(As soon as the trial begins or restarts from break, the above video will be LIVE from the court. You may have to refresh your browser.)
The murder trial of Lester Jones continues on Monday. Jones is accused of killing Paige Birgfeld, a single mother who secretly worked as a paid escort.
Prosecutors believe that Jones was one of Birgfeld’s clients, and that he kidnapped and killed her. Birgfeld, a resident of Grand Junction, Colorado, disappeared in June 2007. Hikers found her remains in March 2012. Jones’ cell phone records reportedly showed that a week before Birgfeld vanished, he was in the area where her body was eventually found. Jones was also one of the last to call her before she disappeared, according to investigators. Jones’ defense attorney have argued that there is no physical evidence against their client, and that Birgfeld had other customers who could have been the culprit.
On Friday, the prosecution called several witnesses, including dentists who testified regarding dental records that helped identify Birgfeld’s remains after she was discovered. At the end of the day, Captain Art Smith, who had investigated Jones’ vehicles in July 2007, was testifying, when the prosecution was about to play an audio recording of a phone call between Smith and Jones. Before it was played, however, the judge decided to break for the weekend, so this may be the first thing the jury hears Monday morning.
This is the second trial that Jones is facing after a jury could not reach a decision in the first trial, which ended in September.
Court will resume in Grand Junction, Colorado on Monday morning at 9am Mountain Time.
LawNewz.com will provide live streaming video of the trial through its completion.
[Image via Mesa County Sheriff’s Office]
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