Paige Birgfeld 34yr Colorado missing since 6/28/07(Remains Found)

[Nut44x4]

Police hope bone found in Utah will help Colo. case
July 31st, 2008 @ 9:20pm

Bones found along the Utah-Colorado border have given Colorado
investigators hope they will finally be able to solve the case of a
young mother who has been missing for more than a year.


One of the bones, a piece of human skull, was found in Utah and now
is being tested at the medical examiner's office in Salt Lake.
Colorado investigators are anxiously awaiting results. They want to
know if it belongs to a victim in an unsolved murder case.

Paige Birgfeld of Colorado, a mother of three, was last seen in June
of 2007. Investigators say the piece of bone could be from her.

A Mesa County Sheriff's Department spokesperson said, "This could be
anyone, really. It gives hope to families and to us. It could solve
one of our cases."

Though investigators are waiting to confirm if the bone belongs to
Birgfeld, they've contacted her father, Frank Birgfeld.

"To some degree I want to find her," he said, "but on the other hand I
don't want to find her not alive."

Last week, as Utah was celebrating Pioneer Day, hikers in the Bryson
Canyon area of the Bookcliffs, near the Utah-Colorado line, spotted a
bone and took it to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office in Grand
Junction, Colo. Then investigators brought the bone to Salt Lake for
testing.

Ten people are searching a five-mile area of the Bookcliffs in Bryson
Canyon for more evidence. Any bone found is being bagged and labeled.

Steve White, with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office, said, "We're
working with some doctors out of Salt Lake with anything, any bone, to
confirm whether it's animal or human."

One woman, Connie Flukie, has searched for Birgfeld before. "I feel
sickened this is it. The family deserves some peace. This could be
her," she said.

White said, "It would be nice to put some closure. If there's a family
or something missing someone, it would be nice to put some closure to
that."

Though Paige's father wants closure, he doesn't know if he wants the
bone to be his daughter's.

"My situation is to wait and see if this has anything to do with
Paige," he said.

It will be some time before the medical examiner's office releases
results from tests on the bone.

Paige Birgfeld was a mother of three, last seen with her ex-husband
the night of her disappearance.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.true-crime/2008-08/msg00034.html

[Nut44x4]

Bone discovery leaves mystery

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Ten searchers on Wednesday were tasked with searching an area northwest of the Colorado state line after a hiker discovered a human bone there, according to Utah’s Grand County Sheriff’s Department.

A person whom law enforcement declined to identify found the bone while hiking in the Bryson Canyon area of the Bookcliffs in Utah, and turned it over to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.

Mesa County Forensic Pathologist Robert Kurtzman confirmed Wednesday the bone brought to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office on July 24 was identified as a human remain.

Kurtzman said the bone has since been turned over to Utah’s medical examiners office for further study, but it is too soon to make any determination of who the bone belongs to. Kurtzman declined to speak about what type of bone it was or whether it was from a man or woman.

On Tuesday, investigators from Grand County and one investigator from Mesa County traveled to the site where the bone was found to search a three- to five-mile swath for additional remains, Grand County officials said in a news release.

Speculation had surfaced recently about the remains because the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department recently reported that local investigators had been tasked with identifying human remains discovered in the region.

The father of Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld, who has been missing for more than a year, was notified by the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, prompting talk that the remains may provide some answers in the highly-publicized case. Frank Birgfeld said he was notified of the find, but not given any further information.

Spokeswoman Heather Benjamin of the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department said, if requested, Mesa County will provide DNA to Grand County investigators on the county’s 11 missing persons cases reported since 1983.

Kurtzman said it is illegal for anyone who believes they have come across human remains to move them from the site.

He added that solving cases of found human remains can take years, citing a case that was recently solved when hikers found a human skull on Grand Mesa two years ago.

“It’s early,” Kurtzman said of the recent find. “It’s been blown way out of proportion. These cases are complicated. It involves a great deal of effort.”

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/07/30/073108_1B_body_folo.html

[MuffyBee]

  Aug 6, 2008 7:22 pm US/Mountain
Paige Birgfeld's Father Won't Give Up Looking

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) ―  More than a year after his daughter disappeared, a determined father talked about his frustrations with the case with CBS4.

A mother of three, Paige Birgfeld disappeared last summer in Grand Junction. Police began the search after finding her burned out car. CBS4's Andrea Lopez spoke to her father, Frank, after the recent discovery of human remains had some wondering if it was his daughter's.

"You've got to keep going, you've got to keep looking," Frank said. "I need to be closer, I need to be active."

Paige disappeared June 28, 2007 at the age of 34. She was within 5 miles of her home.

"I think it's my mindset now that the crime against her was pre-planned and thought out," Frank said.

Some personal items such as a checkbook of Paige's were found on a highway 15 miles outside of Grand Junction. Her burned car was found two days after she disappeared.

"I think when we find her things will develop rather quickly," Frank said.

Many searches have turned up virtually nothing that has led to Paige although recently the sheriff's department said pieces of human bone were found in Utah.

"It was basically a piece of human skull that, to tell you the truth, was discovered over a year ago," Frank said.

Paige had a secret life that turned up in the course of the investigation. She was part of escort service making cash to help support her children. A customer has been a suspect, but no arrests have been made.

"It's my hope that she will walk through the door," Frank said. "Do I think that will happen? No."

Paige's house has since been sold and her children live with their father in Pennsylvania.

Frank vows never to give up looking for Paige.

"Maybe luck will come my way and something will happen," he said.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/birgfeld.paige.grand.2.789663.html

[Nut44x4]

As far as I can see, no word on identification of the bone found. I am keeping an eye on it. Here is a photo of Paige that I had not seen before.

Such a pretty young woman .... so sad... 

[Nut44x4]

This does not mention Paige, but I believe it is the same area as the remains in the above posts...

Book Cliffs body search: Inmate's tips guide search for remains
Investigators continue to look for another Colorado woman after they uncovered remains Wednesday. Very interesting, to say the least...

http://**/ci_11907613?source=most_viewed


http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/03/13/031309_3a_Utah_bones.html

[MuffyBee]

While searching for news in this case, I found reference to Paige Birgfeld by her father Frank.  He is still trying to find his daughter.   The article concerns eliminating the death penalty in Colorado, and is dated Feb. 23, 2009.
I'll post the snipped portion here.  Please go to the link if you would like to read the entire article.

  Feb 24, 2009 2:48 pm US/Mountain
Lawmakers Approve Plan To Eliminate Death Penalty
By Steven K. Paulson, AP Writer

<snip>
Frank Birgfeld, father of 2007 Mesa County victim Paige Birgfeld, told lawmakers his life has been in limbo since his daughter mysteriously disappeared. He said she is presumed dead by authorities, though her body has never been found.

Birgfeld said an investigator promised to pursue the case but warned that he is pursuing 58 other cases, and missing person cases can take 20 years or more.

"Give it a pair of fresh eyes," Birgfeld told lawmakers.

http://cbs4denver.com/local/cold.cases.death.2.942324.html

[Nut44x4]

May 15, 2009 Friday The Denver Post
 
Dad asks sheriff: "Where's cash?" Frank Birgfeld alleges his missing daughter left large amounts of money behind.

The father of a Grand Junction woman missing almost two years wants the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into whether law enforcement took "tens of thousands of dollars" from her home after she disappeared.

Frank Birgfeld, the father of Paige Meredith Birgfeld, sent certified letters dated Monday to Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

In the letter to Hilkey, Birgfeld stated that he notified the sheriff in September about the missing money, based on reporting done for a June 10, 2008, episode of the CBS television show "48 Hours."

"Sources have told '48 Hours' that investigators discovered a large amount of cash in Paige's home, tens of thousands of dollars …," the show alleged.

Hilkey issued a written response Thursday.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Birgfeld has chosen to make unfounded allegations," he stated. "However, it does not dissuade this office from its commitment or desire to successfully resolve the Paige Birgfeld case, nor will his complaints ever cause any lapse in professional ethics or integrity by any member of this agency."

Birgfeld, 34 when she went missing in June 2007, lived a double life, according to investigators.

She was a single mother raising three children in a million-dollar home with the help of a live-in nanny, while selling Pampered Chef home products.

She also worked as an escort named "Carrie," who advertised her services and featured a revealing picture of herself on her "Naughtynightlife" website.

"It has been established that Paige operated with substantial amounts of cash not deposited into a bank account," Frank Birgfeld stated in his letter to the attorney general. "The monies were very likely hidden in her Grand Junction residence."

Two days after she disappeared, Paige Birgfeld's new Ford Focus was found burning in a parking lot about 2 miles from her home. An investigation determined it was arson, most likely to destroy evidence.

Her body has not been found, and no one has been charged in the case.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:972814272&start=8

[Nut44x4]

Bone in murder probe 'unidentifiable,' cops say

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Nearly a year after a hiker in Utah stumbled upon it, a small piece of human skull that piqued the interest of investigators looking into Paige Birgfeld’s disappearance remains a mystery.

But while questions remain about the roughly silver-dollar-sized bone, Grand County (Utah) Sheriff James Nyland said he’s confident about one thing: who it didn’t belong to.

“It didn’t appear to be recent enough to be from any of these homicides,” said Nyland, referring to Birgfeld’s case and the murder of Leann Emry, a Washington woman whose partial remains were found in March near Moab. Today marks two years since Birgfeld was last seen alive.

The bone in question was returned to Grand County this past spring after it had been tested at the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Va. Nyland said the FBI couldn’t extract DNA because of the bone’s age. He didn’t offer an age estimate.

“It’s not identifiable,” he said. “It was found at the bottom of a dry wash (in Bryson Canyon), so it could have come out of the Bookcliffs.”

No other bones submitted by Grand County were tested at the FBI lab, Nyland said.

Mesa County Sheriff’s Department investigators spent several days searching in Utah in late July 2008 after the bone was found by a hiker, who picked it up and brought it to Grand Junction. It was eventually handed over to the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office.

Authorities have said it’s illegal to move any suspected human remains.

Mesa County law enforcement officials still think about Birgfeld, a mother of three children, whenever news breaks about the recovery of human remains in the region. Most recently, the June 14 recovery of a dismembered body in a Glenwood Springs apple orchard had authorities wondering if it might be Birgfeld. Instead, it was a missing Aurora woman, 38-year-old Janine Ann Johler.

Birgfeld, 34, an escort known to clients as “Carrie,” was last heard from while driving back to her Grand Junction home the evening of June 28, 2007, after spending the day with her first husband, Howard Beigler of Aurora.

Beigler and Birgfeld’s second husband, Rob Dixon, were cleared in October 2007 of involvement in Birgfeld’s disappearance. At the same time, authorities named Pear Park mechanic Lester Ralph Jones as the lone suspect in the case.

No arrests have been made.

While Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said investigators are waiting to hear back on several items sent out for testing to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, there have been no recent new leads. District Attorney Pete Hautzinger last year raised the prospect of presenting the case to a Mesa County grand jury, but made no commitments.

The proceedings are secret under state law.

“That seems like a logical next step in the absence of new developments,” Hilkey said of a grand jury probe.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2009/06/27/062809_3a_Birgfeld_folo.html

[MuffyBee]

I was searching for any news in Paige Birgfeld's case and I found an article in which she is mentioned.  A body was found, but it isn't Paige's. 

http://www.kjct8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11002444
Body found near Dominguez Canyon

Posted: Aug 27, 2009 11:51 AM

Updated: Aug 28, 2009 02:18 PM
Dominguez Canyon

Mesa County Search and Rescue is assisting Mesa County Sheriff Deputies in the recovery of a body found by hikers Wednesday.

We are learning the call came in early afternoon on Tuesday. Emergency response crews had a long hike into the scene at the Dominguez Trail Head on the uncompahgre National Forest. We've learned they got their as the sun was setting and realized they didn't have enough time to recover the body.

They set off for the site again Thursday morning and have reached the body. They are in the process of recovery. The Mesa County Coroner will determine manner and cause of death. We are not being told anything about the victim at this time, except investigators did say it is not the body of high profile missing Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld.

[Nut44x4]

Human remains found in remote area

GUNNISON COUNTY - Investigators have their work cut out for them after human bones were discovered in a remote area near Somerset over the weekend.

The Gunnison County Sheriff's Office says someone discovered the skeletal remains on Saturday in a mountainous area amid rough and rugged terrain. Deputies went out and found more bones in the same area on Monday.

Investigators turned the remains over to the county coroner, who plans to work with an anthropologist from Western State College, in an attempt to identify them. Deputies say right now they're still trying to figure out if the remains were of a man or a woman, how old the person was and how long the bones had been there.

According to deputies, if the coroner and anthropologist can't identify the bones, they may have to send them to a CBI or FBI crime lab.

The bones were discovered in an area where the underbrush and growth was 2.5 to 3 feet high and deputies say it was a very lucky find.

Deputies say they are crosschecking missing persons cases in the area and statewide as part of their investigation.

Investigators planned to search the area again this week to see if there are more remains in the area.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=123294&catid=339

Lot's of people missing from Colorado, but I'll put this here.

[Nut44x4]

Sheriff: Skull female

September 18, 2009 4:12 AM MDT

SOMERSET — Gunnison County Sheriff's official expect a lengthy investigation into the death of a woman whose skull and other bones were found near Bear Creek Saturday.

Sheriff Rick Murdie said in a news release that the bones — the top part of a skull and others — are those of a female, likely in her twenties.

His officers are using Colorado Bureau of Investigation databases to locate the names and dates of missing persons within the past 10 to 15 years, and those departments with missing persons are being contacted for information.
 
The skull contained two teeth appropriate for dental comparison and that possibility is being considered.

Additional resources will be used at the discovery site over the next few days to locate further remains. According to the sheriff, Western State College's anthropology department will perform an extensive search of the area under the supervision of law enforcement,also within the next few days.

There is little evidence, or leads, the sheriff said.

http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2009/09/18/breaking_news/doc4ab2a9a802609848731956.txt

[Nut44x4]

Gunnison sheriff: Skull, bones not Paige Birgfeld's

By PAUL SHOCKLEY Link: The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Gunnison County Sheriff Rick Murdie on Wednesday said he’s confident human remains recovered from a hillside near Somerset are not those of missing Grand Junction woman Paige Birgfeld.

“These bones had been on the ground a lot longer than two years,” said Murdie, who said his agency had been in contact about the find with an investigator from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department, among other agencies.

“I don’t believe we’re dealing with Paige here.”

Birgfeld, 34, was last heard from driving to her Grand Junction home the night of June 28, 2007.

Murdie did not offer an estimate for how long he believes the remains were exposed outdoors. He said a preliminary analysis conducted Tuesday by anthropology faculty at Western State College, and Gunnison County Coroner Frank Vader, suggested the bones belonged to a female approximately in her 20s.

Those descriptors have been entered into a missing persons database maintained by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Murdie said.

They’re waiting for a match.

“Then we go to the agency that answered that information,” Murdie said.

The bones will be shipped to forensic pathologists in Montrose, who will be asked to determine cause and manner of death, he said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done yet,” Murdie said.

Gunnison authorities have said the remains — a skull missing its lower jaw bone and seven other upper-body bones — were found on steep, rough terrain that is private property just north of Somerset. A worker who was clearing trees in the area stumbled upon the bones on Saturday.

An item of clothing, which authorities have refused to describe in detail, was also found.

Murdie said a search team, which will include anthropology faculty and students from Western State, will be returning to the site in the coming days to comb over more of the area around the find.

The sheriff has said the partial skull and bones were found scattered in a roughly 100-foot radius.

[Nut44x4]

BREAKING NEWS - UNCONFIRMED - Body Found

I don't want to get carried away.....sounds hinky to me.....the reports are not from the USA.

http://www.twominutenews.com/2010/world/paige-birgfelds-missing-body-found-6829.html

http://www.helium.com/items/1786846-paige-birgfeld-body-found-the-story-behind-her-disappearance

http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20996&highlight=PAIGE

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/8627107.html
(Video Avail at link)
 MCSO: Lester Ralph Jones is a "Person of Interest"

Sunday, march 28, 2010


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.
 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.

[Nut44x4]

Paige Birgfeld Body Found

Paige Birgfeld Body Found – Several different rumors have been circulating on the internet in recent days about the disappearance of Paige Birgfeld. These rumors have stated that her body was found this morning, although those claims have not been confirmed or substantiated. The rumor states that the body that resembled that of Paige Birgfeld was found, and that they are going to be running several different tests and looking at her dental records to determine whether or not the body that was found today is in fact hers or not.

It was not immediately clear where the body was located when it was found, as the individuals that found it have been keeping a tight lid on the situation and have made sure not to allow any details about the case to leak out to the press. Her story became a national story when she went missing, but with all the time that has passed since she went missing over three years ago, it appears that the story may have been forgotten about by a large number of individuals.
She first disappeared on June 28, 2007. It was not clear that she was abducted or had been harmed, and eventually the story lost all of its media attention and went to the back burner of the detectives list. The family has not confirmed whether or not they have been contacted by authorities, who may be waiting for the test results to arrive back home before contacting the family and giving them false hope that their daughter may have been found. It is too early to say whether or not the body is that of Paige Birgfeld, and it is expected that that information will be released over the coming days. Paige Birgfeld was first missing after she visited Grand Junction. It was not clear if she had left the area on her own power, or if she was forced to do so by another individual.

http://news.spreadit.org/paige-birgfeld-body-found/

  " resembled that of Paige "  ......she has been missing 3 years! ????

[Nut44x4]

Posted: 5:02 PM Mar 29, 2010
http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/89469172.html
Sheriff's Office dispels Internet rumors that Paige Birgfeld's body has been found

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office says Internet rumors claiming the body of missing Grand Junction mother Paige Birgfeld has been found are false.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office says Internet rumors claiming the body of missing Grand Junction mother Paige Birgfeld has been found are false.

Birgfeld disappeared in the summer of 2007.

Recent Internet posts claim her body has been found, but the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office says the allegations are “false” and “not true.”

The case is an active and on-going investigation.

Lester Ralph Jones remains the primary suspect.

[Lovinlife]

I watched this show tonight about Paige on Discovery ID, if you get a chance to watch the show, it is done very well and a good synopsis of what's in this thread and some more indepth info on Lester Jones. They feature lots of unsolved missing persons.  They show lots of family & friends.  I hope revisiting this will cause someone to come forward with new information.

http://investigation.discovery.com/tv/disappeared/the-missing/paige-birgfeld.html

Paige Birgfeld
Missing since February 28, 2007

WATCH NOW June 28th, 2007, 9 pm — 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld is only a few miles from home when she calls her ex-husband on her cell phone. They had just seen each other that evening, and she wants to let him know she is almost home. She promises to check in with him later that night, but Ron Biegler never hears from her. He chalks that up to the fact that Paige has three young children to manage all by herself. But when Ron calls her home 3 days later, one of the children tells him that Paige had never arrived home that night. Ron immediately calls the sheriff's office.

Mesa County Sheriff, Stan Hilkey, feels certain that Paige did not disappear voluntarily. She is a devoted mother, with a beautiful, million-dollar home that she worked long and hard for, and there is nothing to indicate she wanted to get away. In searching for alternate explanations, the police first start questioning Ron Biegler.

But friends prove more suspicious of Paige's second husband, Rob Dixon — a man she had a violent and passionate relationship with. She fell for him when he was a wealthy patron of the strip club where she worked. They had a whirlwind courtship. Within months they married, and quickly had three children. In 2004 Paige had called the police for help, saying her husband threatened to kill all their children. One year later she called 911 again, saying Rob had pushed her down and punched her in the throat while she held their baby. Rob was arrested, and one year later they divorced.

All the while, Paige had kept several businesses afloat to support the family and Dixon's habit of wasting money. She started a dance company for preschoolers; she sold high-end kitchen supplies out of her home; and, she worked as a high paid stripper. This side of her life was completely hidden from her parents. Though the family is very close, they knew nothing about her exotic dancing and stripping.

Only months before her disappearance, Paige posted a message on her blog claiming her children asked if Dad was going to come and kill her. Her parents took notice. But by the time of Paige's disappearance, Rob had moved across the country to Pennsylvania.

While first husband Ron is wary of Rob and has heard stories of his violence, he has more pressing news for the police. When he and Paige met up on June 28, Paige told him she was going to keep two appointments she had that night with clients from her escort service. An escort service her parents knew nothing about.

She has not been heard from again.

[Nut44x4]

I watched Investigation Discovery/Disappeared RE: Paige for the first time last night. It was very informative....

http://investigation.discovery.com/tv/disappeared/the-missing/paige-birgfeld.html

http://investigation.discovery.com/investigation/missing-persons/birgfeld/paige-birgfeld.html

[KittyMom]

http://**/breakingnews/ci_20123470/remains-missing-mesa-county-mother-paige-birgfeld-found

Remains of missing Mesa County mother Paige Birgfeld found in Delta County

A hiker found skeletal remains of a woman at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday off U.S. Highway 50 in the Wells Gulch area in Delta County, about 30 miles southeast of Grand Junction and about 15 miles west of Delta.

Frank Birgfeld said the area where the body was found had been searched thoroughly in 2007 after a man with a flat tire found Paige Birgfeld's checkbook, still in good condition, on the pavement, as though it had recently been tossed out a car window.

 

Bittersweet, I'm sure.

[MuffyBee]

Thank you for the update KittyMom.  Paige can now be laid to rest.   

Moving this on over to "Missing Found Deceased".