Robert Pape

Robert Pape lived in Southern California and was acquainted with Cristin Smith prior to the murders. Publicly available information concerning his childhood, education and early adult life is limited.

Before the murders, Pape had no public profile comparable to the notoriety he later received following his conviction. Investigators would later establish that he was closely associated with Smith, who became his co-defendant in the triple murder prosecution.

During the evening of September 17, 1998, Vicki Friedli was at her home in the mountain community of Pinyon Pines, Riverside County, with her 18-year-old daughter Becky Friedli and family friend Jon Hayward.

Prosecutors established that Robert Pape and Cristin Smith entered the residence, where all three victims were murdered. Vicki Friedli and Jon Hayward were fatally shot, while Becky Friedli was attacked and murdered after attempting to flee. The assailants then set fire to the home in an effort to destroy evidence and conceal the crimes.

Although the fire severely damaged the residence, investigators quickly determined that the deaths were homicides. Despite an extensive investigation, the case remained unsolved for many years.

The murders were carried out during a coordinated attack involving firearms and arson. Prosecutors argued that Pape and Smith acted together, killing the victims before deliberately igniting the house.

The fire was intended to destroy forensic evidence and complicate the investigation. Despite the extensive damage, investigators preserved biological evidence that later became critical when advances in DNA technology allowed previously unavailable testing techniques to be applied to the case.

The combination of homicide followed by deliberate arson became a defining feature of the investigation and ultimately contributed to the successful prosecution decades later.

The murders remained one of Riverside County's most significant cold cases for nearly twenty years. Detectives continued reviewing evidence while forensic science advanced, eventually submitting preserved biological material for modern DNA analysis.

The renewed testing identified DNA linked to Robert Pape. Investigators also developed additional evidence connecting both Pape and Cristin Smith to the murders. Based on the combined forensic and investigative findings, both men were arrested in 2014 and charged with three counts of murder and related offences.

The arrests demonstrated the growing importance of modern DNA technology in solving long-unsolved homicide investigations.

Pape and Smith were tried together in Riverside County Superior Court. Prosecutors presented DNA evidence, forensic testimony and circumstantial evidence linking both defendants to the murders and the subsequent arson.

The defence challenged aspects of the forensic evidence and argued that investigators had failed to establish the events beyond reasonable doubt. Prosecutors maintained that the preserved biological evidence, together with the broader investigation, clearly identified both men as the perpetrators.

In August 2018, a jury convicted Robert Pape of three counts of first-degree murder. He was also convicted of special-circumstance allegations arising from the multiple murders.

The court sentenced Pape to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

The Pinyon Pines murders remained unsolved for almost two decades before developments in forensic DNA testing transformed the investigation. The case became a notable example of how preserved biological evidence can solve cold cases many years after the original crimes.

The murders devastated the families of Vicki Friedli, Becky Friedli and Jon Hayward, who waited nearly twenty years for arrests and convictions. Prosecutors described the verdicts as the culmination of years of work by investigators who continued pursuing the case long after it had grown cold.

The successful prosecution highlighted the value of maintaining evidence from unsolved homicides, allowing modern forensic techniques to identify offenders long after the crimes were committed.

• Riverside County District Attorney's Office
• Riverside County Sheriff's Office
• California court records
• Associated Press
• The Desert Sun
• Idyllwild Town Crier
• KESQ News Channel 3