Searching for Paige

July 31, 2007 — -- Grand Junction, Colo., sits nestled in the heart of a massive valley. Surrounded by the majestic mesas and canyons of the western Rockies, it is quiet, peaceful and so vast it's easy to imagine that someone could vanish there without a trace.

Frank Birgfeld's daughter Paige did just that when she disappeared earlier this summer. Now he searches the Colorado River for his daughter, convinced that she can be found.

"I think the word is effervescent," he said. "She was … she's the kind of person when she comes in the room and meets you, she always gives you a big smile."

Paige Birgfeld is 34 years old, an attractive model and dancer and a struggling businesswoman. Twice divorced, Paige is a single, devoted mother of three. For Frank, the hardest part is not being able to follow his fatherly instinct to help his daughter.

"She's out there somewhere, and I can't protect her," he said.

Paige's disappearance is riddled with questions. Was it a kidnapping? Did she run away?

Or did it have to do with a secret life the soccer mom was hiding from everyone — including her own family?

On the night of June 28, Paige was driving home alone to her children, but she never made it to her front door. Upon receiving a call from the sheriff's office informing them that their daughter was missing, Frank and his wife, Suzanne, immediately jumped in their car and drove the three hours to Grand Junction, desperately calling Paige's cell phone, to no avail.

The next day, Paige's car was found just 2 miles from her home — vandalized and set on fire. Paige's family led a group of volunteers in their massive search over hundreds of square miles, through desert scrub brush and murky waterways.

Within days of her disappearance, investigators and volunteers found several personal items belonging to Paige a few miles southeast of Grand Junction: a checkbook and a video-store membership card. The clues initially seemed promising, but they didn't lead to Paige.