show, american voices, tomorrow we will be joined by julián castro, on the push to protect voting rights. that is our broadcast this friday night, on behalf of all of my colleagues, goodnight. , goodnight. >> paige, this is carol. i just saw something on tv about you being gone since thursday night. i hope you're all right. oh my god. oh my god. >> paige, if you get this, please, please call somebody. everybody's worried about you. everybody's looking for you. please let us know you're ok. paige was a woman with a premonition. >> we found out she had this second life. >> quite obviously it's dangerous. >> she had been playing a risky game. >> that opened up the door to the a multitude of people that we needed to start looking at.

>> he was a scam artist. >> correct. >> he was a liar, manipulative. >> he a list of names -- whether or not they would have sex. >> could investigators get their man before he struck again? >> i turned around and he was sitting in the dark. and said i'm doing to kill you. it's been years since she vanished but few have forgotten paige, how could they, the story of the young mother's disappearance has wove itself in to local lore, as thunder hits, finally a trial.

>> what he told me is that he knew how to get rid of a body so that nobody could find it. >> he said that i'm going to kill you and then he slapped me repeatedly. >> finally rumors and gossip would be dispelled or made fact. and the secrets known not only by the guilty but also about shame will finally be revealed. why so many secrets, whispers, rumors? because in this town, where everyone knows everybody else's business, there were enough potential suspects to fill a minivan. >> do you have anything to do with the disappearance of paige birgfeld? >> i was put under psychiatric care for 48 hours and then sent to jail. >> i did not kill paige, that's the bottom line. >> it was late june 2007, and news of paige's disappearance spread like the morning sun.

over the mountains in denver, frank birgfeld was driving to his office and the phone range. >> vice on the phone said, this is somebody with the mesa county sheriff's office, are you paige's dad? yeah. did you know she was missing? barbara campbell got the call. >> she was told. >> she's missing. what do you mean she's missing? andrei land got the information in an e-mail. i knew something horrible had to have happened. >> no way for even a best friend to prepare for such a thing. >> stunningly beautiful. one of those women that was almost a little bit intimidating at first if you were -- you know, you're a more average mom. >> andrea land and the other young mothers of grand junction could have been forgiven for feeling a little envy. she had the look, the money, the big house on the hill, and three attractive kids. but no, it

wasn't like that at all. >> the way she talked, the way she acted, the way she treated you, everything about her was just so wonderful. >> barbra campell, andrea, and paige were members of grand junction's "mom's club international. " a kind of social and support group for young, stay-at-home mothers. >> woo! there's paige, everybody! >> once a year they'd throw a "spring fling, " a sort of put-on prom for mom's. fancy clothes, red carpet entry, even a pretend reporter throwing fashion questions. >> tell us who you're wearing. >> paige was always the star, of course and this year the party was held at her place, which made it a very special event. >> most of us did not live in a home that large. she was just so down-to-earth and humble about it that once you got over the artwork on the walls and how, you know, beautiful home

it was, you almost forgot that you were in this really very high-end home. >> so the winner is, drumroll please, paige birgfeld! >> she was so comfortable hosting people that made it -- it made anybody there feel comfortable. sometimes you meet someone and you just instantly have a good feeling about them. you're gonna be friends with them. it's just gonna be an instant match. that's what i had with paige. >> and then that call. the sheriff's deputy told the birgfelds that after meeting a friend on the afternoon of thursday, june 28, 2007 paige simply didn't come home. as they drove from denver to grand junction, paige's parents tried to understand what was happening. >> as we started out, i -- i don't know that i was very tense or i thought of the worse. i guess, "gee, i wonder

where she is. g -- i hope she's --" but as -- as the drive went on, it became more and more anxious, more and more tight. >> and i would be calling the kids on the home phone just saying, "w -- we're gonna be there, you know, " and t -- tryin'to sound reassuring. >> the kids had just a nanny with them because paige had parted ways with her husband, rob dixon, who'd since moved out of state. still as a single-mom, with three little kids, paige had her life well in control. due in no small part to her obsessive organizational skills. she ran several small businesses and kept track of every soccer practice and dentist appointment in an old-fashioned, hand-written, day-planner. >> i mean, every page was full and crossed referenced and -- >> and she was always with it. and she'd come over to visit it came in the door right there in front of her. she was always checkin'it, and phonin'.

>> over-booked, divorced, three kids. first question, was there a chance paige birgfeld simply walked out on her life? >> we talked about, "boy, sometimes i just wanna run away. " and she said, "you know, i never feel that way. i never wanna run away. even if i did run -- want to run away just to get away from here, i would wanna take my kids with me. >> there was no way she would leave without her children. they were her life. >> if she needed to hide she would've found a way to do it with them. >> so what, then? what happened to paige? her friends, her parents didn't know what to do or where to look. maybe a clue could be found tucked away in her day planner. except it too, was missing. coming up. hi mom, i was just wondering when you

are going to be home. >> police piece together the hours leading up to do paige's disappearance. >> 9-1-1, this is jessie, what's your emergency? >> hi, i'm at the corner of 23 and logos, and there's a fire. and one encounter grabs their attention. >> we found out that she had been visit are her ex-husband. obviously he was a person of interest. >> when "dateline" continues. and take. it. on... ...with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections,

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when paige birgfeld, of grand junction, colorado, quite suddenly went off the radar. which was, at least a place to start. so mesa county sheriff's investigators henry stoffel and wayne weyler set out to trace her steps that day. >> we found out that she had

been at eagle visiting her -- ex-husband and they had been reconciling at that point. >> but he, having been the last person known to have seen her, i suppose would be a person of interest in your -- >> yes, obviously -- he was a person of interest. >> this person of interest, ron beigler, was paige's first ex-husband. they married right out of high school. young, immature, and soon, divorced. but, funny how this works. ten years had sanded off their sharp edged disputes, and they saw anew why they fell in love. >> it seemed like as if no time had passed at all. >> this is ron beigler, talking to a "dateline" producer soon after paige's disappearance. >> at what point did you start to rekindle your relationship? >> about six months ago. we tried to take it slow, but there was -- there was no denyin'that -- that it was just as it was before. >> problem was biegler lived in denver, a 4-hour drive east. so the two lovers would often meet at some midway point. on the

day of paige's disappearance they chose eagle, colorado. >> we were going to have a picnic and hang out together, all day. we went to subway and brought it back to where we were sitting outside down by the river. it was very familiar. and, you know, i brought some pictures, you know? and we just sat there and relaxed and enjoyed the day and the weather. i mean, it was special wonderful day. >> and then, around 7pm, they kissed and said goodbye and drove back to their respective sides of the state. two-hours later, at 8: 57pm, paige called beigler. >> to see if i made it back into denver. and then we had a brief conversation. >> paige told beigler she wasn't home yet. she was stuck behind a bad traffic accident in grand junction. and indeed, investigators confirmed there was a fatal traffic accident right here at this intersection. somebody saw paige's car here, too, that very evening. thing is, this is

five miles past her house. why was she here? an hour later, 9: 56pm, paige's 8-year-old daughter, jess, left this anxious voice mail message on her mother's cell phone. >> hi mom, it's me, i was just wondering when you would get home. love you, bye. >> no response. her daughter waited, worried, and called again. >> hi mom, i was just wondering when you were gonna get home. bye. >> they slept then. best they could. all three children. and awoke the next day, friday, june 29th, to a whole new kind of anxiety. she still wasn't home. >> hi mom, you said you would be back last night and you're not even back today. bye. >> something in the pit of the stomach. paige's old, and new love, ron beigler, seemed to feel it, too. >> hi, where are you? call me

if you get a chance. i'm getting worried about you. >> and, hour by hour, they piled up. phone messages. like a normal day. >> hi paige, laura just wanted me to give you a call and let you know -- >> hi, this is sears repair service for the fan, calling to let you know -- >> hi paige, it's kevin from performance pool. curious if your pool cleared up. please give me a call. thank you. >> not a single call was returned. and, that night, again, the children, with their nanny, waited in vain for their mother. the following day, saturday, june 30th. ron beigler called the house and spoke to paige's 8-year old daughter, jess. >> she didn't sound particularly that distraught. i don't think she had -- idea what was going on. of course she didn't. >> beigler's next call was to 911. >> dispatch, this is clint. >> yes. i needed to talk about -- a missing person emergency. >> okay. and who is missing? >> her name is paige dixon. >> how -- how old is paige? >> she's -- 33. >> okay.

>> she hasn't been home all -- all night thursday night, all day yesterday, and today. something is definitely, definitely wrong. she either got abducted, or in an accident. >> and that's when word of paige's disappearance began to spread across colorado. investigators didn't have a clue what happened to paige. but they wondered if beigler did. >> have police questioned you? >> yes, they have. >> and have they released you as a, you know, a potential suspect or -- >> i don't know what they -- what they've done on that. i know that i -- that was never a concern or worry of mine -- havin'it get pinned on me, you know? >> you have an alibi for that night? >> just -- i'm confident that the police know that i had nothin'to do with it. >> do you feel like you have any thoughts as to what may have happened or what's happening? >> i think it was a major premeditated abduction or a completely random incident. i think that it's more likely that it's a premeditated

abduction. >> but sometimes those not asking questions, find answers. it was the third day. sunday, july 1st, 2007. 9:58 pm. a woman driving home from work, slammed on her brakes, called 9-1-1. >> 911, this is dusty, where's your emergency? >> hi. i'm at the corner of 23 and logos. and there is a car on fire in the parking lot -- at the building right here. >> there is a car on fire? >> yeah. >> do you see flames or smoke? >> yeah. there's -- there's a lot of flames. coming up, paige's car. what will it reveal? >> more intense on the drivers side. >> then, something else belonging to paige. >> it was an awful feeling of dread thinking how did this get here? what does it mean? either her abductor was trying to throw them off track -- she was in the trunk of the car or dump these items out.

when "dateline" continues. inues. and how to keep her spirits up. [announcer] you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit now. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain! growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

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july. the grand junction fire department was called to an industrial parking lot. a little red car was on fire. frank birgfeld heard about the fire the morning after roared over there, and could do nothing except watch from a

distance as investigators crawled over his daughter's car. and that morning, frank gave the first of what would be many, many interviews. >> we were hopeful when we found the car things would fall into place and maybe they will. >> this interview, though, was one frank just couldn't get through. >> you know it occurred to me that i haven't cried in a long time. i've learned how to do that. that's it. >> firefighter robert thomason helped with the arson investigation. >> you can see that the glass itself was all burned out and you can see where it's still kind of intact over here. it was really obvious to see that more intense was on the driver's side. >> meaning that's where the fire started. that's where the arsonist wanted to be sure to erase evidence. under the car, damaged skid plates and strands of wild grass caught in the suspension, meaning somebody had driven off road very recently. and after? dumped and torched the car in an industrial area just a quarter

mile from where paige made her last phone call. >> it was way beyond her house, right? >> correct. >> didn't fit for the car to be there. >> news of the car fire was a turning point. no longer did the public suspect this was a case of an overwhelmed, run-away mom. the response was an outpouring of volunteers, a spontaneous community project to find paige. >> just seeing the dad on tv and everything like that, i have some children of my own and i know what i'd be feeling like if one of my children was gone and i just wanted to try to help if i could. >> paige's dad was there everyday, greeting a small army of volunteers. >> thanks for helping us. >> you know it's just really tough you know for people to give of themselves to that degree. i just -- [sighs] >> one of our moms was gone. and her kids needed her, and we

needed our friend. and our kids needed to know -- [crying] that if someone's mom is missing, that people are gonna work hard to find her. >> paige's brother and his wife came from seattle to help. >> the thing is i know that somebody out there knows where she is, and you know we're looking for clues to find that person, but there's somebody maybe who's watching this who knows where she is. >> but, this seemed odd, not helping to find paige, was her ex-husband and current boyfriend, ron beigler. >> do you feel like you wish you could go there and help search for her? >> a part of me does definitely. >> what's keeping you away from there? >> i don't know if i can handle being -- being right in the situation. >> then, knowing we were preparing a report about the

case, beigler made a strange request. >> try to keep me out as much as possible? like, just a few words here and there, but i don't want to -- >> you just don't want to talk about how you love her, like, be on talking about things. >> but, hundreds of people, many who'd never once met paige, searched on horseback, on atv's on foot. they peered under bushes, they walked miles of desert brush in hundred degree heat, and nothing. truth be told. paige could have been anywhere. and then, four days after paige's disappearance, a driver stopped along a lonely stretch of highway 50. and as he stepped out of his truck, a piece of litter caught his eye, a blank check trapped in the roadside weeds. the name on it? paige dixon, paige's married name. so then, the flock of searchers descended on that road. >> making my way back west along the median, i saw a checkbook. >> it was an awful feeling of dread, thinking, "how did this get here? why is it here? what

does it mean? " >> then more, paige's wallet, charm bracelet, this shoe, various cards, bank registers, and dozens of checks from both paige's personal and professional accounts, nearly a hundred items spread along 13 miles of road, which left investigators with two very different theories. either paige's abductor was trying to throw them off track or -- >> she was in the trunk of a car or something of the sort and dumped these items out to leave a trail. >> and while volunteers gathered the sad detritus of paige's life, a new wrinkle. >> paige's most recent ex-husband, rob dixon, came back to town to look after the kids and help out with the search. and his re-appearance stopped volunteers in their

tracks. because of the stories paige told while they were married, many thought him the most obvious suspect. >> she was afraid of him. coming up, what else paige told loved ones about rob dixon. >> she was afraid he would kill her. when "dateline" continues. feel the cool rush of claritin cool mint chewables.

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>> a wave of whispers spread at the speed of suspicion among the searchers looking for the missing single mother, paige birgfeld. the ex was in town. the most recent ex that is, rob dixon. the one paige had all the trouble with. of course the relationship didn't start out that way. never does. >> at first, we only saw what we refer to as "the good rob side. " >> and that's certainly what paige only saw. >> and -- and we -- he was part of our family and we loved him as much as an in-law would be. he was a good guy to have. >> dixon had been a hardworking paramedic until his dad made a

one-time fortune in the tech industry and passed that windfall on to his kids. and not long after getting his millions, dixon met and married paige. and they had three kids and moved into a fine big house. >> he had admitted to having over $10 million. and i think when you admit to that, you have maybe twice that much. >> and paige's parents watched him change. the whole town saw that, actually. >> in his garage i saw three range rovers, a jaguar, two porsches, and then later he had a lemon yellow ferrari. if you've been to grand junction and you want to fit in, a lemon yellow ferrari is not exactly what you do. >> did he make any effort to meet you or the other guys? >> the mom's club would get together, they would have occasions when all the families

would get together but he would never come to any of them. i never once saw him attend. >> i was so baffled how someone as upbeat and eternally happy as paige could have this grump around. >> but in hopes of promoting either good will, or himself, dixon joined the grand junction fire district board. and then donated a brand new fire truck. his generosity made news and locals wondering if they'd misjudged him. but, soon it turned to dust. dixon got himself in charge of fire district investments, put public money in what he said was a sure thing. it wasn't. the money vanished. >> blew -- i -- as i recall about $750,000 in bad investments for the fire district. >> pete hautzinger was, at that time, the mesa county d. a. >> i made the decision to take that case to the grand jury and ultimately, the grand jury decided felony's stupid, but not worthy of criminal charges. >> then one day a repo man showed up for that shiny new fire truck dixon had donated. >> it turned out the fire truck was leased and they came and took it away from the fire

department. >> that's when frank and paige and the whole town found out dixon's money was gone, too. >> he gave it to someone who pyramid schemed it. >> the missing money, the repoed truck, the grand jury investigation, it all kept dixon on the front pages of the local paper for months. a series of public humiliations ending with an exclamation point when he was embarrassingly picked newsmaker of the year. >> it was clear rob, he was a big deal'cause he had a lot of money. and then to lose it and be disgraced in a relatively small community -- >> they're writing about him in the local paper. >> and i said, "he has taken a gigantic fall and he will change dramatically for the worst. " and i think that was very predictable and i think for rob that's what happened. >> at the end, it was almost always bad rob that we were dealing with. >> she told friends and we saw

an e-mail, she was afraid he'd kill her. >> he said he would kill her several times. >> in 2004, paige, in the midst of this downward spiral, called 9-1-1. >> 911. where is your emergency? >> my husband and i were in a fight -- he was supposed to watch my children while i went to work and he said that i would come home and find them all murdered. >> police were dispatched but there was no arrest -- according to paige's parents the fighting only got worse. >> it was, you know, very ugly, the psychological, emotionally abuse that she endured all the time. and when i was there visiting, i saw an awful lot of it. >> after a 2nd incident, dixon was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault. >> we had misdemeanor domestic violence case against him with

paige as the victim. >> dixon pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of harassment and got a deferred sentence. the entire case, though, was later thrown out. anyway, paige filed for divorce and dixon for bankruptcy. and moved away to philadelphia to work as an emt again. and paige did what she could to keep the kids in the only home they'd ever known, that big place with the mortgage to match, close to six grand a month. >> she would just sit and ponder how can a single mom with three kids make enough money to stay in the house that her husband used to support? >> she had no lack of ideas or ambition. she sold cooking products for a company called the pampered chef and slings for carrying babies. she taught dancing classes for little kids, anything to turn a buck. keeping track of it all in that big day planner of hers, the one that was almost an hour to hour record of her life. and even though he was now far away, she also kept an eye out for dixon. >> flat out she was afraid of him. she was afraid of him

coming back to town. she was always nervous he was gonna be coming back into town. >> and sure enough, two years later, in june 2007, the week before she vanished, paige got a call from dixon. said he missed the kids. said he was moving back to colorado. >> she said that she knew that rob was coming back. and that he was going to do something. and i was floored. i thought -- >> do something? >> what does do something mean? and she just said she knew something bad was gonna happen. but murder did not enter my mind. kidnapping did not enter my mind. >> that must have been very strange to hear that. >> it -- it was a staggering conversation. i mean, we were just two moms with small children faced with an unknown situation and a couple days later she was missing. coming

up, inside the wreckage of paige's burned out car, her day planner. >> still had the pages intact. >> inside the planner, a shock for everyone in the case. >> it was stunning. >> quite obviously, it's dangerous. >> when "dateline" continues.

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trail of bits and pieces of paige birgfeld's life found scattered by the highway. but still no paige, alive or dead. and now detectives had two ex-husbands to investigate. ron beigler, the last person known to have seen her alive, and rob dixon, the man she told friends she lived in fear of. >> most people that she knew, friends, believed that rob dixon had something to do with this. >> so he pops right up to the top of your list? >> absolutely. he and rob beigler, both. >> as for hard evidence, there was very little. except for the investigators little secret, the one bit of evidence they'd been hiding from everyone, even the birgfeld's something that by pure luck survived that car

fire, paige's day planner. >> the melted dash had fallen down onto the floor covering up the day planner and so it was protected from the heat as well as from the fire because it had an upper layer on it. >> what sort of condition was it in? >> it was in -- i mean, it was smoke damaged and it had heat damage, but it still had the pages intact. >> the day planner, as you can see, still very readable, was full of appointments, and plans and contact numbers. most mundane routine. but -- and this was strange. three key pages, june 26th through the 29th, the dates surrounding paige's disappearance had been ripped out. and there was something else, one particular business card that just didn't belong. for a company called "ladies en confidante." an enterprise that oddly, shared the same phone number with the business called models inc, whose cards were found scattered along highway 50 among paige's personal effects. which, appeared to support a strange story told by ex-husband ron beigler. that paige had "clients" she would see. >> it was, you know, lonely

older married men buying companionship from a really intelligent woman that they wanted to spend time with. >> as hard as paige tried, what with the dancing classes, the babyslings, the cooking products -- she simply couldn't keep up with the bills. and so paige -- investigators learned -- had taken on one more job. she started moonlighting as an escort. >> finding out that paige was running a rather high class, high quality sort of -- prostitution business was kind of stunning. i had no idea that that took place in my jurisdiction. >> living in a very nice house and nice part of town and -- >> and known to a number of people that -- that i knew. i mean, she was a soccer mom. one of my best friends'daughter i believe played on the same soccer team as paige's -- >> sure. >> kids. >> so how did paige manage to keep her escort service a secret from everybody but clients for so long? well, she

went by the name "carrie" selling her services through a front company she ran called models inc. a name that implied, intentionally, that several women worked with her, when it fact it was just her. some friends suspected, most didn't. >> it was very hard for me to believe. that she would want to have sex with men for money. >> but she did, according to this investigative >> if i had known about it, i -- i definitely would've tried to use whatever persuasion i had to turn her away from it. i mean, if nothin'else, quite obviously it's dangerous. >> so, it was a shock, obviously, but they said they could understand her motives, after all, rob dixon's money had run out. >> she was doing what she had

to do to keep life as normal as possible for the children. >> the news spread, of course pretty soon most people in town knew. >> there were, people who wrote to the paper and said horrible things like, "why are we spending all this time looking for a dead hooker? " >> dirt. spread, said andrea, by those who didn't even know paige. >> we knew her heart. we knew who she was every day with us and with her kids. and if anything, it only put us into hyper vigilant defender mode and -- and made us all want to get out there and talk about what a good person she was as much as possible. >> a much bigger problem, though, was that paige's secret life made an already complicated missing person case far more difficult. >> we started looking at the phone that she was using for models inc. and you start identifying people who had the most recent contact with her. and you came across -- multiple people. >> hello, you've reached models

inc, colorado's premier gentlemen's service. >> now every client who contacted paige on june 28th and there were many, was a potential suspect. here's just a sampling of her phone messages that day. >> yes, this is buddy. i was wondering if you had any girls available this afternoon. >> yeah, please give me a call back. i'm gonna go get me a motel room now. >> this is jim. just callin'to see if -- carrie was available tonight. >> hi, this is glen, i'm just wondering if anybody's still available. >> i'm at the country inn, and i was just callin'to see if anybody's still available for the night. >> yeah, hello, models inc. this is jim, i tried calling you last night. give me a call, thanks. >> my name is dave. i was calling about the ad in the newspaper. >> i wanna speak to one of your female escorts. >> what your rates are and your hours and stuff like that. >> yeah, this is john at motel 6, room 237. >> so they put together a list, called it "possible suspects. " the two ex-husbands now joined by six of paige's clients. nothing to do but check out all of them. beginning with the last client paige called -- this guy, george coralluzzo.

who, the day paige disappeared called her 19 times. >> we're thinking, "that's our guy. " >> i couldn't get rid of him. and he's still haunting me. coming up -- what this woman saw. >> it hit me. >> and what she told investigators. >> he totally did this.

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paige birgfeld had disappeared, leaving behind three children and a secret life as an escort. one of paige's clients, steven hield, told police she was blackmailing him, which seemed like a promising lead, except hield's life supplied an alibi, they were home at night reading, watching tv, so hield seemed to be in the clear, which made it all the more shocking when after being questioned by detectives

hield attempted suicide. that da hautzinger assumed was not guilt, but shame. >> people don't really want to have it out in public that, yeah, i was patronizing a call girl. >> they checked out a drifter named john livingston who the night paige vanished called her again and again from a motel 6, desperate apparently for her attention. >> this is john at motel 6 room 237. >> except there was no evidence paige ever went to see him. but then there was this client, lester ralph jones, that's him standing in the shadow of his front door. investigators got a tip about jones from this friend of paige's named carol. paige had scheduled an appointment with jones the night before she disappeared, but for some reason didn't want to go, asked her friend to meet jones instead. >> he was expecting her and then i think -- >> and then you showed up at his

door. >> right. >> i'm sure he had some expectations, right? i mean, he called an escort service. >> well, he let it be known almost immediately that he wanted sex. >> linderholm said that didn't happen. instead they talked for an hour or so and then she left. a couple days later she called page. >> where the heck are you? >> got no response. >> at first i thought she was busy, that she couldn't call back. then when i heard on the news that the kids actually went to the police department about it, that's when i knew something terrible had happened to her. >> paige, this is carol. i hope you're all right. i hope this isn't rob. oh, my god. >> linderholm mentioned paige's second ex-husband rob dixon because she knew paige was afraid of him. the next day linderholm heard

about paige's car and the fire. >> i wanted to go over and look at it and i arrived just in time for -- it was put on a platform on a trailer and it was being hauled away. when it passed me i just -- it just left me with this horrible feeling. >> as she drove away something across the road caught her eye, it was a sign for bob scott rvs. >> lester jones had told me that he worked for bob scott rv and when i drove around i saw a car in the parking lot that was the same one that was in the driveway when i walked up to lester jones' house, and i thought, oh, my god. >> right away carol went to the sheriff's office, told them all she knew about lester ralph jones. >> how much credence did you give that story, or did you? >> we gave it a lot of credence. >> in fact, a week after paige disappeared they brought jones in for questioning. >> mr. jones, i appreciate you coming down. okay? >> sure. >> jones was once chief of a

rural fire department, which is where his story gets strange. >> i know rob. >> okay. >> rob dixon, paige's ex-husband. >> go down that road. what do you know? >> i used to be with the fire department. >> okay. all right. >> i met him there. >> okay. >> that was a long time ago. >> and had also met dixon's then wife, paige. >> because she at one time had come up there. >> she had come to work, the fire department maybe? >> yeah. >> and was taken aback, jones claimed, when a couple of years later he went to the models inc. massage parlor and was greeted by rob dixon's ex-wife. >> do you know if she recognized you? >> i wouldn't -- >> do you think she would? >> i wouldn't think. >> okay. so kind of made you feel uncomfortable. >> yeah. >> but things went okay? >> yeah. >> and how often have you done business with them? >> i think twice, i think. >> well, jones answered

questions downtown. investigators scoured his house and bob scott rvs where he worked. >> what did you find whenyou searched bob scott's rv location? >> a list of escorts where he had their names, phone numbers, bra size and whether or not they would have sex, some viagra, also some condoms. >> along with wigs, a black bra and in a locked cabinet this old scale from pampered chef, one of paige's many businesses. creepy. certainly suspicious. but not necessarily incriminating. besides, jones had no reason to kill paige, no motive, which led investigators to a new theory. >> i still have difficulty believing that you killed her unless you were working for rob dixon. >> coming up, investigators get

lester ralph jones on the phone for a very strange call. >> you asked m where i buried the body. >> nobody asked him where he buried the body. >> nobody. >> when "dateline" continues. b. >> nobody. >> when "dateline" continues feeling stressed in your skin? not with olay retinol body wash. which improves skin 3x better. from dry and stressed, to bright and smooth. so, i can feel my best in my skin. olay body. fearless in my skin. (asaad) since my mother got cancer from smoking, i've learned a lot of things. like how to help her out of bed,

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did you like rob dixon? >> detectives investigating the disappearance of paige birgfeld had a big hunch. there just had to be some connection between lester ralph jones and paige's second husband, rob dixon. >> did you have contact with rob? >> they already knew dixon had been looking for dirt about paige, something he could use in family court as a way of getting custody of their kids, so as the cops saw it, rob dixon had the motive, but lester ralph jones had the means, so maybe murder for hire, but -- big but -- they couldn't find evidence of any contact between jones and dixon before paige vanished. no phone calls, no wire transfers, nothing suspicious, nothing at all really.

jones himself, on the other hand, well, there was just too many holes in his story. for starters, no alibi the night paige went missing and even worse, jones admitted that when paige's car was set on fire he was at bob scott rvs practically across the street. >> you're there. by your own admission you're there when the fire -- >> i understand that. >> tell me that. explain that. >> i can't explain it to you. >> and guess what they found at jones' work site, a discarded package that once contained a prepaid track phone, the disposable find that doesn't reveal the identity of the user, except on the package was the phone's serial number. >> we were able to determine that the phone was bought at walmart on north avenue. >> they got the security camera video and, well, well, well, the buyer looked a lot like lester ralph jones. why was that important?

because someone using that particular tracfone called paige at models inc. five times the night she disappeared. >> if there was one thing that rose above all else it was the video of him buying the tracfone that was used to call her that evening. >> except jones denied that was him in the video. >> i have you on video buying the tracfone on walmart. >> i didn't buy no tracfone at walmart. well, i don't know. there is no video. >> jones, as you can see, was unflappable. talked for five hours. and then they had to let him go. a couple of days later a detective called jones to say his two cars which had been impounded were now free to pick up and jones' wife answered the phone. >> hello. >> yes, may i speak with ralph, please. >> hold on, please. >> hello. >> mr. jones into yes. >> this is art smith with the sheriff's office. just calling to let you know

that we have both your cars ready, both of them are down at the sheriff's office right now. are you with elaine right now? >> no. >> i'm sorry? >> i don't think so. >> mr. jones, i'm not following ya. >> you asked me where i would bury a body. >> i'm sorry? >> you asked me where i should bury a body. >> which came out of nowhere, which surprised us. >> nobody had asked him where he buried the body. >> nobody had asked him where he buried the body. we were calling him about his vehicle and the day before we never talked about burying the body. >> very, very strange and most certainly interesting. when they found out why jones seemed so out of it, he had just taken an overdose of sleeping pills. after leaving for his wife what appeared to be a suicide note. my dearest love, he wrote, i've prayed all night and this morning, i've asked for his

forgiveness. i want you to know how much i love you. you are the best thing that has happened to me. please, forgive me. and then he added this. tell the cops to get [ bleep ]. i never did it. but i can't be railroaded. jones recovered quickly, but his actions that day remained a mystery because he wasn't talking anymore to investigators. >> the evidence was definitely pointing toward lester jones but we still had to keep an eye open on mr. livingston, mr. hield, mr. coralluzzo and remember these are the ones we know about, is there somebody else out there we don't even know yet. >> didn't help when lab results from the car came back negative, the fire burned it clean of evidence. so the sheriff's office turned to a volunteer search dog team for help and sure enough the dogs appeared to hit on jones' scent in paige's charred car and along highway 50 where all the items were found and then they

sniffed their way down this gravel road that dead ends at the gunnison river. when given paige's scent they followed the same path, along highway 50, down the gravel road in the gunnison river. they called in divers. >> we go across the river 100 feet, we come back 100 feet. searching by feel. it is pitch black at the bottom. >> there wasn't a body down there. swept away by the river perhaps. anyway, the labor intensive search of the countryside which had been going on for two long months now seemed rather pointless. so at summer's end the command post closed. >> i guess that's the only thing at this point to do because there isn't any more volunteers that are coming out and people do have to return to their own lives. >> but that was not an option for paige's family. her parents rented an apartment in town and carried on the

search alone. >> this is my life now and i really wish i could get in a different line of work? even offered a $15,000 reward, no questions asked. >> it's about 100 days and if she's out there we need to find her and if this will help stimulate that, so be it. >> but no useful tips, not a one. even though frank stayed on at grand junction for a whole fruitless year. >> at some point you have to say do i want to stay here doing this or is it time to go back to denver? >> what was it like on the way back to denver as you realized you were leaving for good? >> i would say kind of a heaviness to it. that somewhere she's back there and i'm leaving her. >> but while no one knew where paige was, there was one woman who had an idea as to what may have happened to her.

this is lisa manz who was rather briefly married once upon a time to lester ralph jones. lisa will always remember him. . >> coming up, the ex-wife's tale. >> he looked at me and he said, i'm going to kill you. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues

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i'm dara brown. here is what's happening. louisiana governor john bel edwards has declared an emergency and ordered those living outside the levee system to evacuate. residents are bracing for the impact of a potential category 4 hurricane. ida is expected to gain strength over the weekend before it's slamming the gulf coast on sunday with up to 140 mile per hour winds and ten inches of rain. if the models hold, the storm will strike louisiana exactly 16 years to the day of hurricane katrina. now back to "dateline." ♪♪

my kids really liked him. >> no doubt about it, thought lisa, lester ralph jones was a catch. tall, strong, a firefighter, for heavens sake, and -- >> he was a really nice person. >> really nice. what do you mean by really nice? nice how? >> he just seemed really nice and genuine and sweet. >> well, you know how people r caught up in the blinding glare of new love. and then in a month or two or six, disturbing things begin to occur. unimaginably end traits emerge. and sometimes a nightmarish story, like the one lisa nantz told us about lester ralph jones. >> i caught him, you know, watching me and stuff, you know? >> what do you mean? >> like watching me, where i was going and stuff like that. >> he tapped her phone, she said. he hid secret recording devices.

>> if i was out with my friends and i didn't till him he had already known that i had talked to whoever. >> it wasn't working for lisa, she ended it, better sooner than later she thought and she moved on. but of course it wasn't over. and one morning as she was driving her new boyfriend to work, a car drew up beside her car. it was him. jones. >> he got up beside me and hit my car, which knocked me over into a ditch and he pulled up and backed up really hard and rammed my car and it caused the air bags and stuff to go off. >> the new boyfriend took off running, but jones had a gun. >> i shot at him twice, one bullet hole went through the cab and the other one grazed his head. >> and you were going to be next. >> i thought. i asked him to put the gun down and finally he put it in the

back seat, the back floorboard and then, you know, i talked to him and tried to calm him down, you know. >> what was he saying to you? >> that i didn't love him anymore and i didn't want him anymore, stuff like that. and i was trying to convince him otherwise. >> eventually he left. she called the police. he was arrested. but in no time made bail and then lisa was at home a few weeks later. >> i came out of my room and i went in the kitchen and i turned around and he was just sitting on the couch, i mean, just sitting in the dark. my stomach just, you know, just sank. i mean, i asked him what on earth are you doing here and he didn't say anything. that's when i really got scared because he didn't look like himself and he wouldn't say anything. >> he had something on his mind. >> i think so. it seemed like it anyways. i didn't know what it was. he just didn't -- and i wanted to get out of the house, you know, as quick as we could. i just wanted to get out in public around other people. >> she said what came into her head, let's go out to dinner and he agreed, got behind the wheel,

started driving. but then she realized he wasn't going to dinner, he was headed out of town toward the mountains. >> i thought where are we going and he wouldn't say anything, he just kept rubbing the back of my head saying it's going to be okay. >> what sort of tone did he have in his voice when he said that? >> he wasn't being loud, he wasn't yelling, he was just really quiet. >> a little creepy. >> and i looked at him and i said we're not going to eat are we and he looked at me and said no. i said what are we going to do? he said i'm going to kill you and he started slapping me over and over. >> the moment had come for you. >> uh-huh. that's what i thought. all i could think about was my kids not seeing him but i was trying to talk to him and trying to get him to talk to me, listen to me, you know? he's like you don't love me anymore, you don't want me and i was like, no, that's not true. he's like, well, then prove it. i said how? you know. he wanted me to make love to him

in the car. so i tried, you know, but there wasn't no room. so i asked him if we could just go get a room and talk, you know? so finally he agreed to that. >> so what happened when you got to the -- got to town? >> he got -- we went to that motel and he pulled in there and he looked at me he's like wait here when i come back. i said yes. he goes in. as soon as he went in the second door and was out of sight i took off. was started driving toward town and going really fast hoping that someone would pull me over and they did. finally i told him what was happening and they took me back to the police station. >> some officers went to the motel to arrest jones, but -- >> they said they couldn't find him. he wasn't there. >> where was he? >> lisa still shaken, still terrified, went home. and he called. >> first thing he said was where

are you? and i just hung up and i called 911 and they took me to a safe house. >> and did they catch him? what? >> no, they didn't know where to look. >> a few days later somebody broke into lee is a's mother's house in oklahoma. >> she called me later that day and said when she was leaving work that she noticed this car was following her and she said it was ralph. she had called the sheriff's department and she's like, he's here, he's following me. and they arrested him. my mom said she asked him what was he doing and he said looking for your daughter. >> lester ralph jones was convicted of assault and kidnapping and served three years, but now he was out and remarried and by the fall of 2007 a pile of circumstantial evidence connected him to paige birgfeld's disappearance. >> why didn't you just go arrest him? >> my job is to gather the facts and then present it to the district attorney's office and

they make that determination. he had to fight that battle constantly for years. >> i think he hit it right on. >> meaning they were ready to pick up jones, but da thought sfwlinger was not. >> why didn't you decide to pull the pin on lester ralph jones? >> we didn't have a body. >> and that was deet fining -- >> absolutely. that was really -- >> i mean, there are lots of no body cases that go to trial. >> not a lot of no body cases where the victim has a double life and has been lying to her family an friends. because of her double life.the possibility that defense attorney could throw out there that she ran off with some rich client and is living on a beach in brazil or something. >> as the years passed paige's story went from the front of the paper to being filed away on microfiche. where was she? coming up, they were about to find out and it would transform the case. >> now we need to make a

critical decision. >> and then a brand-new theory of what happened to paige. >> i think that triggered something and something went wrong. >> when "dateline" continues. met wrong. >> when "dateline" continues [girl in bathroom stall] ugh someone just got her period. what size you need? wait...there's more than one size? yes! only tampax has five sizes. if it hurts to remove, go down. if it leaks, go up. what's your combo? growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart,

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♪ ♪ grand junction, colorado, has been a boom and bust sort of place over the years, but the great majestic cliffs are eternal. the monument, they call this guardian of the rugged and beautiful places that have drawn hikers and bikers and rafters for years. like the couple trekking through the wells gulch on march 6, 2012. and pretty soon paige's dad got another one of those phone calls, this time from a local reporter. >> and he said did you know they found paige's remains this morning? and he asked if anybody had called me and i said you are the

first one. >> it took time, though, to be certain it was her. >> a couple weeks or so it was verified that it was, in fact, paige's remains. >> she was just a few miles south of the place where all those documents were found along the roadside. so it had to have been paige who left that trail, said to police, a call for help or an arrow pointing to where to find her. and all that while restrained. they found remnants of duct tape still wrapped around her jaw. >> and we really think the searchers were here. to miss it, you know, it's like, darn, how did that happen? >> probably, said the detectives, her killer buried her five years earlier, way back in 2007 when she first disappeared. and eventually what was left of her was unearthed by a heavy spring runoff. and so, said da hautzinger. >> here we go. this is what i've been waiting for. now we need to really put the

pedal to the metal and make the critical decision. >> so now finally with a body investigators once again attempted to fashion a murder case against one of the eight possible suspects. the two ex-husbands, rob dixon and ron beigler had what looked like solid alibis with both their cell phones being hundreds of miles away when paige was kidnapped and killed. so that left the six clients. of course, lester ralph jones was at the top of the list, but george coralluzzo, remember him? >> coralluzzo was the alternate suspect that gave me as the da heartburn and concerns. >> that's because coralluzzo's alibi was so hard to pin down. multiple witnesses said he was partying that night at josé tavara's apartment. but what time? but what everybody did agree was this, coralluzzo was out of control.

>> he was intoxicated, like slurring his words, you know, not being able to focus. he wouldn't have been able to, you know, murder her and then go get rid of the body. he was incapable of it. >> of course tavara might have been lying to protect his friend. detectives wanted to talk to coralluzzo himself, but they couldn't find him, so he asked tavara for help. >> they were like do you know where george is? i said george is dead. >> drowned the year before while swimming in a river in new jersey. still, to satisfy the da investigators had to make a case that coralluzzo was either guilty or innocent, but because dead men don't talk, it meant they had to slog through seven years of reports and interviews and statements. and it was two years after paige's body was discovered, while wading through that mountain of material an investigator stumbled on an

overlooked piece of evidence that would change the whole case. it was security camera video of coralluzzo's friends, including tavara, at a market the night paige disappeared. coralluzzo wasn't in the video, mind you, but the time stamp backed up the story minute by minute that tavara had been telling the cops. suddenly lifting his credibility and, in turn, helping to establish coralluzzo's whereabouts the night paige disappeared. >> that video helped to corroborate what the witness was saying. it was piecing together a timeline of where he was, where we could prove he was during the relevant window of opportunity. >> right. >> that evening and the next day when paige went missing. by interviewing lots of different people who had been with coralluzzo or had talked to him, we were able to painstakingly essentially alibi him. >> hautzinger felt he finally had enough to take the case to a

jury and in november 2014, seven and a half years after page vanished, police arrested lester ralph jones for her murder, but did they know the whole story now? oh, no. they certainly did not. they didn't know where or even how paige was killed. >> it would have been nice to have that additional piece of evidence or additional puzzle piece to put into the jigsaw. >> it would help you tell the story too. >> exactly. >> and telling the story is an important thing for a prosecutor to be able to do. >> it's really the entire thing. i don't have to prove motive, for example, but i usually try to anyway because the jury wants to know why did this person do this. >> so tell us the story. what happened in your view? >> i think lester jones was obsessed with paige and she had not enjoyed her time with him and was putting him off and i think that triggered something. that's why he got the tracfone

and something went wrong. my guess is that he physically subdued her and drove her down to where her body was found but she was conscious and had the ability to throw some of the things out the window or the trunk or whatever it was leaving that trail going down to delta and that she was ultimately killed wherever -- not far from where her body was found. >> but the defense had its own compelling story to tell, or rather stories. a separate tale for each of those alternate suspects. a waste of time? well, maybe not. remember it takes just one juror with reasonable doubt to throw a whole case into -- well, you'll see. coming up, at trial the defense goes hard at the original lead detectives in the case. >> did you actually receive an official reprimand for the poor quality of work you did in this

case? >> maybe the case against jones never stood a chance. >> if you're doing shoddy work in the beginning your investigation becomes sick. it's almost impossible to make it well again. >> when "dateline" continues. w. >> when "dateline" continues trusted by pet owners for over 20 years frontline® plus is the #1 name in flea and tick protection. with frontline, you and your pet can go anywhere... ♪♪ no matter how you define it. frontline®. here. there. everywhere. nope - c'mon him? - i like him! no matter how you define it.

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♪♪ in a town with zero degrees of separation paige birgfeld's disappearance and murder impacted many here. if they didn't know paige personally then they were in on the search or were a potential witness or knew somebody who was, or in the worst case, knew one of the possible suspects. so when the trial finally got under way, the town's attention was very much focused on this courtroom. >> we are on the record in -- >> but the trouble began before a single witness could be called. ron beaker was angry, wound up. the new district attorney was set to call paige's first husband, he was a key witness,

but was afraid he might actually attack jones in the courtroom because beigler had actually threatened to kill him. >> and indicated that he wanted mr. jones to be found not guilty so that he could kill him and feed him his genitals, but he used a different word than that. >> proceedings ground to a sudden halt. beigler was hauled before the judge. >> if you have any outbursts or you do anything in an attempt to harm anybody in the courtroom, that that will result in serious consequences. >> it's been overexaggerated and taken out of context. >> still insisting it was all a misunderstanding, beigler took the stand and testified about his last day with paige. >> talked about me moving into her house in grand junction, we talked about her quitting that business. >> which business? >> the adult entertainment business. >> did you give her reasons why you wanted her to quit. >> uh-huh. >> what were the reasons you said? >> because she could get killed

for one. >> the jury heard about it all, the day planner, items along the roadside, the bits of paper left along the highway. the search dogs who scented on jones. the tracfone jones bought then lied about. and the apparent suicide note he had left for his wife. and the jury heard that strange call jones had with the deputy. when jones said. >> he asked me where i buried the body. >> lisa nantz told the harrowing tale of the night jones took her into the mountains. >> he looked at me said i'm going to kill. >> you then there's this. >> hi, mom, it's me. i'm wondering when you're going to get home. >> they played the messages jess left on her mother's cellphone. >> love you. bye. >> and here was jess today. a senior in high school, but still able to give a child's perspective of a very loving mother. >> she was pretty much typical

soccer mom. she -- we did everything with her. we all slept in the same bed with her and we always went shopping together and she took us to all of our soccer games and to school and she provided us with everything that we needed, whatever that may have been. >> a procession of witnesses that lasted for weeks and the defense team's response, that this was all so much show to distract from a shoddy investigation that focused on jones from the start despite the lack of any physical evidence. and they drove that theory home by boldly calling former league investigator beverley jarrell. remember her? she was in charge of the investigation and all those detectives from the beginning yet was never called to testify for the prosecution, perhaps for good reason. >> would you agree that you made some mistakes in this

investigation? >> yes. >> okay. has it come to your attention that you did, in fact, forget to book in a few recordings into evidence? >> yes. >> she admitted reports had gone unwritten and evidence was actually lost, like josé tavara's first police interview. >> did you actually receive an official reprimand for the poor quality of work you did in this case? >> i don't remember that. >> you don't remember getting a major disciplinary action because you kept evidence from this case in your office? >> in writing, no. >> she said her memory has been fuzzy since a 2010 horse riding accident, something that happened three years after the slip-ups on the berg felled case. >> then came the alternate suspects, the goo i who called page from that motel 6. >> and in that storage unit you had numerous guns, right? >> i did have.

>> this former client who allegedly discussed killing paige. >> did you tell ms. way land that you had killed ms. berg felled by putting her through a wood chipper. >> no, ma'am. somebody had said something about did you do this to paige or did you murder paige and i said just out of context had i -- had i they wouldn't find her because i would use a wood chipper and it was totally out of context. >> the client who admitted embezzling his company's money to pay paige. >> did you kill ms. berg felled? >> no. >> are you responsible for her disappearance? >> absolutely not. >> and then the defense went after josé tavara who admitted he was so tight with coralluzzo he would have done just about anything for his friend. >> including burning a car to help him if he needed that done? >> i wouldn't do that. >> you wouldn't do that? >> no i would not. >> that's the one thing you wouldn't do? >> yeah. >> megan williams told the jury she was sure the killer was

really coralluzzo. >> he was a pathological liar and anything that came out of his mouth was a lie and any story that he made up was made up. >> so many suspects, said the defense. and they put on a retired detective to accuse the police of tunnel vision. >> because if you're doing shoddy work in the beginning and you're not paying attention to all the details and all of the information and vetting all of the leads your investigation becomes sick. it's almost impossible to make it well again. >> as for forensic evidence, said the defense, forget about it. they called an expert to say there is no way a dog can follow a month old scent. >> my opinion is that's not possible. >> if true, that meant there was no proof jones had ever been in paige's car or along the highway where her belongings were found. by the end of the six-week trial the jury had heard from more than 100 witnesses, testifying about a nine-year investigation involving multiple suspects. so it wasn't surprising during

deliberations the jury came back with one question after the other. prosecutor dan rubenstein. >> i started to get worried and the question popped into my mind is it possible to ever convince 12 people beyond a reasonable doubt unanimously as to an answer on this case and i started to worry about that. >> by day three the judge called the jury into his courtroom, asked -- >> is there a likelihood of progress towards a unanimous verdict? >> after getting this far was the prosecution's case coming undone? coming up, jurors speaking out, saying the case went wrong from the start with the original lead detective. >> she just boggled me when she was i don't remember, i don't know, and you are a lead investigation. >> when "dateline" continues. u d investigation. >> when "dateline" continues

♪♪ by day three of deliberations the jury sent word to the judge, they were

deadlocked. >> is there a likelihood of progress towards a unanimous verdict? >> no. >> no? all right. thank you. >> the judge ordered them back to deliberate further. but now of course there was concern. >> so they will make another effort, considering each other's opinions further, and if they are unable to reach a verdict we will declare a mistrial and reset the trial. >> less than two hours later another message from the jury. >> it states the jury remains in the same position, period. we are not unanimous in our decision. we do not feel any further discussion will change our current state. >> and that was it. the judge had no option but to declare a mistrial. minutes later, paige's dad, frank, tried to keep it positive. >> listen, if we hadn't had a trial that would have been a problem. this was a massive effort, it was well-done.

i am grateful they gave us a shot at it. >> but like so many times in the past, frank's facade cracked just a bit and the pain slipped through. >> at the end they showed a nice picture of paige, that all kind of came down. >> in my heart i believed he was guilty. >> a handful of jurors spoke to us afterwards to explain how the trial played out for them. this man, william sullivan, voted guilty. >> because of the evidence, you know, nobody has that bad of luck in one week. >> and this man, judd swihart, has disturbed by the lead investigator's testimony. >> she just -- just boggled me when she was on the stand and just i don't remember, i don't know, whatever, and you're a lead investigator? they should have replaced her immediately. >> still, he voted guilty. but there were others, three all told, who couldn't overcome their doubts, one of them was bobbi who spoke for the three

dissenters. >> there was not enough evidence for them to get past the reasonable doubt. >> prosecutor dan rubenstein said in a way he understood. >> the biggest weakness of the case in my opinion was that there was just no eyewitnesses that placed mr. jones with ms. birgfeld that night and we really didn't know exactly how she was killed. >> and he conceded the defense did an admirable job protecting jones. >> i think the point that they were trying to make was a good one, which is it could be anyone. it could be somebody we never thought of. >> so the seasons slipped by and now with the leaves gone and snow falling, a retrial. >> good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. >> and with time and money tight, all knew this would be rubenstein's last shot at jones, another mistrial would be just as good as an acquittal. so it all played out as before. >> you have a track record of being dishonest. >> yes. >> the same witnesses.

>> did you kill ms. birgfeld? >> no, ma'am. >> the same testimony. >> i have never been able to run a dog on a trail that's a month old. >> the same alternate suspects. >> in your opinion did the sheriff's office conduct an objective investigation? >> no. >> the same closing argument from the defense. >> this man is innocent and he stays that way unless these people can convince you otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt. >> but what was different this time was rubenstein's closing argument. taking the alternate suspects seriously, he went after each theory one by one with attitude. >> and to think that somebody who is so drunk that three different people have to cart them around, who is probably also on cocaine is capable of doing this, carefully doing it, and then going back and cleaning it up carefully with a car fire that specifically is targeted to get the evidence, to tear pages out of a day planner, does it

sounds like george coralluzzo at all? no. >> but would that make a difference to this new jury? hugh thought so. while deliberations went on from one day to the next, paige's parents braced themselves. >> i think there is a reasonable chance there could be another mistrial. if it is a mistrial i expect jones will walk out a free man. >> just as in the first trial, the jury deliberated for three days before sending a note to the judge. >> please be seated. >> but this time, there was a verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant lester ralph jones guilty of count one, murder in the first degree. >> the jury also found jones guilty of second degree murder and second degree kidnapping. the judge sentenced him to life without parole for the murder, plus an additional 12 years for second degree kidnapping. jones has filed an appeal. >> when the verdict came in i think we were supposed to feel

elated, like the home team kicked the field goal with two seconds left and we just won, and to be honest i didn't feel that. there were no winners in this case. none of this brings paige back to us. >> what about you? >> this is about paige. this is about paige who has been gone and will not be able to come back to her friends, her brother, her parents, her kids. >> who moved to pennsylvania soon after paige vanished. the birgfeld's tried to get custody, but a judge ruled against them and in favor of the father, rob dixon. >> it's been the book of job for you two. >> just trying to get back to our normal lives and we won't. we never will be what we were ten years ago. it's changed, i think, each of us, but we're working at trying

to get back to normal and -- >> or something like it. >> a big word that always hangs over the room is closure and i'm not sure what that means. >> there were difficult moments for the birgfeld's during the murder trial, like the first time they heard the frightened voicemail messages of their grandchildren. >> hi, mom. you said you would be back last night and you're not even back today. bye. >> and i would tell you that was a hard part. >> that was the hardest for me. >> there is almost a recognition that you're in trouble, please don't be in trouble, please come home to us. >> and then there was the day planner when the sweet mundane details of paige's life and those of her children were made real once more. the family nights, soccer games, the dance recitals and birthday parties and library visits, they were all there, the precious,

chaotic rhythms of a family that once was. proof that there was a time when all was as it should be. proof also that time is gone forever. . >> i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales, and this is "dateline." > the night before, angila thought that she had heard somebody messing at the front door of the residence. she felt she was being watched. all the wounds that she had to her body, it was a very angry attack. a nursing student with three children, nobody was busier than angela. >> as soon as class was over, she was gone. >> back home. >> uh-huh. >> and that's where they found her. >> my girl ain'tns