GUILTY CO - Paige Birgfeld, 34, Grand Junction, 28 June 2007

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Are u watching from the original link?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, I was watching the nbc11 live stream link. It abruptly ended at 5:00 though and switched to the local news.

I found out about it from their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/kkco11news/posts/10153648003265703

https://www.facebook.com/kkco11news/posts/10153648118445703

 

[mothwings]

It's kind of annoying they stream only occasionally. If you're going to live broadcast a trial, it should be done in full. Or at least put the videos up on the website so we can watch later if we miss these teasers.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

I don't understand why they are inconsistently streaming. I assumed this was worked out prior to the trial.

It was working a little earlier. Not sure why it stopped.

http://www.nbc11news.com/livestream


Recent coverage of the trial:

Jones’ ‘awkward’ encounter with victim noted on police videotape

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/jones-awkward-encounter-with-victim-noted-on-polic/

In the interview several days after Birgfeld’s 2007 disappearance, Jones told Mesa County Sheriff’s Office investigators that he had first patronized her escort business, Models Inc., about a year earlier. He described going to the business’ office at the Crossroads Center on Horizon Drive, and meeting a young woman he said called herself “Blondie,” who gave him a nude massage and performed some sexual acts for $400. Jones said in the process of the massage, he recognized the woman as the ex-wife of Rob Dixon, who along with Jones had at one point been involved with the Hotchkiss Fire District.

It was “just something that flashed into mind,” said Jones, who also told skeptical investigators that he didn’t use the company’s services again until June 27 — the day before Birgfeld’s disappearance.

Jones told investigators he felt awkward after recognizing Birgfeld.

“It’s uncomfortable when you see somebody that you know,” he said.

“(Birgfeld’s) car is found a stone’s throw away from where you work,” Norcross said. “Does that bother you?”

“No,” Jones answered.

Norcross can be seen in the video leaning across a table toward Jones, who sat with arms and legs crossed.

“It should,” Norcross said.

Norcross and fellow investigator Mike Piechota pressed Jones during the interview, asking him how many times he had paid for services from Models Inc. Jones claimed he had only used the services twice: once when he received a nude massage apparently from Birgfeld, and the other about a year later when he received another massage from a woman he said called herself “Gail,” the day before Birgfeld went missing. Jones said he did call the Models Inc. phone numbers other times out of “curiosity,” which Norcross and Piechota said they doubted.

Escorts tell jury of many encounters with slaying suspect

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/escorts-tell-jury-of-many-encounters-with-slaying

A string of escorts frequented by the man accused of killing Grand Junction mother and call girl Paige Birgfeld in 2007 spoke in court Wednesday about how often he had used their services that year, with one woman saying she left an appointment early after the man became angry with her over her services.

Four women told jurors that in 2006 and 2007 they provided paid services, ranging from topless massages to sex, to Lester Jones, who is currently standing trial for first-degree murder, second-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with Birgfeld’s disappearance and death.

Jurors heard testimony from former Grand Junction resident Amy Farmer about two massages she performed for Jones — who she said went by “Big Jim” or “Ralph.” Farmer said in the first encounter, she gave Jones an erotic massage and a sexual service. The second time, she said she told him she wouldn’t go any further than the massage.

“He got a little angry… ,” Farmer said. “I just left him there.”

Crystal Tabor said she remembers providing eight massages to Jones — sometimes alone, sometimes with another woman — at Junction Adult Store on North Avenue, which at the time was called Junction News Stand. Steven Potter, the shop’s former manager, said he remembers seeing Jones in the store. He also said he saw Birgfeld in the shop hanging up her business card, but said he didn’t remember seeing Jones and Birgfeld together.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Interview: Jones can’t recall actions on key night

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/interview-jones-cant-recall-actions-on-key-night

Lester Jones told investigators in 2007 that he couldn’t remember what he was doing the night then-missing Grand Junction mother and call girl Paige Birgfeld disappeared; that he was sure he hadn’t called her escort business that day; and that the night her torched car was found in a parking lot near his work he didn’t notice the burning car, although he was in the area around the time it was reported.

Jurors on Thursday watched video of law enforcement interviewing Jones in the days following Birgfeld’s disappearance June 28, 2007, at the end of the second week of evidence presented in Jones’ first-degree murder trial.

Sunday night that week — July 1, 2007 — Jones told investigators what he had told his wife: that he drove to his workplace at Bob Scott RV because he was worried he might have left some lights on in the shop. In the time he was gone, passers-by reported what turned out to be Birgfeld’s car, on fire in a nearby parking lot. Jones told investigators in the taped interview that he didn’t see the car when he was passing by.

“The first time I was aware of anything there was when it was Monday and all the traffic was there,” Jones said. “I didn’t see the car on fire, and I don’t even know if I looked that way.”

Weyler also pressed Jones about his relationship with Birgfeld. Jones admitted early on that he had hired Birgfeld for an erotic massage about a year before she disappeared, and said he recognized her during the appointment as the ex-wife of Rob Dixon, a person he knew slightly. Jones said he didn’t hire the service again until the night before Birgfeld went missing, although he told investigators that he had called the service back numerous times in 2007.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Testimony in murder trial reveals how victim's body was discovered

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/police-jones-left-suicide-note

Prosecutors on Tuesday also walked jurors through the March 2012 discovery of Birgfeld’s skeletal remains. Grand Junction woman Danielle Richardson testified that she was out hiking with her then-boyfriend in the Wells Gulch area just over the Delta County line. The pair parked on a pull-off not far off U.S. Highway 50 and ventured into a gully.

“I went and got up on a boulder,” Richardson said. “(I) just kind of sat there and looked around a little bit, and looked down and found the skull at first.”

Richardson said when she looked closer she could see what appeared to be duct tape on the jawbone, and she saw other bones sticking out of the ground. She took pictures on her cellphone before driving back to Grand Junction and going to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office.

Richardson said a Sheriff’s Office staffer “laughed in my face” and told her to call the Delta County Sheriff’s Office. She did, and met Delta County investigators back in Wells Gulch where they quickly discovered Richardson had found human remains, she said.

Jana Bates, at the time a Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist, showed jurors pictures of Birgfeld’s bones, found in a “bent leg” position and partially buried in the dry creek bed.

Bates and Mesa County Sheriff’s Investigator Scott Ehlers said searchers also recovered a single earring, some clothing including what was potentially a spaghetti strap shirt, and a blanket or comforter, heavily weighted down with dirt and rocks and found about five feet away from Birgfeld’s remains.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Testimony: DNA link 
between Jones, victim 
was never identified

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/testimony-dna-link-8232between-jones-victim-8232wa

Investigators and law enforcement officials never were able to determine the exact cause or location of Paige Birgfeld’s death, according to expert witness testimony on Thursday in the murder trial of Lester Jones.

Cynthia Kramer, a forensic biologist for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, conducted DNA tests on hundreds of items connected to Birgfeld, Jones and other suspects in the case. No DNA evidence was ever discovered that linked Jones and Birgfeld, Kramer said.

Much of the testing, which spanned hundreds of hours and many years, produced results that did not match, were inconclusive or the evidence was too damaged to recover DNA.

Mesa County Coroner Dean Havlik testified that there were no significant injuries to Birgfeld’s bones and that a cause of death was never determined, though the death was ruled a homicide based on the investigation surrounding Birgfeld’s disappearance, the location of her remains and other law enforcement information.

Birgfeld’s remains did not contain any kind of intact skin or soft tissue, Havlik said, which made identifying the cause of death much more difficult.

 

[U2forever]

Hmmm, duct tape on her jaw/skull. Sounds familiar doesn't it.
JusticeWillBeServed, thank you for your tireless work posting for Page and her family. Your selfless work is very appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Prosecution rests in Birgfeld case

http://www.gjsentinel.com/breaking/articles/prosecution-rests-in-birgfeld-case

Attorneys prosecuting the murder trial of Lester Ralph Jones rested their case late this morning at the beginning of the fourth week of testimony.

Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said Monday morning the prosecution is currently four days ahead of schedule in the presentation of its case. Defense attorneys, who have so far focused efforts largely on pointing out the lack of forensic evidence tying Jones to Birgfeld’s death, and on all the investigative efforts that weren’t focused on other suspects by law enforcement, are scheduled to begin calling witnesses this afternoon.

Ex-wife: Jones tried to kill me in 1999

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/exwife-jones-tried-to-kill-me-in-1999/

Jurors heard Monday how Lester Jones in 1999 followed his ex-wife and the man she was dating in a car, chased them from Lazear to Paonia, ran them off the road, rammed the car they were driving and shot twice at the man, grazing his head, as he tried to run away.

Jurors on Monday were cautioned that they could only use testimony from Nance and Bear to evaluate Jones’ possible motive, not as evidence of a bad character.

Joel Bishop, a manager with Mesa County Criminal Justice Services, worked with Jones after his release from prison when he was in community corrections.

He testified Monday that Jones denied for several years that he had sexually assaulted Nance, but eventually admitted that he believed she was afraid for her life.

State Deputy Public Defender Kara Smith called the defense’s first witnesses Monday afternoon and spent considerable time grilling a former Mesa County sheriff’s investigator with injury-induced memory problems about her conduct during the investigation.

Former Investigator Beverly Jarrell, who led the efforts to find Birgfeld for several years, testified that she suffered from memory problems after an accident in 2010.

“Would you agree that you made more mistakes than you should have in this case?” Smith asked.

“Based on the complexity, I’m sure that there were a number of mistakes made, yes,” said Jarrell, who said repeatedly during her testimony that she simply couldn’t remember certain interviews and details from the investigation.

Smith also called two witnesses who reported tips about Birgfeld’s disappearance that pointed to other potential suspects, but who said they felt that their information was dismissed.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Defense in Jones case zeros in on police gaps

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/defense-in-jones-case-zeros-in-on-police-gaps

Defense attorneys for Lester Jones focused jurors’ attention on a long list of records that law enforcement either lost, never obtained, or obtained later than they should have during the years-long investigation into the disappearance and death of Paige Birgfeld.

State Deputy Public Defender Kara Smith — who in her opening arguments nearly four weeks ago said investigators were poorly organized and zealously honed in on investigating Jones to the exclusion of other potential suspects — asked law enforcement about apparently missing or tardy reports, interviews and evidence from the first several years after Birgfeld’s disappearance.

“This is inherently a complicated case and it was only made more complicated by the holes left (from missing or temporarily missing reports),” Smith said.

The investigation into Birgfeld’s death was headed for several years by now-retired Mesa County Sheriff’s Investigator Beverly Jarrell. Supervisors reassigned the case to a more experienced investigator in 2011 because it wasn’t moving forward, according to testimony from Mesa County Undersheriff Rusty Callow. Jarrell herself testified on Monday that in 2010 she suffered an injury that impacted her memory, and that she ultimately resigned from the department later.

Smith also entered a memo documenting “major disciplinary action” against Jarrell, which wasn’t written until after her resignation. After transferring the case, supervisors asked investigators to look in their offices for any relevant evidence. After Jarrell’s departure, officials found records including interviews from the Birgfeld case in her office. Callow testified that the memo wasn’t necessarily to discipline Jarrell, as she had already left the department.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jones trial witness: Sex client 
spoke of victim, made threats

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/jones-trial-witness-sex-client-8232spoke-of-victim

A former Grand Valley call girl testified Wednesday that a john told her sometime before 2011 that he had killed Paige Birgfeld and could do the same to her, although the woman admitted she was high on cocaine with the man during the conversation and law enforcement said they don’t believe he was connected to Birgfeld’s death.

Kristy Steves on Wednesday told jurors hearing Lester Jones’ murder trial that former client Wayne D’Amico, a car salesman who had also paid for Birgfeld’s escort services in the past, was “obsessive” and controlling, and that he threatened her while the two of them were alone at his workplace.

“He had told me that he knows how to get rid of a body without anybody finding it. … He told me he could put my body through a wood chipper and nobody would find it,” Steves said. “I believed him to my core. I got chills. I typically have a good intuition; I was under the influence of drugs … but I believed him.”

Defense attorneys for Jones on Wednesday presented D’Amico as a potential alternate suspect in Birgfeld’s disappearance and death.

Jurors heard from two of D’Amico’s ex-wives, who talked about episodes of domestic conflict and violence. D’Amico himself took the stand Wednesday as well, admitting that he knew Birgfeld but denying that he killed her. D’Amico said his comments to Steves about both Birgfeld and the wood chipper were “totally misconstrued,” and that he would take them back if he could.

“I said – out of context – had I (killed Birgfeld), they wouldn’t find her because I’d have used a wood chipper,” D’Amico said Wednesday. “This is going to get blown out of context, I know it is. … I know I didn’t hurt Paige.”

D’Amico spoke of Birgfeld as a “good person” and a close friend, but said when she disappeared, the two of them had fallen out of touch. He also said he uses “clichés” about wood chippers, a reference to the movie “Fargo,” on a somewhat regular basis.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Witness: Birgfeld blackmail story was a lie

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/witness-birgfeld-blackmail-story-was-a-lie

A former client of slain Grand Junction call girl and single mother Paige Birgfeld said Thursday that early in the investigation he fabricated a story to law enforcement that she was blackmailing him in order to avoid coming under scrutiny himself.

Steven Heald, a former Delta resident, testified Thursday that, even though he seemingly gave himself a motive in Birgfeld’s 2007 disappearance by claiming she was demanding hush money to hide their sexual relationship from Heald’s wife, that story was a lie, and he had nothing to do with her death.

“She never blackmailed me,” Heald said on the witness stand. “(At the time) I am trying to protect myself and trashing someone who did not deserve to be trashed.”

Defense attorneys have presented Heald as one of several alternate suspects they say could have kidnapped and killed Birgfeld instead of Lester Ralph Jones, who is standing trial for the crime.

Law enforcement briefly investigated Heald as a suspect, but ultimately cleared him after his alibi was verified, according to testimony Thursday.

Heald’s then-wife, Bonnie Thompson, told police that Heald was with her both the night that Birgfeld disappeared and the night her car was found on fire. Thompson was interviewed in Delta at the same time as when her then-husband was being interviewed in Grand Junction. Investigators also told Thompson the same day about Heald’s relationship with Birgfeld, according to Thompson, who testified Thursday that she has now forgiven Heald and they are a couple again.

Mesa County sheriff’s investigator Jim Hebenstreit, who headed the investigation for several years, said he thought Thompson’s confirmation of Heald’s alibi was very credible, given that she had just learned her husband had been cheating with a prostitute, which would have been a perfect time to “throw him under the bus.”

“I think that made her alibi that much more credible,” Hebenstreit said.

 

[Tricia]

Carol McKinley is going to be my guest on Thursday, September 1st to discuss this case. There might even be a verdict. Who knows?

Carol is one of the very best reporters I have ever interviewed. She is very honest and works non-stop.

She will give us a very good look at what is really going on in the courthouse.

I'll be posting the link to the show in the next few days.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jury told of alternate suspect in slaying case

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/jury-told-of-alternate-suspect-in-slaying-case

Jurors on Monday heard testimony that a man suspected of calling Paige Birgfeld’s phone some 20 times the day she disappeared in 2007 left town suddenly two days later, and told work acquaintances and friends a bizarre and untrue story that his brother’s family had all been killed in a car accident on the East Coast.

Several witnesses in the murder trial of Lester Ralph Jones testified that, in the months leading up to Birgfeld’s disappearance, George Coralluzzo had fallen off the wagon and was acting “out of control,” and they were confused when he suddenly left Colorado.

Jones’ defense attorneys have introduced the now-deceased Coralluzzo, a cocaine user with a criminal history, as a possible alternate suspect in Birgfeld’s disappearance and death.

Coralluzzo’s calls to Birgfeld the day she went missing were not returned, and he was in another state the day her car was set on fire, according to testimony from law enforcement.

Steven Bridges, who testified that he was Coralluzzo’s sponsor through a 12-step addiction program, said he noticed something wasn’t right some time before the end of June in 2007.

Bridges said Coralluzzo later went to prison for charges unrelated to Birgfeld’s death, and would write Bridges letters with some regularity. In the letters, Coralluzzo would mention “things that God would never forgive him for,” Bridges testified. “He never told me what those things were.”

http://www.westernslopenow.com/news/local-news/jones-murder-trial-continues

The trial has been underway since the last week of July, and District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said he expects that closing statements will begin either Wednesday or Thursday.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Jones defense disputes efficacy of police tracking dogs

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/jones-defense-disputes-efficacy-of-police-tracking

Defense attorneys for murder suspect Lester Jones hit out at evidence about specially trained tracking dogs used in the investigation into the 2007 disappearance of Paige Birgfeld during testimony Tuesday.

Christopher McKee, a University of Colorado Law School professor who specializes in forensic science, took the stand Tuesday afternoon to question testimony from dog handlers with Virginia-based VK9 Scent Specific Search and Recovery Unit. Handlers Sarah Platts and Julie Jones — no relation to Lester Jones — testified several weeks ago that in 2007, their dogs found Birgfeld’s live scent leading to a bank of the Gunnison River at the end of Bridgeport Road off U.S. Highway 50, and the scent of a cadaver in that area, but no live scent leaving the bank. They also testified that Lester Jones’ live scent was tracked to the same part of the riverbank, under a railroad trestle.

My opinion is that’s not possible,” McKee said, adding that no studies have been done proving or disproving the validity of dogs being able to track old scent trails.

Mesa County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Waite questioned McKee’s experience, pointing out that McKee had never actually trained dogs and that his experience has been entirely academic.

Defense attorneys on Tuesday also brought forward more evidence about the late George Coralluzzo, a cocaine user they have presented as a possible alternate suspect in Birgfeld’s disappearance and death.

Jurors heard testimony from Coralluzzo’s mother, Rose Coralluzzo, who said sometime after media reports about Birgfeld had circulated throughout the country, her son mentioned something about a woman slipping in an accident and about a car being burned, although she was unable to provide many details about the conversation. Lee Ferguson, her boyfriend at the time, also testified that he once overheard George Coralluzzo having a conversation and mentioning a secret about him and his friend doing something in the mountains.

“I heard him say, ‘I did something, I’m going to take it to my grave,’” Ferguson said.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

The livestream is currently working for me at this site:

http://www.nbc11news.com/livestream

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Wife: Late 
night chore 
made her 
suspicious

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/wife-late-8232night-chore-8232made-her-8232suspici/

The wife of accused killer Lester Jones took the stand in his trial Wednesday, to testify about the night Paige Birgfeld’s car was found on fire near her husband’s work during a timeframe when he had made an unusual late-night trip to the shop; about the marital problems that arose between them the year before when she found prostitutes’ numbers in their shared phone records; and about law enforcement officers’ efforts “trying to frighten” her by implying her husband was dangerous.

Elaine Jones was out of the state the week leading up to the disappearance of Birgfeld, an escort who had provided services to her husband in the past. In the most expansive testimony she has provided so far during her husband’s trial, Elaine Jones also said that she remains married to Lester Jones, that she believes his claims of innocence, and that she has been traumatized by scrutiny from law enforcement and attention from the media in the years since Birgfeld went missing.

In other testimony Wednesday, Investigator Hebenstreit also laid out the timeline that prompted investigators to eliminate the late George Coralluzzo as a suspect in 2013. Coralluzzo – a cocaine user whose many calls to Birgfeld’s phone the day she disappeared apparently went unanswered and unreturned – has been introduced by defense attorneys as a possible alternate suspect in Birgfeld’s death.

Coralluzzo was investigated by law enforcement for several years and, even after his drowning death in New Jersey in 2011, was considered a possible suspect until 2013, Hebenstreit said. Coralluzzo was in New Jersey the day Birgfeld’s car was set on fire.

Closing arguments are expected on Friday.

 

[Tricia]

YOU CAN LISTEN TO TRUE CRIME RADIO TONIGHT (Thursday) AFTER 10:30 PM EASTERN BY CLICKING HERE​

We have a really BIG BIG Show tonight September 1st 2016.

Joining us is longtime Websleuths friend ABC reporter Carol McKinely. Carol is covering the trial of Lester Jones for the murder of Paige Birgfeld and she will give us the latest update. Knowing Carol she'll have some interesting things to tell us that you won't hear anywhere else.

Her dad was in the Hell's Angels and later turned federal witness against the motorcycle gang. Tonight you'll hear from a woman who has been through hell growing up in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Her name is Jackee Taylor. Jackee's story is a fascinating look into the very secretive world of Witness Protection and what it can do to the children stuck in the program by no fault of their own.

Remember, every Thursday night you can listen to a new episode of True Crime Radio after 10:30 PM EASTERN by going to my Spreaker Account

Pass the word along.

THANK YOU,
Tricia

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Birgfeld investigation ‘shoddy at best,’ says police methods expert

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/birgfeld-investigation-shoddy-at-best-says-police

Natasha Powers, a consultant and former detective hired by Jones’ defense team to review the case, told jurors that the department’s investigation in the years immediately following Birgfeld’s disappearance was “shoddy at best” and leaders zeroed in on Lester Ralph Jones with “tunnel vision.”

Powers criticized several areas of the investigation in her testimony. Personal checks with Birgfeld’s name that were reported found along U.S. Highway 50 on July 2, 2007, should have prompted an immediate search of the area, Powers said; instead, investigators didn’t perform an extensive search until July 16.

Powers suggested that running a “bifurcated investigation” — with one team investigating the main suspects while another considered the possibility that a random stranger could have attacked Birgfeld — is a way Mesa County investigators could have been more objective.

Mesa County prosecutors also presented a short rebuttal case Thursday afternoon, where they covered in more detail the alibi for the late George Coralluzzo, who was investigated in connection with Birgfeld’s case and who defense attorneys have presented as an alternate suspect.

Both sides are expected to give their closing arguments today before the 12-person jury begins deliberations.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Thank you for doing the interview with Carol McKinley; it was nice to get a perspective from someone inside the courtroom.

Carol's analysis gives me more worries about the verdict. When the trial started, I thought he was most likely going to be found guilty. Now it doesn't seem to be a slam dunk case. Enough reasonable doubt may have been presented to the jurors.

I don't think the motive is a leap though. Based on past behavior from Lester Jones, it's not inconceivable that a seemingly minor rejection would cause him to snap. He threatened to kill one of his ex-wives and when she fled to Oklahoma, he apparently stole a helicopter to go after her.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Closing arguments made in Grand Junction trial for man accused in death of Paige Birgfeld

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/02/grand-junction-trial-paige-birgfeld-murder/

“Paige must have been so scared,” District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said as he began his closing remarks to jurors. “… Did he tell her I am going to kill you? Did he tell her I am going to kill you and put you in a lake where nobody will ever find you?”

Prosecutors say Jones set Birgfeld’s car on fire and dumped her body. She was reported missing in July 2007, and her car was found torched days later, her personal items strewn near U.S. 50.

However, Jones’ defense team, in their closing arguments, said authorities “screwed up the investigation from the get-go,” pointing to other suspects who could have been responsible for killing Birgfeld.

“At no point can I tell you who the real killer is,” one of his lawyers told jurors. “I don’t know. And that’s a problem.”

He added: “There are a host of problems with the case they have prepared against Mr. Jones.”

The jury deliberated Friday afternoon and then left for the day. They will reconvene Tuesday at 9 a.m.