- Nov 4, 2005
- 12,459
- 79
NBC News Dateline ran an episode this evening entitled Double Lives about the disappearance and murder of our fellow Cheffer, Paige Birgfeld. The first forty minutes of the show was a review of the story we all know too well. The file films, interviews with Paige's parents and the the trail of Paige's belongings along US 50 brought it all back to me. For me, it was like writing these updates all over again.
In the second part of the show, the story of Paige's double life came out. Now that the trial is over and Paige's adductor/killer has been convicted, details of evidence came out. The investigators had an incredible collection of evidence, much of it circumstantial but damning, about several potential persons of interest.
Several persons of interest were described, one strong person of interest was particularly described, George Coraluzzo.
But in the end, it all boiled down to one person of interest, Lester Ralph Jones. The evidence LE had on Jones was kept secret until the trial, and much of it was revealed to us during the second hour of the Dateline episode.
In the last half hour, we relived finding Paige's remains in Wells Gulch. It's a dry riverbed in far western Colorado, in the next county. Once her remains were found, the case accelerated. George Coraluzzo was still a person of interest, but he drowned in New Jersey several years ago. Security video and testimony collaborated George's alibi. That pointed LE directly to Jones. He was arrested and brought to trial.
The episode wrapped up with the trials of Lester Ralph Jones, including the first trial that ended in a mistrial. And, of course, the conviction of Jones in the retrial.
The program wrapped up with shots taken from Paige's date book - one of the shots was of the dates Paige took her children to Atlantis - a trip she had earned with The Pampered Chef.
Probably the one part of the story that impacted me the most was the trail of Paige's belongings found strewn along US 50. At the time, we all hoped it was a "trail of bread crumbs" that would lead to Paige. As it turns out, that is most likely what it was. Detectives think Jones abducted Paige and drove her to Wells Gulch in her own car. Even bound, with duct tape over her mouth, she was able to toss things out of her purse from the car. Searchers were likely at that site, but with her body buried in the gulch, she was not found until spring runoff exposed her remains, five years later.
Thank you, NBC, for giving us a nice wrap-up. (The Pampered Chef was mentioned and the logo shown, twice, without the usual "kitchen gadget" crack that most reports have used in the past.) The secret life of Paige was discussed tastefully and not the focus of the story, as so many other outlets have done.
Paige, you are still loved and missed by all your friends and family. Rest in peace.
(Note, if you missed the broadcast, http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/dateline-full-episodes runs episodes online.)
In the second part of the show, the story of Paige's double life came out. Now that the trial is over and Paige's adductor/killer has been convicted, details of evidence came out. The investigators had an incredible collection of evidence, much of it circumstantial but damning, about several potential persons of interest.
Several persons of interest were described, one strong person of interest was particularly described, George Coraluzzo.
But in the end, it all boiled down to one person of interest, Lester Ralph Jones. The evidence LE had on Jones was kept secret until the trial, and much of it was revealed to us during the second hour of the Dateline episode.
In the last half hour, we relived finding Paige's remains in Wells Gulch. It's a dry riverbed in far western Colorado, in the next county. Once her remains were found, the case accelerated. George Coraluzzo was still a person of interest, but he drowned in New Jersey several years ago. Security video and testimony collaborated George's alibi. That pointed LE directly to Jones. He was arrested and brought to trial.
The episode wrapped up with the trials of Lester Ralph Jones, including the first trial that ended in a mistrial. And, of course, the conviction of Jones in the retrial.
The program wrapped up with shots taken from Paige's date book - one of the shots was of the dates Paige took her children to Atlantis - a trip she had earned with The Pampered Chef.
Probably the one part of the story that impacted me the most was the trail of Paige's belongings found strewn along US 50. At the time, we all hoped it was a "trail of bread crumbs" that would lead to Paige. As it turns out, that is most likely what it was. Detectives think Jones abducted Paige and drove her to Wells Gulch in her own car. Even bound, with duct tape over her mouth, she was able to toss things out of her purse from the car. Searchers were likely at that site, but with her body buried in the gulch, she was not found until spring runoff exposed her remains, five years later.
Thank you, NBC, for giving us a nice wrap-up. (The Pampered Chef was mentioned and the logo shown, twice, without the usual "kitchen gadget" crack that most reports have used in the past.) The secret life of Paige was discussed tastefully and not the focus of the story, as so many other outlets have done.
Paige, you are still loved and missed by all your friends and family. Rest in peace.
(Note, if you missed the broadcast, http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/dateline-full-episodes runs episodes online.)
