The secret life of a soccer mom

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. - On the brow of a hill in one of America's quintessential western towns is a fine big house.

The setting, and perhaps in some way the reason, for the story you're about to hear, the secret that lay behind it

If not for its wide, sweeping driveway, its swimming pool, its glorious views across the valley, to the river, to the town, to the mountains beyond -- and its hefty monthly payment -- would any of this have happened?

Paige's Parents/ Frank and Suzie Birgfeld: The house with Paige just-- the kids were running and screaming sometimes. And people were coming and going.

Paige is the woman who lived here with her three children. These are her parents, Frank and Suzie Birgfeld.

Paige's Parents/ Frank and Suzie Birgfeld: And that's the life that Paige wanted. To be a mom and to have her kids around her.

The Birgfelds brought Paige here to Colorado when they were young and she was small.

And she was sparkling, and they were as doting as parents could be.

Paige's Parents/ Frank and Suzie Birgfeld: My word that I use to describe her succinctly is effervescent. A person who has a big smile, a person who when she meets you, you are the center of the moment.

Yes, and popular too, and as she grew, very pretty indeed.

Paige's Parents/ Frank and Suzie Birgfeld: You know, during high school, she certainly always had a date for the prom.

She tried college away in Florida, but how could she leave Colorado? And, perhaps more to the point, there was a young man, and she was in love.

So she returned and married. And life began to pile up its layer cake of unintended change.

She divorced.

Married again.

Bore three lovely children.

And divorced again.

These things do happen. What can you say, besides keep what you can and move on.

In Paige's case, it meant moving on here, in the sprawling house on the hill, with its swimming pool, its magnificent canyon views, its bewitching sunsets.

In the divorce, Paige got the house, and the kids.

And the mortgage.

Ah, yes, that.

The humongous, worry-all-night-you-can't-pay-it mortgage.

Which might certainly have eaten away at anyone's easy good humor, God knows, she wouldn't have been alone these days.

But Paige, said her friends, was not like that.

If she worried, it was all inside, she didn't show it.

Andrea Land: She's got such a bubbly personality and every time she shows up it's you know all the kids in tow and just really excited to see you and hear how things have been going in your life.

Amazing, really. And rather than stew and worry about that mortgage, Paige launched businesses to pay it.

She sold cooking products for a company called "The Pampered Chef," and slings for carrying babies. She taught dancing classes for little kids.

And she became, on top of everything else, a charter member of the Grand Junction chapter of "Mom's Club International," a support group for working mothers.

These are some of her best friends, from the Mom's Club.

Friend: She's a soccer mom. She's got three kids. She is a quilter. She's a fabulous cook. There's so much more to her. She's-- she's just amazing. So many of us would always ask her, "how do you do it?”

Barbara: We all pale in comparison. (Laughter)

Andrea Land: You know, you throw a pebble in a pond and watch the ripples. And Paige with her impact on her world, she's (laughs) She's like a boulder. (Laughter)

But did they ever really know Paige? Some, perhaps, had guessed something.

After all, she should have been very house poor. But here she was, busy, productive, apparently unworried.

Life for Paige seemed to be, as far as anybody knew -- parents and children included, pretty good.

Paige's Parents/ Frank and Suzie Birgfeld: She has a girl, 8, a boy who just turned 7, and another little guy who's 3. And that's her life, and her family, and then her friends.

Her parents lived a four-hour drive away, in Denver, so they marveled at her life, her energy, from a distance.

Paige Birgfeld

So if they didn't know everything, well, what parent does?

And of course, when the call came, that moment that upended everything, it was long distance.

Paige's Parents/ Frank and Suzie Birgfeld: "This is the Mesa Country sheriff's department." And he said, "Your daughter is missing." And that those are big words. And I said, "What do you mean, missing?" She said, "Well, she's been missing since Thursday night." And I remember saying, "This is a problem.” She is not the kind of person who would not be home unless there was a problem. And we went home and threw some stuff in an overnight bag, and we left the house in 20 minutes.

They drove in silence. Fast. And they tried to tell themselves their panic was mistaken… she'd turn up, cheerful as ever.

Though, what they'd do when they got there they had no idea.

Any more than any of her best friends knew what to think.

Barbara: I was instantly terrified for her, something bad had to have happened. It just seemed that maybe she was driving home from a pampered chef show one night and her car broke down. She got out to fix the tire and somebody kidnapped her. It was scenarios like that were in my head.

Scenarios? Oh yes, there were possibilities.

None of them good.

But no friend, no parent, could have begun to imagine what one of those scenarios could very well have been.

When Paige Birgfeld was so suddenly, gone.

MORE FROM CRIME STORIES

Crime stories Section Front

Mystery of the missing millionaire The devil's business Deadly intentions Murder on the mind Death and the millionaire drifter The stripper and the steelworker Man's obsession with college student turned deadly Mystery of the murdered millionaire Killings in 'the biggest little city' The secret life of a soccer mom Crime stories Section Front   Add Crime stories headlines to your news reader: