These days, many women are supermoms because of the herculean tasks they accomplish while simultaneously raising their children, working, and taking care of day-to-day chores. But sometimes these women are forced to take questionable actions in order to provide for their families.
Paige Birgfeld, the Single Supermom
Paige Birgfeld’s life was not easy. At only 34 years old she had already gone through two divorces while simultaneously raising her three kids.
As everyone knows, going through a divorce is not an easy process and somehow, Paige managed to keep her children happy and provided for through the hard times.
She did absolutely everything in her power for her children, from making sure they did not miss a day of school, to ensure they could participate in all their favorite after-school activities and sports. Throughout this time she went through a handful of jobs to keep them financially afloat.
However, there was something about Paige that was her biggest secret, a dangerous truth that put her family at risk.
What exactly did she keep hidden from everyone...
A Multitasker Who Put Her Kids First
Somehow, at the same time as she juggled her jobs, she ran the households from cleaning to laundry to driving her kids to school and all their activities. She was so close to her kids that she allowed them to sleep in her bed.
Paige’s number one priority was to make sure her kids knew how much she loved them and how their happiness was the most important. Her goal was to provide for them a secure and happy home. All the moms who knew Paige recognized her admirable dedication.
What exactly did she keep hidden from everyone...
Friends Envied Her Work Ethic
Paige took multitasking to new heights. Her friends envied her ability to hold a baby in one hand, cook with the other and maintain a business call.
She seemed so proficient as a single mom that many aspired to be like her. One of the things Paige did to earn money was selling Pampered Chef products and baby slings. She also flipped houses in order to generate income, these were only two of the many jobs she worked to pay the bills.
Her Money-Making Schemes Did Not Work
Although Paige’s work ethic was incredibly strong, she was not always able to make what she need with the money-making schemes and jobs she had so she tried to come up with other creative ways to earn an income.
One way she thought of was babysitting. As a mom of three, how hard could it be? She also thought of dog breeding but realized that adding either children or dogs to her household would have made her already busy life even more chaotic….but what other choices did she have?
An Exotic Past
Many people have a positive outlook that if you do what you love and are passionate about, the money will follow. Paige always loved dancing since she was young and decided to teach her children how to dance too.
After not managing to make enough from the various other jobs she had, Paige decided to open a dance school. And she didn’t just rely on her childhood dance lessons to help her out. In her 20s, Paige was an exotic dancer in Denver, Colorado.
It was actually during this time that she met her first husband.
Desperate To Earn Extra Cash
Paige tried everything she could and had one job after another to try providing for her kids, but nothing she did was ever enough to support her family as she wanted.
Even though she was known as the supermom, somehow, she could not find a job that was enough to put food on the table. She found herself in a desperate position which led to her discovering a way in which she could earn a lot of cash with minimal effort.
Not surprisingly, it wasn’t 100 percent legal…
A Multitasker
With Paige’s talents as a multitasker, an organizer, and an exotic dancer, she decided to use all these skills and open another kind of business- an escort service. This type of business is one that proved escorts for clients and often included sexual services.
Paige even had a pseudonym for herself- Carrie.
She ran Models, Inc. from her home as well as a nearby office. Only her closest friends were aware that she was running an escort business. Even though it clearly is a questionable job, they till understood her decision and respected her.
Paige’s Entrepreneurial Spirit
Although Paige ran the business, she drew the line at being an escort herself and would not go on any dates with her clients, however, she was not opposed to making some extra cash by picking up dancing jobs.
Paige’s friends said that even though they were aware of the nature of her work, she was such a great mother that it did not appear to affect her children.
Paige was also very careful about conducting her business in a legal fashion since she knew she could not afford to be caught up in any illegal mess as that would put her children at risk.
Money brings dangers. Who decided to return into her life?
Who Is Ron Beigler?
Finally, things began to look up. Paige’s double life as Carrie was earning enough to keep the family happy and provided for and there was no longer a financial struggle. During this time, an old flame made his way back into the supermom’s life.
Howard ‘Ron’ Beigler was Paige’s first husband. They never had any children together and their young marriage was short-lived, and both went on to have other relationships. In Paige’s case, she went on to get married and have three children with her second husband before that ended too.
A Date With Her Ex-Husband
Although their marriage ended long ago, it was not the end for Rona and Paige. Not long before Paige’s disappearance, the two were said to be starting things up again.
On Thursday, June 28, 2007, Paige decided to meet up with her first ex-husband. She and Ron got together in Eagle, Colorado and had a great time. After their date, Ron checked in on her at around 9 pm to make sure she arrived home and she told him she was almost there…
Rekindling A Relationship
Ron and Paige began to talk and see one another not long before Paige went missing which made him a prime suspect in the case before he was finally cleared.
It was clear to everyone that Ron cared immensely for Paige and they seemed to be on their way to a reunion, it was also clear that Paige trusted Ron deeply as he seemed to be one of the only people in her life who knew every side to her.
Ron’s Worry
Ron was one of the very few people who knew about Paige’s dual existence. He was fully aware of her escorting business and although he tried to accept it, it did not make him happy. In fact, it worried him to be involved in that kind of business that could land people in a lot of hot water.
Paige was said to be aware that the lifestyle had its dangers but seemed to think that she could avoid anything happening to her. Sadly, this was not the case.
He Knew About Her Secret
Being one of the very few people who knew about Carrie’s double life put Ron Beigler in a hard position.
He did not want to tell her what to do but he worried for her, According to The Daily Beast, Beigler said, “I wanted her to quit. She said that she would quit if I wanted her to… because she could get killed for one.”
This didn’t stop authorities from questioning Beigler’s alibi, especially since he was the last person to have had contact with Paige before her disappearance. But once the call that Paige made to Ron to assure him she was almost home, the case against him was dropped.
Missing For Days
Ron checked on his ex-wife was because she had driven 120 miles from her home in Grand Junction in order to see him. But the trip from Eagle to home took much longer than she planned.
She and Ron said goodbye on Thursday, and the nanny looking after the children began to panic when she still had not appeared by Saturday morning.
While the family was used to Paige having an irregular schedule due to the nature of her work, now contacting them for two whole days left them concerned that something had happened to their mother.
Police Find Paige’s Burned Car
Paige’s family alerted police and it did not take long before they found some damning evidence- On Sunday, they discovered Paige’s 2005 Ford Focus in a parking lot approximately three miles from her home. The car was burning when they located it.
Paige was neither in the car nor in the surrounding area. It was as though she simply disappeared. Nothing was heard for about a month when searchers discovered some of Paige’s checks and business cards spread out across an 11-mile stretch of highway southeast of Grand Junction.
No one had any idea what had happened to the mother of three.
Putting The Pieces Together
Paige’s Ford Focus was found burning which meant that all physical evidence that would have been helpful in the investigation was pretty much destroyed.
However, police did take note of the fact that the driver’s seat was pushed all the way back, which indicated that Paige was not the one who was last driving her car.
Police also found Paige’s day planner in her trunk with the last four days of entrees ripped out. Clearly someone was trying to hide their name.
Paige’s Parents Were Stunned By Her Occupation
The police collected all the clues and very quickly determined that Paige was living a double life as a woman named Carrie who was running an escort business. Detectives interviewed her friends and parents during their investigation.
As you can imagine, her parents were beyond shocked to find out the way she had been making a living for the past while.
They were totally unaware of the kind of business she ran. Investigators were convinced that foul play was responsible for her disappearance. They kept searching for answers and hoped to discover what happened to the Colorado supermom.
No Father Wants To Know This About Their Daughter
Out of all the people who were shocked to find out about Paige’s double life, her father was definitely the most devastated. Frank Birgfeld told Crime Watch Daily: “Paige was enormously entrepreneurial.
She started out by setting up this little series of dance studios for kids that she called it ‘Brain Dance,’ and then she went into Pampered Chef and was taking trips for afterward, so she looked like she was doing well there.
She had another business where she was selling these slings for nursing mothers, so she was cobbling other things.” He was completely in the dark about the real source of his daughter’s income.
Her Father’s Emotional Testimony
As you can imagine, hearing that his daughter was missing AND finding out about her very questionable job was a lot for her father to take in. When he took the stand to testify, Frank Birgfeld said, “I was completely in the dark on this adult world thing.”
He also describes the day that he found out Paige had been missing.
“He said, ‘do you know that she’s missing?’ Man, it’s like a dagger. And I remember the pause….and I said, ‘missing? What do you mean missing?’
It only got worse when people began to talk about Paige in the past tense during the trial... “My daughter is Paige Birgfeld, my daughter will always be Paige Birgfeld—not was,” he stated.
Police Suspect Foul Play
Heather Gierhart, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department, commented: “Everything so far indicates foul play.” The options of Paige willingly leaving her children or faking her death seemed implausible and lacked evidence.
Paige was very devoted to her three children and had made many sacrifices in order to give them everything they needed.
Even her escort service was started with the intention of being able to provide for her family, the one thing that was left was figuring out who was responsible for her disappearance.
The Community Bands Together
The community of Grand Junction worked together in efforts to locate Paige, over 100 volunteers searched the 15-mile stretch where Paige’s belongings were strewn along Highway 50.
Paige’s father told Crime Watch Daily:
“We probably had a hundred and fifty people that first day, a day that was over a hundred degrees, and people were there, none of whom I knew, I didn’t live in the community. It was an overwhelming display of community spirit and people who care for one another.”
Police Question Paige’s Ex-Husbands
Obviously, the first two people to come under questioning where both Paige’s ex-husbands as is always the case. Her second husband, Rob Dixon, was the father of her three children: Jess, Taft, and Kohl. After she and Rob divorced, Paige had a hard time financially.
She struggled to pay the mortgage on the six-acre home where she and the children lived.
So, in a way, it was the divorce that led to her having to open up the escort service. Police discovered that Ron had an alibi and could not have been responsible for her disappearance. But what they found out about Paige’s more recent ex-husband, Rob Dixon, was a cause for concern.
Why Rob Dixon Was Her Ex-Husband
Once the investigation started certain facts about Paige and Rob’s marriage came to light that was worrying. Colorado District Attorney Dan Rubinstein told Crime Watch Daily, “They had somewhat of a tumultuous relationship. He would get angry. He would yell loudly.
He would make threats or statements that would cause people to be very concerned.” Police tried to look into their marriage and see if there was a reason for Rob to have been involved. Even Paige’s father Frank was quick to point fingers at the direction of the father of his grandchildren.
Dixon Has A Questionable Reputation In The Family
Frank Birgfeld was not shy to reveal to Crime Watch Daily just how volatile his daughter’s second ex-husband could be at times: “Dixon is a person that’s kind of two personalities. We think of him as ‘Good Rob’ and ‘Bad Rob.’
The first part was 100-percent Good Rob and I think as his financial situation deteriorated we saw a lot more of Bad Rob.” In 2004, Paige even made a 911 call after an altercation with Dixon.
In a recorded call she said “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 them all murdered.”
Could Dixon Be The Culprit?
That phone call, where Dixon threatened to murder their children put him at the top of the list of prime suspects. The second 911 call was not better, Paige made claims of physical abuse- proving the Dixon was more than capable of causing his ex-wife harm.
Although in both situations, police calmed down the situation and no charged were made, Paige's family remained incredibly concerned.
“After the second incident, I set up a bank account. It was getaway money. I wanted her to be able to pick up and leave with the kids if she needed to,” Paige’s father told Crime Watch Daily.
How Dixon Was Ruled Out
Considering both his threats and physical abuse, it was no wonder Dixon was a prime suspect. However, when he was contacted it was revealed that he was living in Philadelphia.
Furthermore, police discovered that of the various distress calls Paige received the night of her disappearance, Dixon made one of them. He was probably calling her after her kids and the babysitter grew concerned about Paige’s absence.
Once Rob Dixon had an alibi the next step was for the police had to turn to Paige’s long list of clients.
The Reality Of Her Double Life
According to The Daily Beast:
“Birgfeld was in such demand, she had to change her voice while arranging trysts on the phone to make it sound like she had a stable of women available for business.
“Appointments were getting out of hand as more and more lonely men turned to the woman who called herself ‘Carrie.’ All of those clients were suspect and would become an investigative nightmare for law enforcement.”
Police had to go and open that little black book filled with secrets in order to solve the circumstances of her disappearance.
There Were Too Many Suspects
At least five of Paige’s, or as they knew her Carri’s clients came to testify, amongst them was a guy who paid $14,000 for his sexual encounters with fraudulent checks. Another suspicious client was a cocaine addict named George Corraluzzo, who called Paige 20 times the night she disappeared.
However, Corraluzzo was not able to testify since he drowned in 2011. Another suspect was a ranch hand who left a voicemail on Paige’s phone the night she disappeared: “This is John at the Motel 6. Just wondering if you’re coming out or not.”
Another Call Girl Speaks Out
Then there seemed to be a big break. A former Grand Valet call girl, Kirsty Steves took to the stand with a possible lead. She said that a former client of hers named Wayne D’Amico had confessed to her that he had killed Paige sometime before 2011.
Steves continued, saying that he displayed obsessive and controlling behavior in the past and that the car salesman had threatened Steves after calling her for her services.
With all this damning evidence the jury was almost convinced that D’Amico was the new prime suspect. That is until Steves confessed to being high on cocaine during the conversation.
Steves Continues
While on the witness stand, according to The Daily Sentinel, Steves said, “He had told me that he knows how to get rid of a body without anybody finding it. … He told me he could put my body through a wood chipper and nobody would find it,” Steves said. “I believed him to my core. I got chills.
I typically have a good intuition; I was under the influence of drugs … but I believed him.” although the testimony was chilling, the jury had to take it with a grain of salt since she admitted she was under the influence of cocaine at the time that the conversation took place.
Wayne D’Amico’s Ex-Wives Speak Out
Following Steves' damning testimony, both the ex-wives of D’Amico took to the stand with testimonies that collaborated with Kirsty Steve’s experience and affirmed his abusive ways.
Both women spoke of accounts of experiencing domestic violence and arguments with their ex-husband. He also used many call girls. Then it was brought to light that D’Amico did, in fact, know Birgfeld. With these new facts that came to light, the car salesman was summoned to court to testify.
Wayne D’Amico Takes The Stand
With D’Amico on the stand, he admitted that Birgfeld was a close friend and he considered her a ‘good person” but when it came to the alleged comments he made, he claimed that they were “totally misconstrued”.
He admitted he had spoken about Birgfeld and her death but told jurors, “I said – out of context – had I [killed Birgfeld], they wouldn’t find her because I’d have used a wood chipper. This is going to get blown out of context, I know it is. … I know I didn’t hurt Paige.”
Not Enough Evidence
After his testimony, the Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said that investigators followed up on the lead but couldn’t find any connection to Birgfeld’s death.
“There is not a single other thing that you can connect Mr. D’Amico to at all within the two months of her disappearance?” Rubinstein asked Mesa County Sheriff’s Investigator Jim Hebenstreit, who agreed. “Nothing that you could find anywhere of anything.”
So, despite the damning testimony given by Kirsty Steves, there was not enough evidence to prove D’Amico was involved in the killing of Birgfeld. Once again, friends and family of Paige were left without answers.
A Suspect
It seemed Paige got along very well with all of her clients. The police interrogated eight and none of them seemed to have any reason to be involved with her disappearance. However, one of them made a lasting impression, Lester Ralph Jones.
Investigators looked into his phone records and discovered that he was one of the last people Paige had contacted before she went missing. Although it seemed Hokes had an alibi, there was something about him that was off, something that made the police want to look a little deeper.
The Phone That Linked To Jones
During the ongoing investigation, another thing the police took note of was the calls received by Paige that fateful night.one of the men who called her named‘ Jim’. Police later discovered that Jim was a fake name used by none other than Lester Jones.
The calls he made were from a pre-paid TracFone that was purchased at some Walmart two days earlier and surveillance footage reveals that Jones was the one who was purchasing that phone, although he would later try to deny it.
However, the evidence was piling up and that, plus some scary details of Jone’s past made him even more suspicious.
Jones Has To Be The Culprit
District Attorney Rubinstein told Crime Watch Daily:
“[Jones’s] TracFone in its entire history only had five phone calls to or from it. And the first phone calls were placed from it to Paige’s Models Inc. phone. And the last one was back from the Models Inc. phone to that TracFone. And after that, the TracFone went dead. It never made another phone call again.”
This fact, plus the fact that Jones was six feet and five inches, the exact height someone would need to be to drive Paige’s car with the seat pushed back all the way pointed in Jone’s direction.
A Hiker Finds Her Body
Years rolled by with no end to the investigation insight. After 5 years of Paige missing, in 2012, a hiker in Western Colorado found a body as he was walking through the hills. It was soon determined that the body he found was Paige.
It was Paige’s family’s worst fear come true. She has been killed as the autopsy revealed that she died the night of her disappearance.
A missing person case swiftly turned into a murder investigation and they were now sure Paige never abandoned her family but rather was murdered in cold blood.
The Gruesome Details Of Her Death
The hiker who found Paige’s remains in 2012 was exploring a dry ravine a total of 60 miles south from where Paige’s things were scattered along the highway. Investigators found her bones scattered in the area.
District Attorney Rubinstein told Crime Watch Daily, “A hiker in the Wells Gulch area just happened by a human skull, and when they unearthed it, it had duct tape that was sort of around the jawline area and around the back of the head…
“The reality is we don’t know exactly how Paige died. What we do know is that she was kidnapped, and we know that because of the items that were strewn down Highway 50, and we know that because of the duct tape. You don’t duct tape a person who is already deceased.”
The Incriminating Findings
Despite Lester Jones maintaining that the night Paige disappeared he was completing a work task, investigators found that this info was contrary to his alibi.
Investigators went to the R.V. shop that Jones worked at and found “handwritten notes about other escorts, what their bra sizes were, what type of sex they would have if they would have sex at all.”
They also found Viagra, two men’s wigs, and a Pampered Chef food scale, according to District Attorney Rubinstein. Surely this seemed like more than enough to incriminate Jones.
Evidence Linked Jones To The Crime
There was another clue: Rubinstein also added that “There was also a gas can that was found at his workspace that his boss said was out of place, that shouldn’t have been there, and that space is located about 500 yards from where that car was found burning.”
However, even with this added evidence, it was not enough for the first trial.
The Daily Beast reported that:
“The first trial ended up in a hung jury. There were three of the 12 who said there wasn’t enough physical evidence to convict him because there were no forensics to tie Jones to the murder. No fingerprints, no DNA, no fibers, etc. The car had been torched and her bones revealed nothing.”
Jones Somehow Gets A Pass
Despite the overwhelming evidence pointing Jones way, his phone calls to Paige the night of her disappearance, his body height being a perfect match for the driver on the car, and the strange clues at his disturbed personality, he got away.
Three of those on the jury duty insisted there was just not enough physical evidence tying him to the crime and he got away.
Justice Must Be Served
Even though there was a lack of evidence and many other attorneys would drop the case, this was not what District Attorney Rubenstein had in mind.
He told The Daily Beast, “I felt like there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt there, and that the family deserved one more crack at it. We pulled 12 people off the street and kept them over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
They gave it the attention they needed to decide that Lester Jones is the only person who could have done this.” He was right, and it took a new jury only three days to convict Lester Jones.
Jones Is Tried Once Again For Murdering Paige
Following the mistrial even more damning evidence against Jones came to light: his ex-wife, Lisa Nance went to authorities and exposed Jone’s violent history including physically assaulting one of her ex-boyfriends when she and Jones were separated.
She told authorities that Jones had a history of violence.
She added that Jones probably killed Paige because she knew too much, and he didn’t want his then-wife to find out about the nature of their relationship with this new testimony that came to light, prosecutors were able o bring Jones for a re-trial.
Killer Attacked Ex-Wife
Lester’s ex-wife was not at all surprised to hear he was a suspect pf the murder of Paige. In fact, she had experienced the rage he was capable of first-hand. During an episode of Dateline, they interviewed Lisa Nance, Lester Jones’ ex-wife.
She told the program that she once had a terrifying, violent encounter with Jones after their relationship ended and she began to try date once again.
Lester’s Rage
Lisa Nance was trying her best to move on and put her past behind her. she met a new man and was looking forward to beginning a new and healthy relationship.
However, Lester would not have this. At one point, Lester attacked the new couple while they were in their vehicle. Lisa recalled to Dateline, “He got up beside me and hit my car, which knocked me over into a ditch. Then he pulled up and backed up really hard and rammed my car.”
It was clear Lester wanted someone to feel pain.
Lisa’s Terror
Lisa’s story got even worse as she explained the encounter in detail. After Lester rammed their car, her new boyfriend got out of the vehicle and began running. Lester actually pulled out a gun and shot at the man. The new boyfriend was luckily not hit, although his head was grazed.
Lester then turned the gun on his ex-wife, but somehow, she was able to talk him to sense. Lisa recounted, “He had it pointed right at me.” Lisa remembered that Lester said she, “didn’t want him anymore,” and it was not something he could swallow.
Many Close Parallels
Following the attempted shooting of Lisa’s boyfriend, Jones then placed his ex-wife in his car… a very similar kidnapping scenario to what happened the night of Lisa’s experience. In an attempt to defuse the situation, Lisa suggested they go get a drink.
Once they reached a place of business she claimed she needed to call someone about her vehicle but instead dialed 911 and asked for help. Soon, help was on the way for Lisa Nance.
Sadly, while the scenario seemed to have many similarities to what Paige likely faced, she was never able to call for help.
Minor Repercussions
Unfortunately for Paige, Lester only faced minor consequences after his violent attack on his ex-wife and her boyfriend. Despite that he was arrested, he was released almost immediately on bail.
It's hard to say but perhaps if the authorities took his clear malevolent nature and violent tendencies into account during this time, Paige would still be alive today.
Unfortunately for Paige, Lester only faced minor consequences after his violent attack on his ex-wife and her boyfriend. Despite that he was arrested, he was released almost immediately on bail.
It's hard to say but perhaps if the authorities took his clear malevolent nature and violent tendencies into account during this time, Paige would still be alive today.
Not The First Time
During the trial, Lisa Nance testified about her terrifying experiences with Paige’s murderer, Lester Jones. After recounting the horrible incident where he shot at her new boyfriend and kidnapped her, she revealed this was not the only time she faced his rage.
Another incident included the time Lisa was in her mobile home alone talking to a friend on the phone. She went to her kitchen and found Lester had found his way into her home and was sitting on her couch in the dark.
She testified, “It startled me. He just didn’t look right.” She also said he did something rather creepy. While he wouldn’t talk to her much all he would do is keep repeating the telephone conversation she was having.
Lisa’s Horrifying Ordeal
Lisa tried to get Lester to go into public because she began to be afraid for her life and he agreed to go get something to eat, although he drove.
He then took strange turns while driving and when asked where they were going turned to her and said, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ and began slapping her repeatedly.
She said he claimed he would put her in the bottom of a lake and no one would find her. She tried to persuade him that she still loved him and begged to work out their relationship. Soon they pulled into a hotel and she was able to escape.
Once again he got off with minor repercussions, and although he apparently served minor jail time for the two incidents it was not enough to deter future violence.
Jones Can’t Keep Up His Story
Of course, after Paige’s body was found, Jones was put on trial again. By the second time around, Jones probably was forgetting his alibi. Police found the Tracfone he used in the trash at his work, but he denied it was his despite evidence of him buying it.
District Attorney Rubinstein told Crime Watch Daily, “First, he denied being at the Walmart at all. Then he said he was there to buy a soda.
Ultimately, when shown the picture, he said he was there buying a Monster Cable.” Although he denied being anywhere with “this lady,” tracking dogs detected Jones’s scent in the driver’s seat.
Interesting Dog Handler Testimony
After Lester Jones was accused of murder and his trial began, there was a plethora of evidence that began to come forward. At one point, the Mesa County jury heard some rather interesting testimony from dog handlers whose dogs were at the scene of the crime.
Specifically, the expert witnesses were named Sarah Plattz and Julie Jones who both worked with VK9 which is a search and rescue group. The two women had a dog which first centered on the scent of a cadaver in Paige’s burned car.
The dog also happened to find Lester Jones’ scent in the desecrated vehicle.
Jones Denies The Dogs
After the dog found both cadaver and Lester Jones’ scent while sitting in the impound lot in 2007, the evidence was later presented to investigators.
Sarah Plattz and her partner Julie Jones further clarified the findings saying that the dog found the scent of a cadaver in the back seat while Lester Jones’ scent was from the front seat.
The women also noted that the dog was able to track Jones's scent from the crime scene area to his place of work which was not far away at Bob Scott RV. This evidence was some of the most convincing heard in the trial so far.
Another Near-Mistrial
After the first trial ended in a mistrial, there was another close call that almost led the second trial to be called a mistrial as well, when Birgfeld’s friend Carol Linderholm testified.
According to KJCT-TV, after giving her testimony, Linderholm left the witness stand, looked Jones straight in the eye and called him a “piece of crap killer.”
While the judge heard the comment, the jury did not, and so the trial continued. However, the judge did find Linderholm to be in contempt of court and sentenced her to public service.
The Trial Continues
While Carol Linderholm’s comment off the witness stand could have led to another mistrial, the judge deemed that since the jury did not hear it, they could continue.
Linderholm then apologized for her comment, saying, “I’m sorry, I’m just under a lot of stress and I can’t help myself when I see him. I mean, if he had done that to a friend of yours, what would you do?”
It was clear that all of Paige’s friends and family were full of emotions and nerves, as the long-awaited resolve of the trial was yet to be reached.
Paige’s Killer Confesses
During the second trial, Jones’ attorneys pointed out that there was no physical evidence linking him to Paige’s death. They also claimed that there was another man who died in 2011 that may have murdered her. Then something surprising happened. Jones confessed that he killed Paige.
He never gave a reason for committing the heinous crime and no one may ever learn the truth. A judge sentenced him to 65 years to life in prison. He is not eligible for parole.
Paige’s parents are taking care of their three grandchildren, and their father has become a much more active participant in their lives.
Lester Jones Gets A Life Sentence
District Attorney Rubinstein took a relentless approach to achieve justice in some form for Paige Birgfeld. He told Crime Watch Daily, “Every life matters and it bothered me the idea that people might think that because Paige had this double life that she didn’t deserve justice.”
When the jury ultimately convicted Lester Jones, he was found guilty of first- and second-degree murder, as well as second-degree kidnapping. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison in November 2016, over nine years after Paige initially went missing.
It was high time that Jones finally confessed to the murder.
A Relieved, But Angry Father
Paige’s father Frank Birgfeld told Crime Watch Daily, “I’d say this is a life that God put on the Earth that he absolutely wasted. Frankly, it would have been better if they had skipped his name when God decided who to place on Earth. He has contributed nothing, and all he is is a burden on society…
The highlight of being around Paige was seeing how radiant she would be around her children. When I’m around her children, I feel this elation, but then it’s checked, because I realize she isn’t here to appreciate it.”
The Family That Was Left Behind
Obviously, those who were affected beyond anyone by the ordeal was Paige's children. She left behind a loving family and it’s sad to know that she was only involved in her illegal escort service to support the well-being and livelihood of her children.
Birgfeld’s daughter Jess was only eight when her mother went missing and for ten years she suffered without knowing what happened until her body was found.
At the trial, “She described a loving mother who routinely hauled all three children in the family van to their dance recitals, McDonald’s meals, and soccer practices while juggling side businesses selling Pampered Chef products and baby slings… ‘Christmas was the best thing. We had a big tree. One year we got a puppy,'” Jess said according to The Daily Beast.
Her Kids Only Knew Part Of The Story
Jess Dixon and her siblings were often cared for by a nanny when their mother worked late nights and odd hours. While Paige certainly couldn’t tell them the full story, her daughter Jess knew that that job was different than her mother’s other entrepreneurial ventures.
One day during testimony, Jess was accompanied by a service dog to provide comfort while she talked about her late mother, although the defense argued that it was an unnecessary distraction to the court.
When asked whether she knew about her mom’s after-hour job, she said, “At the time, I believed it was just massages and dancing.”