Confidential informant testifies in Pinyon Pines preliminary hearing

The preliminary hearing continued Thursday for Robert Pape and Cristin Smith, the two men accused of the Pinyon Pines triple murders.

Prosecutors brought in more witnesses and experts for testimony, including one man who used to work with Cristin Smith for a brief period of time shortly after the killings took place.

The confidential informant prosecutors brought in is Jeremy Witt.

Witt said he worked with Smith at Knott’s Soak City, now known as Wet ‘n’ Wild, water park in Palm Springs.

During testimony, Witt said he remembered one particular point in late September 2007.

He said he saw Smith looking southeast towards a mountain range in a daze, not paying attention to the wave pool he was looking over as a lifeguard at the park.

Witt said at one point Smith said to him, “Something went wrong, and we torched the f****** place.”

Witt then asked what happened, and said Smith then shook his head and didn’t answer back verbally.

After that conversation, Witt said he remembers Smith acting tense from there on out.

He said on another occasion shortly thereafter, they both were sharing conversations about the military, and he recalled Smith telling him, “You can kill and not serve.”

Witt said he was not aware of the Pinyon Pines triple murders when these conversations took place because he was out of the country at the time.

He said he didn’t talk about the conversations he had with Cristin Smith with anyone after that.

But in 2011, he said he made an anonymous call to authorities after seeing the case on television.

Investigators then came out and questioned him this past May.

The preliminary hearing is expected to continue next Monday afternoon in Riverside.

Stay with KESQ/CBS Local 2 for the latest updates on the preliminary hearing.