Kriti Mehrotra
On December 22, 1990, 49-year-old Kaye Tidwell Tiede and her mother, 76-year-old Beth Tidwell Potts, were fatally shot inside the former’s mountain cabin in Oakley, Utah. Kaye’s 51-year-old husband, Rolf Tiede, was also shot before their property was set ablaze, and two daughters, Linae and Tricia, were kidnapped. As carefully profiled in CBS’ ’48 Hours: Three Days Before Christmas,’ there were two assailants behind the entire ordeal, but only Von Lester Taylor pulled the trigger on the victims.
Von Lester Taylor’s Background Was Marked by Crime
It has been reported that Von Lester Taylor was born on March 26, 1965, into a decent family with relatively ordinary roots. However, he somehow ended up getting mixed with the wrong crowd or inspirations at one point, which soon resulted in his arrest, conviction, and sentencing for aggravated burglary. He served a few years within four walls at a penitentiary before being paroled at the age of 25 in October 1990. Von was subsequently transferred to a halfway house in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he first met 21-year-old Edward Steven Deli around a month later, in November. The latter had been granted parole from his 5-year sentence for arson, unaware he would find a like-minded person or friend during his transition back into the real world.
According to the records, they were given the opportunity to get out and look for a job around mid-December, but they absconded. They never returned, which allegedly wasn’t even flagged. Von and Edward then decided to burglarize secluded cabins in the Oakley area, which was reportedly well-known to Edward due to some familial connections, before fleeing Utah. Thus, they ultimately targeted the Tiede family’s holiday property. They broke into the house in the early hours of December 22 when the family was on an overnight shopping trip. While waiting for the residents to arrive, the duo lounged around, opened all their Christmas presents, and recorded it all on a camcorder before finally kick-starting their violent spree.
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Von Lester Taylor is Currently on Death Row, Awaiting Execution
Thankfully, Von and Edward were spotted in the Tiede’s vehicle alongside the two young girls within an hour of their escape, leading to a chase, some gunfire, and their ultimate arrest. They had hoped to make it to New York, but they didn’t even make it out of Summit County — fortunately, Linae (then 20) and Tricia, who was 16 at the time, were physically unharmed, and Rolf also made a full recovery. As a result, the duo was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, attempted first-degree murder, and many more related charges. In the end, on May 2, 1991, Von decided to plead guilty to two counts of aggravated murder in exchange for all other charges to be dropped, only to later be handed the death penalty.
At that point, inmates could choose their preferred way to be executed from between a firing squad and lethal injection, so he chose the latter. Around that same time, Edward stood trial too, during which it came to light that Von had reportedly called a friend after they had broken into the fateful cabin to assert he planned “to shoot some people.” Moreover, the young man’s defense was also that he is not guilty of the major crimes because Von alone was the one to pull the trigger on Kaye, Beth, and Rolf. Nevertheless, the prosecutors argued that whether or not Edward shot the victims, he and Von bear equal responsibility because he was an active part of the crime and never said no.
Edward was eventually convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, attempted murder, and more, for which he was sentenced to a life term. Von has since appealed his conviction and sentence many times, but to no avail. The original verdict was overturned by a federal district court on March 12, 2020, yet was reinstated by the 10th Circuit Court on July 30, 2021. Then, on June 13, 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed his final regular appeal, meaning today, at the age of 60, Von Lester Taylor remains on death row at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.
