Murder in Pinyon Pines

18 year old Becky, Becky's 53-year-old mother, Vicki Friedli, and her 55-year-old boyfriend, Jon Hayward were living in a secluded neighborhood called Pinyon Pines in California.

On the evening of Sept. 17, 2006, their home burned to the ground.

Inside, investigators find the charred remains of Vicki and Jon.

Vicki had been shot in the head by a .40 caliber hand gun.

Jon lay beside her, he died of a shotgun blast to the chest.

Outside in a burning wheelbarrow were the charred remains of Becky.

Her body was too badly burned to determine the cause of death.

There were almost no clues left behind. 

The fire consumed the crime scene and destroyed vital evidence. 

Shortly after, police questioned Vicki's ex husband Ron Friedli.

Ron and Vicki divorced after 13 years of marriage.

He is a former deputy sheriff.

He built the house that the three were killed in.

He passed a polygraph test.

Phone records put him 11 hours away at his property in Northern California when the crime took place. 

Police ruled him out as a suspect.

Some people believed that someone had a grudge against Ron and that is why the three were killed and the house burned down.

The police soon came to the conclusion that Becky was the real target and the other two were collateral damage.

A private investigator, who use to work with Ron on the police force, had been following the case since day one.

He came to believe that Becky was the main target.

Becky had a life long fear of fire due to an incident that happened when she was little.

Becky's friend and her cousin were also suspicious about someone right away.

Robert Pape was Becky ex-boyfriend. 

The teenagers dated in high school and were together for over a year.
Robert soon grew possessive of Becky.
In January 2006, Becky Friedli and Robert Pape broke up and started seeing other people. 

Robert's obsessive behavior only grew worse and took an even darker turn shortly before the murders in September.
He would make a lot of weird phone calls.
He would tell her if he couldn't have her, that no one could.
Robert and his military friend Christian Smith, came into her work and harassed her the day before the murder.

Becky's cousin, Daniela Zermeño, told investigators that on the night of the murders, Becky had told her she was going hiking on her property with Robert and his friend, Christian Smith to smooth things over.
When the police questioned Robert and Christian, they stated that they canceled the hike with Becky and were no where near her at the time the murders went down.
They lied, because their cellphones when dead at exactly the same time, around the time of the murder.
There was no cellphone service up where Becky lived.
Their cellphone records also showed that there last location was going up the highway towards where Becky lived.
The two told investigators that that was a mistake and they were going to church.
At the crime scene there was a business card found.
On that business card was Christian's DNA.

As the six-year anniversary of the crime approached with no arrests in sight, the private investigator put up a billboard.
"We wanted to do a before and after. A beautiful picture of Becky ... and then a picture, a simulated picture of Becky in the wheelbarrow on fire," Bolaños said. "It really, really pulled at heartstrings and sickened people."

Over the next year, tips started coming in. 
One of them was from Becky's cousin, Daniela Zermeño.
She told the private investigator, what the police didn't follow through with far enough.
"I had spoken to Becky the night before the murder," Zermeño explained. "And she told me that her ex-boyfriend ... Robert, had come into her work at Denny's and was harassing her.
He had harassed her to the point of being removed from the restaurant."
And then she told the investigator about Becky telling her she was going to go on a hike with the two.

The breathed new life into the case.
The police decided to look at things once more.

The investigator, along with a Hollywood producer, put together a reenactment video.

A few months later, the D.A.'s office subpoenaed Robert Pape and Christian Smith to appear before a grand jury.

As the grand jury drew to a close, there was news: Pape and Smith were arrested for triple homicide.

As everyone were sure the killers were finally in custody.

Robert Pape and Christian Smith, both 25, pleaded not guilty.
The defendants family's said they that couldn't have done this.
Neither have criminal records. 
Christian Smith is married and a decorated war hero. 
Robert Pape is also married and an active member of his church.

"He saved another man's life ... who was actually ... shot through the lung. And I have a picture of him pulling him out and two of his battle buddies. And Christian has one hand on a rifle and pulling his -- his comrade out and firing back at Afghanis," Christians dad said.
Christian has won commendations for valor and has been awarded two Purple Hearts.

Just six months after their arrests, all charges were dropped.

"Christian Smith and Robert Pape had been really, really good friends in high school. ...And they both kinda beat to the same drum. ...when they were separate they were good guys ... But together they were combustible," private investigator Luis Bolaños explained. 
"Robert Pape and Christian Smith both had an extreme fascination with fire."

Just a few months before the fire at Pinyon Pines, Robert had an instant message conversation with his then- girlfriend, 
Sara. 
Robert seemed to offer a solution to Sara's problem with an ex-boyfriend.
"'Well, if you know where he lives, we can professionally burn his house down,'"  

The defense believes that other people should have been looked at more closely like Javier Garcia Jr.
Garcia Jr. wanted to be more than friends with Becky. 
Garcia's phone records show he was up by Becky's place.
Garcia Jr.'s father is an investigator in the D.A.'s office.
Supposedly the reason why Garcia Jr. was driving in the area before the murders was because he wanted to join the group going hiking, but Becky told him not to come.
So he turned around.
Police determined Javier Garcia Jr. was back on the desert floor at the time of the murders and ruled him out as a suspect. 

In June 2016, Robert Pape and Christian Smith were re-arrested for the murders. 
The State says the charges were based on a Christian's wife Sarah, better cell phone tracking and more evidence that links Christian Smith to that business card found at the crime scene.

The trial began in April 2018, almost 12 years after the crime.

After over a month of trial, the case went to the jury. 
They would deliberate 10 days before giving word that they had finally reached a verdict.

In 2018, Christian Smith, and Robert Pape were found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Vicki Friedli and Jon Hayward. Pape was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Becky Friedli.

At their sentencing in August, Robert Pape, 30, and Christian Smith, 29, face life without parole.