keith morrison (voiceover): when detectives questioned him, heald admitted he embezzled money from his company to pay for dates with paige. but then he claimed paige turned the tables on him. he made allegations that she was essentially blackmailing him, asking for extra money. keith morrison (voiceover): authorities wondered, could this be a motive for murder? coming up, a startling discovery about one of paige's clients-- i thought, oh my god. keith morrison (voiceover): --triggers a police search. wayne weyler: he had their phone numbers, bra size, and whether or not they would have sex. keith morrison (voiceover): strange? maybe. but did it mean anything? when "dateline" continues. [theme music] 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,

which seemed like a promising lead, except heald's wife supplied an alibi. they were home that night reading, watching tv. so heald seemed to be in the clear, which made it all the more shocking when after being questioned by detectives, heald attempted suicide. that, the hot singer 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. keith morrison: 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. 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 linderholm.

paige had scheduled an appointment with jones the night before she disappeared, but for some reason, didn't want to go. asked linderholm to meet jones instead. and he was expecting her, and then i think-- keith morrison: and then you showed up at his door. right. i'm sure he had some expectations, right? i mean, he called an escort service. he-- well, he let it be known almost immediately that it wasn't sex. keith morrison: linderholm holmes said that didn't happen. instead, they talked for an hour or so and then she left. a couple of days later she said she called paige. got no response. at first i thought she was just busy and she couldn't call back. and 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.

keith morrison: lindholm mentioned page's second ex-husband rob dixon because she knew page was afraid of him. then, the next day, linderholm heard about page's car and the fire. i want 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. keith morrison: as she drove away, something across the road caught her eye. it was a sign for bob scott rvs. carol lindholm: 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. keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: 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 his story gets strange. rob dixon, paige's ex-husband. and had also met dixon's then wife, paige. 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. she recognized

you? >> do you think she would? >> i wouldn't. >> think. >> okay. >> okay. >> so kind of made you feel while jones answered questions downtown, investigators scoured his house and bob scott rvs where he worked. what'd you find when you searched bob scott's rv location? the list of names of escorts that we do in the grand jackson area where he had their names, phone numbers, bra size, and whether or not they sex. some viagras, also some condoms. keith morrison: 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. coming up, investigators get lester ralph jones on the phone for a very strange call. which came out of nowhere. because nobody had asked him where he buried the body. nobody. keith morrison: when "dateline" continues. how are folks 60 and older having fun these days? family cookouts! ♪♪ playing games! ♪♪ dancing in the par... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) this charmin ultra soft smooth tear

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>> main justice. new episodes drop every tuesday. 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. 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 cop saw it, rob dixon had the motive, while 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, ah, there were 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. and guess what they found at jones' work site. a discarded package that once contained a pre-paid tracfone, the disposable kind that doesn't reveal the identity of the user. except, on the package was the phone's serial number. and from that, we were able to determine that the phone was bought at walmart on north avenue. keith morrison: so 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 phone 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. keith morrison: except jones denied that was him in the 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. on. please. >> hello, mr. jones? yes, sir. 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,

obviously are down. >> here at the sheriff's office right now. >> so. are you. >> with elaine right now? no. >> i'm sorry, i don't think so. >> mr. jones. >> i'm not. >> i'm not. >> following you. which came out of nowhere, which surprised us. because nobody had asked him where he buried the body. nobody had asked him about where he buried the body. we were calling him about his vehicle, and the day before we never talked about burying the body. keith morrison: very, very strange. and most certainly interesting. when they found out why jones seemed so out of it, he 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're the best thing that has happened to me. please forgive me.

and then he added this. tell the cops to get-- 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. hill, mr. carluccio. and remember that these are the ones we know about, is there somebody else out there we don't even know about yet? keith morrison: didn't help when lab results from paige's 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 those items were found. and then they sniffed their way down this gravel road that dead ends of the gunnison river. when given paige's scent, the dogs followed exactly the same path, along highway 50,

down the gravel road, into the gunnison river. so was paige's body in here somewhere? they called in divers. diver: basically we go across the river about 100 feet, they let us out five feet, we come back across the river 100 feet. and basically just searching by field. i just got out of there and it is pitch black at the bottom. keith morrison: but there just 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. volunteer: i guess that's the only thing at this point to do, because there isn't any more volunteers that are coming up, and people do have to return to their own lives. keith morrison: 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.

keith morrison: even offered a $15,000 reward, no questions asked. volunteer: 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. keith morrison: but no useful tips, not a one, even though frank stayed on in grand junction for a whole fruitless year. at some point, you had 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're leaving for good? i would say kind of a heaviness to it. that somewhere she's back there and i'm-- i'm leaving her. keith morrison: 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. lisa nance: he looked at me and he said, i'm going to kill you. keith morrison: when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ sonya earlene and marcia are among the thousands of real women living with metastatic breast cancer; doing what they love. and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for adults with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole alone. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection

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tall, strong, a firefighter for heaven's sake. and-- he was a really nice person. keith morrison: really nice, huh? what do you mean by really nice? nice how? he just seemed really nice and genuine and sweet. keith morrison: well, you know how people are, caught up in the blinding glare of new love. and then in a month or two or six, disturbing things begin to occur. unimagined traits emerge, and sometimes a nightmarish story. like the one lisa nance told us about lester ralph jones. i caught him you watching me and stuff, you know. what do you mean? like watching me where i was going and stuff like that. keith morrison: he tapped her phone, she said. he hid secret recording devices. i talked to any of my friends or anything like that and i didn't tell him, you know, he would already know that i had talked to whoever. keith morrison: it just 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 then he pulled up and backed up really hard and rammed my car. and it caused the airbags and stuff to go off. keith morrison: the new boyfriend took off running, but jones had a gun. lisa nance: he shot at him twice. one bullet went through his cap and i think the other one grazed his head. and you were going to be next? mm-hmm. i thought. i thought that. you must have been shaking like a leaf. it was scary. i asked him to put the gun down, you know, because he had it pointed right at me. and finally he put it in the back seat. the back floorboard. and then 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. keith morrison: 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. lisa nance: i came out of my room and i went to kitchen, and i turned around and he was sitting on the couch. i mean, just sitting there in the dark. my stomach, just you know, sank. i mean, i asked him, what on earth are you doing here, you know? and he didn't say anything. and that's when i really got scared, because he just 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, but 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. keith morrison: 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. lisa nance: i said, 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 ok. keith morrison: rubbing the back of your head? mm-hmm. what sort of tone did he have in his voice when he said that? he wasn't being loud, he wasn't yelling or anything like that. he was just really, really quiet. it's a little creepy. mm-hmm. and i looked at him and i said, we're not going to eat, are we? and he looked at me and he said no. and i said, what are we going to do? and he's like, i'm going to kill you. and he just started slapping me over and over. the moment had come for you. mm-hmm. i thought. because all i could think about was my kids, not seeing them. but i was like trying to talk to him, you know, and trying to get him to talk to me, listen to me, you know? he was like, you don't love me anymore. you don't want me, and i said, no, it's not true, you know. and he's like, well, then prove it. i said, how, you know? and he wanted me to make love to him in the car. and 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?

and so finally he agreed to that. keith morrison: so what happened when you got to the-- got to town? lisa nance: he got-- we went to that motel and he pulled in there. and he looked at me, he's like, you'll be waiting here when i come back. and i said yes. so he goes in, and as soon as he went in that second door and he was out of sight, i took off. i started driving back toward town, and i was going really fast, hoping that-- keith morrison: i should think so. lisa nance: hoping that someone would pull me over, and they did. and finally, i told him what was happening, and-- and then they took me back to the police station. keith morrison: some officers went to the motel to arrest jones, but-- lisa nance: they said they couldn't find him, he wasn't there. keith morrison: where was he? lisa, still shaken, still terrified, went home. and he called. first thing you said was, where are you? and i just hung up and i called 911. and they took me to a safehouse. and do they catch him? what? no, they didn't know where to look.

keith morrison: 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, that she noticed his car was following her, and she said it was ralph. and she'd 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. keith morrison: 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, the pile of circumstantial evidence connected him to paige birgfeld's disappearance. why didn't you just go arrest him? our job is to gather the facts and then present it to the district attorney's office and they make that determination. when i asked, because that he had to fight that battle constantly for years. oh yeah, i think you hit it-- you hit it right-on. keith morrison: meaning they were ready to pick up jones, but da hautzinger was not. why didn't you decide to pull the pin

on lester ralph jones? they didn't have a body. and that was the defining-- absolutely. that was really-- i mean, there are lots of nobody cases that go to trial. not a lot of nobody cases where the victim has a double life and has been lying to her family and friends. because of her double life, the possibility that the defense attorney could throw out there that she ran off with some rich client and is living on a beach in brazil or something. keith morrison: and 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. pete hautzinger: now we need to make a critical decision. keith morrison: when "dateline" continues. did you know... 80% of women are struggling with hair damage? just like i was. pantene miracle rescue deep conditioner

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update. indie film. >> nora dominating the oscars, taking home. >> five awards. >> including best picture. >> best director and best actress. and israel. >> is halting all. >> entry of. >> humanitarian aid and goods into. >> the gaza strip and. >> warned of. >> further consequences. >> this after. >> hamas refused. >> to accept its. >> proposal to extend the first. >> phase of the. >> ceasefire deal. >> this comes as the. >> us says it will expedite. >> 4 billion. >> in military aid to israel, reversing. >> partial arms. >> embargo from. >> the. >> biden administration. for >> biden administration. for now. back to dateline. 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 rug and the beautiful places that have drawn hikers and bikers and rafters for years. like the couple trekking through the well's gulch on march 6, 2012. and pretty soon, paige's dad got another one of those phone calls, this time

from a local reporter. frank birgfeld: 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're the you're the first one. keith morrison: it took time, though, to be certain it was her. in a couple of weeks or so, it was verified that it was, in fact, paige's remains. keith morrison: she was just a few miles south of the place where all those documents were found along the roadside. pete hautzinger: so. keith morrison: it had to have been paid to left that trail, said the 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. frank birgfeld: and we really think the searchers were here. to miss it, you know, it's like, darn, how did that happen? keith morrison: 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 a critical decision. keith morrison: 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 biegler, had what looked like solid alibis, what 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 carluccio, remember him? carluccio was the alternate suspect that gave me as the da heartburn and concerns. keith morrison: that's because carluccio's alibi was so hard to pin down. multiple witnesses said he was partying that night at jose tavera's apartment,

but what time exactly? well, that depended on who you spoke to. but what everybody did agree was this. carluccio was out of control. he was intoxicated. like slurring his words, you know, and not being able to focus. he wouldn't have been able to, you know, murder her and then go get rid of the body. you know, he was incapable of it. keith morrison: of course, the vera might have been lying to protect his friend. detectives wanted to talk to carluccio himself, but they couldn't find him. so they asked tavera for help. they're like, well, would you know where george-- george is? i said george was-- is dead. keith morrison: drowned the year before while swimming in a river in new jersey. still dissatisfied, the da, investigators had to make a case that carluccio 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, and investigators stumbled on an overlooked piece of evidence that would change the whole case. it was security camera video of carluccio's friends, including tavera, at a market the night paige disappeared. carluccio wasn't in the video, mind you, but the timestamp backed up the story minute by minute that tavera had been telling the cops, suddenly lifting his credibility, and in turn, helping to establish carluccio'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. and by interviewing lots of different people who had been with carluccio or had talked to him,

we were able to painstakingly essentially alibi him. keith morrison: hautzinger felt he finally had enough to take the case to a jury. and in november 2014, seven and one-half years after paige 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 an additional puzzle piece to put into the jigsaw. well, it would help you tell the story. exactly. like 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 to leading that trail going down to delta, and that she was ultimately killed wherever, not far from where her body was found. keith morrison: but the defense had its own compelling story to tell. or rather, stories. a separate tale for each of those alternate suspects. 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 detective in the case. defense attorney: did you actually receive an official reprimand for the poor quality of work you did in this case? keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: when "dateline" continues. still congested? nope! uh oh. mucinex 2-in-1 saline nasal spray. spray goodbye. aaaaaaahhhhh! mucinex 2-in-1 saline nasal spray with a gentle mist and innovative power-jet. spray goodbye to congestion. it's comeback season! 60% of women experience leaks with bladder protection pads. try always discreet! it locks leaks in seconds to keep you drier and bunches 25% less often than poise. try always discreet! it's designed to protect.

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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 underway, the town's attention was very much focused on this courtroom. we're on the record in 14-- 1432. keith morrison: but, the trouble began before a single witness could be called. ron bigler was angry, wound up. the new district attorney, dan rubenstein, 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 biegler had actually threatened to kill him. dan rubenstein: and indicated that he wanted mr. jones to be found not guilty so that he could kill him and feed

him his genitals, although he used a different word than that. keith morrison: proceedings ground to a sudden halt. biegler was hauled before the judge. 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. that was overexaggerated. sarcasm may be taken out of context. keith morrison: chastened, but still insisting it was all a misunderstanding, biegler 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. dan rubenstein: which business? the adult entertainment business. dan rubenstein: did you give her reasons why you wanted her to quit? - mm-hmm. dan rubenstein: what were the reasons you said? because she could get killed for one. keith morrison: 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'd 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 he looked at me he said, i'm going to kill you. keith morrison: and there was this. the prosecution played the fearful phone messages paige's then eight-year-old daughter jess left on her mother cell phone. and here was just today. 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 in the school and she provided us

with everything that we needed, whatever that may have been. keith morrison: 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. do you solemnly swear-- keith morrison: and they drove that theory home by boldly calling former lead investigator beverly gerald. remember her? she was in charge of the investigation and all those detectives from the beginning. good afternoon. keith morrison: yet was never called to testify for the prosecution. perhaps for good reason. defense attorney: would you agree, investigator gerald, that you made some mistakes in this investigation? yes. defense attorney: ok. has it come to your attention that you did, in fact, forget to book in a few recordings into evidence for this? yes.

keith morrison: gerald admitted reports had gone unwritten and evidence was actually lost, like jose tavera's first police interview. defense attorney: and did you actually receive an official reprimand for the poor quality of work you did in this case? i don't remember that. defense attorney: you don't remember getting a major disciplinary action because you kept evidence from this case in your office? in writing? no. keith morrison: gerald said her memory has been fuzzy, since a 2010 horse riding accident, something that happened three years after the slip-ups on the birgfeld case. and then came the alternate suspect. the guy who called paige from that motel 6. defense attorney: and in that storage unit, you had numerous guns, right? i did have. keith morrison: this former client who allegedly discussed killing paige. defense attorney: did you tell ms. whalen that you had killed ms. birgfeld by putting ms. birgfeld 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'd of used the wood chipper. and it was totally out of context. keith morrison: the client who admitted embezzling his company's money to pay paige. defense attorney: did you kill ms. birgfeld? no. defense attorney: are you responsible for her disappearance? absolutely not. keith morrison: and then the defense went after jose tavera, who admitted he was so tight with carluccio, he would have done just about anything for his friend. defense attorney: including burning a car to help him if he needed that done. i wouldn't do that. defense attorney: you wouldn't do that? no. defense attorney: that's the one thing you wouldn't do? yeah. keith morrison: megan williams told the jury she was sure the killer was really carluccio. 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. keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: 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 is that's not possible. keith morrison: 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. but at the end of the six-week trial, the jury had heard from more than a hundred 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. please rise for our jury-- keith morrison: by day three, the judge called the jury into his courtroom to ask-- is there a likelihood of progress towards a unanimous verdict? keith morrison: 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. beverly gerald: she just boggled me when she was just, i don't remember, i don't know. and you're a lead investigator? keith morrison: when "dateline" continues. ♪ rinse it out ♪ ♪ every now and then ♪ ♪ i get a little bit tired of the stinks ♪ ♪ that just will never come out ♪ ♪ pour downy in the rinse, jade ♪ ♪ every now and then i rinse it out! ♪ fights odor in just one wash. always ask. >> for pet tips. for us, joint

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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? juror: no. no? all right, thank you. the judge ordered them back to deliberate further. but now, of course, there was concern. dan rubenstein: so they will make another effort considering each other's opinions further, and if they're unable to reach a verdict, we'll declare a mistrial and reset the trial. keith morrison: less than two hours later, another message from the jury. it states as follows. the jury remains in the same position, period. we are not unanimous in our decision, period. we do not feel any further discussion will change our current state, period. keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: 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 luck in one week. keith morrison: and this man, judd swihart, was disturbed by lead investigator beverly gerald'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. keith morrison: still, he voted guilty. but there were others-- three, all told, who couldn't overcome their doubts. one of them was bobbi sanabria, who spoke for the three dissenters. there was not enough evidence for them to get past that reasonable doubt. keith morrison: prosecutor dan rubinstein 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. keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: so the season slipped by. and now with the leaves gone and snow falling, a retrial. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. keith morrison: and with time and money tight, all knew this would be rubinstein's

last shot at jones. another mistrial will be just as good as an acquittal. do you solemnly swear-- keith morrison: and so it all played out as before. defense attorney: you have a track record of being dishonest. yes. keith morrison: the same witnesses. defense attorney: did you kill ms. birgfeld? no, ma'am. keith morrison: the same testimony. i have never been able to run a dog on a trail that's a month old. keith morrison: the same alternate suspects. defense attorney: in your opinion, did the sheriff's office conduct an objective investigation? no. keith morrison: 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. keith morrison: but what was different this time was rubinstein's closing argument. taking the alternate suspect seriously, he went after each theory one by one with attitude. and to think that somebody who's so drunk that three different people have to cart them around, who's 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's specifically targeted to get the evidence, to tear pages out of a day planner, i mean, does this sound like george carluccio at all? no. keith morrison: but would that make a difference to this new jury? few thought so. and so while deliberations went on from one day to the next, paige's parents braced themselves. i think there's a reasonable chance it could be another mistrial. if it is a mistrial, i expect jones will walk out a free man. keith morrison: and just as in the first trial, the jury deliberated for three days before sending a note to the judge. please be seated. keith morrison: but this time, there was a verdict. jury foreman: we the jury find the defendant lester ralph jones guilty of count one, murder in the first degree. keith morrison: 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 jones' kidnapping and murder convictions relied on overlapping evidence. as a result, the court vacated the kidnapping conviction, but his life sentence stands. frank birgfeld: when the verdict came in, i think we were supposed to feel elated. like the home team, kick 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. keith morrison: who moved to pennsylvania soon after paige vanished.

the birgfelds try 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 10 years ago. it's changed i think each of us, but we're working at trying to get back to normal. or something like it. a big word that always hangs over the room is closure. and i'm not sure what that means. paige birgfeld was kidnapped-- keith morrison: there were difficult moments for the birgfelds during the murder trial, like the first time they heard the frightened voicemail messages of their grandchildren. 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. keith morrison: 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. on a lonely road in texas. we figured that she had been sexually assaulted and dumped here.