http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20080730/COMMUNITY_NEWS/879760738/1076&parentprofile=-1

[The Kitchen Guy]

Mesa Co. bones came from Utah

By Tom McGhee
The Denver Post

Link: Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10046093)

The Mesa County Coroner has examined human remains after someone found them in Utah and turned them over to the County Sheriff's office.

The bones have been returned to the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office, according to a release from the Coroner's office.

"Citizens should be reminded that it is illegal to move any discovered remains that may be human and should notify law enforcement immediately before taking any further action," Mesa County coroner Robert A. Kurtzman said in the release.

Someone brought the remains to the Sheriff's Office last Thursday.

For the past year, authorities have been looking for Paige Birgfeld, a mother of three who worked as an escort and disappeared in June 2007.

Searchers have combed remote areas and have found checks and other possessions.

Frank Birgfeld, Paige's father, said earlier this week that investigators told him that they had found remains. "But it was almost an aside. They called and talked about some other things that we had been communicating about, and at the end, they said, 'Look, you know, because there will probably be press around today asking questions, we found some remains.' "

[The Kitchen Guy]

Bone discovery leaves mystery

By AMY HAMILTON
The Daily Sentinel
Link: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/07/30/073108_1B_body_folo.html)

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Ten searchers on Wednesday were tasked with searching an area northwest of the Colorado state line after a hiker discovered a human bone there, according to Utah’s Grand County Sheriff’s Department.

A person whom law enforcement declined to identify found the bone while hiking in the Bryson Canyon area of the Bookcliffs in Utah, and turned it over to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.

Mesa County Forensic Pathologist Robert Kurtzman confirmed Wednesday the bone brought to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office on July 24 was identified as a human remain.

Kurtzman said the bone has since been turned over to Utah’s medical examiners office for further study, but it is too soon to make any determination of who the bone belongs to. Kurtzman declined to speak about what type of bone it was or whether it was from a man or woman.

On Tuesday, investigators from Grand County and one investigator from Mesa County traveled to the site where the bone was found to search a three- to five-mile swath for additional remains, Grand County officials said in a news release.

Speculation had surfaced recently about the remains because the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department recently reported that local investigators had been tasked with identifying human remains discovered in the region.

The father of Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld, who has been missing for more than a year, was notified by the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, prompting talk that the remains may provide some answers in the highly-publicized case. Frank Birgfeld said he was notified of the find, but not given any further information.

Spokeswoman Heather Benjamin of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department said, if requested, Mesa County will provide DNA to Grand County investigators on the county’s 11 missing persons cases reported since 1983.

Kurtzman said it is illegal for anyone who believes they have come across human remains to move them from the site.

He added that solving cases of found human remains can take years, citing a case that was recently solved when hikers found a human skull on Grand Mesa two years ago.

“It’s early,” Kurtzman said of the recent find. “It’s been blown way out of proportion. These cases are complicated. It involves a great deal of effort.”

[The Kitchen Guy]

Police hope bone found in Utah will help Colo. case

July 31st, 2008 @ 9:20pm
By Amanda Butterfield
Link: KSL-TV Salt Lake City, Utah (http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3906176)

Bones found along the Utah-Colorado border have given Colorado investigators hope they will finally be able to solve the case of a young mother who has been missing for more than a year.

One of the bones, a piece of human skull, was found in Utah and now is being tested at the medical examiner's office in Salt Lake. Colorado investigators are anxiously awaiting results. They want to know if it belongs to a victim in an unsolved murder case.

Paige Birgfeld of Colorado, a mother of three, was last seen in June of 2007. Investigators say the piece of bone could be from her.

A Mesa County Sheriff's Department spokesperson said, "This could be anyone, really. It gives hope to families and to us. It could solve one of our cases."

Though investigators are waiting to confirm if the bone belongs to Birgfeld, they've contacted her father, Frank Birgfeld.

"To some degree I want to find her," he said, "but on the other hand I don't want to find her not alive."

Last week, as Utah was celebrating Pioneer Day, hikers in the Bryson Canyon area of the Bookcliffs, near the Utah-Colorado line, spotted a bone and took it to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office in Grand Junction, Colo. Then investigators brought the bone to Salt Lake for testing.

Ten people are searching a five-mile area of the Bookcliffs in Bryson Canyon for more evidence. Any bone found is being bagged and labeled.

Steve White, with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, said, "We're working with some doctors out of Salt Lake with anything, any bone, to confirm whether it's animal or human."

One woman, Connie Flukie, has searched for Birgfeld before. "I feel sickened this is it. The family deserves some peace. This could be her," she said.

White said, "It would be nice to put some closure. If there's a family or something missing someone, it would be nice to put some closure to that."

Though Paige's father wants closure, he doesn't know if he wants the bone to be his daughter's.

"My situation is to wait and see if this has anything to do with Paige," he said.

It will be some time before the medical examiner's office releases results from tests on the bone.

Paige Birgfeld was a mother of three, last seen with her ex-husband the night of her disappearance. She also worked at an online escort service.

[The Kitchen Guy]

More human bones at site

By AMY HAMILTON
The Daily Sentinel
Link: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/08/02/080308_1a_Bone_follow.html)

Saturday, August 02, 2008

A man who said he took an arm bone to Mesa County authorities said Saturday that he also told them he found more bones and led investigators to the site near Interstate 70 in Utah.

The man, who only gave his first name as James, said he found the upper arm bone late last month near some smaller hand bones after about a 10-minute walk from the first westbound rest stop in Utah off I-70. The bones were not bleached, didn’t appear to be dated or brittle and were near what appeared to be a small animal’s den, James said.

Speculation has risen over the origin of the human bone that was discovered by a hiker and brought to the Mesa County authorities.

The remains have been turned over to the Utah State Office of the Medical Examiner, and Utah authorities have searched the site for more human remains.

The man said he saw the bones and immediately thought they looked like human remains.

He said he picked up the largest upper arm bone, placed it in a plastic bag and delivered it to Grand Junction authorities. He later led officials to the site where the other bones were.

“I was just trying to do the right thing,” the man said about bringing in the human remains. It is illegal to disturb found human remains.

The man, who said he is an avid hiker, said he was “surprised to find something.” He said he would feel satisfied if he helped authorities solve a case.

“I would be glad if I could do something for somebody,” he said. “It would make me feel good.”

Mesa County has 11 reported missing persons cases.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Department would not release the name of the person who reported the bones.

•

E-mail Amy Hamilton at amy. hamilton@gjsentinel.com.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Attorney: Birgfeld suspect's truck taken, returned

By Paul Shockley
pshockley@gjfreepress.com
Link: Grand Junction Free Press (http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20081021/COMMUNITY_NEWS/810209948/1007&parentprofile=1059&title=Attorney:%20Birgfeld%20suspect%27s%20truck%2 0taken,%20returned)
Grand Junction, CO, Colorado

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — An attorney for the lone suspect in Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance says Lester Ralph Jones’ pickup truck was seized by authorities earlier this month.

http://gjimg.sv.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GJ&Date=20081021&Category=COMMUNITY_NEWS&ArtNo=810209948&Ref=AR&Profile=1007&maxw=300&MaxH=300
Lester Ralph Jones, the only "Person of Interest"
in the disappearance of Paige Birgefeld

Jones’ Dodge Ram 4x4 was curiously taken for several hours on Oct. 2 by Mesa County Sheriff’s investigators armed with a search warrant, and returned within roughly a 24-hour period, according to local attorney Colleen Scissors.

The seizure happened exactly one year to the day the sheriff’s office publicly named the 57-year-old Pear Park mechanic as the only suspect in Birgfeld’s disappearance.

Scissors said an explanation for the one-day seizure wasn’t provided.

Authorities neither confirmed or denied the action.

“All our search warrants in connection to the Birgfeld case are sealed and we have no further comment on them,” the sheriff’s office said in an e-mailed statement.

Nobody has been charged in the case.

Jones’ pickup, which was originally seized as evidence and impounded in July 2007, was returned to Jones and his wife, Elaine, on July 17 of this year.

The sheriff’s office at the time declined to talk about the truck’s release.

During a series of searches at Jones’ Pear Park home, neighbors described investigators taking sections of a pickup truck’s bed liner, among other items.

Birgfeld, 34, a mother of three children who operated her own escort business, was last heard from driving back to the Grand Junction area the night of June 28, 2007, after meeting her first husband, Howard Beigler of Aurora.

Foul play is suspected in Birgfeld’s disappearance.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Well now, isn't this interesting? Completely irrelevant, but interesting.

__________________________________________________ ______________

Birgfeld investigation may have led to parlor bust

Link: KJCT News, Grand Junction (http://www.kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=9395732)

GRAND JUNCTION -- Police say they've infiltrated a massage parlor involved in all sorts of illegal activities--from prostitution to racketeering.

KJCT NEWS 8 has learned the investigation may have been sparked while detectives investigated the case of missing Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld.

Paige has been missing for more than a year now... detectives found out she worked for an online escort service.

This finding may have led to the investigation of in other erotic services in Grand Junction.

58 year old Nan O'Reilly-- the owner of Fuji Oriental Therapy Massage on Horizon Dive-- faced a judge today on charges of racketeering, pimping, tax evasion, keeping a place of prostitution, and promoting sexual immorality.

The DA's Office says this investigation involves crimes that pose significant danger to the public.

"The investigation we conducted is much more involved than simple prostitution. It involves the potential for a lot of dangerous behavior, the potential for a lot of people to conceal what they're doing and have the resources and ability to stop people from reporting things," Deputy District Dan Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein says witnesses and business records will be key in this case, and will also be a challenge to get a hold of.

The investigation also involves other prostitution crimes like street walking and online escort services.

Before arresting Nan 'O'Reilly, police arrested suspected pimps and prostitutes in two other sting operations.

Police say the investigation continues, and there may be more arrests.

[The Kitchen Guy]

DA: Grand jury to get work in ’09

By Paul Shockley
pshockley@gjfreepress.com

Link: GJ Free Press (http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20090109/COMMUNITY_NEWS/901089966/1007/NONE&parentprofile=1059&title=DA:%20Grand%20jury%20to%20get%20work%20in%20 %9209%20)

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Seated but given nothing to do for two years, District Attorney Pete Hautzinger Thursday said it’s “considerably more likely” Mesa County’s grand jury will get work in 2009.

Grand jury proceedings are secret and closed to the public under state law. Hautzinger expects “one or more” matters will go before the panel.

“I don’t think we’ve ever asked them to take up more than one matter in a calendar year,” he said.

The DA and Mesa County Chief Judge David Bottger are scheduled to meet early next month to select 12 regular grand jurors along with two alternates, who’ll be plucked from a pool of residents summoned for jury duty.

Under state law, counties with populations of at least 100,000 must impanel a grand jury around the start of a new year.

Those selected agree to be available to meet and hear evidence periodically for at least 12 months. Service can be extended up to 18 months under special circumstances.

A grand jury can issue criminal charges or an indictment, decline an indictment or issue a report. They hear only from the prosecution, which has the power to subpoena witnesses to testify under oath.

Mesa County impaneled grand juries in 2007 and 2008, which heard nothing.

The last panel, which looked into the finances of the Grand Junction Rural Fire Protection District, declined to charge anybody after months of service ending in February 2006.

A focus of that investigation was former Fire District board member Rob Dixon.

Dixon is the second ex-husband of 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, who disappeared in June 2007.

While seating last year’s grand jury panel in March, Hautzinger peppered the selection pool of residents with questions about what they knew about the Birgfeld investigation.

Hautzinger at the time said the case may be presented by late 2008 if a Mesa County Sheriff’s investigation “hadn’t moved further along.”

[The Kitchen Guy]

David Lohr wrote about Paige after her disappearance. His emphasis on the details of Paige's secret life did not endear him to any of her friends and family.

Well today, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that Lohr has written about Paige on his blog. The bad news is that he seems to think dredging up her secret life and sharing the prurient details is salient to her status which, of course, it is not.

The facts are that Paige is missing, there are no traces of her, her family misses her, her friends miss her and at this juncture, nothing else matters.

You can read his blog entry at his website, the Criminal Report Daily (http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/02/the-missing-a-weekly-expose-of-lost-souls-issue-30.html).

[The Kitchen Guy]

This isn't really a new development in Paige's case, but an appeal by families in Colorado for aid in solving cold cases.

According to a story copyrighted by AP (and therefore, not repeated here) the families of cold case victims have asked the Colorado legislators to stop pursuit of death penalty cases and shift the resources to solving the 1,400 cold cases that are still unsolved in Colorado.

Paige's father, Frank Birgfeld, also testified to the lawmakers. He reports that an investigator has promised to pursue Paige's case, but the investigator has 58 other cases he is investigating. The investigator went on to say that a missing persons case can take as long as 20 years to solve. "Give it a pair of fresh eyes," Frank told the lawmakers.

For more, see Families ask Colo lawmakers to focus on cold cases (http://www.examiner.com/a-1867378~Families_ask_Colo_lawmakers_to_focus_on_co ld_cases.html).

[The Kitchen Guy]

The CBS News Magazine, 48 Hours, will be broadcasting an update on Paige's case this Saturday.

48 Hours airs at 10:00 PM Eastern this Saturday, February 28.

I don't think there is anything new, I believe it is an attempt to keep her case current and in the minds of all of us.

[packy]

Good to hear, KG, thanks. Even if there is nothing new we do need to keep her story out there until she is found.

[nanabillie]

Just a reminder. 48 Hours on Now! Previews showing her poor Dad talking about his "little girl". So sad.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Well, so much for moving the investigation.

KJCT Television in Grand Junction is reporting that Frank Birgfeld's request to have the investigation of Paige's disappearance removed from the Mesa County Sheriff's Department to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has been denied.

Link: Birgfeld and MSCO at odds - KJCT8.com - Grand Junction (http://www.kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=10482798)

Birgfeld and MSCO at odds

GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT) -- Request denied. Tension is building between the Mesa County Sheriffs Office and the family of a missing Grand Junction woman.

Frank Birgfeld, father of missing mom of three Paige Birgfeld, asked to have the Mesa County Sheriffs Office removed from the investigation; that won't happen, at least right now.

In mid-May Mr. Birgfeld asked the Sheriff's Office to transfer the investigation to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Birgfeld is concerned tens of thousands of dollars were illegally taken from his daughters' home after the investigation began.

Heather Benjamin, with the Sheriff's Office, says the Birgfeld case is not being transferred to the C.B.I. She says the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has been involved with the Birgfeld case since day one, and because of this there is no need to hand it over. She says the C.B.I is working on certain parts of the investigation and the case will remain with the Sheriff's Office.

This does not satisfy Mr. Birgfeld. He has asked the F.B.I to conduct an investigation by its Public Corruption Unit.

"There doesn't seem to be a right smell about this. There's something wrong. That's one reason I'd like to have somebody independent and objective start picking this up. It's also a reason why I asked the evidence file to be protected," said Birgfeld.

When asked today for a response, the Sheriff's Department politely refused.

Mr. Birgfeld plans to continue his efforts, but will not disclose what those next steps will be.

Paige Birgfeld went missing on June 28th, 2007. A few days later her car was found on fire. No suspects have been charge and a body has never been found.

[Faith]

Body found in orchard dismembered

Sunday, June 14, 2009

A body found in an orchard west of Glenwood Springs was not a young girl but a woman who had been dismembered, authorities said Sunday.

Garfield County sheriff’s spokeswoman Holly Hopple said the victim is a Caucasian woman who was between 20 and 35 years old. The woman had extensive dental work, multiple tattoos and brown hair with blonde highlights.

Hopple said authorities have not recovered all of the woman’s remains.

“We’re searching for additional remains as well as further evidence,” she said.

The woman has yet to be identified. Hopple said an autopsy performed Saturday by the Mesa County Coroner’s Office could not determine the cause or time of death.

A worker discovered the woman’s body Friday morning in an apple orchard up Canyon Creek Road north of Interstate 70. The body was reportedly in a bag but had been pulled out by animals.

Sheriff Lou Vallario previously said it seemed more likely that the body was dumped in the orchard than that the woman was killed there.

Asked whether the body could be that of Paige Birgfeld, the 34-year-old Grand Junction mother missing for nearly two years, Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said Sunday night he had not been contacted by Garfield County authorities.

Earlier news reports, based on accounts from witnesses, had indicated the victim was a young girl.

Hopple said the FBI on Sunday joined the other agencies involved in the investigation and search for evidence, including the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department, the Garfield County Coroner’s Office and search and rescue teams from Garfield and Mesa counties.

She said investigators and volunteers have been combing the area from 8 a.m. to sunset each day since the body was discovered. She said authorities have recovered other evidence in addition to the woman’s remains but wouldn’t say what it was.

Authorities are working to maintain the integrity of the crime scene by stationing deputies there overnight and restricting access. Eastbound U.S. Highway 6, which runs parallel to I-70, is open to residential traffic only.

Canyon Creek Road is open to residential traffic only with a law-enforcement escort, Hopple said.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/06/14/061509_1a_GarCo_body_folo.html

[The Kitchen Guy]

Bone in murder probe 'unidentifiable,' cops say

By PAUL SHOCKLEY
Link: The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
(http://www.gjsentinel.com/search/content/news/stories/2009/06/27/062809_3a_Birgfeld_folo.html)
Saturday, June 27, 2009

Nearly a year after a hiker in Utah stumbled upon it, a small piece of human skull that piqued the interest of investigators looking into Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance remains a mystery.

But while questions remain about the roughly silver-dollar-sized bone, Grand County (Utah) Sheriff James Nyland said he’s confident about one thing: who it didn’t belong to.

“It didn’t appear to be recent enough to be from any of these homicides,” said Nyland, referring to Birgfeld’s case and the murder of Leann Emry, a Washington woman whose partial remains were found in March near Moab. Today marks two years since Birgfeld was last seen alive.

The bone in question was returned to Grand County this past spring after it had been tested at the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Va. Nyland said the FBI couldn’t extract DNA because of the bone’s age. He didn’t offer an age estimate.

“It’s not identifiable,” he said. “It was found at the bottom of a dry wash (in Bryson Canyon), so it could have come out of the Bookcliffs.”

No other bones submitted by Grand County were tested at the FBI lab, Nyland said.

Mesa County Sheriff’s Department investigators spent several days searching in Utah in late July 2008 after the bone was found by a hiker, who picked it up and brought it to Grand Junction. It was eventually handed over to the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office.

Authorities have said it’s illegal to move any suspected human remains.

Mesa County law enforcement officials still think about Birgfeld, a mother of three children, whenever news breaks about the recovery of human remains in the region. Most recently, the June 14 recovery of a dismembered body in a Glenwood Springs apple orchard had authorities wondering if it might be Birgfeld. Instead, it was a missing Aurora woman, 38-year-old Janine Ann Johler.

Birgfeld, 34, an escort known to clients as “Carrie,” was last heard from while driving back to her Grand Junction home the evening of June 28, 2007, after spending the day with her first husband, Howard Beigler of Aurora.

Beigler and Birgfeld’s second husband, Rob Dixon, were cleared in October 2007 of involvement in Birgfeld’s disappearance. At the same time, authorities named Pear Park mechanic Lester Ralph Jones as the lone suspect in the case.

No arrests have been made.

While Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said investigators are waiting to hear back on several items sent out for testing to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, there have been no recent new leads. District Attorney Pete Hautzinger last year raised the prospect of presenting the case to a Mesa County grand jury, but made no commitments.

The proceedings are secret under state law.

“That seems like a logical next step in the absence of new developments,” Hilkey said of a grand jury probe.

[The Kitchen Guy]

A reliable source has told me that there is a less than 1% chance that these remains are those of Paige.

Part of skull found near Somerset
Identifying human remains could take weeks to months

By PAUL SHOCKLEY Link: The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/09/15/091609_1a_remains_found.html)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Identification of human remains found over the weekend on a rugged, remote hillside north of Somerset could take weeks to months, Gunnison County officials said Tuesday.

The remains — a skull missing its lower jaw and other human bones scattered in a roughly 100-foot radius around the skull — were found Saturday by a worker who was clearing trees, according to Gunnison County Sheriff Rick Murdie.

“No flesh, nothing ... it had been there a good long time,” Murdie said, who declined to offer a time frame estimate.

Murdie and Gunnison County Coroner Frank Vader said Tuesday that a determination of sex and age for the remains had not been made.

Aside from the skull, Vader said “associated artifacts” were found nearby, including unspecified bones and an item of clothing Vader declined to describe in detail.

The skull and bones were all found in plain view; none was partially buried, Murdie said.

The skull had two remaining upper teeth. When asked if he believed the teeth were still in a condition that would allow a viable comparison to dental records, Murdie said, “Yes, I think they would be.”

The remains were turned over to the Gunnison County Coroner’s Office on Monday after deputies had searched the area around the find Sunday.

Murdie said they’ll be returning to the area soon.

Murdie described the land as heavily wooded on private property, behind a locked gate, and on a roughly 50-degree slope.

“It has been logged and it’s some of the nastiest country I’ve been around in a long time,” he said. “You couldn’t get me to hunt out there and don’t believe anyone else would.”

The property owners, who were not identified, have cooperated with investigators, Murdie said.

Murdie said Gunnison County has no active missing persons cases and they were in the process Tuesday of contacting surrounding agencies about Saturday’s discovery.

Mesa County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said they hadn’t heard from Gunnison County.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Gunnison sheriff: Skull, bones not Paige Birgfeld's

By PAUL SHOCKLEY Link: The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/09/16/091709_1A_skull_folo.html)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Gunnison County Sheriff Rick Murdie on Wednesday said he’s confident human remains recovered from a hillside near Somerset are not those of missing Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld.

“These bones had been on the ground a lot longer than two years,” said Murdie, who said his agency had been in contact about the find with an investigator from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, among other agencies.

“I don’t believe we’re dealing with Paige here.”

Birgfeld, 34, was last heard from driving to her Grand Junction home the night of June 28, 2007.

Murdie did not offer an estimate for how long he believes the remains were exposed outdoors. He said a preliminary analysis conducted Tuesday by anthropology faculty at Western State College, and Gunnison County Coroner Frank Vader, suggested the bones belonged to a female approximately in her 20s.

Those descriptors have been entered into a missing persons database maintained by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Murdie said.

They’re waiting for a match.

“Then we go to the agency that answered that information,” Murdie said.

The bones will be shipped to forensic pathologists in Montrose, who will be asked to determine cause and manner of death, he said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done yet,” Murdie said.

Gunnison authorities have said the remains — a skull missing its lower jaw bone and seven other upper-body bones — were found on steep, rough terrain that is private property just north of Somerset. A worker who was clearing trees in the area stumbled upon the bones on Saturday.

An item of clothing, which authorities have refused to describe in detail, was also found.

Murdie said a search team, which will include anthropology faculty and students from Western State, will be returning to the site in the coming days to comb over more of the area around the find.

The sheriff has said the partial skull and bones were found scattered in a roughly 100-foot radius.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Authorities closer to identifying remains

Link: KJCT Television News (http://www.kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11200753)

GUNNISON COUNTY (KJCT) -- Investigators in Gunnison County now have a victim in mind in connection with the bones found there a few weeks ago.

While they are not releasing any new information about the investigation, they say they've been in close contact with authorities on missing persons cases in the western half of the state.

The bones have not been identified yet, but investigators say they have a pretty good idea of who it might be.

A human skull containing two teeth was found north of Somerset, about 60 miles east of Grand Junction earlier this month.

Sheriff's Deputies believe the bones belong to a "young female." They have ruled out missing Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld.

Investigators hope to have confirmation of the identity by the end of next week.