Dad makes miraculous Christmas Day snowmobile escape after burglars shot him and set him on fire. The intruders opened the presents

On December 22, 1990, Rolf Tiede nearly paid with his life when two intruders invaded his family’s remote Utah cabin, shot him in the head, doused him in gasoline, and set him and the structure ablaze.

Miraculously, despite severe injuries and the fire, Tiede crawled to a snowmobile and rode through the cold wilderness to summon help. The bizarre, horrific crime also saw the burglars opening the family’s Christmas presents before murdering his wife and mother-in-law, and abducting his two daughters.

What happened at the Tiede family cabin?

Before those horrors unfolded, the Tiede family had traveled to their remote cabin in Oakley, Utah, to celebrate Christmas. Unknown to them, Von Lester Taylor and Edward Steven Deli, both recently paroled and listed as walkaways from a halfway house, had broken into the cabin earlier that day.

They even filmed themselves selecting and unwrapping gifts under the Christmas tree, as though they owned the place, before their victims returned. When Rolf’s wife, Kaye Tiede, her mother Beth Potts, and daughter Linae arrived, the intruders ambushed them. Kaye and Beth were shot dead instantly.

Later that day, when Rolf and their other daughter, Tricia, arrived, the men confronted Rolf at gunpoint, stole a modest amount of cash, and shot him in the face. They then poured gasoline on the cabin and on Rolf himself, igniting both.

The snowmobile escape and daring rescue

As the fire raged and smoke filled the cabin, Rolf played dead for a time. He later shed burning clothes, crawled outside, and started one of the family’s snowmobiles despite being seriously injured. Bleeding and burned, he rode through deep snow to find help and succeeded, setting off a massive manhunt.

Meanwhile, the two kidnappers forced Linae and Tricia to each drive a snowmobile, with a gunman riding behind them, as they fled. At one point, their uncle Randy Zorn even saw the convoy pass by on a trail, but the girls stayed silent to avoid endangering him. Eventually, the criminals abandoned the snowmobiles, forced the girls into the family car, and tried to escape. A police chase ensued, leading to their capture and the safe rescue of the girls.

Taylor pled guilty in May 1991 to two counts of aggravated murder, and a jury recommended the death penalty. Deli was convicted at trial and sentenced in June 1991 to multiple life terms without parole. Over the years, appeals and legal challenges have played out, but Taylor’s conviction and death sentence have been repeatedly upheld by both state and federal courts. In a disturbing footnote, investigators found the video the intruders made of them opening the Tiede family’s Christmas presents and used it as evidence in the case.

For Rolf, his holiday retreat became a nightmare. Yet his resourceful, desperate escape on a snowmobile remains one of the most extraordinary acts of survival in modern true crime.