Paige Birgfeld Case Remains a Priority for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office
July 17, 2008
It has been over a year since the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld, a 34-year-old mother of three and online escort. Birgfeld vanished from Grand Junction, Colorado, in June 2007. Since that time, investigators have narrowed their search and named a "person of interest" in the case. However, authorities have yet to make an arrest.
Earlier this week, Investigation Discovery spoke with Mesa County Sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Benjamin, who said that Birgfeld's disappearance remains an "active investigation" with three full-time detectives dedicated to the case.
Last year, investigators named 56-year-old Lester Ralph Jones, a man who was allegedly a client of Paige's escort service, as a person of interest in the case. Jones lives approximately 12 miles from Birgfeld's estate and he is employed at an RV repair shop across the street from where the victim's burned car was discovered on July 1, 2007.
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Jones has a previous criminal record that includes a five-year prison sentence for first-degree assault and second-degree attempted kidnapping convictions.
Mesa County Sheriff's investigators have conducted two searches of Jones's home. However, the warrants remain sealed and whether anything was found is unknown to the public.
Last month, CBS covered the Birgfeld case on its primetime show, 48 Hours. During the episode, it was reported that there is evidence tying Jones to Birgfeld the night that she disappeared. A source close to the investigation allegedly told the producers that the last conversation Birgfeld had was with someone who was using a throwaway phone. That same source told the producers that investigators have surveillance footage from a store that shows Jones purchasing the phone.
Benjamin would not confirm or deny the information released by 48 Hours.
"We have not publicly talked about [Jones's] or anyone's cell phone records," Benjamin said. "[48 Hours] mentioned that he had a prepaid phone from Wal-Mart and I believe that may have been mentioned by our district attorney, but it has not been talked about by our sheriff."
Regarding Jones, Benjamin would only say, "He remains our sole person of interest."
For the last several months, the Jennifer and Abby Recovery Foundation has been searching the hills of Grand Valley for Birgfeld's body. The organization spends several hours a week scouring the countryside. The searches are vital to the investigation since each one helps eliminate potential disposal locations.
During a recent interview with Gjsentinel.com, Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said that he does not need Birgfeld's body to file charges. However, he admitted that without a body, it would be difficult to get a conviction.
"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 declined to comment on rumors that his office will present the case to a grand jury.
For now, the mystery of Paige Birgfeld's disappearance remains unsolved.
Paige Birgfeld was last seen in a blue tube top and blue jeans, driving her 2005 Ford Focus. She is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. She has sandy blond hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information about her disappearance should call the Mesa County Sheriff's Office at 970-244-3500.
Photo courtesy of Mesa County Sheriff's Office
Paige Birgfeld: The Mysterious Disappearance of an Online Escort
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