Unseen - Unmasking the Models Inc Murderer | The Case of Paige Birgfeld | UNSEEN

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

“Where should I bury a body?” - On June 28, 2007, single mom Paige Birgfeld goes on a date with her high school sweetheart, but when she doesn’t return home that night, her father, Frank, drops everything to find her, launching a massive search across Grand Junction, Colorado. 3 days later, investigators find Paige’s car on fire in an abandoned parking lot, but the missing mom is still nowhere to be found. However, investigators uncover something sinister in the ashes: a double life Paige had kept secret for years, and as things come to light, many suspects emerge, but Frank refuses to give up, even when everyone else does. What he uncovers will haunt the small town, revealing a terrifying killer hidden in plain sight, and set the stage for long-awaited justice. - Credits Written, directed & edited by Alexandre Gendron Research by Bianca Yzabelle Tan Voiceover by William Akana Produced by Alexandra Salois & Salim Sader - Sources Getty Images 48 Hours: The Secret Life of Paige Birgfeld, CBS Interactive, 2017.  20/20: If I Can’t Have You, ABC, ABC Entertainment, 2021. Mom with secret double life as escort murdered, True Crime News, Telepictures Productions, 2024. Dateline: Double Lives, NBC, NBCUniversal Media, 2017.  The Killer in My Family: Lester Jones, Woodcut Media, 2023. World's Most Evil Killers: Lester Jones, Woodcut Media, 2023. Disappeared: A Mother's Secret, Investigation Discovery, Discovery Communications, 2010.  Activists for Sex Workers’ rights protest the killing of one of them, KTN News Kenya, Kenya Television Network, 2014. Former St. Louis resident looking for justice in mother's cold case, other sex worker crimes, KMOV St. Louis, 2021. This women's month has seen rise in murders of sex workers, SABC News, 2014. Jules Kim: "Sex workers' rights are human rights", UNAIDS Official, 2024. Court dismisses sex workers’ law challenge, CTV Your Morning, 2023.  Sex work decriminalization efforts leave workers, advocates and survivors divided, NBC News, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This video hides a disturbing secret. On June 28, 2007, single mother of three, Paige Bergfeld is hiding out in her car. Outside, a dangerous man is hunting her down. Three hours later, Paige's daughter leaves her a frantic voicemail. Hey, Mom, you are really good. You would be back when she was going back. July 1st, they find her car on fire. Paige is nowhere to be found.

Across America tonight, an intense search has turned up no sign of a missing mom. and state investigators have joined the case. It was incredible to see the turnout. This whole community got involved. But less than a week into the search, everything changes. It turns out, Paige is living a double life. And as her secret gets out, disturbing rumors begin to spread. Investigators say she was a mom who let a secret double life.

People said horrible things. Like, why are we spending all this time looking for a dead? Nobody cared anymore because she was that sort of woman. At this point, everybody gave up on page, except her father. alone, he moves to Grand Junction to continue the search, unaware that someone else is working just as hard to keep the truth, buried. Where is my girl? She may be a 34-year-old woman, a mother of three children,

but to me, she's just my little girl. It's June 28, 2007, the big day for divorced single mother of three, Paige Bergfeld. She had recently rekindled a relationship with her high school sweetheart, Ron Beagleer. Following an eight-year separation, the two are meeting for a single mother. afternoon picnic. After a pleasant date, the pair part ways. Page promises to let him know when she gets back home. He waits, but as the evening goes on, he never hears from her. A worried Ron rings her cell phone a dozen times over the next three days. Every attempt goes unanswered. Hi, where are you? Call me to get in. You're worried about you. But it's when he calls her home number

that he finally realizes something's wrong. At the other end of the line, eight-year-old Jess Dixon, Paige's daughter, picks up the phone. The little girl is seemingly upset with her mom, for not coming home in the past three days. Jess and her two siblings had been left alone with their confused nanny this whole time. Ron immediately reports Paige missing to the police, who then quickly gets in touch with her father, Frank Bergfeld. They'd got me a cup of coffee at McDonald's, and my cell phone rang. Caller identified himself as a deputy sheriff with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

I can just tell you that is a moment that, you know, you just never want to have. When you get a call like that, you realize how nobody gets trained for that home. Frank doesn't waste a minute. He immediately takes his car and heads toward Grand Junction with his wife. They worry that something terrible might have happened. Looking at Paige's everyday routine, it's clear she lives a busy life, owning and operating three small businesses, leading a local mom support group, all while raising her three young children.

Despite her chaotic life, she seemed to be thriving. She had even recently bought her ex-husband's half of the three-story house they used to share. Nothing seems out of order. So why did she disappear? As Page's parents arrive in Grand Junction, they meet with the police to organize a search effort. Although Page is well-known and respected in the community, that doesn't stop rumors from spreading after the media reports her disappearance. Some are quick to assume she abandoned her children, an idea Frank immediately dismisses. I said, if she's missing, you're involved in a crime.

she would never have left her kids. But things take a turn for the worse on the second day of the investigation when a woman driving home from work calls 911. She doesn't know it yet, but she's just stumbled upon the charred remains of Paige's Redford Focus. 911, this is Jesse. We're sure emergency. Hi, I'm at the corner of 23 and logos, and there is a car on fire in the parking lot.

When Frank arrives at the scene the next morning, forensic investigators are already hard. work they conclude that the fire was started on purpose someone first torched the driver's seat and let the flames engulfed the rest of the car but stashed in the glove compartment investigators find page's planner still intact upon further inspection they see that the three days leading up to page's disappearance had been deliberately ripped out this seemingly calculated cover-up helps police conclude that frank was right all along his daughter never ran off someone is after her these revelations sent shock waves throughout local media, which had previously ignored his plea for help. Posing in front of the

still smoking remains of his daughter's car, Frank asserts that he's still hopeful they'll find Paige alive, but cannot get to the end of the interview without tearing up in front of the camera. We were hopeful when we found the car, things would fall into place, and maybe they will. You know what occurred to me, I hadn't cried a long time. I've learned how to do that. Later that afternoon, under the burning 118 degree sun, over 200 people show up to look for page. In the next few days, people from all over Colorado crowd the mesa to join the effort. Four days into the search, something new comes up. This is Euphoria Calvin Klein, the new elixir collection, featuring three perfume intense scents,

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This changes everything. The search teams move up to the highway and together they find more of Paige's belongings, over 90 items, spread over 13 miles of road. It was an awful feeling of dread thinking, how did this get here, why is it here, what does it mean? The police meticulously cataloged their findings, which include her checkbook, business cards, a driver's license, and a single high-heeled shoe. The trail of clues suggest something incredible. Page must have deliberately left it behind for them to find. However, amongst all the items, something stands out, a business card for a business card for for an adult service called Models Inc.

The investigators are puzzled. Why would Paige leave them this clue? As they speak with some of her close friends, the mystery deepens. Page's boyfriend mentions that she may have done some shady things to keep her house and provide for her three kids following her divorce. Her friends also add that she once worked

at a massage parlor as a side hustle. Investigators eventually examined Paige's laptop, and that's when everything clicks into place. Page was not merely dabbling in sex work. She was the owner and sole operator of a full-fledged escort service. The aforementioned Models Inc. Before long, the media inevitably finds out

exposing the truth for all to see. Investigators say she was a mom who led a secret double life. Running her own escort service. She was doing what she had to do to keep life as normal as possible for the children. As the weeks go by, less and less people show up for the search. Eventually, the public loses all interest

and the search effort is shut down altogether. I guess that's the only thing at this point to do because there isn't any more volunteers they're coming up. Nobody cared anymore because she was that sort of woman. People said horrible things like, why are we spending all this time looking for a dead hooker? The search lasted five months and nothing was ever found past Paige's trail of clues.

The police are at a loss. Page has dozens of elusive clients. And, according to investigators, having too many suspects can be as damage. as having none, but they need to start somewhere. So they begin with Paige's ex-husband, Rob Dixon, the same man who had previously threatened her and the kids. 911, where's your emergency? My husband and I were in a fight. He wanted the children to stay with him, and he said that I would come home and find him all murdered.

But this call had been recorded five years before the ordeal, and detectives are quickly able to confirm her ex-husband's alibi. He was 14 hours away, and his Philadelphia residents the night of the disappearance, the police switch gears and look into Paige's boyfriend instead. His multiple calls, all placed before he declared her missing, are traced back to Denver, four hours away, clearing him as a suspect. As detectives work their way down Page's list of clients, they identify six individuals with criminal records. One man stands out, not because he fits the profile, but because he doesn't. Lester Ralph Jones, A car mechanic and family man has kept himself out of trouble entirely in recent years.

However, once they dig deeper into his past, they uncovered two deeply disturbing events involving a woman named Lisa Nance. My sister-in-law called me and said, oh my God, there's a girl missing in Grand Junction and they are looking at Ralph or they think he might be a person of interest. I went home and like, you know how Fox News, it was on Fox News. I kind of went in that mode. I got to do something, you know, to help. Kiss, Colorado, December 1996. Like Paige, Lisa Nance was a single mom raising her children alone.

When she met Lester, the two immediately clicked and were married within six months. He was funny, attentive, and good with her kids. However, soon after the two tied the knot, things began to fall apart. Lester became increasingly controlling, obtaining copies of her phone records and a second key to go through her mail. Over the next two years, Things kept escalating as Lester began bugging their house to spy on her while he was out. Lisa couldn't live like this anymore and filed for divorce. The whole time up until I asked him to leave, he never acted like he would harm me. When I started kind of seeing somebody else, that's when he kind of went, you know, crazy.

Things only got worse after Lisa invited her new date to stay over for the first time. The next morning, as she drove him back to work, she noticed a cartailing them. One quick glance at the rearview mirror confirmed her fear. It was Lester's truck, closing in on them. The pair was in the middle of an hour-long stretch of road in the middle of nowhere, before the sun had risen. Neither of them had a cell phone. With no other option, Lisa floored it, and a high-speed chase with Lester followed. Within minutes, he caught up and slammed into the side of their car, sending them spinning into a ditch.

Lisa and her date had no time to react before another violent jolt hit the vehicle. Lester rammed into them again, this time from behind, pushing their car further into the ditch. bitch. Then, they heard Lester's truck door slam shut. Lisa spotted him in the side mirror, walking towards them, holding a gun. Her date frantically lowered the passenger window, grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her out, but Lester was already at Lisa's side. He cracked the door just enough to force his arm inside, grabbing her violently and smashing his pistol against the window. Lisa yelled at her date to save himself. The terrified young man successfully pulled himself out, but two deafening bang suddenly pierced Lisa's ears.

From afar, she saw her date's cap flying through the air, and then, silence. For a few seconds, everything stopped. Lester dragged Lisa out of the car and threw her into his truck. From behind his windshield, she spotted her date's cap on the ground beside a trail of blood. But her fight wasn't over. Lisa tried to convince Lester to let her use a phone that they couldn't leave her date to die in the desert, that she'd do anything, even get back with him if that's what he wanted. Against all odds, and to her surprise, Lester pulled into a gap.

station, allowing her to make a single phone call. Realizing this was her only chance, she immediately called the police and begged the clerk to lock the doors. Cops were there in minutes, and Lester was arrested. Lisa's date ended up in the hospital, but survived. Both bullets barely grazed him. Unbelievably, Lester only spent one night in jail. Someone bailed him out the very next day.

And then when he got out of jail, there was a restraining order put on him, but it didn't stop him. I mean, every time I would drive somewhere, I would always see him parked. I don't know how he knew where I was at all the time, but he did. A few weeks passed, and Lester's court hearing was approaching. Lisa knew he was still out there, but the last weekend went by without a sign of him. On June 12th, a Monday like any other, Lisa was back in her Hotchkiss house. Alone, the clock showed 7 p.m. when she stepped out of the shower and into her bedroom to dress. As she opened the door to head back into her kitchen, she saw a silhouette in the shadows at the far end.

of the room. I came out of my room and I turned around and he was just sitting on the couch. I mean, just sitting there in the dark. My stomach just, you know, sank. I mean, I did, I ask him, what on earth are you doing here, you know? No answers, not even a look. Lisa's heart was pounding. She knew she needed to do something, assuming that moving into a public setting would ensure her safety, she massed her fear and casually suggested they go out to eat. Without a word, Lester grabbed her arm, dragged her out of the house and into her car. He then got behind the wheel and started driving.

The farther they went, the harder it became for Lisa to deny what was happening. I said, we're not going to eat, are we? And he said, no. And I said, what are you going to do? And he said, I'm going to kill you. He was going to put me in a lake where nobody would find me. And then he just, like, slap me over and over. And I could feel like blood, you know, and I could feel my lip swelling.

Time was running out for Lisa. The last exit before the lake was approaching, remembering how she had outsmarted her kidnapper before, she said she still had feelings for him, hoping it would buy her time, but Lester was no fool and violently retaliated. Out of options, she endured his blows until he paused, then plunged toward him, suggesting she wanted to prove how much she loved him, before quickly pulling back. She claimed that the car was too cramped for intimacy and that they should find a motel. Lester hesitated for a minute, but ultimately fell for it.

And he pulled into that last motel, and he said, are you going to be here when I get back? And I said, yes. So he went in, and when he got in, you know, like the first door, and then the second door, once he got in that second door, I climbed over in the passenger seat, and I drove as fast as I could drive. After an interstate manhunts that lasted months, Lester was arrested and charged with kidnapping. He was released a few years later and seemingly never meddled with Lisa again. However, the reason why the police are interested in Lisa's case is that there are many similarities between it and pages. Both took place along Highway 50.

both involved kidnappings perpetrated via the victim's own vehicles, and both happened on the day their respective victims started dating again. Grand Junction authorities got a hold of me, and they want me to come to Colorado to take them up where he took me because they couldn't find her body, and they were just looking for ideals of where she could be. Sadly, even though everything points toward Lester Ralph Jones, Paige's body isn't found at the Lake Lisa identified,

but instead of going back home to Oklahoma, she agrees to stay and help police build a profile on Lester. Meanwhile, Frank is forced to accept the truth. No one else is coming to help. With police shifting their focus towards Lester and the town slowly losing interest, the desperate father finds himself completely alone. He moves from Denver to Grand Junction, rents a one-bedroom apartment, and keeps the search going,

all on his own. Pulling together what's left of his retirement savings, he puts up a $15,000 reward for anyone who can help him find his daughter. It's about a hundred days and if she's out there we need to find her and if this will help stimulate that, so be it. This is my life now and I really wish I could get in a different line of work. With Frank out on the field, the police thoroughly questioned Lisa. She explains how, even back when they were married, Lester too lived a double life. He played the role of devoted husband and father, all while hiring sex workers daily, often using her own money to pay them.

On top of that, she indicates that, even though she never pressed charges against him following his release from jail, he continued to harass her. Strangely, his obsession suddenly stopped a few years ago, right around the time Page started Models Inc. Following these revelations, Lisa returns to Oklahoma, and the police review the case's initial findings with Lester in mind. Less than a mile from where Page's burned car was found, sits a large RV garage. Back in the early days of the case, cadaver dogs tried to track a scent from the vehicle. but the trail kept leading back to that same garage, so they dismissed it. Turns out this is the garage where Lester works. And then come Page's phone records,

investigators knew that the last number to contact her was linked to a burner phone, which was activated the same day she vanished. They pull CCTV footage from every store in town, and sure enough, at the local Walmart, they spot a familiar face. Lester Jones. Frank and the police pushed the DA to press charges, but the answer they get is crushing. Quote,

because the victim had a double life and had been lying to her entire family, a defense attorney could just claim she ran off with some rich client and was living on a beach in Brazil or something. Without a body, we have no case. Not exactly the kind of answer Frank had been looking for. He told me, these kind of cases take six, sometimes even 20 years to solve. I responded to this guy.

You may punch out tonight to go eat dinner, but this never leaves me. and it never will. For the next five years, nothing changes, but as investigators go back through the case over and over, they notice something strange. Evidence has been lost. CCTV footage, interviews,

even some of Page's personal items are gone, and on Frank's side, nothing either. After scouring the mesa thousands of times, he had to face the truth. His daughter was gone, or was she? After a string of heavy rainstorms near Grand Junction, a hiker spot something in a dry creek bed, just a mile east of where Page 1 scattered her belongings, a human skull. It takes weeks, but dental records confirm what Frank already fears.

It's Page. With her remains finally found, the DA feels confident enough to move towards a trial. But first, he wants to reopen the investigation into Lester Jones. Armed with a new warrant, police seized the vehicles belonging to Lester and his wife, hoping to find new forensic evidence. But five years in, it's just too late. for that. Then something unexpected happens. Mr. Jones, I'll let you know that we have both... You ask me where I can bury a body. Mr. Jones, I'm not following you.

He asked me where I would bury a body. When did I ask you that? Um... That was to me a very, very interesting thing for him to say. And certainly would be the sort of thing that would go towards being satisfied that that Lester Ralph Jones killed my daughter. Following this interaction, the police arrest Lester, and the DA greenlights the trial.

Over the next few weeks, dozens of witnesses take the stand. We talked about her quitting that business. What were the reasons you said? Because she could get killed, for one. Lisa faces Lester the first time she has done so in almost 20 years. And he looked at me, he said, I'm going to kill you. On the defense side, Lester's attorney never really tries to prove her client's innocence. Instead, she focuses on a third.

attacking the credibility of the other suspects. After three days of deliberation, the jury fails to reach a unanimous verdict and the procedure ends in a mistrial. Frank's disappointed, but not defeated. He's just glad the case made it this far. Now, he braces himself for the retrial, set to begin in six months. I think there's a reasonable chance it could be another mistrial. If it is a mistrial, I expect Jones will walk out a free manner. If that's the case, who will be the next target of his obsession? Lester won't say. stop after Page. Everybody on the defense team knows it. Frank and the prosecution can't let him make another victim. They refocus on everything that went missing during the early investigation.

With help from the sheriff's office, they recover key evidence, an interview that clears one of the original suspects, the packaging for Jones Burner Phone, and even CCTV footage of Page's final moments before the abduction. But when December comes and the second trial begins, the defense is ready. They target lead investigator Beverly Gerald, hoping to discredit her and by extension the entire case. Would you agree, Investigator, Gerald, that you made some mistakes in this investigation? Uh, yes. Has it come to your attention that you did, in fact, forget to book in a few recordings

into evidence? I don't remember that. You don't remember getting a major disciplinary action because you kept evidence from this case in your office? No. She just, uh, just boggled me when she was on the stand and just, I don't remember. I don't know. whatever and you're a lead investigator you they should have replaced her immediately but this doesn't deter

the prosecution because now they have something new video evidence placing lester at the scene this footage shows the outside of page's office the night she disappeared it's 9 p.m on a monday only two cars appear page's red ford focus and a white Chevy impala circling the lot the issue is that this isn't just any car it belongs to lester's wife the impala stops four times. Each time, Page's phone rings. Every call comes from Lester's burner phone. The footage cuts off just as the Impala crosses paths with Paige's car. The rest of the tape is lost. The evidence may be circumstantial, but its sheer quantity is becoming overwhelming. Just like before, the jury takes three days to deliberate, but this time, they come back with a verdict.

We, the jury find the defendant Lester Ralph Jones, guilty of count one, murder in the first degree. The judge continues and sentences Lester to life for pages kidnapping and murder. Size of relief can be heard in the audience, but one man remains stoic. When the verdict came in, I think we were supposed to feel elated. Like the home team kicked the field goal with two seconds left and we just won. And to be honest, I didn't feel that. A big word that always hangs over the room is closure. and I'm not sure what that means.

Frank's feelings are his own, but for Lisa, things are different. After nearly two decades of living in fear and battling survivors' guilt, she's finally able to turn the page. It was a closure for me when he was found guilty. Sometimes I feel embarrassed, you know. Sometimes I feel like I'm lucky to be alive. I'm the one that survived him and she didn't. I was very scared for a long time.

It took a long time to get over it. And I don't know that I ever completely got over it, but it got better with time. Because it's part of my life that's over, and I don't ever have to worry about him or think about him. Frank passed away in 2019, never truly experiencing the closure so many seek in cases like this. No father should outlive his daughter, and this caused him and his wife immense suffering. Yet, Frank leaves a legacy that goes beyond this tragedy. When Paige was younger, he was her soccer coach, helped her with ballet class, and became the chief of her girl's scout troop, he did everything to spend time with his precious daughter. Even though the last stretch

of his life had been a difficult one, he successfully put the man responsible for her murder behind bars and was able to lay his daughter to rest before following her. As far as a legacy, remember Paige's smile. I guess I would call it radiant. In her obituary, it was said that she was so radiant it made the son jealous. And I would think that would be, at least for me, what sticks with me the most. In addition to Frank and Lisa's personal tragedies, it's important to understand that Page's story isn't some rare outlier, but one of countless examples of the violence that women face every single day around the world.

Entering sex work wasn't a decision Paige took lightly. To those who knew about this part of her life, she often talked about how much she wanted to stop and how unsafe she felt. Because of her work, prosecutors were more hesitant to stand up for her in court, and the public was less willing to search for her. It took almost 10 years to bring a violent man behind bars, and, ultimately, to bring Paige, her friends, and her family peace.

She wasn't just a victim. She was a mother, a friend, and a fighter who never stopped trying to build a better life for the people she loved. For that, she deserves to be remembered with the dignity she was so often denied. Page's case reminds all of us that everyone, no matter their circumstances, deserves justice.