>> remember, you only do it if i say shilea says. all right. sit down. now wait a minute. >> again, you can watch both documentaries starting sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc but for now, i am signing off. thank you for hanging out with us again tonight and remember you can catch the nightcap again on saturdays at 11:00 p.m. eastern. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late all week long. i will see you at the end of monday. ll see you at the end of monday. i hope you're all right. oh my god. oh my god. rob dixon: 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. keith morrison (voiceover): paige >> paige, if you get this, please, please call somebody. everybody is worried about you. everybody is looking for you. is please let us know you are okay. >> paige was a woman with a premonition. >> she said she knew something bad was going to happen. a couple of days later, she was missing. >> we found out she had the second life. >> she had been playing a risky game. >> that opened up the door to a multitude of people we needed to start looking at. >> he was a scam artist. a >> correct. >> could investigators get their man before he struck again? >> i turned around, and he was sitting in the dark. he said, i want to kill you. yo. ,

but few people in grand junction, colorado >> goit tthas been years since vanished, but few people in grand junction, colorado, had forgotten paige bird feld . how could they? the story of this young mother's disappearance has long since woven itself into local lore. >> she's a great mother, a great friend. >> it's a mystery we have been following since it began, and now, as thunder hits dark in the high desert sky, finally, the trial. >> what he told me is he told me how to get rid of a body so that nobody could find it. >> he said i'm going to kill you, and then he slapped me repeatedly. >> rumors and gossip would be dispelled, or made fact. and the secrets not only by the guilty, but also the shame that would also be revealed. why so many secrets, whispers, rumors?

because in this town, where everybody knows everybody else's business, there were enough potential suspects to philly minivan. >> give anything to do with the disappearance of paige bergfeld? >> no. >> i was put into psychiatric care for the first 48 hours and then sent to jail. >> that's the bottom line. >> it was late june, 2007, when use of paige bergfeld's disappearance first spread like the morning sun. over the mountains in denver, four hours away, frank bird feld was driving to his office. >> the voice on the phone said, this is somebody with the county sheriff's office. he said, are you pages dad? i said, yup. he said, did you know she was missing? >> paige is missing . i asked, what do you mean, she's missing? >> ria at the news in an email.

>> i knew something horrible had to have happened, because it didn't make any sense that she would be missing. >> no way for even a best friend to prepare for such a thing. >> one of those women that was almost a little bit intimidating at first if you are more average mom. >> the other young mothers of young junction could have been forgiven for feeling a little envious. 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. >> barbara campbell, 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. once a year, they would throw a spring fling, a sort of put on

prom for moms. fancy clothes, red carpet entry, even a pretend reporter throwing fashion questions. 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 at 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 beautiful a home it was, you almost forgot that you were at this really very high end home. >> and the winner is -- drumroll, please. paige bergfeld . >> she was so comfortable hosting people that it made anybody there felt comfortable. sometimes you meet someone and you just instantly have a good feeling about them. you are going to be friends with them. it is just going to be an

instant match. that's what i had with paige . >> and then that call. the sheriff's deputy told the bergfeld's 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, pages parents try to understand what was happening. >> as we started out, i don't know that i was very tense, or i thought of the worst, i guess. gee, i wonder where she is. but 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, we are going to be there, you know? and trying to sound reassuring. >> the kids had just a nanny with them, because paige had parted ways with her husband, rob dixon, who had 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 excessive organizational skills. she ran several small businesses and kept track of every soccer practice and dentist appointment in an old- fashioned handwritten day planner. >> every paige was full and cross-referenced. >> she would come over to visit, it came in the door and right there in front of her -- she was always checking it. >> overbooked, divorced, three kids. the first question -- was there a chance paige bergfeld simply walked out on her life? >> we talked about, boy, sometimes i just want to run away. and she said, you know, i never feel that way. i never want to run away. even if i did want to run away, just to get away from here, i would want to 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 have 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, where to look. may be 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 were gonna get home. bye. >> police pieced together the hours leading up to paige's disappearance. >> hi, i am at the corner of 23 and logos, and there is a car on fire in the parking lot, at the building right here. >> and one encounter grabs their attention. >> we found out that she had been visiting her ex-husband.

obviously, he was a person of interest. >> when dateline continues. ont nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer.

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it was a thursday, june 28, when paige birgfeld grand junction, colorado quite suddenly went off the radar, which >> it was a thursday, june 28th, when paige bergfeld of grand junction colorado quite suddenly went off the radar, which was at least a place to start. mesa county sheriff's investigators set out to trace her steps that day. >> we found out that she had been in eagle, visiting her ex- husband, and they have been reconciling at that point. >> but he having been the last person known to have been seeming her, he was a person of interest. >> obviously he was a person of interest. >> this person of interest was paige's first ex-husband. they married right out of high school. young, immature, and soon, divorced. funny how this works. 10 years had sanded off their art edge to disputes and they

soon remembered why they found in love. this is ron 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 no denying that it was just as it was before. >> the problem was, he lived in denver. a four hour drive east. so the two lovers would often meet at the 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 sub day and brought it down by the river. it was very familiar. we brought some pictures, and we just sat there and relaxed and enjoyed the day and the weather. it was a special, wonderful day. >> then around 7:00 p.m., they

kissed and said goodbye and drove back to their respective sides of the state. two hours later, at 8:57 p.m., paige called him . >> to see if i made it back into denver. and then we had a brief conversation. >> paige told him she wasn't home yet, that she was stuck in a bad traffic accident in grand junction. investigators confirmed there was a fatal traffic accident right here at this intersection. nobody saw paige's car here, too, that very evening. the thing is, this is five miles past her house. why was she here? an hour later, 9:56 p.m., paige's eight-year-old daughter , jess, left this anxious voice message on her mother's cell phone. phone. no response. her daughter waited, worried, and called again. the next day, friday, june 29 they slept then, the 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. something in the pit of the stomach. paige's old and new love, ron beagler, seemed to feel it, too. too. and hour by hour, they piled up. phone messages, like a normal day. l day. keith morrison (voiceover): not a single call was returned. and that night, again, the children, with their nanny, not a single call was returned. and that night, again, the children, with their nanny,

waited in vain for their mother. the following day, ron beagler called the house and spoke to paige's eight-year-old daughter, jess. >> she didn't sound that particularly distraught. i don't think she had any idea what was going on. of course she didn't. >> beagler's next call was to 911. 911. keith morrison (voiceover): and that's when word of paige's disappearance began to spread across colorado. investigators didn't have a clue what happened to paige. and that is 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 beagler did. >> have police questioned you? >> yes, they have. >> and how they released you as a potential suspect? >> i don't know what they have

done on that. i know that that was never a concern or worry of mine in having it get pinned on me, you know? >> you have an alibi for that night? >> just i'm confident that the police know i had nothing to do with it. >> you feel like you have any thoughts as to what may have happened or what is happening? >> i think it was a major, premeditated abduction or a completely random incident. i think it is more likely that it is a premeditated abduction. >> but sometimes those not asking questions find answers. it was the third day, sunday, july 1st, 2007, 9:58 p.m. . a woman driving home from work slammed on her brakes, called 911. called 911. keith morrison (voiceover): coming up, paige's car, what will it reveal?

coming up. paige's car . what will it reveal? >> it was on the driver side. >> and then something else belonging to paige. >> it was an awful feeling of dread, thinking, how did this get here? >> either paige's of dr. was trying to throw them off track, or -- >> she dumped these items off to leave a trail. >> when dateline continues. . shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today.

and upset stomach. sunday night, the 1st of july, the grand junction fire department was called to an industrial parking lot. >> sunday night, the first of july, 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 but watch from a distance as investigators crawled over his daughter's car.

was one frank just couldn't get through. you know, it occurred to me i hadn't cried in a long time. that morning, frank gave 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. >> it occurred to me i hadn't cried in a long time. i've learned to do that. i'm sorry. >> firefighter robert thomas helped with the investigation. >> you can see the glass it self was all burned out. you can see where it is still kind of intact over here. it was really obvious to see the more intense fire was on the driver side. >> 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 her last phone call. >> it is way beyond her house. >> right. >> news of the car fire was a turning point. no longer to the public suspect this was a case of an overwhelmed, runaway mom. the response was an outpouring of volunteers, a spontaneous community project to find paige. >> just seeing it on tv, i have children of my own and i know what i would be feeling like if one of my children was gone. >> paige's dad was there every day, greeting a small army of volunteers. >> it's really tough. for people to give of themselves to that degree. >> one of our moms was gone. and her kids needed her, and we needed our friend. and our kids needed to know

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

request. >> try to keep me out as much as possible. if you words here and there, but i don't want to be on talking about things. >> but hundreds of people, many who had never met paige, searched on horseback, on atvs, on foot. they walked miles of desert brush in 100 degree heat, and nothing. truth be told, paige could have been anywhere. 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 is this here? what does this mean? >> then more. paige's wallet, charm bracelet. this shoe. and dozens of checks from both paige's personal and professional accounts. nearly 100 items spread across 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 and dumped these items off to leave a trail. >> well volunteers gather 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 reappearance stopped volunteers in their tracks. because of the stories paige told while they were married, and he thought him the most obvious suspect. >> she was afraid of him. >> coming up.

loved ones about rob dixon? frank birgfeld: she was afraid he'd kill her. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. what else paige told loved ones about rob dixon. >> she was afraid he would kill her. >> when dateline continues. co arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. (ethan) i started smoking menthol cigarettes to be just like the cool guys in the ads.

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injured on a job site? call the barnes firm now. ♪ call 1-800 eight million ♪ >> i am jessica layton with the hours top stories. all 61 people on board a plane that spiraled down before crashing into a residential area near sao paulo, brazil, are dead. nobody on the ground was killed. the plane dropped 14,000 feet in the final two minutes of the flight. severe icing was a concern in the area, we still don't know the exact cause of that crash. parts of new york and pennsylvania are hit with intense floods from remnants of tropical system debbie. first responders formed for people trapped in cars and on rooftops. now back to dateline. for the missing single mother,

paige birgfeld. >> a wave the speed of suspicion among the searchers looking for the missing single mother, paige birgfeld . the x was in town. the most recent x, that is. rob dixon. the one paige had all the trouble with. of course, the relationship didn't start out that way. it never does. >> at first, we only saw what we refer to as the good rob side. >> that is certainly what paige and we saw. >> 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 hard- working paramedic until his dad made a one-time fortune in the tech industry. he passed that windfall onto his kids, and not long after getting his millions, dixon met

and married paige. they had three kids and moved into a fine, big house. >> he had admitted to having over $10 million. i think when you admit that, you have maybe twice that much. >> paige's parents watched him change . the whole town saw that, actually. >> in his garage, i saw three range rovers, two porsches, and then later, he had a 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 ever make an effort to meet you? >> 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 goodwill or himself, dixon joined the grand junction

fire district board, and then donated a brand-new fire truck. his generosity made muse and had locals wondering if they had missed touched him. but soon, it turned to dust. dixon got himself in charge of fire district investments. put public money and what he said was a sure thing. it wasn't. the money vanished. >> it was, as i recall, about $750,000 in bad investments for the fire district. >> the basic county d.a. >> i made the decision to take that case to the grand jury, and ultimately, the grand jury decided -- felony 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 repo truck, the grand jury investigation -- it all kept dixon on the front paige's of the local paper for months. a series of public humiliations ending with an! the big newsmaker of the year. >> it was clear, rob was a big deal because he had a lot of money. and then to lose it and being disgraced in a relatively small community -- >> there writing this in the local paper. >> he is taking a gigantic fall, and he will change dramatically for the worse. and i think that was very predictable. i think the rob -- i think it was almost always bad rob that we were dealing with. she told friends -- we saw an email, she was afraid he would

kill her. >> in 2004, paige, in the midst of this downward spiral, called 911. 911. but there was no arrest. according to paige's parents, the fighting only got worse. it was very ugly, the psychological and emotional police were dispatched, but there was no arrest. according to paige's parents, the fighting only got worse. >> it was very ugly. the psychological, emotional abuse that she endured. all the time. and when i was there, i saw an awful lot of it. >> after a second incident, dixon was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault. >> we had a misdemeanor domestic violence case against him. >> dixon pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of harassment. got a deferred sentence. the entire case was later

thrown out. anyway, paige file 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 had ever known -- that big place with a mortgage to match. goes to $6000 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 our 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 going to 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. >> do something? >> what does do something mean? and she just said, she knew something bad was going to happen. murder did not enter my mind. kidnapping did not enter my mind. >> it must have been very strange to hear that. >> it was a staggering conversation. 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. inside the planner, a shock for everyone in the case. >> quite obviously, it is dangerous. >> when dateline continues. for all your skins, gold bond. what can you do with sensitive skin? ( ♪♪ ) cetaphil moisturizing lotion hydrates for a full 48 hours. because a lot can happen in 48 hours. cetaphil. we do skin. you do you.

because a lot can happen in 48 hours. it was a dismal clue, the trail of bits and pieces of paige birgfeld's life found scattered by the highway. but still no paige, alive or dead. >> it was a nodismal clue. the 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 beagler, the last person known to have seen her alive, and rob dixon, the man she told friends she lived in fear of. >> most of her friends believed that rob dixon had something to do with this. >> he pops right up to the top of your list. >> absolutely. he and ron beagler both. >> as for hard evidence, very little.

except for the investigators little secret -- one bit of evidence that had 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 smoke damaged and it had heat damage, but it still had the page's intact. >> the day planner was full of appointments and plans and contact numbers , most mundane -- routine. but -- and this was strange -- three key page's , the dates running 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 on

confidant -- an enterprise that oddly shared a sound phone number with a place called models inc. it was found among paige's personal effects, which appear to support a strange story told by ex-husband, ron beagler , that paige had clients she would see. >> you know, lonely older, married men buying companionship from a really intelligent woman that they wanted to spend time with. >> as hardest paige tried with the dancing classes and the baby slings and 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 in a nice part of town. >> and known to a number of people 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 kids. >> how did paige manage to keep her escort service a secret room everybody but clients for so long? well, she went by the name carry, subbing her services through a front service she called models, inc. a name that applied intentionally to several that worked with her, when in fact it was just her. some friends expected, 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 report, paige would charge up to $1000 per session. you could imagine how these revelations hit paige's mom and

dad. they just couldn't believe it. >> if i had known about it, i definitely would have tried to use whatever persuasion i had to turn her away from it. i mean, if nothing else, quite obviously, it is 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. soon, most people in town you. >> there were people who wrote to the paper and said horrible things. why are we spending all this time looking for a dead ? >> spread by those who didn't even know paige. >> we knew her heart, we knew who she was every day. if anything, it only put us into hypervigilant, defend her mode 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 start looking at the phone she was using for models, inc., and we started identifying people who had the most recent contact with her and we came across multiple people. now, every client who contacted paige on june 28th -- and there were many -- was a potential suspect. there's just a sampling of her phone messages that day. >>

keith morrison (voiceover): so they put together a list, called it possible suspects, the two ex-husbands now joined by six of paige's clients. so they put together a list, called possible suspects. the two ex-husbands, now joined by six of paige's clients. they 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. >> i couldn't get rid of him, and he is still haunting me. >> coming up. what this woman saw. and what she told investigators. >> he totally did this. >> when dateline continues. evea that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain,

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because a lot can happen in 48 hours. grand junction is a modern town in every way. but lift your eyes from the humdrum. watch a setting sun fire the great monument

>> grand junction is a modern town in every way, but lift your eyes from the humdrum. watch a setting sun fire the great monument cliffs all around. and for a moment, you are in the old west -- a mystique that clings to the place, as do the drifters attracted to such things. young men who split their time between jobs in the county jail. like, for example, george coralluzzo . here from new jersey and eager to hustle a buck or a woman or whatever. >> george coralluzzo was a con man, a sick person. >> williams new coralluzzo because she and her then husband had partnered in a house painting business . knowing coralluzzo as she did, she was not surprised by a visit she got on july 1st, 2007. >> the shares came to our house and said, is george coralluzzo here? i thought they were here to talk about this kidnapping

case. >> this meant 16 months earlier, in which coralluzzo allegedly took this woman against her will on a long, scary ride across state lines. >> i spoke to them everything i knew up to that point. >> thinking you were talking about a different crime altogether? be met correct. >> they were reading into the do. disappearance of paige birgfeld three days earlier. where was coralluzzo that day? well, very interesting, said megan. he had failed to show up for work. and later that night, he offered a truly bizarre reason why. >> that his family had been in an accident. we said, what kind of accident? well, my brother and law and sister were beheaded on a turnpike in new jersey. he had to solidify finale arrangements, and he was sobbing. hands were flying. i don't know what i'm going to do. just very upset. and we believed him.

>> she told the detectives coralluzzo took the first available flight back to new jersey, and that was that. the detectives thanked her and that. didn't mention nothing about paige birgfeld. and then the very next day, megan was watching the news on tv and saw the story about the burned out car. >> her car was found the blaze in this parking lot of 23 road. >> and i saw paige's face come across the news, and they look to my ex-husband, tim, and i said, that's what happened. he murdered that woman. it just -- it hit me. >> then, of course, she had to know. the wild story about a decapitated accident in new jersey, was it coralluzzo's excuse to run out of town to get away from what he had done? >> you scoured the internet looking for evidence? >> nothing there. >> who did you phone? >> i called her local gazette,

talk to a reporter. nothing happened. i called the coroner. so newspaper, coroner, hospitals -- nothing. >> but megan was able to contact coralluzzo and pass that on to beverly jerrell , would end up playing a key role. you will hear more about her later. she caught up with coralluzzo in new jersey and grilled him for 5 hours. but coralluzzo denied everything . more important, he was in new jersey when paige's car was set ablaze, so jerrell let him go. >> if he didn't bring the car, doesn't that let him out? >> no. >> why not? >> because his actions lead me to believe that he did something so disgusting and vile that he had to leave grand junction and lie about his family dying. he told multiple people that he did something so terrible that he could never take it to the grave and he would never be forgiven. what was that? besides murdering somebody?

george was a sketchy person, and he totally did this. >> the coralluzzo she knew, she said, was cunning enough to have one of his pals help him. somebody like this guy -- his best friend, jose to vera. detectives suspected that, too. so they found tavera, brought him in for questioning, and what do you know? he had recently injured his arm. i had a bandage on it, and the cop asked me, what is that? what happened there? i said, i burned myself at work. he's like, are you good enough friend to bernie cardone for george? you know. >> it was a traumatic time here in grand junction, colorado, that summer of 2007, what with the fruitless search for the missing mother of three loved by so many, who turned out to have secret. and the date planner and voicemails and phone records that seemed to point eight

different ways at once. two ex-husbands, and six clients. >> i don't think i've ever seen a more difficult case in my entire career. >> one by one, the detectives cleared their suspects, or tried to. ex-husband number one and current boyfriend, ron beagler. >> we were able to determine mr. beagler had been in the denver area through cell phone records. >> second husband, rob dixon, the one man she said she feared. >> we were able to corroborate with his employer that he was in the philadelphia area at the time. >> and rob dixon's cell phone connected to a cell phone tower in pennsylvania the night paige disappeared, and three days later when she left this message on paige's phone. . fat still, there were caveats to dixon and beagler's alibis.

>> that doesn't eliminate them as far as having some involvement in paying somebody. >> and then there was a list of clients. coralluzzo at the top of it . given that he didn't have a solid alibi and skipped town right after her disappearance. >> coralluzzo was the one that was most concerning. >> not to mention, coralluzzo's friend, jose tavera, the one with the big burn on his arm. >> i said i burned myself at work. >> who swore he did not help coralluzzo by setting fire to paige's car. so they let him go, to. the other clients, a prominent real estate investor named stephen heal. he was almost as well known in town as rob dixon. like dixon, for the wrong reasons. >> the first major case i handled when i came to this jurisdiction was his multimillion dollar fraud case.

i prosecuted him and sent him to prison back in the early 90s for that, so when he came up again as a suspect in the birgfeld matter, it was interesting. >> will detectives questioned him, he admitted he embezzled money to pay for dates with paige. but then, he claimed paige turned the tables on him. >> he made allegations she was essentially blackmailing him, asking for extra money. >> authorities wondered, could this be a motive for murder? a startling discovery about one of paige's clients. triggers a police search. >> he had their phone numbers, bra size, and whether or not they would have sex. >> did it mean anything? when dateline continues. ine co.

keith morrison: paige birgfeld had disappeared, leaving behind three children and a secret life as an escort. one of paige's clients, steven heald, told police she was blackmailing him, paige

birgfield had disappeared. one of her clients, said that she was like the-- blackmailed. it seemed like a promising lead . except, he and his wife supplied an alibi. they were home that night, watching tv, so he may have been in the clear. while at home with detectives, the attempted suicide. that was not guilt, but shame. >> people don't really want to out in public that yeah, i was patronizing a call girl.>> they checked out a drifter named john livingston, who do not page vanished, called her again and again from a motel 6, desperate, apparently, for her attention. >> this is john, room 237. >> except, there was no evidence paige ever went to see him.

and then, there was this client, lester ralph jones, him standing in the shadow of the front door. investigators got a tip about jones. paycheck scheduled an appointment with joe's the night before she disappeared, but for some reason, did not want to, asked linda holmes to meet him instead. >> he was expecting her. >> and and you showed up at his door. >> right. >> i am sure he had expectations, right? i mean, you called it an export service. >> he let it be known almost immediately that he wanted sex. >> linda said, that did not happen. instead, they talked for an hour or so and she left. a couple of days later, she says, she called paige. got no response. >> at first, i thought she was just busy and could not call back. when i heard on the news that

the kids actually went to the police department about it, that is when i knew something terrible had happened to her. >> paige, this is carol. oh, i hope you're all right . i hope this is not rob. oh my god. >> linda mentioned paige's second ex-husband because she knew she was afraid of him. the next day, linda heard about pages car and the fire. >> i wanted to look at it. i read, just in time, it was put out on a platform and was being hauled away. when it passed me, it left me with this horrible feeling. met as she drove away, something across the road caught her eye. it was a sign for bob scott rvs. >> lester jones told me he worked for bob scott rv. when i job drove around, i saw a car in the parking lot that

was the same way in the driveway when i walked up to lester jones's house. i thought, oh my god. >> right away, carol went to the sheriff's office and told him all she knew about lester jones. in fact, a week after paige disappeared, they brought jones in for questioning. jones was once chief of a rural fire department, which is where this story gives strange. robert dixon, paige's ex-husband -- >> go down that road, what you know? >> i used to be at the fire department there, i met him there. it was a long time ago. >> and had also met dixon's longtime wife, paige. ed was taken aback, joseph claimed, when a couple of years later, he went to the model's

ink massage parlor and was greeted by robert dixon's ex- wife. >> do you know if she recognized you? >> i don't know. i would not think. >> it kind of made you feel uncomfortable? cigarette yeah. >> but things went okay? >> yeah. >> while jones answered questions downtown, investigators scoured his house and bob scott rvs, which is where he worked. >> what did you find when you scouted the location? >> a list of escorts we had names, phone numbers, bra size, and whether or not they would have six. viagra, also some condoms. >> along with weeks, 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. coming up, investigators get investigator ralph jones on the phone for a very strange call. >> which came out of nowhere. >> because nobody asked him where he buried the body. >> nobody. >> when "dateline" continues. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. (terrie) if you're a smoker.

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detectives investigating the disappearance of paige birgfeld had a big hunch. did you like robert dixon? detectives investigating the disappearance of paige birgfield had a big hunch . there just had to be some connection between lester ralph jones and paige's second husband, robert dixon. 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. fb cops saw it, robert dixon had the motive, but lester ralph jones had the means. maybe murder for hire, but, big but, they could not find evidence of any contact between jones and dixon reform paige vanished . no phone calls, no wire transfers, nothing suspicious. nothing at all,

really. jones himself, on the other hand , there were just too many holes in his story. for starters, no alibi in the night paige went missing. even worse, jones admitted that while paige's car was caught on fire, he was at bob rv's right across the street. >> explained that. >> i can't explain it to you. >> guess what they found at jones's worksite? a discarded package that once contained a prepaid tracfone, the disposable condo does not reveal the identity of the user, except, on the package was the phone's serial number. >> from that, we were able to determine the phone was bought at walmart on north avenue. >> so we got the security camera video. well, well, well, the buyer

looks a lot like lester ralph jones. why was that important? because someone using that particular tracfone called models inc the .night she disappeared. >> if there was one thing that rose above all else, it was the video of him buying the track that was used to call her that evening. >> except, jones the night that was in the video. >> i have you on video buying the tracfone at walmart. >> i did not buy tracfone at walmart. i don't know. there is no video. >> jones, as you can see, was unflappable. he talked for 5 hours and they had to let him go. a couple of days later, detectives called jones to say his car, which had been impounded, was available to pick up and jones's wife answered the phone. >> mr. jones?

this is art smith with the sheriff's office. just calling to let you know we have both of your car is ready. both of them are obviously down here at the sheriff's office now. are you with elaine right now? >> no. >> sorry? >> i don't think so. >> mr. jones, i'm not following you. >> you're asking me where i buried the body. >> which came out of nowhere. 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'd 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 prayed all night and this morning and i've asked for forgiveness. i want you to know how much i love you. you're the best thing that has happened to me. please forgive me. then he added this, till the cops that i never did it, but i can't be railroaded. jones recovered quickly, but his actions that date remained a mystery because he was not talking anymore to investigators. >> the evidence was pointing toward lester jones, but we still have to keep an eye on mr. livingston, mr. hill, mr. coralluzzo. and remember, these are the ones we know about. there was someone else out there we did not know about yet. >> didn't help with the lab results from paige's car came back negative. the fire occurred that cleaned of evidence. so the sheriff's office turns to a volunteer search dog team for help. and sure enough, the dogs appeared to get on jones's stint in paige's charred car

and along highway 50, where all those items were found. and then they sniffed their way down this gravel road. the dogs followed exactly the same path along highway 50, down the gravel road, into the gunnison river. was paige's body in here somewhere? he called in divers. >> basically, we would go across the river about 100 feet and they let us out five feet, we come back across the river. i got out of there there was pitch black at the bottom. >> but there was not a body down there. swept away by the river, perhaps? anyway, the labor-intensive search of the countryside which had gone on for 2 months now, seemed rather pointless. >> i guess that's the only thing at this point to do because there isn't any more volunteers 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. 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. if she is out there, we need to find her. if this will help stimulate that, so be it. >> but no useful tips, not even 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 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 is back there and i am 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 nance, 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. >> with that he said, i'm going to kill you. >> when "dateline" continues. that's better. and that. even this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. it works with your asthma medicine to help improve lung function. that's pretty good! dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's proven to help prevent asthma attacks. it can reduce or even eliminate oral steroids. and doesn't that make things better? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening

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lisa nance: my kids really liked him. my kids really like him.

no doubt about it, thought lisa nance. lester ralph jones with a catch . strong, a firefighter for god sakes, and-- >> he was a really nice person. >> what you mean by really nice? >> he just seemed really nice, genuine, and sweet. >> well, you know how people are, caught up in the blinding glare of new love. in a month or two, or six, disturbing things begin to occur. unimaginable traits emerge and sometimes, a nightmarish story, like the one lisa nance 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 he had secret recording devices. >> i talked to my friends that night, i would not tell him, he would already know i have talk to whoever. >> it just was not working for lisa. she ended it, better sooner than later. she moved on. of course, it was not over. one morning, when she was driving her new boyfriend to work, a card drove up beside her car, it was him, jones. >> he got up beside me, hit my car, which knocked me over into a ditch and he pulled up and backed up really hard and hit my car. it caused the airbags and stuff to go off. >> the new boyfriend took off running, but jones had a gun. >> he shot at him twice. one bullet hole with through his cab and i think the next greatest his head. >> you thought you were going to be next. >> i thought. i asked him to put the gun down, because he had it pointed right at me and

finally, he put it in the backseat, the back floorboard. i talked to him and tried to calm him down. >> what was he saying to you? >> that i did not love him anymore. i did not want him anymore, stuff like that. i was trying to convince them otherwise. >> eventually, he left. she called the police, he was arrested, but in no time nate belt. and then, lisa was at home a few weeks later. >> i came out of my room and went into the kitchen and i turned around and he was sitting on the couch. my stomach just sank. i asked him, what on earth are you doing here? you did not say anything. that is what i really got scared. it seemed like it, anyways, i did not know what it was. and i wanted to get out of the house as quick as we could. i just wanted to get out in public, around other people. >> she said it came into her

head, let's go out to dinner and he agreed, got behind the wheel and started driving. she realized, he was not going to dinner, he was heading out of town, toward the mountains. >> i would like, where are we going? he would not say anything. he just kept rubbing the back of my head. >> what sort of tone did he have? >> he was not being loud, he was not yelling, just being quiet. >> that is a little creepy. >> and i looked at him and i said, we are not going to eat, are we? he said, no. he said, i'm going to kill you and he started slapping me over and over. all i could think about was my kids and not seeing them. i was trying to talk to him, trying to get him to talk to me, listen to me. he was like, you don't love me anymore. you don't want to be. that is not true. he was like, well, prove it. i said, how? 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. finally, he agreed to that. >> so what happened when you got to town? >> we went to the motel room he pulled in there and he looked at me and he is like, you will be waiting when i come back? i said, yes. he goes in and as soon as he went through the second door, i started driving back toward town, really fast, hoping 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 could not find them he was not there. >> where was he? lisa, still shaken, still

terrified, went home and he called. >> the first thing he said, where are you? and i just hung up and i called 911. they took me to a safe house. >> and did they catch him? >> no, they did not know where to look. >> a few days later, somebody broke into lisa's mother's house in oklahoma. >> she called me later that day and said when she was leaving work, she noticed this car was following her and she said it was rough. she called the sheriff's department and she was like, he is here, following me. 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. now he was out and remarried. by the fall of 2007, the pile of circumstantial evidence connected him to paige birgfield's disappearance . >> why didn't you arrest him? >> our job is to gather the

facts and then resent it to the district attorney's office and they make that determination. >> meaning, they were able to pick up jones, but da holsinger was not. >> by did you decide to put the pin on lester jones? >> i didn't have a body. and that was the defining. not a lot of cases where the duke victim has a double life and has been lying to family and friends here because of her double life, the possibility that defense attorney could throw out there that she ran off with some rich clients and is living on a beach in brazil or something. >> as the years passed, paige's story with from the front of the paper to be 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. when "dateline" continues.

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i am jessica layton with the hour's top stories. vice president kamala harris and her winning mate, tim walz, were greeted by this massive crowd in arizona. the democratic nominee leaned into her record of going after gangs and trespassers at the borders. parts of new york and pennsylvania were hit with intense flubs floods from the remnants of tropical storm debby. first responders and rescuers helping people trapped on rooftops and cars. now, back to "dateline. " grand junction, colorado has been a booming bustle of a place over the years, but the great majestic cliffs are

eternal. the monument, they called this, guardian of the road and full places that have drawn hikers and bikers and rafters for years, like the couple trekking through the wells gulch on march 6, 2012. pretty soon, paige's dad got another one of those phone calls to me this time from a local reporter. >> he said, did you know they found paige's remains this morning? he asked, if anybody had called me? i said, you're the first one. >> it took time, though, to be certain it was her. >> a couple of weeks or so, it was verified that it was in fact paige's remains. >> she was just a few miles south of the place were all of those documents were found along the roadside. it had to be paige that left that trail, said police, a call for help or an arrow of where to find her. all of that, they found

remnants of duct tape wrapped around her jaw. >> we think the searchers were here, to miss it, it is 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 heavy spring runoff. and so said, detective,-- >> here we go! this is what i've been waiting for. now we really need to put the pedal to the metal and make a critical decision. >> now, finally with a body, detectives look to fashion a murder case against one of the eight possible suspects. the two ex-husbands, rob dixon and rhonda bigler, had what looked to be two solid alibis. 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 ultimate suspect as a.d.a. that gave me heartburn and concerns.>> that is because coralluzzo's alibi was so hard to pin down. multiple witnesses say he was partying that night at jose's apartment here but what time exactly? that depends on who you spoke to. but what everybody agreed, coralluzzo was out of control. >> he was intoxicated, slurring his words. not being able to focus. he would not have been able to murder her and will get rid of the body. he was not capable of it. >> of course, he might have been lying to protect his rent. detectives wanted to talk to coralluzzo himself, but they could not find him. so they asked the vera for help. >> 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 70 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 and investigator stumbled on an overlooked piece of evidence that would change the whole case. >> it was security camera video of coralluzzo's friends at a market the night paige disappeared. coralluzzo was not in the video, mind you, but the times that back back up the story minute by minute of what tavera had been telling the cops and in turn help to establish coralluzzo's whereabouts the night paige disappeared .

>> that video help to cooperate with the witness was saying, piecing together a timeline of where he was, where we can prove he was during the rare relevant window of opportunity that evening and next day when paige went missing. by interviewing lots of different people who had been with coralluzzo or who had talked to him, we were able to painstakingly, essentially alibi him. >> he felt he finally had enough to take the case to a jury. in november 2014, 7 1/2 years after paige vanished, police arrested lester ralph jones for her murder. did they know the whole story now? oh no. they certainly did not. they did not know where, or even how paige was killed. >> it would have been nice to have that additional piece of evidence, or an additional puzzle piece to put into the jigsaw. >> it would help you tell the story too. telling the story is

an important thing for a prosecutor to be able to do. >> it was really the entire thing. i don't have to prove motive, for example, but i usually try to anyway, but the jury wants to know, why did this person do this? >> 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 is why he got the tracfone and something went wrong. my guess is that he physically subdued her, and drove her where her body was found, but she was conscious and have the ability to throw some things out the window or trunk, leading that trail down to delta, and 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 will see. coming up. at trial, the defense goes hard at the original lead detective in the case. >> did you actually receive an official reprimand to the poor quality of work you did in this case? >> maybe the case against jones never stood a chance. >> when shoddy work in the beginning, the investigation becomes sick, it's almost impossible to make it well again. went "dateline" continues. . with severe allergic reactionse to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache,

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use with caution in dogs with a hisin a town with zeroders. degrees of separation, paige birgfeld's disappearance and murder in a town with zero degrees of separation, paige birgfield's disappearance and murder impacted many here. if they did not know paige personally and 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 underway, the town's attention was very much focused on this court room. >> we're on the record here. >> but the trouble began before a single witness could be called. ron bigler was angry, wound up. the new district attorney, dan rubenstein, was sent to paige's first husband. he was a key witness to me but was afraid he might actually attack jones in the courtroom,

because bigler 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 use a different word than that. >> proceedings ground to a sudden halt. bigler was hauled before the judge. >> if you have any outburst, you do anything, attempt to harm anybody in the courtroom, that would result in serious consequences. >> still insisting it was all a misunderstanding, bigler took the stand and testified about his last day with paige. >> talked about moving into her house, in grand junction? >> we talked about her quitting that business. the adult entertainment business. >> did you give her reasons why he wanted her to quit? 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 along the highway, the tracfone jones bought, then lied about and the apparent suicide note he left for his wife and the jury heard that strange call jones had with the deputy when jones said-- lisa nance told the jury the harrowing tale of the night jones took her into the mountains, and there was this. >> hi, mom. it's me. >> the prosecution played the fearful phone messages paige's then 8-year-old daughter, jess, left on her cell phone. 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 a typical soccer mom. we did everything with her.

we all slept in the same bed with her. we always went shopping together and she took us to all of our soccer games at 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 so to distract from a shoddy investigation that focused on jones from the start, despite the lack of physical evidence. and they drove that theory home by boldly calling former lead investigator eberly gerald, remember her? she was in charge of the investigation and all of those detectives from the beginning, it was never called to testify for the prosecution, perhaps for good reason. >> would you agree, investigator gerald, 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. >> gerald admitted that reports had gone in written and reports were actually lost, like jose tavera's first police interview. >> and if you actually receive an official reprimand for 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. >> gerald said, her memory was fuzzy since 2019-- 2010 because of a horse riding accident, something that happened three years after the slipups on this case. >> in that storage unit, you had numerous guns? >> i did. >> this former client, who

allegedly discussed killing paige . >> did you tell ms. whalen that you had paige birgfield killed by putting her through a bird shed? >> no, ma'am. somebody said nothing about did you do this to paige? and i said out of context, had i, they would not find her because i would use a wood chipper. it was totally out of context. >> the client who admitted to embezzling his company's money to pay paige . >> did you kill paige? >> no. >> and in the defense went after jose tavera, who admitted he was so tight with coralluzzo, he would have done just about anything to help his friend. >> including burning a car to help you? >> no, i wouldn't do that. >> megan williams told the juror , she was sure coralluzzo

killed paige. >> so many suspects, said the defense. they put on a retired detective to accuse the police of tunnel vision. >> because if you are doing shoddy work in the beginning and you are not paying attention to all the details, all the information, venting all of the leads, your investigation becomes sick and it is almost impossible to make it well again. >> as for forensic evidence, forget about it. they called an expert say, there's no way a dog could follow a month old sent. 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 of the jury had heard from more than 100 witnesses, testifying about a nine-year investigation, involving multiple suspects. it was not surprising during deliberations, the jury came back with one question after another.

prosecutor dan rubenstein. >> i started to get worried. the question popped into my mind, is it possible to ever convince 12 people, beyond reasonable doubt, unanimously, as to an answer in this case? i started to worry about that. >> on day three, a judge called the jury into his courtroom and asked-- >> is it likely we could come to a unanimous verdict? >> after getting this far, is the prosecution's case coming undone? coming up, jurors speaking out, saying the case with wrong from the start with the original lead detective. >> she just boggled me with i don't remember, i don't know, and you are a lead investigator? when "dateline" continues. . and together we came up with a plan that finally worked by using two quit-smoking medicines and getting counseling. my tip is, keep trying. you only have to quit for good, once.

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by day three of deliberations, the jury sent word to the judge they were deadlocked. to by day three of deliberations, the jury sent word to the judge, they were deadlocked. >> is the likelihood of progress toward a unanimous verdict? >> no. >> know? all right, thank you. >> the judge ordered them back to deliberate further hurt but now, of course there was concern. >> now, they will make an effort, considering each others opinions further and if they are unable unable to reach a verdict, we will disclaim the clear a mistrial and reset the trial. >> less than two hours later, another message from the jury. >> we are not unanimous in our decision, period.

we do not fill any further discussion will change our current state period. >> and that was it. the judge had no option but to declare a mistrial. minutes later, paige's dad, frank, try to keep it positive. >> listen, if we hadn't had a trial, that would have been a problem here 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 should have -- that all kind of came down. >> in my heart, i leaved he was guilty. >> a handful of jurors spoke to us after two explain how the trial played out. >> this man, william sullivan me voted guilty. >> because of the evidence. >> this man was disturbed by it

lead investigator gerald's testimony. >> she just boggled me when i was on the stand, i just don't remember, i don't know. and you are a lead investigator? they should have replaced her immediately. >> still, he voted guilty. there were others three total, who could not overcome their doubts. one of them was bobby, who spoke for the three dissenters. >> there was not enough evidence for them to get past reasonable doubt. >> prosecutor dan rubenstein said, in a way he understood. >> the biggest weakness in the case, in my opinion was, there were just no eyewitnesses that placed mr. jones with ms. paige birgfield that night and we really did not know exactly how she was killed. >> he conceded. the defense did an admirable job protecting jones. >> i think the point they were trying to make was a good one, it could be anyone it could be

someone we never thought of. >> so, the seasons slipped by and now with the snow falling, a retrial. 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. the same witnesses. the same testimony. >> i have never been able to run a dog on a trail that is a month old. >> the same alternate suspect. >> in your opinion, 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 in other ways beyond reasonable doubt. >> but what was different this time was rubenstein's closing argument, taking the alternate

suspect seriously, he went after each theory one by one with attitude. >> to think that somebody was so drunk that three different people have to cart him around, was probably also on cocaine, is capable of carefully doing it and go back and cleaning it up carefully with a car fire that specifically targeted to get the evidence, to tear pages out of a day planner, does this sound like george coralluzzo at all? no. >> but with that make a difference to this new jury? if you thought so. so, while deliberations went on from one day to the next, paige's parents braced themselves. >> thinking it is a reasonable chance it could be another mistrial. if it is a mistrial, i expect jones to walk out a free man. >> just as in the first trial,

the jury deliberated for 3 days before sending a note to the judge. 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 kidnapping. the judge sentenced him to life without parole for the murder plus an additional 12 years for second-degree kidnapping. on appeal, a three-judge panel ruled that the kidnapping and murder convictions relied on overlapping evidence, as a result, the court vacated the kidnapping conviction, but his life sentence stands. >> when the verdict came out i think we were supposed to feel elated, like the home team kicked the field goal with two seconds left and we just won. to be honest, i did not 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 family try to get custody, but a judge ruled against them and in favor of the father, rob dixon. >> it has been the book of job for you two. >> trying to get back to our normal lives, and we won't. we will never be what we were 10 years ago. it has changed, i think, each of us, but we are working at trying to get back to normal. >> or something like it. >> a big word that always hangs over the room is closure. i am not sure what that means. >> there were difficult moments for the

the sweet mudetailge's life and those of her children were made real once more. family during the murder trial, like the first moment erthey heard the frightful messages from their grandchildren. >> i will tell you, that is the hard part, almost a recognition that you are 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 were made real, the family nights, soccer games, the dance recitals birthday parties, 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 that time is gone forever. orever. hello, i'm craig melvin, and a hopelessness.ne." ter: hello, i eram craig melvin. and this is "dateline. "