Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20150530

Of him. Was it one of her exes or was there someone else who would want to harm paige . Turns out this mother of three had a double life. She was fooling so many people that were close to her. A parallel existence where paige went by carrie and carrie took risks. Quite obviously its dangerous. Had that danger turned deadly . To uncover the truth, they would comb miles of desert and every inch of one womans complicated past. We were trying to find her and we werent going to stop until we found the truth. Im lester holt, and this is dateline. Heres Keith Morrison with the secret life of a soccer mom. Reporter the news spread like the morning sun across Grand Junction in the high desert on colorados western fringe. As inexplicable and frightening as the burned car, the tossed wallet, the vanishing. It was june 28, 2007. Over the mountains, in denver, four hours away, Frank Birgfeld was driving to his office. Phone rang. Voice on the phone says, this is somebody with the mesa county Sheriffs Office. And he said, are you paiges dad . And i said, yep. And he said, did you know shes missing . Reporter Barbra Campbell got the call from her husband, hans, who told her. Paige is missing. What do you mean shes missing . Reporter andrea land got the news in an email. It said paige is missing in the subject line. I knew something horrible had to have happened because it didnt make any sense that she would be missing. Reporter no way for even a best friend to prepare for such a thing. Nor any way to understand just how much of it was going to be a mystery. How much they did not, could not know about the life and disappearance of Paige Birgfeld. Or what theyd be called on to do to bring her home. Stunningly beautiful. One of those women that was almost a little bit intimidating at first if you were, you know, your more average mom. Reporter andrea land and the other Young Mothers of Grand Junction could have been forgiven for feeling a little envy. Paige had the look, the money, the big house on the hill, three attractive kids. But no, it wasnt like that. Not at all. The way she talked, the way she acted, the way she treated you, everything about her was just so wonderful. Taking care of kids now every day reporter Barbra Campbell and andrea and paige were members of Grand Junctions moms club international, kind of a social and support group for young, stayathome moms. Woo reporter once a year theyd throw a spring fling, a sort of puton prom for moms. What with fancy clothes, red carpet entry and a pretend reporter throwing fashion questions. Tell us who youre wearing. Reporter paige was always the star, of course, and this year the party was held at her home, which made it a very special event. Most of us did not live in a home that large. She was just so downtoearth and humble about it that once you got over the artwork on the walls and how, you know, beautiful home it was you almost forgot that you were in this really very highend home. So the winner is drum roll, please Paige Birgfeld. She was so comfortable hosting people that made it made anybody there feel comfortable. Sometimes you meet someone and you just instantly have a good feeling about them. Youre going to be friends with them. Its just going to be an instant match. Thats what i had with paige. Reporter and then that call. The sheriff told the birgfelds that after meeting a friend on thursday afternoon paige simply didnt come home. Leaving her three children alone with a babysitter. As they drove from denver to Grand Junction, paiges parents tried to understand what was happening. Well, as we started out, i dont know that i was very tense or i thought of the worst. I guess, gee, i wonder where she is. I hope shes but as the drive went on, it became more and more anxious, more and more tight, more and more. And i would be calling the kids on the home phone just saying, were going to be there, you know, and trying to sound reassuring. Reporter the kids were alone because their father was long gone by then. Rob dixon had once been an emergency medical technician but had stumbled into some sort of family fortune whispered to be worth millions, drove a yellow ferrari. In a town full of pickup trucks. But money that comes easy can also leave that way. In robs case, according to paiges dad, one bad investment after another. When youre a big deal, when youre flying high, when youre a big guy around town and you go from there, the drop is a long, long way. Reporter and so money problems led to marriage problems. And paige and rob divorced, and he moved out of state and started working as an emt again while paige did her best to maintain the status quo for the three kids. Kept them in their huge house with the mortgage to match, close to six grand a month. It had a gigantic mortgage. And she was trying to hang on to keep the kids in that place. 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 . Reporter paige launched several businesses, sold cooking products for a Company Called the pampered chef and slings for carrying babies. And she taught dancing classes for little kids. Anything to turn a buck. I have to tell you, entrepreneur wise, she was innovative. She just tried to keep her mind open to anything that would allow her a flexible schedule to still be with her kids and keep them at home. Reporter divorced woman. Three kids. A heavily mortgaged house. First question, was there a chance Paige Birgfeld 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, id 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. Reporter so what, then . What happened to paige . Her friends, her parents didnt know what to do or where to look. And then, it was the morning of the third day. Another phone call. Somebody found paiges car. And it clearly had been burned. The discovery of the torched car was a disturbing clue, but it hardly answered the question of what had happened to paige. When we return, one of the last to see paige was her first husband. Turns out, their relationship was anything but ancient history. Women know when another woman is suddenly in love with somebody. You could tell. That you can build on, for a life time. Ryobi one , the one system that delivers more. Available only one place the home depot. 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While we dont know what, we were hopeful when we found the car things would fall into place, and maybe they will. Reporter this interview, though, was one frank just couldnt get through. You know, it occurred to me i havent cried in a long time. Ive learned how to do that. Reporter and it wouldnt be the last time. But it was the beginning of something, a fathers journey to bring his lost daughter home. The last person known to have seen paige the day she disappeared was a new Love Interest who was actually an old Love Interest. Her first husband ron beigler. He adored her. They had dated her last year of high school. Reporter she dropped out of college to marry him. And he wrote her poetry. If anyone wants to know the path to a womans heart. And hes very sweet but shy. Reporter did you like him . What did you think of him . We did. But he was not a wage earner. He had made the statement somewhere along the line he thought he had married up. And he probably did. Reporter their marriage came undone pretty quickly. But now, a decade later, after her divorce from the oncewealthy rob dixon, paige started seeing ron beigler again. Women know when another woman is, you know, suddenly in love with somebody. And you could tell that she was, you know, in love and giddy and happy. Reporter in fact, she was with ron beigler just hours before she vanished. With him all day. Biegler spoke to us in 2007 soon after paiges disappearance. We were sitting outside down by the river. It was very familiar. And, you know, i brought some pictures. You know. And we just sat there and relaxed and enjoyed the day and the weather. Reporter and that night, after their romantic picnic she called me before i got home to see if i made it back into denver. And then we had a brief conversation, you know, not too brief, but and i expected to hear from her later that night after she got home. Reporter instead, silence. And when he called her next morning, friday, his call went to voice mail. Hello. Youve reached the home offices for brain dance, pampered chef and maya wrap baby slings. Please leave a message and ill get back to you within the next few days. Reporter he called again and again, he said, ever more worried. Next Morning Saturday he called the sheriffs department. And four days after paige vanished, the search was on as volunteers turned a familys chaotic tragedy into a community project. Paiges dad was there every day greeting a small army of volunteers. Thanks for helping us. Reporter an outpouring of support that was, for frank, simply overwhelming. You know its just really tough. For people to give of themselves to that degree, i just reporter paiges 8yearold daughter, eager to help, decorated ski pole walking sticks for volunteers like Barbra Campbell. When we were first told that we could help with the searches it seemed strange. Just didnt make sense what we were doing. Was there a reality that we hadnt accepted possibly . Reporter they were desperate to find her. And they dreaded what they might find. One of our and her kids needed her, and we needed our friend. And our kids needed to know that if someones mom is missing, that people are going to work hard to find her. Reporter and then, days in and miles away, a driver pulled off the road on lonely stretch of highway 50 south of Grand Junction to check his tire pressure. And as he stepped out of his truck, a piece of litter caught his eye. It was a blank check trapped in the roadside weeds. The name on it . Paige birgfeld. Coming up as the search continues, the focus shifts to paiges second husband. She said that she had to call the police a few times and that she was afraid of him. Does your makeup remover take it all off . Every kissproof cryproof, stayproof look . Neutrogena® makeup remover does. It erases 99 of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. Need any more proof than that . 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Com it was a pure fluke that the truck driver stopped to check his tires at the very spot be lying near an isolated stretch of highway. And the driver just happened to see it. No fluke what happened next though. One of the sudden flock of searchers who descended along that road was paiges good friend andrea land. Making my way back west along the median, i saw a checkbook. Reporter one of paiges checkbooks. And it just hit us like a ton of bricks. It was an awful feeling of dread, thinking how did this get here . Why is it here . What does it mean . Reporter so was paiges abductor just sloppily getting rid of evidence or was he trying to mislead searchers or did paige herself toss the contents of her purse out the window like a trail of so many breadcrumbs . So the search continued, on horseback, on atvs, on foot. They peered under bushes. They walked miles of desert brush in 100degree heat. They dragged the murky Gunnison River through the canyon floor. Nothing. During a short break in the search frank showed us a little sanctuary paige had built amid a stand of cottonwoods near her house. This is kind of life where it just stopped. It just stopped, and she vanished. Reporter then one day, said frank, he suddenly thought there she is. Thought hed spotted paige, shaded by the trees, playing with her children. And then i realized it was my daughterinlaw and her son. So you just all of a sudden plunge when you go from it was a dream to, boom, shes not here. Reporter paiges most recent exhusband, 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, many thought him the most obvious suspect. He was always screaming and yelling and using bad language. It was very psychologically demeaning and difficult for her. She said that she had to call the police a few times, and that she was afraid of him. At one of the birthday parties rob actually started to blow up on her and just got really upset with her. Some problem with the internet. I said, if he gets that upset over something that minor in his life, i cant imagine how he gets if something actually really makes him mad. Reporter in the fall of 2004, during the dark days of the couples financial collapse, paige called 911. 911, where is your emergency . My husband and i were in a fight, and he was supposed to watch my children while i went to work. And he said that i would come home and find them all murdered. Reporter police were dispatched but apparently found no crime had been committed because no charges were ever filed. Attorney Scott Robinson represented rob dixon in the months right after paiges disappearance. The physical evidence made clear that what paige said happened simply did not happen. Reporter that is not what paiges friend Barbra Campbell believed, not after this. She said that she knew that rob was coming back and that he was going to do something. And i was floored. I thought reporter that must have been very strange to hear that. It was a staggering conversation. And a couple days later she was missing. Reporter phone records indicated dixon called paige at 7 42 p. M. The night she disappeared. Didnt look good to paiges friends. But, whoever took paige could not have been rob dixon. Couldnt have been. Because that phone call at 7 42 p. M. Pinged off a cell tower in philadelphia, 2,000 miles away. With rob dixon in the clear, what about paiges first husband ron beigler . He was actually the last person who spoke to her. Reporter Dan Rubinstein is a prosecutor with the mesa County District attorneys office. So obviously, an exhusband you want to look at. Reporter but when he last spoke to paige at 8 57 p. M. , beigler was in denver, a fourhour drive away. We got a lot of information from him, and we were able to eliminate him as a suspect fairly early on. Reporter beigler told detectives everything he knew about paige, including what she told him she was going to do after that picnic of theirs. A secret latenight business trip. Business trip . Well, investigators couldnt find Paige Birgfeld, but they found her secrets. That business of hers was about to rock the whole town. Coming up a revelation that would blow the case and the suspect list wide open. Paige was living a double life. And then investigators recover paiges date book and an unnerving clue. The four days surrounding her disappearance were pulled out of the day planner. E in return. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. When im out in the hot sun, i know how to hydrate on the inside. But what about my skin . 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What kind of client . Didnt take but a minute for the cops to find the evidence right there on the internet. A website called models, inc. , where an attractive young woman named carrie advertised her services. Tired of chopped meat showing up when you ordered filet mignon, she wrote. Affluent clients are lavishing in delightful sessions. Carrie of course, was a pseudonym. The woman in question was, in reality, a mother of three, a member of the moms club, Paige Birgfeld. Paige was living a double life. Reporter divorced from her oncewealthy husband, with a houseful of kids and a massive mortgage payment, paige found another way to supplement her income. And after a latenight meeting of the moms club, she told her friend Barbra Campbell what she had in mind. She had decided to go into an escort business. Reporter somehow, said barbra, paige made it seem normal. She was very smart. She had thought it out. So she kept it at the level that she was comfortable, that fit with her decision and her lifestyle. Reporter but andrea land said she knew nothing about paiges night work. I felt like whatever escort circumstances were happening that they probably werent as lascivious as it was being made out to be. It was very hard for me to believe that she would want to have sex with men for money. Reporter but she did. According to this investigative report, paige would charge up to 1,000 a session. And heres an Online Review of her services by a client named dennis. Her picture does not do her justice. Shes a sexy goddess. Im in love and wish i could see her every day. Rating 4. 0 out of 5 stars. Carrie is simply a very gorgeous woman. A little bit pricey. If you have the money, shes worth every dime. That review was posted just three days before paige vanished. You can imagine how these revelations hit paiges mom and dad. They just couldnt 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, its dangerous. Reporter but while paiges parents didnt condone her business, they said, they understood her motives. She was doing what she had to do to keep life as normal as possible for the children. Reporter the news spread, of course. Pretty soon most people in town knew. There were people who wrote to the paper and said horrible things. Like why are we spending all this time looking for a dead hooker . Reporter dirt spread, said andrea, by those who didnt even know paige. We knew her heart. We knew who she was every day with us and with her kids. And if anything, it only put us into hypervigilant defendher mode and made us all want to get out there and talk about what a good person she was as much as possible. Reporter a much bigger problem, though, was that paiges secret life made an already complicated case far more difficult to solve. Thats the sort of Business People who are clients dont want to admit. They dont want to come forward. Because these are the sorts of things that are sensationalized in the media, they break up marriages. Reporter besides paiges former clients had to know, they werent witnesses as much as potential suspects. One of the key pieces of evidence found in the vehicle was her day planner. One of the things that we figured out when we looked at that day planner, was the four days surrounding her disappearance were pulled out of the day planner. Which told us that whoever it is that thought there was evidence in that car important enough to be burned also thought there might be evidence in that day planner important enough to tear out. Reporter so investigators pulled paiges cell phone records for those days. And, according to this investigative document, they put together a list of eight possible suspects. Both exhusbands were on that list. But investigators had already cleared them. So that left six of paiges clients, three of whom she was planning on seeing the night she vanished. One of those on that list was a man named Lester Ralph Jones, a client of models inc. Thats him standing in the shadows by his front door. On july 7th, nine days after paige disappeared, the cops conducted a search of jones house. A week later they were back. But they didnt arrest him. Not even a month later, when Police Search dogs got a hit in the charred mess of paiges car. They found the cadaver scent in the back seat of the car. And in the front seat of that car, they found mr. Jones scent. And that was despite the car being set on fire. Reporter interesting. Also, it so happened jones worked in a repair shop right across the street from the parking lot where paiges burning car was found. Then the dogs were taken out to that spot on highway 50 where the contents of paiges wallet were found. What we refer to as to the trail of breadcrumbs where the checks, business cards, other identifying information were scattered, they followed that to a turnout called bridgeport road and followed down bridgeport road where the dog kept repeatedly jumping into the river indicating that ms. Birgfelds scent was down by the river there. That very well could have been the location where she was killed and then placed in the back seat of the car where she left the cadaver scent. Reporter then the dogs were given Lester Ralph Jones scent, and they followed the same path exactly. A big break in the case like that was very hard to keep secret. At one point i was told they had enough information that they would be able to convict ralph. Reporter but no arrest, and so summer slipped to fall. The volunteer search finally petered out. The command post was closed. Paiges parents rented an apartment in town so they could carry on the search alone. This is my life now. I really wish i could get into a different line of work. Reporter even offered a 15,000 reward, no questions asked. Its about 100 days, and if shes out there we need to find her. And if this will help stimulate that, so be it. Reporter the reward produced no useful tips. Nonetheless, frank stayed on in Grand Junction for a whole fruitless year searching. At some point, you have to say do i want to stay here doing this or is it time to go pack to denver . Reporter 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 shes back there and im leaving. Reporter at least the police were still at it, though very slowly. Their problem . There was one other suspect. One they just couldnt clear. A man who, on the night Paige Birgfeld disappeared, seemed obsessed by her. Coming up investigators learn that paige called a disposable tracfone shortly before she disappeared. We were able to identify the precise store, time, and register that that tracfone was purchased. Evidence that would tip the scales towards one of the two remaining suspects. It works differently. When added to another alzheimers treatment, it may improve overall function and cognition. And may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. Vo namenda xr doesnt change how the disease progresses. It shouldnt be taken by anyone allergic to memantine, or whos had a bad reaction to namenda xr or its ingredients. Before starting treatment, tell their doctor if they have or ever had, a seizure disorder, difficulty passing urine liver, kidney or bladder problems, and about medications theyre taking. Certain medications, changes in diet, or medical conditions may affect the amount of namenda xr in the body and may increase side effects. 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Which one of these pedals makes it stop . sparkle. cause its a messy world out there. If youre looking for a car that drives you. And takes the wheel right from your very hands. This isnt that car. The first and only car with direct adaptive steering. The 328 horsepower q50 from infiniti. Lester ralph jones had been a leading suspect in paiges disappearance since the early days of the investigation. Everybody in town knew that. But hardly anyone knew about another possible suspect in the case, another former client of paiges. George coralluzzo. He was that obsessive kind of person. He wouldve had the potential if he was drinking or on drugs to hurt somebody. Reporter megan nappers exhusband was coralluzzos friend and business partner. So meghan got to know him. He was friendly and upbeat at first, said meghan, but pretty soon you get to the point where you dont want to be around him because youre afraid that something could happen. Reporter like jones, coralluzzo had no solid alibi. He was in town when he called paige over and over again, 19 times the day she disappeared. The last time at 8 13 pm. Two days later, he suddenly showed up at meghans doorstep. George came to our house in a panic. He said that the reason why he hadnt talked to us recently and the reason why we hadnt seen him or been in contact was because his family had been beheaded on the turnpike in new jersey by a semi. Reporter beheaded . Beheaded. The biggest story ever. This big, big giant explosion of a story that was so catastrophic that he knew would get me to jump in and just be like, oh, what do you need . Ill do anything for you. Reporter so you helped him leave town . I did. He wanted to get right out of here. He did not want to be around. Reporter and then, a few days later, meghan was watching a local news report about paige. The first time i saw that newscast i was like, george did it. Im like in my head reporter come on. No. Instantly, just clicked. Reporter mind you, coralluzzo was in new jersey by the time paiges car was torched, said prosecutor rubenstein. And we have good corroboration of that. Reporter but he was certainly in Grand Junction when paige went missing. And that beheading . Now, that was a fullfledged lie. So police continued to investigate coralluzzo as well as jones, who couldnt account for his whereabouts the night paige disappeared nor when her car was set on fire across the road from where jones worked. Some other interesting things that were found in the car was the seat was pushed all the way back. And so we had one of our employees at the Sheriffs Office who is the same height as ms. Birgfeld sat in the seat in the position it was and was unable to touch the pedals. Mr. Jones is about 65. Reporter and jones had spent three years in prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an exwife, who told investigators jones took her out to the desert against her will threatened to kill her. A scenario strikingly similar to how cops believe paige was murdered. Oh, and one more thing. One of the last calls paige made the night she disappeared was to a disposabletype tracfone. This tracfone made only five phone calls in its entire existence. And all five of those phone calls, four of them were made to ms. Birgfeld. And one of them was made from her back. Reporter the phones number wasnt registered to any specific person making it difficult to trace. Difficult, but not impossible. We were able to identify through records at tracfone the precise store, time and register that that tracfone was purchased. Reporter which was at this walmart in Grand Junction where the Stores Security cameras picked up a man believed to be mr. Jones purchasing that tracfone. We also found packaging from a tracfone with that same make and model in his trash at work, which is about 500 yards from where the vehicle was found burning. Reporter now that was a preponderance of evidence that in any other case would have been enough to get an arrest warrant, but not in this case. Months and then years went by, no arrest. It was beyond a lot of people in town who couldnt help but hear the rumors and wonder why the man was still free as a bird. In fact, said prosecutor rubenstein, the reason was quite simple. Coralluzzo. Try as they might, they simply couldnt rule him out. We still needed to figure out the alternate suspect issue with mr. Coralluzzo. Reporter anyway, there were other problems. Most other murder cases or missing person cases where you have evidence like this, we probably would have filed. But given the double life she was leading with this escort service, you know, this escort business that she had presented us a lot of problems in the investigation. Reporter a defense attorney might well ask how many men were there really in paiges life . The defense might also ask how do we know there was even a murder . How do you go in front of a jury and say believe beyond a reasonable doubt not only that shes dead but that this particular person is responsible for it when you dont have a body. Reporter and for five long years what happened to Paige Birgfeld remained an unsolved mystery. And then, in 2012, some hikers walking in a dry creek bed spotted something odd. Coming up at last, the evidence that would push prosecutors to charge one of their two suspects. And thats when we finally made the decision that we think we had enough. We all want to see our kids grow up strong. And when you buy your vitamins at walgreens, your purchase helps provide lifechanging vitamins to 100 million children. Here in the u. S. And around the world through our partnership with vitamin angels. Just stop by walgreens for your vitamins. Doing good for you, does good for others too. Walgreens. At the corner of happy and healthy. 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And stop new ones in their tracks. Lets worry proof our walls. Lets do this. Right now get 5 bucks off cans and 20 dollars off buckets of select paints and stains. The home depot. More saving. More doing. Grand junction, colorado, has been a boom and bust sort of place over the years. Cattle were big here once, then oil shale developers moved in and abruptly out again. Its wine country now. But what has remained constant is the rugged beauty that calls to rafters and bikers and hikers. Like the group trekking through wells gulch on march 6, 2012. And pretty soon, paiges dad got another one of those phone calls. This time it was a local reporter. And he said, did you know they found paiges remains this morning . And he asked if anybody had called me. And i said, youre the first one. Reporter truth be told, so many years had passed nobody could say for certain at the moment if the remains were paiges, but it was the right area, just a few miles south from where the contents of her wallet were found. And paiges dad just knew. And we really think the searchers were here. To miss it, you know, its like, darn, how did that happen . Reporter dna tests soon confirmed what everyone already suspected. It was indeed paiges body. Investigators believe shed more than likely been buried back in 2007 and only recently unearthed by a heavy spring runoff. Most of the larger bones were contained in one specific area. Her skull and mandible as well. And then the smaller bones had washed down where the primary part of her bones were found there was some duct tape indicating that she was probably bound and gagged in some fashion. When we found her remains, the case sort of broke open again. And we, you know, decided to follow up, relook at the evidence. Reporter so with a fresh set of eyes investigators once again tried to fashion a case against jones or coralluzzo. But when detectives set out to question him, they discovered he was dead. Drowned the year before in a swimming accident. Still, for paiges murder to be solved, investigators still had to make a case for either coralluzzos guilt or his innocence. But doing that without the ability to question him meant going back and slogging through seven years of reports, interviews and statements. Thousands and thousands of pages of discovery. Watch video interviews and figure out, what does this mean, what can we prove . Reporter and it was two years after paiges body was discovered, while wading through that mountain of material, an investigator stumbled on an overlooked piece of evidence that would change the whole case. It was Security Camera video showing coralluzzo shopping at a local market right around the time paige disappeared. So they figured if he was shopping, he wasnt killing paige. Finally evidence establishing coralluzzos alibi. And that really firms up the timeline given by him and others as to how we know he couldnt have been involved. Reporter meaning Lester Ralph Jones was the last suspect standing. We gathered at least six or seven prosecutors from this office. We had maybe 15 people from the Sheriffs Office. We had people from the Colorado Bureau of investigation that gathered and everybody presented what they had. And thats when we finally made the decision that we think we had enough. Reporter jones was arrested november 2014 for paiges murder. 7 1 2 years after she was first reported missing. But the story is still not fully told. The cause of death is unknown. We really dont know whether or not he strangled her. We dont know if he smothered her. We dont know if he drowned her. Reporter and we dont know if jones did it at all. Hes pleaded not guilty to the charges. His case has yet to go to trial. Hes innocent until proven guilty. These are only allegations at this point. And all the judge has found is that there is probable cause to allow us to present this to a jury. Reporter a jury that no doubt will hear from the defense team about that other suspect george coralluzzo. May hear from meghan napper. I have talked to the defense. Reporter are you prepared to testify . I am prepared to testify. I feel for paiges father. I feel for her children. But even though they have evidence for Lester Ralph Jones, it would really disappoint me that they have the wrong guy. Reporter paiges friends have a different concern. All the dirt thats bound to be unearthed at trial. Its going to get ugly, and i know it will. But its up to the few of us that can do this to keep talking about who she really was and what a wonderful person she was. Reporter but until the trial. This is just another turn the page for another chapter. This isnt i keep hearing people say, youll get closure. I havent seen that at the end of the tunnel. Reporter no. Because, in spite of everything, what Frank Birgfeld wanted, what he still wants with all his might but cannot have is to take his daughter home. Weve never been able to get her remains back on the socalled belief that her remains are needed for evidence in the trial. As far as i know, she resides right now in a Cardboard Box in the coroners office. Reporter so what could they do . They had a memorial service. And at the top of the service card they pointedly stated, there has been no interment as she remains with the mesa county coroner. So added now to that swirl of painful emotions bitterness. I think it stinks. Reporter hard for parents to comprehend that the child they raised is practically speaking just one more item of evidence in a murder case. The defense has a right to contest the evidence. The defense has a right to check it out for themselves. I know the familys frustrated, but we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Our choice was to give up the possibility of ever prosecuting somebody for murdering his daughter or to give the remains back. And we decided it was just too important that we hang onto them. Reporter so while on a trip to Grand Junction to attend yet another pretrial hearing, the birgfelds made a detour under a hard gray sky to the place where paige was found. This is a hard spot for me. This is a hard spot. Reporter some of the volunteers who searched for paige put together this little ad hoc memorial. And so their daughters place of remembrance is the burial plot her killer chose. A place where she was left all alone for so long. Thats all for this edition of dateline. Well see you again sunday at 7 00, 6 00 central. Im lester holt. For all of us at nbc news, good tonight at 11 00, police waiting to search this house