Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Yes, Paige Birgfeld, Missing Mom, is a Hooker

Remember the Duke lacrosse team rape accuser? The exotic dancer who worked for an escort service to "pay her college tuition?" I called the woman a hooker when I was doing television interviews and I always got a shocked response. "Oh, no!" the host would exclaim! "She was a dancer!" Yeah, right. If a girl continues to work for an escort service after going out on a couple of "dates," she isn't keeping her job by refusing to provide the services her clients want.

When Virginia Tech killer Cho paid for a "dancer" to come to his hotel room, he was expecting to get sex. Everyone tiptoed around that as well. Do we in this society refuse to believe that prostitution exists in this country?

Paige Birgfeld, single mother of three, disappeared from Grand Junction, Colorado on June 23. Her abandoned car was found on fire across town. Soon after, her family and friends were surprised to find she had been leading a double life: not only did she sell kitchenware, make dishes for sick friends, and sew costumes for her children’s dance group, but she also worked as an escort. Her friends in the play group thought there might be something going on in her life they didn’t know about, but they never pried.

Someone has to say it. All this tiptoeing around the truth is about driving me nuts! Yes, Birgfeld had another line of income. She advertised her services as an “escort” named Carrie on her “Naughtynightlife” website which includes “extra” services that the police believe may have crossed legal boundries. May? Please. This single mother’s only other source of income is occasionally teaching dance to little children and selling Pampered Chef cookware at home parties, yet she lives in a house worth over a million dollars and doesn’t seem to be suffering from money problems.

Her site advertises in-call and out-call erotic massages which she offers in her office or at your home or hotel. She starts the massage dressed in a mini-skirt. She used to advertise her business as one offering acupuncture. She dressed in skimpy clothing and high heels for that procedure as well. All her clients were men and came (pun intended) after hours when the building was locked. The other tenants were suspicious she probably wasn’t doing medical procedures to relieve pain. I can’t imagine what could have tipped them off.

Birgfeld had worked as an exotic dancer before she met her second husband. When his finances went south during their marriage, Birgfeld told her hubby she was going back dancing to make money. Apparently, he found her dancing style a little disturbing when he found underwear in her car that wasn’t hers. This husband stated that he believed she was performing topless massages “at the least,” meaning her clients would getting a hand job while looking at her boobs.

Aw, come on, folks, let’s call a hooker a hooker. Yes, Paige Birgfeld is a hooker, a prostitute, a sex worker by any name you want to call her. She has sex with men for money and has done so for years. She may be a fun lady, a good friend, even a nice mommy (not a good mommy because clearly Birgfeld would not be working as a hooker if she were). There are other ways to make ends meet and I am sure her kids would have preferred she found another career while raising them.

It is important that we recognize Birgfeld is a hooker because it changes the profile of the victim and it lengthens the suspect list considerably. She has two ex-husbands and a boatload of scuzzy males who might have become angry with her. Birgfeld supposedly had been back dating her first husband. Did he not realize she was a pro? Might he not have gotten upset if he found that out? And what kind of guy would he be if he didn’t care? Her second ex-husband was supposedly upset that she was hooking while raising their children. I guess I can understand that emotion and he certainly could have a motive for wanting her out of his children's lives. Then, there are all her johns. One of them might be a serial killer or other kind of sex pervert.

Paige Birgfeld was making poor choices in her life. She put herself and her children’s lives in danger. She was a clearly a liar if her children, her parents, and her friends did not know the truth about her profession. She lied as well to at least one of her ex-husbands. Birgfeld was also lawbreaker which makes her a criminal. If the police found evidence of a violent crime in Birgfeld’s car, then she was likely murdered by one of the pissed off exes or one of her creepy tricks. If there is no sign of foul play, it is possible Birgfeld decided to take off and live a freer life as clearly she had a limited amount of concern for her children's well-being. Either way, the police can’t do their job and the public can’t bring them proper information if we are going to sugar-coat this woman’s life. If she was willing to put her picture up on a website called “Naughtynightlife” and spend time with strange men, why are we having such a problem labeling her a hooker? She is what she is and Mother Teresa she ain’t.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: How to Get Labeled a Psychopath

Sometimes when I am doing crime commentary on one of the network news shows, the host will toss out, “So you are a criminal profiler, Pat Brown, what kind of guy do you think this is?” I am being asked to label a person of interest in psychological terms based on his behaviors and at times I have identified that individual as a psychopath. In fact, I have been accused by some of tossing this label out awfully quickly without the benefit of doing a clinical analysis. These critics would be right. I have made a determination in a matter of minutes. But, truthfully folks, sometimes it doesn’t take that long to figure out what kind of character we are dealing with. Take the case of missing Michigan wife, Tara Lynn Grant, who disappeared on February 9, 2007. Her husband, Steven Grant, claims his wife returned from a business trip that day and then around 11 PM that evening, he overheard her talk to someone on the telephone and then he sees her walk out of the house and get in a dark-colored sedan. She hasn't been heard from since.

Steve Grant doesn’t bother to report his beloved wife and mother of his two young children missing for five days. He claims he wasn’t worried. He figured she would show back up. Meanwhile, he has been spending time emailing an ex-girlfriend and saying how he would like her to give him a sponge bath and do a naked modeling session with him. During those emails he notes how he “doesn’t care about being married” probably due to “that no conscience thing” he has and how marriage is like speed limits; meant to be broken and the only issue is to not get caught.

The police check into that phone call his wife supposedly made and to no one’s surprise neither her cell phone or home phone records have any phone call made at the time hubby claims he overheard her conversation. Since Tara disappeared, her cell phone and credit cards remain unused. Meanwhile, Grant refuses to turn over the home computer because he probably has a lot of incriminating behavioral evidence (I am guessing lots of pornography and emails as he was likely trolling the net for sex - the stuff he wrote to the ex-girlfriend is predator language).

So, while this criminal profiler cannot say Steve Grant is a psychopath, I will copy the language style of the Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel who said Grant isn’t a suspect but his behavior is “suspect.” Steven Grant may not be a psychopath but he sure behaves like a psychopath. He claims he has no conscious which is a hallmark of psychopathy, he doesn’t care if he breaks rules, he lies, he manipulates, and he has a lack of affect and a lack of empathy, all more signs of being a psychopath. So, if Steve Grant isn’t a psychopath, he is doing a fine job imitating the behaviors of one. Grant is whining that he is being over focused on as a suspect in his wife’s disappearance. Well, tough luck, Steve. If you don’t want to be a suspect in a crime, don’t act so suspicious. Oh, wait, I forgot. Blaming others is yet another behavior of a psychopath. Keep racking ‘em up, Steven!