Trial and Conviction of Lester Jones

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I'm the district attorney for Mesa County, Colorado. at somebody who has disappeared. We don't know why. I said you're in the midst of a crime. This is not someone who had run off. Paiage would have never, never abandoned her children. Loves her kids Appears to be a typical divorced mom lives in a nice house in one of the nicer neighborhoods in Grand Junction.ven eight. They found her car abandoned in a parking lot and lit on fire a couple days after she went missing. This led investigators to believe that there was foul play involved Weesearch fields, national parks, mountains And I am committed to search for her until we find her and bring her home Then we started finding out some things that really pretty much changed everything. First you find out Paige is missing, and then within a couple of days, we started finding out about this other life that we didn't know about You start hearing things about your own daughter that you didn't know about We got more details about the extent of Page's business and the type of person she was and the type of lifestyle she led after Jess was born. She told me that she wasn't doing it anymore She kept all these secrets from her friends and family She said she had been making four hundred thousand a year doing it, and she didn't need to do it anymore She had a couple things on her computer I said, OkayK, well, that certainly puts a different twist on this investigation Where is my girl She may be a thirty four year old woman a mother of three children. To me, she's just my little girl We first brought you the story of Paige Burgfeld in two thousand eight. Shortly after the young Colorado mother of three disappeared, police discovered that she was leading a secret life, a life that may have led to her disappearance. We've tracked her story ever since, and tonight at long last, the mystery of what happened to Paige Burgfeld may finally be solved. And Paage was always the one that was family first. And she was always the one that was keeping us. together How many would like a cookout out by the pool No one loved a family gathering more than the one person missing from this one. thirty four year old Paige Bergfeld. I mean, she would literally beam. She would radiate. those were the Absolute cherished times that she She enjoys most So when their daughter Paige vanished, Frank and Suzie Birgfeld feared the worst This is a crime There's a crime here. Instantly, I knew this was a problem. She didn't want to even go out to dinner without her children for them We need to find her and we need to bring her home Paiagege's older brother, doctor Craig Birgfeld, is a long way from his home in Seattle. By day, he specializes in the facial reconstruction of children. And by night, he's dad to his own young family. Is that the T Rex board? Y. And a devoted husband to his wife, Callie, but now living in his sister's home Dr. Bergfld has a new full time job, Uncle Craig to Page's three young children. Kelly and I decided at that time that Our role was to be there for the kids and try to You know, take care of them, be family there for them just help them And I just remembered, you know, little girl Jess going So do you know what happened to my mom? Do you know where she is And I was like, what do I say So I said wherever she is, she wants to be with you right now. Paige had a circle of close friends Her kids love her. They u They glow when she's around. And Paage was the type of parent that always was around, according to her friends, as a single mother she had to be Her ex husband, Rob Dixon, was living in Philadelphia After their divorce in two thousand six, Paagege was the primary caregiver for their three children. It wasn't an easy job. P. the most patient and loving mother I've ever seen, but it was the only job Paige had ever wanted. I think as long as I can remember, what she wanted to be was a mom, and she just couldn't wait to be that mom So when Page Birkfeld disappeared, Sheriff Stan Hilkkey was pretty convinced this mother of three would not leave on her own There's nothing in our investigation at all that leads us to believe that she is ab banon her life or ab banon her children and gone off in that regard my daughter if she had two broken legs. S she crawl with her I outpost Tch. Authorities started by looking at those closest to Paiage pololice invvestigations one hundred one that you usually will look at the emotionally involved people, ex husbands or current husbands, etcer. And they quickly learned that Paige Birgfeld had not one but two ex husbands. Her first husband was her high school sweetheart, Ron Biegler. He was the first big heart throb, the first big to love In fact, for the past few months, the two had been dating again. She was very excited about rekindling her relationship. T years after divorcing her first husband, Page said she was in love with him again. And ex husband number one became the focus of the investigation in june two thousand seven when it's learned He was with Page the day she disappeared. We believe that, yes, that she was with her first ex husband that day of the twenty eighth Paige and Bgler had their last date at this rest stop, a halfway point between her home in Grand Junction and his home more than four hours away I understand that Paige and Ron Biegler had planned to meet, had a picnic, spent part of the afternoon together When she was driving home later that night around nine PM, Paige called Beiegler from her cell phone. They spoke briefly, and Paige told him she'd call him later. It has helped us identify persons of interest Cell phone records show that Paige was just a few miles from her home when she made that call to Bagler, and that phone call was one of her last Paage never did call Biggler back that night, so the next day he tried calling her and her phone rolled over. to the voice message right away, so to indicate the phone was turned off. or the battery was down On Saturday morning, two days after seeing Page, Biegler finally tried calling her at home. Page's liiv in Nanny was taking care of her three children. He actually called the house and got her granddaughter And she was the one that told him that Paige hadn't been home since Thursday night. At that point, the alarms started going off Touch base with us, touch base with the sheriff's office, and things started getting in gear then And ironically, after Bgler called authorities to report Page missing, he became one of the first they wanted to question. And I'm sure he was open and willing to have them Look at him Although Bagler was one of the last to see and speak with Paiage Those who know him believe he's also one of the last who'd want to harm her We met with him recently and I think he is very devoted to page and very emotional that She's not here. I've spoken him on the phone since she went missing and it's obvious he's pretty distraught and upset that she's not around I know he's broken up by this whole thing. Paage's friends were far more suspicious about her second ex husband. Rob Dixon, the father of her three children A lot of her friends would say Where was Rob? I'm afraid Robber' involved Page had an explosive, troubled history with Dixon Nine eleven, whereere's your emergency He said that I would come home and find him all murdered. in the middle of the night alone in your apartment And that feeling starts to set in that something is wrong. 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Agees's family knew they'd have to start somewhere. if they were ever going to find her You want to get out and start looking and try and figure out where she is. So Craig and Kallie Birgfeld set off in one direction. Guck. Thank you. Hopefully we'll find her today. And Frank Birgfeld headed off in another. My daughter's the one who's missing. When you're out there, keep your eyes open. whileile the Birgfeld fam searched for page. The Sheriff's Department continued its own investigation. Deputies brought in specialty divers to search the river. And they got one of their first big leads in the case when someone called nine hundred eleven after seeing a car in flames parked in an empty lot It turned out to be Paagege's car The car she was driving when she disappeared The next morning, authorities discovered that the fire was started from inside the car on the passenger's side DA Pete Houtzinger. It at least suggests to me that that person is fairly savvy and intelligent enough to there's a real possibility law enforcement could find evidence in that car that would implicate him or her It looks like whoever is involved here is not afraid of committing a crime And the realization of what that might mean for his daughter was too much to bear. You know what it occurred me, I hadn't cried in a long time I learned how to do that whileile Paige's family clung to hope that she was still alive, The reality is creeping in that something bad has certainly happened here Investigators turned their attention to Paige's second ex husband Rob Dixon The most recent ex husband is a logical person to take a close look at. Paiage met Dixon in nineteen ninety seven, and back then, he seemed like a real catch. Rob had business success with his father had a significant amount of wealth It was a whirlwind courtship, and the following year the two had a wedding and started a family together And they moved to Grand Junction together, you know, moved into that house together, built onto that house together Dixon had extravagant taste, and he was reckless with his money, investing millions of dollars in risky business ventures when the bills started piling up Paige did what she could to pitch in. She started a little preschool dance business. She called it brain dance She would have recitals twice a year. and make costumes for all those students Page also sold high end kitchen supplies out of her home for a company called The Pampered Chef. And as one of the top sales agents, she earned a free trip to the Caribbean Dixon was losing money a lot faster than Paage was making it In a few short years, his business investments fell through and he'd lost almost everything. And I think as financial strain came on the Relationship it got worse and worse. By two thousand four, the problems in the marriage took a turn for the worse. We think of Rob as good Rob and bad roob. times where Rob is Just really a good good funny guy Right? But at other times, Rob is a difficult person to be rim He can be violently angry Cndescending, derisive you walk on eggshells a feeling of tension. She stuck by him through a lot. but when he started getting more angry and then finally violent, she had to draw the line there Finally, in October, Paiage had to call the police for help Nine eleven, whereere's your emergency My husband and I were in a fight. He wanted the children to stay with him And he said that I would come home and find him all murdered. S a nameam By the time police and local media arrived, the crisis was diffused. Dixon was allowed to leave after authorities decided he wasn't a threat to himself or anyone else charges were filed Rob, what happened But one year later, the police were called again. Page said Dixon had pushed her to the ground. Then later, he punched her while she was holding their baby This time in october two thousand five Dixon was arrested But the case was later settled after he completed a course in Ager management When everything went rocky and she finally decided enough was enough when the kids and her weren't put in jeopardy, she decided it was over. By the time the couple divorced in september two thousand six, Rob Dixon had declared bankruptcy, and he was living in Philadelphia. When Paige disappeared, that's exactly where Dixon said he was in Philadelphia two thousand miles away. But when Paage's family found disturbing entries about Dixon, written on a website message board by Paage herself, they were hard to ignore. I've read the things that have been written on her website and on the Pamer Chef website And u You know, they're pretty scary Just three months before she disappeared, Paiage wrote, 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. Investigators questioned Dixon about his whereabouts the day his ex wife vanished, but they didn't release details to the public. We can say that we have had contact with Rob Dixon, and that's all that we'll say about him Paage's family got word that his alibi held up. I understand persons Biography might make them a suspect at the same time if you're two thousand miles away, I think it takes you off the roster. Both of Paige's ex husbands seem to have had solid alibis So who in Paige's life had any motive to harm her? Hello,. And that led investigators to an even bigger mystery. This one about Paige herself. 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Mesa County is a big county. It's three thousand three hundred square miles of a lot of open space A lot of canyons. Two weeks have passed since Paage had vanished You realize, unless you know where to look, You could spend the rest of your life looking around out there It's just so remote. this is big country out here. It is vast. And the question remained, where to look when the vista stretches out as far as the eye can see There are hundreds of thousands of miles around us which could be used to hide a body But the investigation was about to get a lucky break. Her name Connie Flugi We'll never quit. I will never, ever give up Connie's Kandu spirit inspired the dozens of other volunteers here to help find Paige Bergfeld This is our Sertary.. And She just gave hope. We were starting to become so dejected And she just walked in and then took charge. E but I'm getting ready to send a team out, okay? Dork. Craig and Kallie got ready to sege in the punishing desert heat I'm Craig. Paagege is my sister. I wanted to thank you guys for coming to look for her Today's going to be the day. I know today's going to be the day. Today's the day we're going to find her. We'll go up this road Loop back down that one As the volunteers pressed on, the Birgfelds had to navigate through a darker, more difficult terrain The mysterious double life that Paige had apparently been leading. She had a couple things on her computer We werere saying Wait a minute, what's this computer doing here? Yeah, why don't the police have this computer? So they called police because they were convinced that her computer held clues Put her in danger It doesn't change what I think of her. I would to give anything to see her again right now and give her a big hug Craig's concern grew. The search paid off with a discovery That could lead them closer to page. They did find some pretty critical pieces of information for us down on highighway fifty. Various personal items such as Paige's checkbook and a membership card to a local video store were found scattered along this highway. fififteen miles from where her burned out car was discovered. Obviously, our focus is still on Paige Not just her things, but her things do hopefully lead us to her For all its beauty, there is clearly a darker side of the mesa. It's beautiful Ls scary for me now every search, I pray that we find my sister We're halfway through this canyon. We haven't found her yet. Stm still hoping we do, but part of me' still praying that we don't I haven't found her not alive. As long as that condition exists, I presume she is. I choose to hold out hope We're common, Paage, We're common We are coming to get you find out Paage is missing within a couple of days We started finding out about this other life that we didn't know about It was a life kept secret from her family Well, at first blush She looked to us to be a really good mom, very active with her kids. District atttorney Pete Halzinger. Then some things came out that really pretty much changed everything And that's when Grand Junction began asking not just where Paige Birnfeld was But also who she was Wh she really was She had a side industry and it wasn't just any side business It turns out, Paiage wasn't just teaching dance classes and selling kitchen products in provocative ads on the internet. Page was also known as Carry, a high priced escort I for one was shocked I've been a prosecutor for twenty years. This is the first time I've encountered somebody from that kind of socio and economic level and that kind of family involvement to be involved in this business. Sessions with Caree could include stripping. Dancing and role playing On one website, she suggests that clients can pay for extras, such as topless and nude massage And those were things that we didn't know anything about before she went missing. have unfortunately learned about since I think for Frank and Susie that the thought of their daughter even doing that, it didn't even cross their minds because it's their daughter. You don't think your daughter's gonna do that So I think for them it was a really, really big Shock As upsetting as it was for Pagege's family to learn about her secret life. They were convinced she turned to the escort world for one reason and one reason only. her children. She found herself in a position of being the breadwinner and trying to make ends meet Page was overwhelmed with debt She had three children, and her ex husband was bankrupt, paying only five hundred dollars a month in child support. Plus Page's mortgage was huge, almost six thousand dollars a month It never really made sense to me that she would be able to come up with a mortgage for that place for more than a couple of months. Her friends say Paige did what she had to do turnurned to the one job she knew would pay well She always saw a situation and got it under control If something needed to be done, she made sure it happened. I would say that whatever she was doing was for her children And it has no bearing on the kind of mother, friend that she is And her sister in law, Callie, now thinks she knows where Paige got the idea to become an escort in the first place Many years earlier, Kelly had asked Paige how she was able to afford her first home. O a dance teacher's salary. I flat out asked her if she was doing something other than teaching dance And she told me that she had been stripping. Before becoming a mother Cage had worked as a stripper at a place called The Mile High Saloon In Denver when she was twenty one years old She said she had been making four hundred thousand a year doing it And that, you know, she didn't need to do it anymore But apparently, she later did And so then we're like, okay, you can kind of see where page meet the next step to escort. I wish I had been given the opportunity to be involved and perhaps been able to sort it out I would have counseled her that that strikes me as dangerous. It doesn't sound Totally moral Pagege's family knew this new information could help investigators figure out who was responsible for Paige's disappearance. And It opens up a whole not list of people, a wholen group of people But will it also bring them closer to learning what happened to Paige News that is difficult to hear. She was probably murdered by one of her clients Police never found a diary or a black book with names But she did have that cell phone And that helped investigators track down everyone who had had contact with Page. We have looked very carefully at all of her clients and have made every effort to investigate everybody who may have been on that list of people she was going to be contacting later that night. That included George Coraluzzo, a thirty year old house painter who called Piage twenty times on the day she disappeared He also left town hurriedly two days after her disappearance. And there was also this man. sixty six year old father of two, named Lester Ralph Jones Actually, I was out searching And that's the first time I ever heard of him At that time, the rumor was that he had known Paiage through the escort service. mis. Jones was a client of Miss Burkflds. My understanding is there had been at least more than one encounter. Authorities got warrants to conduct searches of his home where he lived with his third wife They spent hours searching through his belongings but wouldn't talk about what they found, not even with Pagege's family. I can't comment specifically as to what was or was not found in mr. Jones's home And remember her burned out car discovered a few miles from her home? Search dogs led investigators from that parking lot to an RV shop across the street turnurns out that's where Ralph Jones worked as a mechanic. The fact that her car was burning so close to his place of employment is at least one significant fact Common sense certainly would indicate that it's something more than a coincidence. There is something else that links Ralph Jones to the disappearance of Paige Bergfeld One of the last conversations she had that night was with someone using a throwaway phone like this. According to investigators, there's surveillance video from a local Walmart showing a man they say is Jones findind such a phone Jones declined our request for an interview and denied having anything to do with Pagege's disappearance But Ralph Jones does have a criminal record, a record that shows he was more than capable of violence. And then we're also able to find out some newspaper articles about that whole previous case Pre prettyty scary stuff Jones was arrested for two incidents involving his estranged wife, Lisa. B in nineteen ninety nine In one of them, he threatened to take her someplace remote and kill her Jones served three years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping and assault charges Both felonies Those are, by definition kind of violent offenses. None of that bodes well if Page had any kind of involvement with him at all Not the kind of person you want to be out alone with your sister And so, more than three months after Paige Bergfeld disappeared Authorities publicly cleared her two ex husbands Although George Coralzzo remained a person of interest They named the main target of their investigation. We have narrowed it down to one primary suspect being Lester Ralph Jones Lester Jones has been our primary suspect from the very beginning of the case Chief Deputy District attttorney Dan Rubenstein was now heading up the Piage Bergfell murder investigation. He was convinced that Lester Ralph Jones, a convicted felon and a client of Pagees's escort service was the man who killed her But without Paige's body didn't feel he could prove it Page went missing in June of two thousand seven We always knew that the case wasn't something we were ever going to be able to prosecute until we found her Let's go. comeome on, let's go find Paiage. Frank Birdfeld never stopped searching for his daughter There's so many acres. His determination to find her fueled by his concern that the investigation was stalled. Many of these cases are never solved You know, how many times do we see one of these in the paper and you never hear anything more about it? There's no doubt that the family was frustrated and I do not blame them at all Th then, five years after Page went missing break. hiker came across partial human remains in a gully, right where a team of volunteers had been searching. There were people that were in that area time after time over that five year period from two seven to twenty twelve, so her body must have been buried at least deep enough to have hidden it from people going by. Investigators had little trouble identifying the remains. Pagege's remains were found in. It was Page She had her jaw and her skull were found intact with the teeth, and we were able to get her dental records and verify that the dental records matched up with the teeth. Although investigators couldn't determine how she died, Page's bones gave clues Among other injuries, her cheekbone was badly fractured a sign she may have been beaten fracture occurred at or near the time of her death. Other findings helped the investigators piece together the circumstances of the last hours of her life. There was also some duct tape that appeared to be right around the area of where the skull was found suggesting she may have been tied and gagged And there was more. Knowing where she had been found now helped explain the objects that had been discovered when she was initially reported missing checks. Business cards, driver's license, other documents that had pages or her kids' names on them that were strewn about the highway about five miles before the area where her remains were found That I think is indicative of somebody who is kidnapped throwing those items out Investigators believe that Page Desperately reaching out for help was leaving a trail to wherever she was being taken for Birgkefeld's family. All these discoveries were hard to bear. My feelings were a heavy dose of sadness Um even when we're searching You wanted to find her, but you didn't want to find her adding to their pain. They would have to wait for a proper burial for their daughter. When she was found, I went ahead and made arrangements with a local funeral home to go ahead and retrieve her and we would then decide what to do with the remains. We were told that they weren't going to give her to us. In fact, I assume that she is in a cardboard box in the coroner's office. They were told that they must keep her for the purpose of evidence And that's just flat out baloney. If it was any consolation Pages remains discovered The case could finally move forward. Once you find the body, You've taken away one of the important reasonable doubts that are going to be in a criminal trial. The evidence is still circumstantial, but Rubenstein believes he now has enough to make his case against Lester Ralph Jones He's confirmed that the only other potential suspect, George Coraluzzo had a solid alibi for the time page disappeared and was in New Jersey the night her car was set on fire car was in the parking lot across from where Jones worked. The seat pushed back to accommodate someone much taller than Paiagege And there is the track phone. It actually only made five phone calls in its entire history and all five of those phone calls were either two Pages work phone. The last phone call was from her phone Despite Jones' denials that he owns such a phone Rubenstein says he can prove that Jones lied We have video evidence of Mr. Jones buying that trackphone. We have the computer records showing the exact date, time, store and register that that trackphone was purchased at. And we pulled the video and it was Mr. Jones purchasing it And then there is this. mister Jones? Yes,. This is Art Smith with the Sheriff's Office Just going to let you know that we have both your cars ready for you and your wife. A bizarre phone call between Jones and a local sheriff. who had seized two cars belonging to Jones so that they could be thoroughly searched come and pick him up. Sergeant Smith contacted mis. Jones just simply to let him know that the vehicles were ready to be released and to figure out how they wanted to go about doing that. It was a simple routine phone call And he didn't get the response he was expecting. Mr. Jones, I'm not following you asking for h endarant body I'm sorry you ask me where I should bbodybody When did I ask you that mr. Joonnes, are you there