Paige Birgfeld 34, of Grand Junction, Colo.

[magpie]

The Case Recap is interesting also - at this link:

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/or...21293250.shtml

Paige Birgfeld Missing, First Ex Husband: "I knew Something Was Wrong"
By Jack Ryan
Jul 20, 2007

Harmless, lonely married men looking for companionship is how Howard Biegler describes missing Paige Birgfeld's clients.

In an interview with Fox News, Paige Birgfeld's first ex-husband claims Paige made her escort service appear to look like a big company for safety reasons, but it was a "one woman operation".

According to Biegler, Birgfeld has been an escort for the last 5 or 6 and was a stripper when he was married to her. She became an escort because she "had a lot of bills and a really hefty mortgage". She "did it for her kids" in order to spend more time with her kids and to maintain her life.

When asked how it felt to be interviewed by police, he said he "never worried about being looked at".

Biegler said their recent rekindling was "headed to something serious".

Of Paige's disappearance, he said "I've been pessimistic from the time that she was gone..."

"I knew something was wrong."

Case Recap:

Read at link above~~

[Royalpurple209]

MCSO: Lester Ralph Jones is a "Person of Interest"

Posted: 12:37 PM Jul 20, 2007

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that Lester Ralph Jones, the man who lives at a residence that has been searched twice in connection with the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld is a 'person of Interest' in her disappearance. Sheriff's Office Deputies have previously stated they suspect foul play.

On Wednesday, agents with the CBI and Mesa County Sheriff's Deputies searched a Fruitvale home for the second time since her disappearance.

Jones was arrested on a Domestic Violence case in 1999. Jones previously plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, violent crime where a weapon was used, and kidnapping. He spent time in prison from 1999 to 2001 with the Colorado Department of Corrections. He was released into a work release program in Mesa County. For less than a year Jones was under intensive supervised parole and then went under regular parole in 2003. Jones completed his parole in 2005..

www.nbc11news.com/home/he...27107.html

[Royalpurple209]

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

Friday, July 20, 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.

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2...20,00.html

[magpie]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...638423,00.html

'Person of interest' named in Junction missing mom case

July 20, 2007


Lester Ralph Jones


A man whose home has been searched twice in two weeks was named today as a "person of interest" in the disappearance of a Grand Junction mother.

Lester Ralph Jones' home on the outskirts of Grand Junction was searched for the second time Wednesday.

Jones, 56, was working as a maintenance man at an RV repair shop a few feet from where Paige Birgfeld's burning car was found two days after she was reported missing, KREX-TV in Grand Junction reported.

Mesa County sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Gierhart would not reveal why Jones has joined what she described as the "long list of people of interest" in the disappearance of Birgfeld, 34.

[Pook]

He resembles John Lithgow's character "Dick" on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

[magpie]

Now that you mention it - he does!

[magpie]

Jones has quite a history of domestic violence. Look at what he did to his e-wife!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290273,00.html

Lester Ralph Jones, a repairman at an RV company in Grand Junction, has a history of domestic violence. In 1999, Jones reportedly forced his former wife's car off the road, kindapped her at gunpoint, and fired shots at the male passenger in the car, MyFOXColorado.com reported. Jones pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in the heat of passion and felony menacing, and served five years in prison, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

[Royalpurple209]

Originally Posted by Pook

He resembles John Lithgow's character "Dick" on 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Who's that ?

[magpie]

You never saw 3rd Rock from the Sun, Purpy? Funny show, John Lithgow played one of the main characters, an alien from another planet. They were pretty stupid aliens!

Check out the summary from the show here:

http://www.tv.com/3rd-rock-from-the-...1/summary.html



John Lithgow© 2006 TV.com

John Lithgow© 2006 Mike Guastella/WireImage.com

John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor, Heidi Klum© 2006 Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com

John Lithgow© 2006 Mitch Haaseth/NBC Universal Photo

[Jaysah]

It certainly seems that Paige Birgfeld had a lot of irons in the fire. In fact, I wonder how she managed to do everything that she claims to have done. Still, you have to sell a lot of Pampered Chef products to win two trips to the Caribbean. I have heard it suggested that she might have been bi-polar, which would account for her hyper-activity, manic lifestyle. But there also seems to be a real disconnect with reality. Her website says she will travel, but only by chartered plane, and then she is taking on a mechanic as a client and saying she will drive to places like Parachute, which is basically a contract worker camp.

I think she liked to envision herself being a high class, high priced call girl, but she was a lot less than that. Her first husband says she was not a prostitute, but her website makes it pretty clear that she would do anything if the money was paid. I don't think most men would pay big bucks just to pour their hearts out to her.

Edited to say that I really do not want to trash Paige, because in a way, I feel sorry for her. She is a rather pathetic figure, trying so hard to be the best and always smiling. But something must have been lacking in her life.

[ACandyRose]

Originally Posted by Jaysah

It certainly seems that Paige Birgfeld had a lot of irons in the fire. In fact, I wonder how she managed to do everything that she claims to have done. Still, you have to sell a lot of Pampered Chef products to win two trips to the Caribbean. I have heard it suggested that she might have been bi-polar, which would account for her hyper-activity, manic lifestyle. But there also seems to be a real disconnect with reality. Her website says she will travel, but only by chartered plane, and then she is taking on a mechanic as a client and saying she will drive to places like Parachute, which is basically a contract worker camp.

I think she liked to envision herself being a high class, high priced call girl, but she was a lot less than that. Her first husband says she was not a prostitute, but her website makes it pretty clear that she would do anything if the money was paid. I don't think most men would pay big bucks just to pour their hearts out to her.

Edited to say that I really do not want to trash Paige, because in a way, I feel sorry for her. She is a rather pathetic figure, trying so hard to be the best and always smiling. But something must have been lacking in her life.

Jaysah,

I set up a web page timeline on Paige moreso to settle in my own mind the chain of events as we know them via the media reports and some google searches I did on what could have lead up to her disappearance, that is if this was not just a random car-jacking where she got killed in the process.

The link is below if you're interested.
http://www.acandyrose.com/paige_birgfeld_timeline.htm

Just my opinion but I don't think that Lester Ralph Jones is a *client* of Paiges. I think he became a person of interest because of his association with her. The online reviews I found on her indicate that she was getting from $200-$350 an hour for her services and I would think that's just a tad out of range for an RV maintenance man to afford. If anything I think he's either a partner or an employee per se, that is, doing the same thing she's doing and maybe she gets a cut of the action if he's doing his thing through her Models Inc. business.

Just two days before she disappeared she placed an ad on "craigslist.org" under erotic services for *men doing men* and mentions a grand opening that they were expanding into Denver so obviously her business was not a one woman, couple nights a week operation. She also advertised for couples so perhaps this Jones wife is part of that also. Paige also placed another ad the day before she disappeared.

It sounds like Paige wanted the best of two worlds and maybe for the most part she was accomplishing that. Just because she was doing her night life stuff doesn't mean she didn't love her children or wasn't a good mother but on the same token she wasnt setting a good example either which is part of being a good parent. Being a single parent I do understand that she felt she had to do whatever to make a living but there are other options, cut backs for one. That 15 room house has to be expensive to maintain not counting the mortgage.

Anyway, like you I'm not trashing her but I'm trying to understand and be compassionite to her situation. I know the media is saying her second husband has an alibi but that still doesn't mean he couldn't have arranged something to happen to her. It's a sad situation because at this point I don't think the outcome is going to be good for her and her children whether they find her dead or alive. :-(

ACR

[magpie]

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/conte...eld_follo.html

Birgfeld search extends south

Thursday, 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.”

Officials with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department said they were aware of the center’s plans to move the search to the south, but said nothing of their progress in the case.

As with previous efforts, searchers will need to check in with recovery center officials and could be subject to background checks before they are assigned to search specific locations.

Those locations are identified by law enforcement and center officials.

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

[Pook]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292274,00.html

Gun Found Near Missing Woman Paige Birgfeld's Burned Out Car

Monday, August 06, 2007


GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A gun was found last week 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 Ruger 9mm handgun about 6 inches off the road Tuesday. The area is near where Paige Birgfeld's car was found July 1, a few miles from her Grand Junction home.
Birgfeld, a 34-year-old mother of three, was last seen June 28 and reported missing two days later.

A search along an area highway over the weekend of July 18 turned up several of her belongings. Investigators haven't said where the items were found.
Investigators said the gun was booked into evidence. No record was found on an initial check of its serial number.

Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said it's not uncommon for people to find weapons. He said the proximity to Birgfeld's car would be of interest to the investigators on the case.
He said determining the gun's ownership will require following the paper trail.

On Saturday, search dogs released near where Birgfeld's car was found led investigators to a nearby RV dealership where Lester Ralph Jones works. Jones, 56, has been described as a "person of interest" in the case.
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Norma Mestas would not say what the dogs uncovered for investigators.

[Bailey]

Monday, August 06, 2007

By MIKE SACCONE

The Daily Sentinel

A series of dogs brought in from Virginia to aid in the search for 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld led investigators to Bob Scott RV’s across 23 Road from the location where her burnt-out car was discovered July 1.

Birgfeld has been missing since June.

The dogs, which included a German shorthair and a golden Labrador from the Volunteer K-9 Scent Specific Search and Recovery Unit, of Virginia, were released several times Saturday near 727 Road 23, where Birgfeld’s red 2005 Ford Focus was discovered last month.

Each time, the dogs led their handlers east across 23 Road, south along the road and to the dealership’s front door.

Lester Ralph Jones, 56, who has been named a “person of interest” in the Birgfeld case and has served prison time for a 1999 Delta County kidnapping, works at the RV dealership.

Sgt. Wayne Weyler asked reporters Saturday to hold off on reporting on the dogs, saying: “We don’t want to tip off the suspect.”

Weyler declined to name “the suspect.”

Jones’ home, at 3072 Hill Ave., has been searched at least twice during the course of the Birgfeld investigation.

Norma Mestas, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department, said Weyler was in error when he referred to “a person of interest” on Saturday as a “suspect.”

She decline to comment further.

According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department, the dogs also were taken to Kannah Creek near U.S. Highway 50, where several of Birgfeld’s belongings were discovered last month.

The release states the dogs from the volunteer unit specialize in following “secondary scents, aged trails and car trails.”

Mestas declined to comment on what the dogs uncovered for investigators.

She said no search warrants or arrest warrants had been issued in the case over the past couple days.

Birgfeld, a local mother of three and escort who went by the name “Carrie,” was last seen June 28.

Since her disappearance, volunteers have searched parts of Mesa and Delta counties looking for evidence.

Full-time organized searches ended last week.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/conte...ld_follow.html

[Pook]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...664291,00.html

Divers use sonar in search for missing mom along Gunnison River

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
August 8, 2007

Metro rescue divers are using a sonar device to search 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 Thursday, 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."

Last month, the dive team used the cutting-edge side-scan sonar to recover the submerged body of a 15-year-old boy who drowned in an Adams County fishing lake.

The sonar also helped the dive team find the body of a 62-year-old Englewood man who died in Cherry Creek Reservoir in May, Lyon said. The technology is especially adept at spotting a body that's sunk to the bottom of a river or lake, Lyon said.