Roughly 100 volunteers braved 100-degree heat Saturday to hunt Grand Junction environs for missing 34-year-old Paige Birgfeld, a single mother of three last reported seen June 28.
Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey asked for help from the all-volunteer Abbey and Jennifer Recovery Center, formed in 2001 to conduct a communitywide search for a missing mother and daughter. People began showing up to search for Birgfeld about 6 a.m. Saturday at Grand Junction High School, search director Connie Flukey said.
“We have fewer volunteers than we thought, but it’s so hot,” Flukey said Saturday afternoon. “Some are reporting temperatures up to 108. We make people come in every three hours to get rehydrated.”
The Salvation Army is providing food, water and misting tents to help cool people, Flukey said.
Flukey said she could not estimate how many square miles were covered by searchers Saturday. The search was scheduled to end at dark and resume this morning.
One sheriff’s deputy served as liaison for the volunteer searchers, in case any evidence was found, sheriff’s spokeswoman Norma Mestas said. Law enforcement is not conducting ground-search operations at this time; however, the investigation into Birgfeld’s disappearance continues, Mestas said.
The last known sighting of Birgfeld, a dance instructor, escort, masseuse and Pampered Chef vendor, was in Eagle on June 28. She was reported missing June 30. Birgfeld’s red Ford Focus was found July 1 burning in a field a few miles from her Grand Junction house.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
