Jurors began deliberating on Tuesday in the for a man accused of kidnapping and murder in the slaying of Paige Birgfeld, a mother of three whose skeletal remains were found in 2012.
The case was handed over to the jury late on Friday afternoon .
Lester Ralph Jones, 65, is suspected of killing , who led a double life as a paid escort, in 2007. He faces charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping. Jury selection in the case .
“Paige must have been so scared,” District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said Friday during his closing remarks. “… Did he tell her I am going to kill you? Did he tell her I am going to kill you and put you in a lake where nobody will ever find you?”
Prosecutors say and dumped her body. She was reported missing in July 2007, and her car was found torched days later, her personal items strewn near U.S. 50.Birgfeld’s remains were found on March 6, 2012, by a hiker who spotted them in the Wells Gulch area in Delta County.
However, Jones’ defense team, in their closing arguments, said authorities “screwed up the investigation from the get-go,” pointing to other suspects who could have been responsible for killing Birgfeld.
“At no point can I tell you who the real killer is,” one of his lawyers told jurors on Friday. “I don’t know. And thatap a problem.”
He added: “There are a host of problems with the case they have prepared against Mr. Jones.”
Birgfeld sold kitchen products and homemade baby slings from her Grand Junction home and was active in a moms’ social group. She also ran an escort business, called Models Inc., but her double life wasn’t discovered until after she disappeared.
Several men were investigated in connection with Birgfeld’s disappearance and death, including her two ex-husbands.
Jones has a previous criminal record, including a five-year prison sentence for first-degree assault and second-degree attempted kidnapping.
DzԱ after Birgfeld’s disappearance, and investigators found he frequently solicited prostitution and patronized Birgfeld’s business, including in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Investigators noted that he was one of the last people to call Birgfeld before she disappeared. Authorities said he seemed nervous when he was first interviewed in the summer of 2007, telling them, “I didn’t do it.”
