A Crime Before Christmas
On December 22, 1990, sisters Linae and Tricia Tiede were held hostage by two men when their family was spending Christmas at their Utah cabin. Their mother, father, and grandmother were shot and the two men planned to burn the house down. The sisters owe their survival to their heroic father, Rolf.
This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 3/9/2013. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.
- Duration
- 39m
- Broadcast on
- 22 Dec 2025
- Audio Format
- other
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[Music] My family owns a beautiful cabin in Oakley, Utah. [Music] The sound of the river, the horses that are down in the pasture, the birds. [Music] It's absolutely heaven on earth to me. [Music] My mom had given it a name, tedious tranquility, because of the serenity and peace. [Music] The cabin was an awesome place to go to. It was a young child that loved going up there, bringing ants and uncles and cousins. [Music] The cabin was about two and a half miles off the road. [Music] You have to snowball in during the winter time. It was an escape from the world for our family. [Music] It was winter of 1990. I was 20 years old and my little sister was 16. [Music] It was Christmas time. We're off for the holidays. [Music] There's a large Christmas tree with lots of gifts around it. I have great memories of spending Christmas with my mom and dad. [Music] My mom even had our Christmas stockings hung under the fireplace mantle, ready for Santa to come. [Music] Three days before Christmas, our family had to finish up our Christmas shopping and head back up to our family cabin. [Music] My mom and grams and I arrived at the cabin first and my hands were freezing. [Music] It was a bitter cold winter that year. [Music] I asked my mom to hurry and unlock the door. I needed to run in and run my hands under some water and I would be right back down to helper. [Music] I got to the top of the stairs and saw a gray flash go behind the refrigerator. And the first thought that popped in my mind was, oh, a cousin's here already and was going to jump out and say boo. [Music] It didn't turn out that way. [Music] Behind the refrigerator came a frizzy headed man in a gray sweatshirt with his pistol pointed at me. [Music] I assumed that he would want to just rob us and be on his way. [Music]
Transcription truncated.
On December 22, 1990, sisters Linae and Tricia Tiede were held hostage by two men when their family was spending Christmas at their Utah cabin. Their mother, father, and grandmother were shot and the two men planned to burn the house down. The sisters owe their survival to their heroic father, Rolf.
This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 3/9/2013. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.