The Utah Family Christmas Killers: You better watch out, you better not cry | The Case of the Tiede Family | UNSEEN

I'm Harvey Ghien, and this is Killer Stories. Every Monday, I'm cutting the lights. I'm telling you a bedtime story. Except, these stories are all real. We're talking brazen heist, devastating cons, serial murders, and cases that defy tidy categories. So join me for new episodes of Killer Stories with Harvey Ghien, every Monday. December 22, 1990, Oakley, Utah. These two men are currently invading the holiday cabin of the TIDA family. One of the gifts that he unwraps is a photo album. And he opens the photo album, and he looks into the camera and he says, like, hey TIDA. And no, it's pretty clear. He had his eye on that young lady. After invading nine houses, I knew right then something horrific had gone wrong. In killing and kidnapping, multiple people, he says, my girls have been kidnapped. The infamous Utah Christmas massacre. He started to pray out loud or to stop for the nightmare to end. Finally, ends here. Not that that's going to solve anything and bring anyone back, but at least he's not going to be able to do that to another family. Kidnapped, traumatized, and held hostage. 20-year-old Lynette TIDA was forced to watch home invaders kill her entire family right in front of her eyes. I remember thinking, OK, my dad's dead, my mother's dead, my grams gone. She knew she was running out of time. She had to find the courage to not only save herself, but also her little sister. If I got these men out of the cabin and into the car, my sister would be safe. And the frigid winter of Summit County, Utah. Loving sisters Lenei and Trisha are looking forward to spending the holidays with their families. It was just my mom's favorite place on Earth to be. She loved getting away from Texas, being able to be in snow-covered white Christmas. That was our family. Dream we looked forward to that every year to be able to spend our Christmas vacation together in the mountains with our family. The extreme cold may sound like a detriment to most people, but to them, that was the main appeal. The water time was frigid, very cold, very deep snow. We'd have to snow a little to get to the cabin, but it was an adventure of itself. Boop, stag is crap. But on the 21st of December 1990, the elements unleashed themselves into a massive snow storm after the family momentarily left the cabin. The plan for that Christmas was to be able to have my grams come and spend a holiday with us. We had gone down to Salt Lake City from the cabin to pick up my grams and there ended up a big snow storm coming in. The next morning, the weather finally came back to normal, so the family packed up their snowmobiles and left for the cabin. Lene, her mother, and her grandmother went ahead, while her father and sister stayed behind, as they needed to do some Christmas shopping before heading out. As we got up to the cabin, I made my way up the stairs, opened the door, and the next thing I knew there was a man pointing a revolver at me. Unbanones to Lene and the Titus, a duo of dangerous criminals had been stalking them for days since their arrival at the cabin. At that time, there was a halfway house in Salt Lake City as coloring street. And they had actually met at the halfway house. The two men are Vaughn Taylor, a self-proclaimed devil worshiper, and Edward Deli, a convicted arsonist, both well-known by the Salt Lake City Police. Taylor's family owned a cabin in Beaver Springs, so he was familiar with that area. I think they originally went up there to just party and have fun. But the sergeant couldn't have been any more wrong. After the Titus family left the day prior, the pair invaded the cabin, opened their Christmas presents, ate their food, and sacked the place. But weirdly enough, they hadn't stolen anything. The truth was, they had an even worse plan in mind. Tell me to get in here and sit down and shut up. I was in the state of shock. I think I was in disbelief. But this was only the beginning of her ordeal, as Lenae realized in horror that the man wasn't alone in the house. A second man comes out with thick glasses behind the bedroom, pointing another big black gun at me. And they both immediately started asking me who was with me. I said, my mother and my handicapped grandmother. The first man, Vaughn Taylor, immediately started to scream orders at his accomplice. Get them now! I noticed that they had opened our Christmas presents. They were large guns like deer rifles. There was food that had been opened. You know, you could tell they had been in the cabin and living in the cabin all for night, waiting for us to return. As Delhi came back with her mother and grandmother, Lenae helplessly watched as he threw them on the ground. With the little hope she had left, she began to pray. God, please don't want to die. And the man with the fuzzy hair told me to shut up that it wouldn't work. He was a devil worshipper. Afterward, Lenae's mother tried to reason with them. On the other side of the room, Lenae got tied up by Delhi, holding her up at gunpoint. She had no other choice but to look. OK. I have my mom. And she starts to say, what should I? What can I give you? What do you want? And in the same split second, the shooting continued. I look over to my shoulder and see my grandmother fall. You just can't even fathom that it's like your life's a movie. Almost just like you're watching a horror movie. Back in Oakley, Trisha, Lenae's younger sister and their father, Rolf, are stopping at the snowmobile repair shop before finally heading back to the cabin, unaware of the horror that awaits them. When I was at the repair shop with my father, he was at the checkout counter and all of a sudden a horrible feeling came over me, like someone just punched me in the chest. And I said, dad, something's wrong. Following Trisha's gut feeling, Rolf tried to call the cabin. So we got the phone and picked it up and called the cabin. And the phone actually didn't ring. I remember it made Taylor angry because at one point, he went over and he ripped the phone off the wall. And the line was just dead. So immediately dad and I left and went straight there. After she heard the phone ringing, Lenae knew that Trisha and Rolf were on their way to the cabin. In a panic, she tried to convince her attackers to leave. And they said, no, I can't leave you here. There's too many fingerprints. We got to burn it down. And then I was in fear because I knew my dad and my sister were going to be coming. She then tried to convince the men to leave with her and hope that by running away before they arrive, maybe she could save them. Who knows what's going to happen to me, but I have to get out of here because my dad and my sister are coming or something horrible is going to happen to them. After the men moved the bodies onto the patio, they headed toward the garage. Immediately as we got to the garage, the noise of the snowmobiles started to make its way up the driveway. The other man ordered the men at gunpoint to come into the garage. The first thing Lenae noticed was the total look of shock on her little sister's face. Trisha was only 16 at the time, but quickly understood that this is what the horrible feeling she had experienced earlier was all about. I saw the one guy with his arm around my sister's neck and a gun to her back. And the other one that jumped out with the ski mask had a gun drawn on us. Under all the flustered yellings of Taylor and Deli, Wolf calmly tried to reason with them. In the same way, his late wife did when she first met them. I was a dad when she'd give him some money, give him the cash. Slowly my dad ends up to snowbass and reached in and was billfolded and threw it on the ground. And as soon as he did that, the one guy said, "Shoot him!" Trisha is referring to Deli, Taylor's henchman, who was clearly starting to have second thoughts after the double murder he helped carry out. And Deli, in the gun at my father, he pulled the hammer back and could visibly see him start to shake and hesitate as he had the gun drawn down on my dad. My dad kind of had his hand out holding me back from getting close to him. At that moment, his only goal was to protect his daughters. No matter the cost. And Deli did not shoot. Vaughn took his gun out and aimed it at my father. But hit my dad in the head. Wolf, face down on the ground, was still moving slightly. Vaughn Taylor didn't hesitate, went right over him and shot him in the head a second time, point blank as everyone in the garage watched in horror. I knew that my dad was dead. He then proceeded with the original plan, setting the place on fire and kidnapping the two girls. I remember Vaughn went back into the garage poor gasoline all throughout the cabin. And he lit a match and caught it on fire and said, we have to get out of here before this place blows. But before we continue, we'd like to thank today's sponsor, Aura Frames, behind every new unseen video. There's hours spent brainstorming, researching, and editing in the holiday season, which can leave little time for present shopping. for us. Aura Frames is a great personalized gift, especially when you're low on time. Even better for last-minute shoppers. Aura Frames includes a premium gift box, at no extra cost, to ease any last-minute holiday stress. Here at Unseen, attention to detail is everything, and we strive to always verify even the smallest facts. With Aura Frames, we can see every detail, with photos that look like real prints thanks to closely calibrated high-resolution displays. You'd never know it's a screen, unless you see the photos' transition. For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting Aura Frames.com. To get $35 off Aura's best-selling Carter Mat Frames, named #1 by Wirecutter by using promo code Unseen at Checkout. That's AURAFrames.com promo code Unseen. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast, so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at Checkout, terms and conditions apply. Thanks for supporting Unseen, and thanks again to Aura Frames for sponsoring this episode. Now back to La Née and Trisha Storen. Something truly incredible happened as Taylor and Deli were leaving with the two girls on the family snowmobiles. After being shot in the head, twice, and then being set on fire, Rolf Tita miraculously woke up in the garage. He knew that his daughters is with these guys, and they're leaving. He went in to the shower, got in the shower, put himself out. After walking out of the shower, Rolf made a grim discovery. Following the trail of blood leading out to the patio, he recognized his wife and mother in law. Without a second thought, he ran back to the burning garage. On the snowmobile, the injuries he suffered heavily impaired his vision, and in the immediacy of the situation, he only left with a blood soaked t-shirt and a worn out pair of jeans. Needless to say, he was on the brink of death, either by blood loss, hypothermia, or an accident, as he was almost driving blind at this point. As the attackers forced them to drive the snowmobiles outside of the wood, La Née and Trisha were clueless about the fact that their father was right behind them, in pursuit. I remember having on the snowmobile right thinking, "Okay, my dad's dead, my mother's dead, my gramps gone, I'm the oldest in the family, and now I have this huge responsibility to take care of my little sister." Trisha, positioned in the front, was scheming a plan of her own. Just like La Née did earlier, she thought by sacrificing herself, maybe she could save her sister. As we were driving, I was in front, and my sister was behind me, and I thought, "All I have to do is go fast and throw this guy into a tree." And I remembered, "I can't do this, I can't leave my sister." Just before reaching Rolf's car, they crossed paths with a familiar face, Rolf's brother, Uncle Randy, standing right there by the trail. Randy needs to know something is wrong, we've got to clue him in, we've got to give him a look without tipping these guys off that we knew him. While trying to stay as calm as possible, Trisha unlocked her dad's car while Randy was approaching them from afar. Randy began loading up, and immediately La Née and I just looked at each other and we knew we had a hurry. We had a hurry because if these guys knew, the uncle Randy was there and we knew him, then they would probably kill him as well. But Randy was worried for his nieces, so he began running and screaming toward them, closing in on Rolf's car. "And I put my hand up again, stop, stop, stop." I remember as he waved to us, I put my hands up against the heaters as if I was trying to warm myself and I looked at Randy and I gave him a very, very stoic look that something was wrong and Taylor yelled at me, "Put your hands down," said, "I'm not putting my hands down." "I could just see it in their faces, looking to the window, they're, you know, they're not waving to me, they're not reacting to me, I know something's wrong." In the car, Trisha and La Née are held under duress by Taylor and Deli as they're driving off on the road, trying to get away, but Trisha knows that if she could buy her uncle some time, the situation could shift in their favor. "We've got to stop this car, we've got to stop proceeding because my uncle just saw us. At some point he's going to clue in that those girls went somewhere they shouldn't have gone, so we've got to slow down the situation, so immediately I say, "I have to go to the restroom, I have to go to the restroom." "I have to pee." And as we're driving down, they say, "Okay, but if you do anything, anything funny at all, consider your sister dead." This may sound superfluous, but this is exactly what Randy needed, because immediately after they took off in the car, someone else arrived. "I didn't know what to think until I could see and get a feel that it was my brother, you would never recognize him, you know, no coat, no gloves, been shot in the face, and it's just totally swollen, but I knew it was him. He did say, "My girls have been kidnapped, my wife has been shot." Reaction mode at that point, I said, "Come on, I bought him in the back there, fast as I could to get down the canyon, to get help." But there was something unusual about Randy. He was one of the rare people to possess a cell phone in 1990. "I had a goal, I had a task to do here, I had something I needed to do, get 911, get the girls and get him on a life flight." But sadly, the technology wasn't as reliable as it is today. But with multiple lives on the line, the adrenaline rush pushed him to drive like he never did before. "I actually was going down the canyon fast enough and I got up to him within four or five miles. It was a very hard moment, pulling up to the back, knowing what's going on here." He felt powerless as his brother was dying in the back seat, and his nieces were so close yet unattainable. But he didn't let this feeling discourage him, as he closed in on them and tried to look through their windows, in an attempt to know more about the situation. "They got guns, you know, they're going to shoot to the window or something like that. And I'm going, do I run them off the road? What do I do? You know, I'm right behind them, and I kept hitting 911 on the phone, and it's finally kicking in." "My brother's been shot." Back at the station, Summit County Police Captain Joe Offert is in charge. In only a few minutes, he got the entire force on Taylor's tail. "Right after Randy Call, our dispatcher dispatched a brief description of what was occurring, looking for vehicles in that area to respond, and our deputy was able to turn on that vehicle, and that's where the pursuit started." The ice-covered roads proved difficult to maneuver for the panic Taylor, giving the girls their first glimpse of hope since they got into the car. But it ended up being short-lived, as they almost forgot their reason they had been taken at all. To Taylor and Deli, they were only bargaining chips to be used against the police. "Another cop started proceeding towards us, and at that point, both men knew something's going on. Everything just started happening so fast, and I was scared to have to death. I think we're going over 100 miles an hour. Next thing we know is several cop cars behind us in pursuit." They kept going up the side of the ravine for a while, increasing the distance between them and the police, but this didn't calm down Taylor, who was still driving over 100 miles per hour on the edge of the canyon. "We drive and we eventually come to a turn. The roads are slick. It's winter time. He slides and hits the side of this other gas station. Quickly all the cops round the car and draw down on us. He reaches and grabs the gun and goes, "Get back, get back, and I'll shoot him. I got hostage. Get back." And so the cops moved their cars back, and he pulls back and proceeds to go down this driveway. Soon enough, in a tight turn, he started to lose control again, hitting the guardrail repeatedly until the car simply flipped down the ravine. "And then next thing I knew the car was spinning out of control and I could feel it free-falling. I like to roll a coaster ride and all I could see is sky. It seemed like forever that car was dropping and then it hit the ground and it's boom." After a few minutes of silence, all four of them regained their senses. The sounds of the sirens began to get louder, as offered in the police surrounded the car wreck. "Taylor actually said, "Okay, we made this pact. We're cut. We do not want to go back to jail." And he pulled his gun and he turned back and he said, "You know, I'm going to kill us now." And Deli was like, "No, this is Deli jumped out." The second Deli got out. He ducked behind the car door and started shooting at the opposing officers. Taylor soon followed, hunting rifle in hand. As the bullet stormed inside the car, Trisha leaned toward Lene and a desperate attempt to talk to her big sister one last time before what she thought would be their demise. "I reached back, my left hand, between the seats and I grabbed my sister's hand and held it tight. I thought she'd been hit as I heard the bullets come into the car and pierced into the leather of the seat where we were sitting. I felt the grip of her hand loosened. "That's a Lene, Lene." She grabbed my hand again and said, "I'm here, sis." After a moment, the police outgunned Deli and Taylor, with only a few bullets left, they stopped shooting and fell to their knees. "When the suspect realized that he was taking fire, it grabbed his weapon and surrendered. Both of them at that point were taken into custody without incident." After the arrest, officers took the girls back to the hospital. Once they got there, the first person they saw was Randy. His clothes drenched in blood, but boasting a smile on his face. "We just run into each other's arms and they didn't know that they thought their dad was dead. watch their dad get shot. So they thought he was dead and I go your dad's alive, and we have just hugged each other. That was one of the best hugs I ever had. Yep. Even today, Lenae is having a difficult time explaining how she felt when she learned about her father's survival. I was just a miracle my dad survived. My dad had a million reasons to still live, to still keep going. And my dad wasn't going to give up. When he believed in me, and he believed in my sister, and he fought, and he did not let those men take away his daughters, and he fought, and he's my biggest hero. Randy's a hero too. Randy saved my father's life. Soon after that, Rolf and the girls finally got reunited. And bandages all around his head, but just such a sigh relief that I could knew it was my dad. I saw his beautiful blue eyes, and instantly just a huge sense of relief, and just hugging and saying it's all going to be okay. Rolf eventually made a full recovery, and together with Lenae and Trisha, formed a united front of witnesses against Taylor and Deli during their trial, trapping them into a corner. That where Deli was convicted of secondary murder, two counts, and is still in prison. Taylor actually made the determination that it would be in his best interest to plead guilty to two counts of capital murder, and they carried the death penalty. I think it helps that we feel some justice has been served, not that that's going to solve anything and bring anyone back, but at least he's not going to be able to do that to another family. In the end, even though nothing will ever bring back what was lost, they both became survivors. I think for being affected at a 20-year-old as such horrific things in my life, it caused me to grow up sooner, to know that what is real is love and kindness in our lives and togetherness and joy. I just knew that that wasn't any other option. Survivors is who we are. Survivors is who we are today. Survivors are who we choose to continue to be. They tried to take everything from them, but they couldn't ever take their memories together as a family. Today, they rebuilt the cabin and still use it as a family getaway during the holidays, proving that even if you've faced trauma in your life, you can still come out stronger. When we go back to the cabin today, there definitely is moments that I remember certain situations when we have so many wonderful memories there that far outshadow the tragedy that happened. It helps me to relive and to tell the story of my legacy and my mom and grandson, dad, because I know that what they had to bring was taken away too soon, but that I can share and carry on through my light and love and showing that peace and forgiveness is a true way that we can live in this world. Almost 20 years after the tragedy, Rolf died of natural causes. Before that, he stood by both of his daughter's sides for most of their adult life and was a loving father and grandfather.