did you like rob dixon? 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. did you have contact with rob? 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 cops saw it, rob dixon had the motive, but 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.
jury and in november 2014, seven and a half years after page 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 additional puzzle piece to put into the jigsaw. it would help you tell the story too. exactly. and 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
about paige s car and the fire. i wanted 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. as she drove away something across the road caught her eye, it was a sign for bob scott rvs. 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. 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. in fact, a week after paige disappeared they brought jones in for questioning. mr. jones, i appreciate you coming down. okay? sure. jones was once chief of a
jones himself, on the other hand, well, there was 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. you re there. by your own admission you re there when the fire i understand that. tell me that. explain that. i can t explain it to you. and guess what they found at jones work site, a discarded package that once contained a prepaid track phone, the disposable find that doesn t reveal the identity of the user, except on the package was the phone s serial number. we were able to determine that the phone was bought at walmart on north avenue. they got the security camera video and, well, well, well, the buyer looked a lot like lester ralph jones. why was that important?
sounds like george coralluzzo at all? no. but would that make a difference to this new jury? hugh thought so. while deliberations went on from one day to the next, paige s parents braced themselves. i think there is a reasonable chance there could be another mistrial. if it is a mistrial i expect jones will walk out a free man. just as in the first trial, the jury deliberated for three days before sending a note to the judge. please be seated. but this time, there was a verdict. we the jury find the defendant lester ralph jones guilty of count one, murder in the first degree. the jury also found jones guilty of second degree murder and second degree kidnapping. the judge sentenced him to life without parole for the murder, plus an additional 12 years for second degree kidnapping. jones has filed an appeal. when the verdict came in i think we were supposed to feel