>> my mom said she asked him what was he doing. and he said, "looking for your daughter." >> reporter: lester ralph jones was convicted of assault and kidnapping and served three years. but now he was out and remarried and the by the fall of 2007, a pile of circumstantial evidence connected him to paige birgfeld's disappearance. >> why didn't you just go arrest him? >> our job is to gather the facts and then present it to the district attorney's office and they make that determination. you wanna add 'cause he had to fight that battle constantly for years. >> oh, i think you hit it -- hit it right on. >> reporter: meaning they were ready to pick up jones, but d.a. hautzinger was not. why didn't you decide to pull the pin on lester ralph jones? >> i didn't have a body. >> and that was the defining -- >> absolutely, that was really -- >> i mean, there are lots of no body cases that go to trial. >> not a lot of no body cases where the victim has a double life and has been lying to her family and friends. because of her double life the possibility that a defense attorney could throw out there that -- she ran off with some