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Grand Junction is situated on the western slope of Colorado and it's very mountainous and beautiful.
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I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But one thing is apparent. It is very tough terrain to search in.
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There are hundreds of thousands of places where you could hide the body and we might never find it.
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>> I'm Frank Bergfeld. I'm the father of Paige Meredith Bergfeld. She's the mother of three children. My sister did
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not return from a uh meeting she had with a previous husband of hers. >> Paige was within 5 miles of the house
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here in Grand Junction and disappeared. >> My sister was missing. >> You start asking missing? What do you
00:01:06
mean missing? >> My name is Pete Howzinger. I'm the district attorney for Mesa County,
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Colorado. We're looking at somebody who has disappeared. We don't know why. >> I said, "You're in the midst of a crime.
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This is not someone who would run off." Paige would have never never abandoned her children.
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>> Loves her kids. Appears to be a typical divorced mom. Lives in a nice house in
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one of the nicer neighborhoods in Grand Junction. >> They found her car abandoned in a
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parking lot and lit on fire a couple days after she went missing. This led investigators to believe that there was
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foul play involved. We search fields, national parks, mountains, and I am committed to search for her
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until we find her and bring her home. >> Then we started finding out some things
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that really pretty much changed everything. >> First you find out Paige is missing and
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then within a couple days we started finding out about this other life that we didn't know about.
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you start hearing things about your own daughter that you didn't know about. >> We got more details about the extent of
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Paige's business and the type of person she was and the type of lifestyle she led.
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>> After Jess was born, she had told me that she wasn't doing it anymore. >> She kept all these secrets from her
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friends and family. >> She said she had been making 400,000 a year doing it and she didn't need to do
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it anymore. She had a couple things on her computer. >> I said, "Okay, well, that certainly puts
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a different twist on this investigation. Where is my girl? She may be a 34 year old woman,
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a mother of three children, but to me, she's just my little girl. I'm Aaron Morardi. Tonight on 48 hours,
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the secret life of Paige Bergfeld. We first brought you the story of Paige Bergfeld in 2008. Shortly after the
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young Colorado mother of three disappeared, police discovered that she was leading a secret life, a life that
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may have led to her disappearance. We've tracked her story ever since. And tonight, at long last, the mystery of
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what happened to Paige Bergfeld may finally be solved. And Paige was always the one that was
00:04:13
family first and she was always the one that was keeping us together. >> How many would like a cookout out by the
00:04:24
pool? >> No one loved a family gathering more than the one person missing from this
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one. 34year-old Paige Bergfeld. >> I mean, she would literally beam. She would radiate. Those were the absolute
00:04:39
cherished times that she she enjoys most. >> So, when their daughter Paige vanished,
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Frank and Susie Bergfeld feared the worst. >> This is a crime. There's a crime here. Instantly, I knew
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this was a problem. She didn't want to even go out to dinner without her children.
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>> For them, we need to find her and we need to bring her home. >> She's in our room.
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>> Paige's older brother, Dr. Craig Bergfeld, is a long way from his home in Seattle. By day, he specializes in the
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facial reconstruction of children. And by night, he's dad to his own young family.
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>> Is that the T-Rex board? >> Yes. >> And a devoted husband to his wife, Callie. But now living in his sister's
00:05:27
home, Dr. Bergfeld has a new full-time job, Uncle Craig, to Paige's three young children. Callie and I decided at that
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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, um,
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just help them. >> And I just remembered, you know, little girl just going, "So, do you know what
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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
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be with you right now. >> Paige had a circle of close friends. >> Her kids love her. They uh they glow
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when she's around. >> And Paige was the type of parent that always was around. According to her
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friends, as a single mother, she had to be. Her ex-husband, Rob Dixon, was living in Philadelphia. After their
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divorce in 2006, Paige was the primary caregiver for their three children. It wasn't an easy job.
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>> Paige is the most patient and loving mother I've ever seen, >> but it was the only job Paige had ever
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wanted. >> I think as long as I can remember, what she wanted to be was a mom. And um she
00:06:45
just couldn't wait to be that mom. So when Paige Bergfeld disappeared, Sheriff Stan Hilkkey was pretty
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convinced this mother of three would not leave on her own. >> There's nothing in our investigation
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at all that leads us to believe that she has abandoned her life or abandoned her
00:07:08
children um and and gone off in that regard. My daughter, if she had two broken legs,
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she'd crawl on her she crawl on her elbows to get to her children. >> Authorities started by looking at those
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closest to Paige. >> It's kind of police investigations 101 that you usually will look at the
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emotionally involved people, ex-husbands or current husbands, etc. And they quickly learned that Paige Bergfeld had
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not one but two ex-husbands. Her first husband was her high school sweetheart, Ron Beagler.
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>> He was the first big heartthrob, the first big to love. >> In fact, for the past few months, the
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two had been dating again. >> She was um very excited about rekindling her relationship with Ron.
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>> 10 years after divorcing her first husband, Paige said she was in love with him again. and ex-husband number one
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became the focus of the investigation in June 2007 when it's learned he was with
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Paige the day she disappeared. >> We believe that yes that uh she was with her first ex-husband that day of the
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28th. >> Paige and Beagler had their last date at this rest stop, a halfway point between
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her home in Grand Junction and his home more than four hours away. I understand that Paige and Ron Beigler had planned
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to meet, had a picnic, spent um part of the afternoon together. When she was driving home later that night around 900
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p.m., Paige called Beagler from her cell phone. They spoke briefly and Paige told
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him she'd call him later. >> It has helped us identify persons of interest. >> Cell phone records show that Paige was
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just a few miles from her home when she made that call to Beagler. And that phone call was one of her last.
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Paige never did call Beagler back that night. So the next day he tried calling her
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>> and her phone rolled over to the voice message right away so indicate the phone
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was turned off or the battery was was down. On Saturday morning, two days after seeing Paige, Beagler finally
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tried calling her at home. Paige's live-in nanny was taking care of her three children.
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>> He actually called the house and got her granddaughter, and she was the one that
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told him that Paige hadn't been home since Thursday night. >> At that point, the alarm started going
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off and he touched base with us, touched base with the the sheriff's office, and
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things started getting in gear then. And ironically, after Bigler called authorities to report Paige missing, he
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became one of the first they wanted to question. >> And I'm sure he was open and willing to
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have them look at him. >> Although Beagler was one of the last to see and speak with Paige, those who know
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him believe he's also one of the last who'd want to harm her. We met with him recently and I think he
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is very devoted to Paige and very emotional that she's not here. I've spoken to him on the phone since she
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went missing and it's obvious he's pretty distraught and um upset that she's not around. I know he's broken up
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by this whole thing. Paige's friends were far more suspicious about her second ex-husband, Rob Dixon,
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the father of her three children. >> A lot of her friends would say, "Where was Rob? I'm afraid Rob is
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involved." >> Paige had an explosive, troubled history with Dixon. >> 911. Where's your emergency?
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>> He said that I would come home. Afraid of all murdered. They might not have known exactly where
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to begin. >> It's going to be a good morning, >> but Paige's family knew they'd have to
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start somewhere if they were ever going to find her. You want to get out and start looking
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and try and figure out where she is. >> So Craig and Callie Bergfeld set off in one direction. Good luck today.
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>> Thank you. Hopefully we'll find her today. >> And Frank Bergfeld headed off in
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another. >> My daughter's the one who's missing. So when you're out there, keep your eyes
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open. >> While the Bergfeld family searched for Paige, the sheriff's department continued its own investigation.
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Deputies brought in specialty divers to search the river >> and they got one of their first big
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leads in the case when someone called 911 after seeing a car in flames parked in an empty lot.
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It turned out to be Paige's car, the car she was driving when she disappeared. The next morning, authorities discovered
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that the fire was started from inside the car on the passenger side. DA Pete Hzinger.
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>> It at least suggests to me that that person is fairly savvy and intelligent enough to think that there's
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a real possibility law enforcement could find evidence in that car that would implicate him or her.
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>> It looks like whoever is involved here is not afraid of committing a crime. and the realization of what that might
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mean for his daughter was too much to bear. >> You know, it occurred to me I hadn't
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cried in a long time. I've learned how to do that. That's it. >> While Paige's family clung to hope that
00:13:19
she was still alive, >> the reality is creeping in that something bad has certainly happened
00:13:25
here. Investigators turned their attention to Paige's second ex-husband, Rob Dixon.
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>> The most recent ex-husband is a logical person to take a close look at. >> Paige met Dixon in 1997, and back then
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he seemed like a real catch. >> Uh Rob had had a business success with his father, had a significant amount of
00:13:49
of wealth. >> It was a whirlwind courtship. And the following year, the two had a wedding
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and started a family together. >> And they moved to Grand Junction together, you know, moved into that
00:14:02
house together, built onto that house together. >> But Dixon had extravagant taste. And he
00:14:08
was reckless with his money, investing millions of dollars in risky business ventures. When the bills started piling
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up, Paige did what she could to pitch in. She started a little preschool dance business she called Brain Dance
00:14:26
to come in and be with your children and I appreciate you all for >> She would have recital um twice a year
00:14:33
and make costumes for all those students. >> Paige also sold high-end kitchen supplies out of her home for a company
00:14:41
called The Pampered Chef. And as one of the top sales agents, she earned a free trip to the Caribbean. But Dixon was
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losing money a lot faster than Paige was making it. In a few short years, his business investments fell through and
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he'd lost almost everything. >> And I think as financial strain came on the relationship. It got
00:15:05
worse and worse. >> By 2004, the problems in the marriage took a turn for the worse.
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>> We think of Rob as good Rob and bad Rob. There are times where Rob is just really
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a good good funny guy, bright, but at other times Rob is a difficult person to be around. He can be violently angry,
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condescending, derisive, uh you walk on eggshells, uh a feeling of tension. She stuck by
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him through a lot, but when he started getting more angry and then finally violent, she had to draw the line there.
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>> Finally, in October, Paige had to call the police for help. >> 911, where's your emergency?
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>> Um, my husband and I were in a fight. He wanted the children to stay with him,
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and he said that I would come home and find them all murdered. >> What's your name, ma'am?
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>> Paige Dixon. By the time police and local media arrived, the crisis was diffused. Dixon was allowed to leave
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after authorities decided he wasn't a threat to himself or anyone else. No charges were filed.
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>> Hey, Rob, what happened? Why were the cops called? >> But one year later, the police were
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called again. Paige said Dixon had pushed her to the ground. Then later, he punched her while she was holding their
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baby. This time in October 2005, Dixon was arrested. But the case was later settled after he completed a course in
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anger management. >> When everything went rocky and she finally decided enough was enough when
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the kids and her were put in jeopardy, she decided it was over. >> By the time the couple divorced in
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September 2006, Rob Dixon had declared bankruptcy and he was living in Philadelphia. When Paige disappeared,
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that's exactly where Dixon said he was in Philadelphia, 2,000 miles away. But when Paige's family found disturbing
00:17:08
entries about Dixon, written on a website message board by Paige herself, they were hard to ignore.
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>> I've read the things that have been written on her website and on the Pamper Chef website, and um, you know, they're
00:17:23
pretty scary. Just three months before she disappeared, Paige wrote, "My children would ask me if dad was going
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to kill me. I can't imagine what they were thinking life would be like after he killed me." Investigators questioned
00:17:37
Dixon about his whereabouts the day his ex-wife vanished, but they didn't release details to the public.
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>> We can say that we have had contact with Rob Dixon, and that's all that we'll say
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about him. >> But Paige's family got word that his alibi held up. I understand that a
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person's biography might make them a suspect. At the same time, if you're 2,000 miles away, I I think it takes you
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off the roster. >> Both of Paige's ex-husbands seem to have had solid alibis. So, who in Paige's life had any motive
00:18:15
to harm her? >> Hello, you've reached out. And that led investigators to an even bigger mystery.
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This one about Paige herself. >> Please read your message and I'll get back to you within the next few days.
00:18:28
>> Who knows why people make those sort of choices? Certainly not for us to judge.
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Mesa County is a big county. It's 3,300 square miles uh of a lot of open space, a lot of canyons.
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>> Two weeks had passed since Paige had vanished. You realize unless you know where to
00:19:07
look, you could spend the rest of your life looking around out there. It's just so remote. This is big country out here.
00:19:16
It is vast. >> And the question remained, where to look when the vista stretches out as far as
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the eye can see. >> There are hundreds of thousands of miles around us which could be used to hide a
00:19:28
body. >> But the investigation was about to get a lucky break. Her name Connie Fluki.
00:19:37
>> We'll never quit. I will never ever give up. >> Conniey's can do spirit inspired the
00:19:45
dozens of other volunteers here to help find Paige Bergfeld. >> This is our search area.
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>> Uhhuh. And she just gave hope. We were starting to become so dejected and she just walked in and took charge.
00:20:00
>> But I'm getting ready to send a team out. Okay. Dork. >> Craig and Callie got ready to search
00:20:07
in the punishing desert heat. >> I'm Craig. Paige is my sister. I wanted to thank you guys for coming to look for
00:20:13
her. >> Today's going to be the day. I know. Today's going to be the day. Today's the
00:20:19
day we're going to find her. >> We'll go up this road, loop back down that one. >> As the volunteers pressed on, the
00:20:26
Bergfelds had to navigate through a darker, more difficult terrain. the mysterious double life that Paige had
00:20:34
apparently been leading. >> She had a couple things on her computer. We were saying, "Wait a minute. What's
00:20:42
this computer doing here?" >> Yeah. Why don't the police have this computer? >> So, they called police because they were
00:20:49
convinced that her computer held clues that could have put her in danger. >> It doesn't change what I think of her. I
00:20:57
would give anything to see her again right now and give her a big hug. >> As Craig's concern grew, the search paid
00:21:08
off with a discovery that could lead them closer to Paige. >> They did find some pretty critical
00:21:14
pieces of information for us down on Highway 50. Various personal items such as Paige's checkbook and a membership
00:21:21
card to a local video store were found scattered along this highway 15 miles from where her burned out car
00:21:29
was discovered. >> Obviously, our focus is still on Paige. Um, not just her things, but her things
00:21:35
do hopefully lead us to her. >> For all its beauty, there is clearly a darker side of the mesa.
00:21:44
>> It's beautiful, but scary for me now. Every search I pray that we find my sister.
00:21:54
We're halfway through this canyon. We haven't found her yet. Still hoping we do, but part of me is still praying that
00:21:59
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
00:22:15
hope. We're coming, Paige. We're coming. We are coming to get you. First you find out Paige is missing.
00:22:48
Then within a couple days we started finding out about this other life that we didn't know about.
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>> It was a life kept secret from her family. Well, at first blush, she looked to us to be a really good mom, very
00:23:06
active with her kids. >> District Attorney Pete Hzinger. >> Then some things came out that really
00:23:11
pretty much changed everything. And that's when Grand Junction began asking not just where Paige Bergfeld
00:23:22
was, but also who she was, who she really was. She had a side industry, and it wasn't
00:23:32
just any side business. >> It turns out Paige wasn't just teaching dance classes and selling kitchen
00:23:41
products. In provocative ads on the internet, Paige was also known as Carrie, a highpriced escort.
00:23:53
>> I, for one, was shocked. I've been a prosecutor for 20 years. This is the first time I've encountered
00:24:00
somebody from that kind of social economic level and that kind of family involvement to be involved in this
00:24:07
business. Sessions with Carrie could include stripping, dancing, and roleplaying. On
00:24:16
one website, she suggests that clients can pay for extras, such as topless and nude massage.
00:24:24
>> Those were things that we didn't know anything about before she went missing,
00:24:27
but have unfortunately learned about since. >> I think for Frank and Susie that the
00:24:33
thought of their daughter even doing that, it didn't even cross their minds because it's their daughter. you don't
00:24:38
think your daughter's going to do that. So, I think for them it was a really, really big shock.
00:24:50
As upsetting as it was for Paige's family to learn about her secret life, they were convinced she turned to the
00:24:56
escort world for one reason and one reason only, her children. >> She found herself in a position of being
00:25:04
the bread winner and trying to make ends meet. Paige was overwhelmed with debt. She had
00:25:11
three children and her ex-husband was bankrupt, paying only $500 a month in child support. Plus, Paige's mortgage
00:25:19
was huge, almost $6,000 a month. >> It never really made sense to me that she would be able to come up with a
00:25:27
mortgage for that place for more than a couple of months. Her friends say Paige did what she had to do
00:25:33
and turned to the one job she knew would pay well. >> She always saw a situation and got it
00:25:40
under control. If something needed to be done, she made sure it happened. >> I would say that whatever she was doing
00:25:46
was for her children. >> And it has no bearing on the kind of mother friend that she is. book. Um,
00:25:54
>> and her sister-in-law, Callie, now thinks she knows where Paige got the idea to become an escort in the first
00:26:01
place. Many years earlier, Callie had asked Paige how she was able to afford her first home on a dance teacher
00:26:09
salary. >> I flat out asked her if she was doing something other than teaching dance
00:26:16
>> and she had told me that she had been stripping >> before becoming a mother. Paige had worked as a stripper at a
00:26:25
place called the Mile High Saloon >> in Denver when she was 21 years old. She said she had been making 400,000 a year
00:26:34
doing it. And that, you know, she didn't need to do it anymore, >> but apparently she later did.
00:26:43
>> And so then we're like, okay, you can kind of see where Paige made the next step to escort.
00:26:47
I wish I had been given the opportunity to be involved and perhaps been able to sort it out.
00:26:53
>> I would have counseledled her. That that strikes me as dangerous. It doesn't sound totally moral.
00:27:03
>> Paige's family knew this new information could help investigators figure out who
00:27:08
was responsible for Paige's disappearance. It opens up a whole another list of people, a whole another group of people.
00:27:19
>> But will it also bring them closer to learning what happened to Paige? News that is difficult to hear.
00:27:28
>> She was probably murdered by one of her clients. Police never found a diary or a
00:27:33
black book with names, but she did have that cell phone and that helped investigators track down
00:27:41
everyone who had had contact with Paige. >> We have looked very carefully at all of
00:27:46
her clients and have made every effort to investigate everybody who may have been on that list of people she was
00:27:53
going to be contacting later that night. That included George Coraluso, a 30-year-old house painter who called
00:28:00
Paige 20 times on the day she disappeared. He also left town hurriedly 2 days after her disappearance.
00:28:09
And there was also this man, a 56-year-old father of two named Lester Ralph Jones.
00:28:18
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
00:28:26
known Paige through the escort service. >> Mr. Jones was a client of Miss Burke Belts. My understanding is there had
00:28:31
been at least more than one encounter. >> Authorities got warrants to conduct searches of his home where he lived with
00:28:39
his third wife. They spent hours searching through his belongings, but wouldn't talk about what they found, not
00:28:47
even with Paige's family. >> I can't comment specifically as to what was or was not found in Mr. Jones's
00:28:52
home. >> And remember her burned out car discovered a few miles from her home? Search dogs led investigators from that
00:29:05
parking lot to an RV shop across the street. It turns out that's where Ralph Jones worked as a mechanic.
00:29:13
>> The fact that her car was burning so close to his place of employment is at least one significant fact. Common sense
00:29:20
certainly would indicate that it's something more than a coincidence. >> There is something else that links Ralph
00:29:26
Jones to the disappearance of Paige Bergfeld. One of the last conversations she had that night was with someone
00:29:34
using a throwaway phone like this. According to investigators, there's surveillance video from a local Walmart
00:29:42
showing a man they say is Jones buying such a phone. Jones declined our request for an
00:29:51
interview and denied having anything to do with Paige's disappearance. But Ralph Jones does have a criminal
00:29:59
record, a record that shows he was more than capable of violence. And then we're also able to find out
00:30:07
some newspaper articles about that whole previous case. It's pretty scary stuff.
00:30:15
>> Jones was arrested for two incidents involving his aranged wife Lisa back in 1999.
00:30:22
In one of them, he threatened to take her someplace remote and kill her. Joan served three years in prison after
00:30:30
pleading guilty to kidnapping and assault charges, both felonies. Those are by definition kind of violent
00:30:38
offenses. >> None of that bodess well if Paige had uh any kind of involvement with him at all.
00:30:46
>> It's not the kind of person you want to be out alone with your sister. >> And so more than 3 months after Paige
00:30:54
Bergfeld disappeared, authorities publicly cleared her two ex-husbands. Although George Coraluzo remained a
00:31:03
person of interest, they named the main target of their investigation. We have narrowed it down to one primary suspect,
00:31:11
that being Lester Ralph Jones. >> Lester Jones has been our primary suspect from the very beginning of the
00:31:25
case. Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubenstein was now heading up the Paige
00:31:32
Bergfeld murder investigation. He was convinced that Lester Ralph Jones, a convicted felon and a client of
00:31:40
Paige's escort service, was the man who killed her. But without Paige's body, he
00:31:47
didn't feel he could prove it. Paige went missing in June of 2007. We always knew that the case wasn't
00:31:58
something we were ever going to be able to prosecute until we found her. >> Let's go. Come on. Let's go find Paige.
00:32:03
>> Frank Birdfeld never stopped searching for his daughter. >> There's so many acres.
00:32:09
>> His determination to find her fueled by his concern that the investigation was
00:32:14
stalled. >> Many of these cases are never solved. You know, how many times do we see one
00:32:20
of these in the paper and you never hear anything more about it? >> There's no doubt that the family was
00:32:25
frustrated and I do not blame them at all. >> But then 5 years after Paige went missing,
00:32:34
a break. A hiker came across partial human remains in a gully right where a team of volunteers had been searching.
00:32:43
There were people that were in that area time after time over that 5-year period
00:32:48
from 2007 to 2012. So, her body must have been buried at least deep enough to have hidden it from people going by.
00:32:55
>> Investigators had little trouble identifying the remains. >> Paige's remains were found in
00:33:01
>> it was Paige. We had her jaw and her skull were found uh intact with the teeth and we were
00:33:11
able to get her dental records and verify that the dental records matched up with the teeth.
00:33:16
>> Although investigators couldn't determine how she died, Paige's bones gave clues. Among other injuries, her
00:33:24
cheekbone was badly fractured, a sign she may have been beaten. >> That fracture occurred at or near the
00:33:32
time of her death. Other findings helped the investigators piece together the circumstances of the last hours of her
00:33:39
life. >> There was also some duct tape um that appeared to be right around the area of
00:33:43
where the skull was found, >> suggesting she may have been tied and gagged. And there was more.
00:33:50
Knowing where she had been found now helped explain the objects that had been discovered when she was initially
00:33:56
reported missing. checks, business cards, driver's license, other documents that had pages or her kids' names on
00:34:05
them that were strewn about the highway about 5 miles before the area where her remains were found. That I think is
00:34:12
indicative of somebody who is kidnapped throwing those items out. >> Investigators believe that Paige,
00:34:20
desperately reaching out for help, was leaving a trail to wherever she was being taken. For Bergfeld's family, all
00:34:28
these discoveries were hard to bear. >> My feelings were a heavy dose of sadness. Um, even when we were
00:34:38
searching, you wanted to find her, but you didn't want to find her. >> Adding to their pain, they would have to
00:34:44
wait for a proper burial for their daughter. >> When she was found, I went ahead and
00:34:49
made arrangements with a local funeral home to uh go ahead and retrieve her. and we would then decide what to do with
00:34:57
the remains. We were told that they weren't going to give her to us. Uh, in fact, I assume that she is in a
00:35:04
cardboard box in the coroner's office. They were told that uh they must keep her for the purpose of evidence and
00:35:12
that's just flatout baloney. >> If it was any consolation, with Paige's remains discovered, the case could
00:35:21
finally move forward. Once you find the body, you've taken away one of the important reasonable doubts that are
00:35:29
going to be in a criminal trial. >> The evidence is still circumstantial, but Rubenstein believes he now has
00:35:35
enough to make his case against Lester Ralph Jones. He's confirmed that the only other
00:35:42
potential suspect, George Coraluzo, had a solid alibi for the time Paige disappeared and was in New Jersey the
00:35:50
night her car was set on fire. The car was in the parking lot across from where Jones worked.
00:36:03
The seat pushed back to accommodate someone much taller than Paige. And there is the track phone.
00:36:12
>> It actually only made five phone calls in its entire history. And all five of
00:36:17
those phone calls were either two pages work phone. The last phone call was from
00:36:22
her phone. >> Despite Jones's denials that he owned such a phone, Rubenstein says he can
00:36:30
prove that Jones lied. >> We have video evidence of of Mr. Jones buying that track phone. Uh we've you
00:36:39
know have the computer records showing the exact date, time, store and register that that track phone was purchased at.
00:36:46
And we pulled the video and it was Mr. Jones purchasing it. >> And then there is this.
00:36:53
>> Mr. Jones. >> Yes, sir. >> This is Art Smith with the sheriff's office. Just calling to let you know
00:36:59
that we have both your cars ready for you and your wife. A bizarre phone call between Jones and a local sheriff who
00:37:06
had seized two cars belonging to Jones so that they could be thoroughly searched. So I can come and pick him up.
00:37:14
>> Sergeant Smith contacted Mr. Jones just simply to let him know that the vehicles
00:37:17
were ready to be released and to figure out how they wanted to go about doing that. It was a simple routine phone call
00:37:23
and uh he didn't get the uh the response he was expecting. >> Mr. Jones, I'm not following you.
00:37:30
You asked me where I would bury a body. >> I'm sorry. >> You asked me where I could bury a body.
00:37:39
>> When did I ask you that? >> Um, Mr. Jones, are you there? That was to me a very very interesting
00:37:52
thing for him to say and certainly would be the sort of thing that would go towards being satisfied that
00:38:02
Lester Ralph Jones killed my daughter. The call along with all the other evidence did the trick. In November
00:38:12
2014, just before Thanksgiving, more than 7 years since Paige Bergfeld disappeared,
00:38:21
Lester Ralph Jones was arrested and charged with her murder and kidnapping. He appeared notably unsurprised.
00:38:31
>> Lester did not react at all when he was told that there was an arrest warrant
00:38:34
for him. He didn't ask what it was for. He just turned around and put his hands behind his back.
00:38:40
>> Jones went to jail. His bail set at $2 million, but for the prosecutor and Paige's family, the case was far from
00:38:49
over. >> We certainly believe we had enough to bring it to a jury. But remember, at
00:38:54
this stage in the process, these are just allegations. >> And they must be proven in court.
00:39:02
Did Jones kill Paige Bergfeld? If so, how did he do it? >> It's certainly our intention to have a
00:39:10
front row seat. >> And like his commitment to search for his daughter, Frank Bergfeld is
00:39:18
committed to attend the trial every single day. >> I'd like to say goodbye to her. I think
00:39:24
I owe it to her. With all that the family has endured, the years of uncertainty, the discovery of their
00:39:32
daughter's secret life, and the painful proof of her death, they prefer to remember Paige as she was and for them
00:39:42
will always be. >> Motherhood was central to her life. The kids meant everything. As far as a
00:39:49
legacy, uh, remember Paige's smile. I guess I would call it radiant. In her obituary,
00:39:58
it was said that she was so radiant it made the sun jealous. And I would think that would be at least
00:40:08
for me what sticks with me the most. Thank you. Please rise for our jury. >> In July 2016, 9 years after Paige
00:40:36
Bergfeld went missing, Lester Ralph Jones went on trial for her murder. >> Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
00:40:44
With no direct evidence, the prosecution's case was circumstantial. >> The only calls from that track phone
00:40:53
were to Paige Bergfeld and they ended at the time of her disappearance. >> That Mesa County Sheriff's Office,
00:41:00
>> Lester Jones defense team countered by introducing five alternate suspects. >> These are men that the sheriff's office
00:41:07
let slip through their fingers while they were busy fixating on Mr. Jones. But after a six-w weekek trial, the jury
00:41:16
was deadlocked. Although they all thought Jones was guilty, several had reasonable doubt.
00:41:24
>> Is there a likelihood of progress towards a unanimous verdict? >> No. >> No. All right. Thank you.
00:41:35
>> After a mistrial was declared, >> I'm sorry. >> One of the jurors apologized to the
00:41:40
Bergfeld. We wanted this and I saw you all during the trial and I see the agony. I am sorry.
00:41:56
>> Please rise for our jury. >> But there was a second trial which would end just days after Christmas 2016.
00:42:05
>> And this jury could reach a verdict. We the jury find the defendant Lester Ralph
00:42:11
Jones guilty of count one murder in the first degree. >> Convicted of the kidnapping and murder
00:42:18
of Paige Bergfeld. Jones was sentenced to life in prison without parole. >> But having him brought to justice after
00:42:30
almost nine years seemed to give Paige's father, Frank, little comfort, as he expressed in this phone interview.
00:42:39
What happens to him doesn't bring Paige back. If he wanted to make me a deal and
00:42:44
skip prison and bring her back, I I'd take it. >> 48 hours. Don't miss an episode.
00:43:22
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