Angie Dodge

Case background and investigation

Angie Dodge was 18 and had moved into her own apartment in Idaho Falls, Idaho, about three weeks before she was killed. According to CBS News, she did not arrive for work on the morning of June 13, 1996, and a co-worker who went to check on her found her body in the apartment. She had been raped and had suffered multiple stab and cutting wounds. ABC News, citing Idaho Falls police, reported that semen and hair collected at the scene came from a single unknown man.

In January 1997 police questioned Christopher Tapp, then 20, over a series of interrogations. Tapp confessed to taking part in the crime, although his DNA did not match the evidence; police at the time worked on the theory that more than one person had been involved. A jury convicted him of murder and rape in May 1998. Tapp later said the confession had been coerced, and the Associated Press reported that officers had supplied him with details of the case and warned him that he could face the death penalty.

The Idaho Innocence Project took up his case, and Angie's mother, Carol Dodge, came to believe the wrong man was in prison and campaigned on his behalf. According to ABC News, swabs from Angie's hands were not tested until 2016 and showed DNA only from her and the unknown man. In 2017 Tapp reached an agreement under which his rape conviction was vacated and his murder sentence reduced to time served, and he was released after roughly 20 years.

An earlier attempt to use a genealogy database led police in 2014 to New Orleans filmmaker Michael Usry Jr., whose DNA did not match; CBS News reported that he was cleared and later supported the search for the killer. In 2019 genetic genealogy work by CeCe Moore of Parabon NanoLabs pointed to Brian Leigh Dripps Sr., who had lived across the street from Dodge in 1996 and was by then living in Caldwell, Idaho. Officers collected a cigarette butt he discarded, and its DNA matched the crime scene sample. Police announced his arrest on May 16, 2019, and said he had confessed.

Tapp was formally exonerated on July 17, 2019. Dripps pleaded guilty, and on June 8, 2021, Judge Joel Tingey sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years before parole eligibility, the Associated Press reported.

Tapp died in 2023 after being found injured at a Las Vegas hotel on October 29. CBS News reported that the Clark County coroner ruled the death a homicide and that Daniel Rodimer was charged in March 2024; his lawyers said he would contest the allegations.