True Crime Vault: Stranger Than Fiction
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Hi there, everybody. It's Deborah Roberts here, co-anchor of 2020. I always like to know how a story turns out, and something tells me that you as a 2020 podcast listener feel the same way. Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault, where we are revisiting some of the most memorable stories from our archives. We're also going to give you an update on what's happened since the story first aired. Take a listen. Coming up.

Crime stories have fascinated human beings since Cain and Abel. I've spent a lifetime exploring the edges of evil, exploring why people do what they do. I'm Scott Turow. As a criminal lawyer, I have seen the worst of humankind. As a best-selling novelist, I have probed the underbelly of human existence. I've written books that have sold millions of copies. But the story of this case still has to be written.

18-year-old Angie Dodge was raped and murdered. A jury convicted Tapp of first-degree murder and rape. Sometimes true crime is more unthinkable than anything I have ever imagined. I don't know what the hell you guys want. I wasn't there. For 13 years, I believed that Chris Tapp was part of my daughter's killing. This is not just a regular case. It's woven in the fabric of everything.

of every IFPD guy's career that's here. Target vehicle, keep an eye on it. There is one person that killed my daughter. He's going to be coming out. These are the stories that keep me up at night. The cases that are truly stranger than fiction.

I'm John Quinones. A brutal rape and murder, a vital clue left behind, then a confession, and finally a conviction. Many believed it was a case closed, but that was hardly the end of this story.

The killing of 18-year-old Angie Dodge haunted her mother, Carol, and led her on a quest for justice that would span more than two decades. She continually wondered about the man authorities put behind bars and remained convinced that what really happened to Angie was still unknown.

As we first reported in 2021, finding the truth would take a mother's determination, a painstaking scientific search, and some dogged police work, all to solve a crime that had shaken what had long been regarded as a very peaceful place. Idaho Falls is a really nice little western town. It's a good place to live, a good place to raise a family.

It's a city of about 65,000 and right on the Snake River. We have a beautiful waterfall that's fairly long, it's probably a quarter of a mile long, and it's kind of a big attraction in town. The Idaho Falls Temple is right in the center of town. It's sort of the center of spiritual life for a lot of the Mormon community in the area. A lot of these people around here were giving the shirt off their back. Idaho Falls is a very safe place to live. We don't have a lot of murder.

18-year-old Angie Dodge was raped and murdered. Someone had raped and killed her. Angie's throat was cut. In her Idaho Falls apartment. This call came over the radio that body was found and suspicious. Suspicious death. I want you to come and process this crime scene. I'd probably been on patrol for a couple of months. Very green.

You can actually see me on that original news footage. It was my first homicide. They cautioned me that it was a pretty graphic and violent scene, a lot of blood. And then they pointed me toward the front door, took photographs of to show my approach. I get to the top of the stairs and I continue to photograph. So I enter into the largest bedroom and that's where I was able to see the victim. She's laying on the floor on her back next to a mattress.

Her sweatpants were pulled down just above knee level. Her clothes were kind of disheveled. She had had a shirt on that was slightly lifted up and it was exposing one of the cut marks on one of her breasts. I can see that she has some extensive lacerations or incisions, stab wounds, and there is a horrific wound to the throat. There was a lot of blood. There were some blood marks on the wall.

And then off to my right, there was a laundry basket and some stuffed animals. It was probably the worst case I've ever seen. It's the nightmare. When you have a child that's murdered, life just gets shattered. And there's no way to put the pieces back together. Angie was an 18-year-old girl. She had gotten out of high school just recently.

She was looking into going to Idaho State University. Angie, she was a loud, outgoing person. If she had something to say, she said it. Angie's car was called the boat and she would stick her foot out the window while she was driving. It was quite the sight. It was fun. Angie was the youngest of four children. She was my, not only my baby, but she was my only daughter.

She was extremely intelligent. She didn't take no for an answer. Angie had moved into an upstairs apartment in this house three weeks before being murdered there. The house was a two-story, single-family dwelling that was converted into apartments. It's an older neighborhood in Idaho Falls. It had seen better days. The police gathered DNA at the crime scene.

The semen that we could see clearly all over the victim. And skin cells under her fingernails. We found one hair that was obviously different. One that we believed was a pubic hair. Some blood sampling, obviously. The killer absolutely left his culling card there.

This was my only daughter and I hope you come forward and make it easy on everyone. Almost every person that they brought in for an interview, they asked them for DNA. We're interviewing all family members, associates, friends of hers. We've collected over a hundred different DNA samples. There wasn't any matches. Ultimately, it's six months. There's still no killer arrested.

When you have a crime like this, violent, horrible, it fills everybody in the community with anxiety. The police feel that pressure.

to get that crime quickly solved. And then a friend of hers was arrested in Nevada for raping a woman at knife point. Much like the similar circumstances that had happened in Angie's murder. Police take immediate action on this new information, but it's going to be a lead that ends up destroying innocent lives. ♪♪

While investigating Angie Dodge's murder, police in Idaho Falls obtain a crucial clue, DNA evidence left at the crime scene. As investigators narrow their focus on a possible suspect, they're hoping that evidence will soon bring a resolution to the case and calm the fears of a town desperate for answers.

The community was really shaken by this murder. 18-year-old Angie Dodge was raped and murdered. Someone had raped and killed her. Like a lot of small towns in the United States, Idaho Falls is a place where crime, especially violent crime, like the murder of Angie Dodge, is a relative rarity. There was no obvious way of knowing who did it. Was it somebody I'm meeting at the store? I was never there.

Who in their right mind would want to kill someone so pleasant, someone so joyful, perfect for life? If I had to have the opportunity to tell her how much I love her, I don't know that I could have made it. It's when you get determined to find out why my daughter was killed.

She wanted to know who did it, just like I would or any other parent would. Where DNA has been left behind, the expectation is that crime is going to be quickly solved. We spent months trying to solve this case, and they're getting nowhere. A frightened public demanding results in the aftermath of a ghastly crime also places predictable pressures on police, which can sometimes lead to questionable conduct.

Seven months after the murder, police get a tip. A friend of Angie Dodge named Benjamin Hobbs was arrested in Nevada for raping a woman at knife point. Much like the similar circumstances that had happened in Angie's murder. It's not unreasonable for the cops to say this is a hot lead. This is probably our guy. Ben Hobbs is the guy who killed Angie Dodge. He was a very strong suspect.

Ben Hobbs is not simply somebody who knew Angie Dodge. He was actually in the funeral party carrying flowers. It's not unusual for a killer who takes a certain amount of pleasure in the crime to be at the funeral. So this seems to be another telltale sign that maybe Ben Hobbs is the right guy. The police drive down to Ely, Nevada.

Ben Hobbs becomes their number one suspect. The police get his DNA. They go back to Idaho Falls and begin looking at Ben Hobbs' circle of friends.

There was a very large group of friends. They sometimes called themselves the River Rats because they hung out at the Snake River. The River Boat Docks was a hangout for a lot of different groups of people. And Angie was a social butterfly, so she would be in all the groups. We all were dorks back in the day. You know, we all had good times, hooky-bobbin' and water fights. They bring in Chris Tapp, who was a close friend of Ben Hobbs.

Chris had been a high school dropout for a couple of years. He's couch surfing from place to place. He smokes weed a lot, doesn't really work a lot. I appreciate you coming out. I want to pick your brain for a bit. They started asking Chris about Ben Hobbs. What about him? Don't know. I knew. I tell you.

One of the lead detectives, before he was a detective, was a school resource officer for the high school that Chris Tapp was going to. So Chris trusts him. You know me. I'm not going to screw with you.

Chris Tapp was brought in a number of times for different interviews and polygraph examinations. Chris gets an attorney. He denies any role in the crime. Police begin a series of interrogations and polygraphs that will last for nearly 60 hours.

You're screwing with me now. And then he begins to change his story. The impression I got from him is you're like downstairs waiting for him. Maybe I like that, I just don't know. Now the police have reason to be suspicious. There's a saying in the law, false in one thing, false in all. Somebody who's changing his story is hiding something even bigger. You're in the apartment. Who's with you? Ben. Chris Tapp disclosed that he and Ben Hobbs were involved.

But neither Hobbs nor Tapp DNA profile matched the CODIS profile. Hobbs' DNA doesn't match. Chris Tapp's DNA doesn't match. So they're looking for a third person.

A mysterious third person who must have been the person who sexually violated Angie Dodge. There's definitely another person involved that you have not told us about. The evidence is more than that. I don't know who's the third person. Tell me the other person who was there so we can get it started. Maybe Jer was. Well, Sarge is there or not. To my recollection, yes. Chris ultimately names his friend, Jeremy Sarges, as the third man.

When Chris named me as a suspect, I was furious, livid, irate. The first thing in the Miranda rights, you have the right to remain silent. Seems like it's pretty important.

You just shut your mouth. Jeremy Sargis' DNA also comes back as not being the person who killed Angie Dodge. And he has an alibi. Police dropped Jeremy as a suspect. Now we're finding out that Sargis probably wasn't there. And that you were screwing with us.

I'm not screwing with you. To watch the evolution of what Chris Tapp says from one session to the next is really disturbing. I wasn't there on the island. I know I'm there. How many times did you cover? Just once.

He ultimately says, "I'm the guy who cut her on the breast." The cut you made was across the breast. They can't pin this crime on Hobbs nor Sargis, but they now have a confession from Chris Tapp. In February of 1997, Chris Tapp was charged with the rape and murder of Angie Dodge. He was taken into custody. The day that they took my baby's life, they took my life. There will be justice.

But there's still a major gap in their case. They still don't know who the mystery man is who left the DNA at the crime scene. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Do you have a point of sale system you can trust? Or is it a real POS? You need Shopify for retail. From accepting payments to managing inventory, Shopify POS has everything you need to sell in person.

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To have a loved one murdered is a unique loss. Another human being made an intentional decision to kill this person you adored.

As this trial begins, it's just certainly unlike anything in the life of a small town. There's palpable tension on both sides. Everybody is on high alert to find out the ultimate question. Did he do it?

On February 3rd, 1997, Chris Tapp is charged with first degree murder with an enhancement for using a deadly weapon and rape. Chris confessed to being at the scene with Ben Hobbs and this other person. Ben Hobbs is never charged because he didn't confess to the crime and his DNA didn't match. It's not Jeremy Sargis' DNA either. Chris Tapp is the only one left holding the bag.

There will be justice. And going into the trial, it's reliving it. The horror. It's awful.

Carol was there. She went to the trial every day. She was a very visible presence. Carol Dodge wanted him to pay. She wanted the death penalty. She wanted Chris Tapp to suffer the way her daughter had. The jury saw him confessing to doing it, to participating in the crime. How many times did you cut? Just once. Did she say anything? How come?

Chris' defense lawyers saw that there were problems with his confession, but the prosecution was successful in countering his claims. And the argument is simple. Innocent people don't confess to crimes they didn't commit. Closed case. So even though someone else left his DNA on Angie, the jury finds Chris guilty as an accomplice. You, the jury, are guilty.

When the jury verdict came down, it was just sadness. Pure sadness. I couldn't believe I was going away. I couldn't believe I was going to prison.

I completely believe that what the police did was improper. I think that the questioning was entirely suggestive. And I think that Christopher just was led down a path. We could have done it without you. Christopher was found guilty. All of us friends wanted the death penalty for him. We felt that he should be taken care of like he did to our friend.

How dare he ask to spare his life without you back for hers? How dare he? How dare he? How dare he?

The judge ultimately opted against the death penalty. He gave him 30 years to life. There are a number of issues that were raised during the trial, and I believe that there will be an appeal. Mr. Tam, do you have any questions about the sentence I just imposed? Merry Christmas. The family was very upset that he didn't get either the death penalty or a life without parole. And I came in here, and I did everything I could to go.

Doesn't anybody understand what's going on in this town? Won't anybody wake up? This town needs to wake up. Take your blinders off, for hell's sakes. DENNIS FARINA: Even though Chris Taff was now in prison, Carol wasn't satisfied. There was still the mystery of who left the DNA at the crime scene and delivered Angie's fatal wounds. We still needed to find that other person. But nothing happened. Nothing came up.

No evidence came forward. Carol Dodge is not happy that her daughter's actual killer has not been identified. So she decides she needs to investigate it herself. Carol Dodge is a force of nature. Force of nature. She's a formidable figure. Fierce, determined. I don't think Carol knows what rest means. She wants answers. She's cajoling the police saying, "Come on, you've got to find something."

I'd go to the police station every day. Over and over again, she would barge into the chief's office. And I'd say, "What's happening today?" IFPD got so tired of me. I'd say, "I'm going out to the streets tonight."

I literally went to the streets. I kept going back and forth. I kept reading all of the documents and the different reports that I had accumulated. She's driving around late at night putting her own life at risk. Somebody pulled a gun on her once. She's surveilling people. She's questioning drug dealers. I lived out on the streets. I'd go home.

3 or 4, 5 o'clock in the morning. She followed me a few times, let me know that she knew I had something to do with it, and I was going down. It was sad to see her, to see a mom in that so much pain. She did that for 20 years, basically. She is not going to let Angie's case go cold. The turning point comes when Carol decides that she's going to study Chris Tapp's interrogation tapes, all 60 hours of them.

She is convinced that she will notice something that the cops never noticed. She's looking through him, trying to see if she can find more information about who killed her daughter. And over time... She realizes that he really doesn't know much about the crime. But the big question is...

If Chris wasn't there, why would someone confess to a crime they didn't commit? One of the fixed stars of the universe of criminal justice is the idea that nobody voluntarily confesses to a crime she or he didn't commit. I look at Angie's case and in 23 years I've been trying to put this puzzle together and the sinner's missing.

Like any good plot twist, Carol Dodge does something few would expect. If I didn't have to know about this, I would say, but I do not know. In 2008, she tracked down Chris Tapp's new defense lawyer, John Thomas. One day after court, Carol Dodge stops me. And I thought, oh, no, this is not going to be good. I'm representing Chris Tapp. Her daughter was brutally murdered.

Carol told me that I needed to watch the videotapes of Chris's interrogations and that she thought that Chris Tapp was innocent. There were nine separate interrogations. It was hours and hours of polygraph sessions. I've been trying to. I wish I could.

Me, in my bright mind, if I help him, you know, I can help him solve this and I can become a hero and I'm a good guy or whatever it is. Okay, we're just going to jump right back into it. Law enforcement claims that Chris volunteered statements that indicated that he knew about the rape and murder. But when John Thomas viewed the tapes, he believed that the police wittingly or unwittingly reveal details of the crime. It wasn't just stab ones or slice ones. There was a lot of aggression.

They ask him questions about, okay, well, where did she live? And they say, no, no, Chris. They ask him, which room was she killed in? And they go, no, Chris, it's over here. She was killed in the bedroom.

However, at Chris's trial, the detectives testified that they had evidence that proved Chris was lying to them and that Chris always knew where Angie lived and where she was killed. Separately, Carol Dodge, along with John Thomas, reached out to an expert in wrongful convictions to review the interrogation tapes. Honestly, I just don't know. I do. I should do.

This was the first time that a victim's mother called me and said, "I've got real concerns that the man who killed my daughter is innocent."

Drizzen created a report that would later be used in Chris Tapp's appeals. It's the polygrapher that suggests to Chris he could get the gas chamber for his role in this crime. It's clearly the kind of threat that can lead people to give false confessions.

The Innocence Project, an advocacy group for the wrongfully convicted, also joined Chris Tapp's defense team. I think that people would be shocked to know that the police can lie to you. The police can say that they have evidence in the case that actually doesn't exist. Although police tactics like these are legal, Drizzen argued in his report that detectives took them too far.

In my opinion, the polygrapher wasn't there to test the accuracy of Chris Tapp's stories on the lie detector. He was there to tell Chris that he failed the lie detector test to get Chris to change his story to meet their evolving theory.

that Ben Hobbs killed Angie Dodge and that Chris Tapp somehow participated in the crime. When I first took office in January 2015, the Bonneville County Prosecutor's Office began the search for and the hiring of an independent investigator to look into Chris Tapp's conviction.

It became pretty clear that a lot of the information that Tapp had was provided to him by law enforcement. And there were concerns by our investigator regarding statements made by the polygrapher during the polygraph examinations that were coercive in nature. However, the independent investigation concluded that Tapp was present when Angie was attacked and stabbed, but cast doubt on his confession regarding his personal involvement in her death.

Drizzen believes that Chris looked guilty because of the psychological tactics that he says detectives used. - I mean, that's my thing. If I was there, I'd remember it, wouldn't I? - One thing that interrogators often do is they attack a suspect's confidence in their own memory.

I wasn't there. Wait, I think you're telling me, like, I was there. The police told me a few times that if there was something that horrific, you would definitely hide it and it'd go in your subconscious. It's just like me. Some of the brutal stuff that we see out on the streets, my mind shuts down on me because I don't want to remember it. I started second-guessing myself during all this. I started to not believe in myself or who I was. I don't know. Right now, everything I've been saying, what I think is right in my head, it's been wrong.

It causes a crisis of confidence in the suspect. The suspect doesn't know whether those memories are real or they are imagined. You can feel the stress on him, and it's really hard to watch. - You were there, you're the one that held her down, but Ben asked you to find help, is that correct?

I believe this confession was coerced and, in my opinion, with sophisticated interrogation techniques, any one of us could find ourselves confessing to a murder we didn't commit. - She's saying help. - You heard her say help? - I just didn't do nothing. I closed. - You think you're doing the right thing and you just want to help them. I was so scared and I just kept trying to do whatever they wanted. I kept trying to answer their questions. If I wanted to go home,

When a jury hears a defendant say, "I did it," it's almost as good as a conviction right then and there. It is extraordinarily hard for juries to understand that somebody would confess to a crime that they didn't commit. I can say, I think, without any equivocation, that had Mr. Tepp not confessed, there would have been no conviction.

At least two of the detectives who were involved claim that they never gave Chris any information, that all of the incriminating details that he came up with, he had simply volunteered. How much will he serve before he's eligible for parole? It will certainly be at least 30 years. So it will still be a very, very long time. We reached out to the original detectives on this case, who have since retired, but they didn't respond.

Ultimately, the prosecutor issued his own report in 2016. He determined that the statements Tapp's attorneys said were coerced were similar to statements Chris made to acquaintances. The question for me was whether there was new, clear, and convincing evidence of innocence. There simply was not.

Carol Dodge is looking at what the jury never saw. She is seeing the fullness of this interrogation. She realized that Chris Tapp didn't know anything about this crime, that he'd been wrongfully convicted, and that whoever killed her daughter, he was still out there. There is one person who killed my daughter. That's what the DNA shows me.

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Almost two decades after Angie Dodge's death, her mother Carol remains relentless. She now has doubts that the man convicted as an accomplice was even involved at all. And while Chris Tapp remains in prison, it was not his DNA that was left at the scene. So Carol continues to hunt for the person she believes actually stabbed her youngest child to death.

And she's about to do something unthinkable, fight to help free the man she once thought took part in her daughter's murder. There is the old saying that the truth is stranger than fiction. It is a moral triumph that Carol Dodge, the murder victim's mother, in her agony and in her grief, is still able to see the truth. Carol goes from being in a courtroom wanting the death penalty for Chris

to being in the courtroom trying to prove his innocence. There's not one speck of evidence on Angie that belongs to Chris Tapp. It belongs to one individual, and that individual has never been found. She, I would say very heroically, has become the leading voice for Chris Tapp's release. It's one of those things that I can say, boy, I wish I wrote that.

Chris has also evolved from suspected murderer to possible victim. He's now a 44-year-old man. Life in prison was tough on Chris. He was very angry for a lot of years. Prison life, it changes who you are. The violence and the stuff that you see while you're in there, it changes you. It makes you something that you're not. You lose yourself. And especially for someone in my position,

Being in there for something you didn't do and I had such a hatred for that. We filed five petitions for post-conviction relief and they were all always struck down, struck down, struck down. We just kept losing. You get hope and then you lose hope and then it destroys you, you know, a little bit every time and it becomes worse.

Nineteen years after the murder, there's a new prosecutor in Bonneville County. In 2017, the question for me was whether there was new, clear and convincing evidence of innocence. There simply was not. We had concerns about the confession. I had some concerns about the level of sentence as it related to Tapp's admitted involvement. Based on his concerns, he and Tapp's defense team agree on a deal.

Take his handcuffs off. The rape charge is completely vacated, so he's no longer a sex offender. But the murder charge would stay in place. We walk out, the doors in the front here, with our head held high. Victory! Carol was there, and she was holding my hand. She was happy that I was out. Oh, it's just a day of celebration. Right, Chris? Yes, ma'am.

I still have a murder conviction standing right now as we speak. It limits my job opportunities. It limits a lot of things in this world. He remains a convicted murderer in the eyes of the community, but he is also a free man.

I want the full exoneration. I want to be able to have that conviction expunged. Ultimately, Carol Dodge and I decide, "Hey, we're gonna continue pursuing this. We need to find the killer." If we find the killer, they'll have no choice but to exonerate Chris. And for the person who did kill Angie Dodge, there's a bounty on your head. 20 years after Angie's murder,

All of the main actors in the interrogation of Chris Tapp, they've all left the police department. New investigators have come onto the case, and they are ready to take a fresh approach to the crime. The new group of investigators were not involved with the interrogation of Chris Tapp.

I got promoted to captain in October of '17, and I took over the case. We're still trying to search for whoever this person was, but we have just taken every street to the end, and there's nothing else to follow up on. Genetic genealogy is progressing.

More and more about the killer can be determined from the DNA that was left at the crime scene. And the tireless Carol Dodge, aware of all this, reaches out to a world-renowned genetic genealogist named CeCe Moore. And the Idaho Falls Police also join in this effort.

We've been exchanging emails, but this will be the first time that we'll ever meet in person. And I look forward to learning more about Angie and what happened. This horribly sad case. Hi! Cece, Cece. Hi! It's so good to meet you. Nice to meet you too. I'm excited to see you. Really, it's such a pleasure to meet you. I can see Angie in your face.

When you have a child that's murdered, life just gets shattered. And there's no way to put the pieces back together. I wanted to hear a little bit about Angie, what you could tell me about her. She was my, not only my baby, but she was my only daughter. She really went through some hard times when she was younger because she was

Big for her age. Yeah, was she 5'11 or 6'0? And so she was bullied. So when she would see other people being bullied or being messed with, she would get right in the person's face and say, you leave them alone. She was very, very unique. She was a wonderful cook. She did a lot of cooking. She brought strays home. I'm talking people strays. Oh, people. I thought you meant cats or dogs. No, no.

She would always, always bring a stranger home. And they would cook and do all sorts of things and listen to music. Okay, we're going to turn right here, left. Man, this is beautiful. Look at the light. I grew up out here. You did? So you're a native? Yes. My mom and dad were really poor, and my mother raised five girls with no bathroom. What? We had an outhouse. Oh, my. Ha ha ha ha ha.

So is this her block? Yes. Okay, this is it. Here, this was, you know, the backyard and there was a chain link fence. Angie was at my house that night until 20 minutes after 10. She moved out three weeks before. Only three weeks before? Three weeks before. And one of the reasons why she moved out is because she disobeyed a house rule.

I was so grateful that she had come over because I hadn't seen her for three weeks. Oh, that was the first time? That was the first time. And she moved out? Yes. And the night that she came over, I rocked her and I said, "I'm so glad you're not mad at me anymore." And she just looked up and she said, "Not even in a blue moon." So the next day, that's when they told me that Angie had been found dead.

Poor Carol had been trying to find her daughter's killer for 22 years. There is one person who killed my daughter. That's what the DNA shows. So Carol is not going to give up, and I want to be the one to help her. One of the fortunate things in this case is that police preserve the evidence in a basement evidence storage room. And what was waiting in that basement was the ultimate clue in identifying Angie Dodge's killer.

As the science progresses, a DNA sample that was uninterpretable becomes suddenly clear as day. This is the guy we've been looking for for 23 years. Catch murder. There's a bank. There he is. Yep. All right. We're going to talk about the murder of Angie Dodge. She was only 18. She had just graduated from high school.

So when I started working with Parabon, one of the very first cases I ever asked them about, maybe the first case, was the Angie Dodge murder case. She was stabbed. I wanted to find this mystery man who left his DNA behind at the scene of her daughter's murder. There was semen present. And so the attacker did

leave behind biological material. Parabon Nanolabs is a DNA technology company. We analyze DNA for forensics. Christopher Conley Tapp served 20 years in prison until he was recently released. When we began doing genetic genealogy, CC was very eager for us to reach out to Idaho Falls and see if they would allow us to do kinship analysis for them.

Over the past decade, genetic genealogy has exploded onto the scene. I mean, think about this: people are able to spit into a tube and discover their family roots. CeCe Moore began using genetic genealogy to help people who were adopted find their biological parents. I love you. I love you too. How are you? Good, how are you? Give it up for CeCe Moore. She received international recognition for her techniques.

And so some very forward-thinking law enforcement officials thought, could we, instead of submitting the DNA of an adoptee looking for their unknown birth parent, submit the DNA of an unknown suspect in a cold case and use the genetic genealogy techniques to determine their identity? And I knew the answer to that question was yes.

In October of '17, I took over the case. So when Parabon reached out to us, if there's something else that's going to give us leads, it's just a no-brainer for us. Tom, have you been in touch with the department about getting evidence? Yeah, so there is evidence, degradation. And we did the initial assessment, and unfortunately, we didn't get very good matches.

and Cece and we were disappointed to say the least. - It's 61%. - Yeah, that's... - Working with degraded DNA is like trying to put a puzzle together. Say you have 100 pieces in your puzzle. This was missing 39 of those pieces. - Right at the margin for what we would accept.

But Cece is very tenacious. I'd really love to be able to help on this case. Carol, Angie's mom, writes to me almost every day. Poor Carol had been trying to find her daughter's killer for 22 years at this point. Unfortunately, in this case, we don't have any strong matches. All of the matches are more distant. We have a number system that we use. A one means we've got, like, an immediate family hit. Mm-hmm. And a five means we can't work it. That's like a D-minus in a grading system.

Genetic genealogy had never been done on crime scene DNA of this degraded quality. And then I heard from you and, you know, I just had to make this work. You had to spend all those nights. I had to figure out a way.

I decided to go back and take a deeper look at the genetic genealogy results. And I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it may not be hopeless. That's good news. Yeah. So how do we know which line to look at? And I pushed it up to maybe a four plus. And so even with the degraded DNA, there is hope. That's exciting. But it's only because of you, because if you hadn't been so persistent, so persistent,

I probably wouldn't have spent the time, you know, digging back into this. I just want to know. And I just know she was so scared. I'll give you a hug. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I keep making you cry. That's not what I mean to do. I'm going to do everything I can to help give you some answers. Just hope that I live long enough to see the day. So we've got to get busy. Yeah.

So the first thing I did was get a list of matches. People who shared DNA with the unknown suspect. Match number one. This might be a second cousin once removed or a third cousin-ish with the suspect. So if I can find their common ancestor, I can work forward in time to find the descendants who were the right age when Angie was murdered.

and one of them would have to be her killer. Another match shares DNA. Their mother, her father. I started building their family trees and building genetic networks to find a common ancestor. This is my genetic network number one. And then I built some trees of other people who shared DNA with the suspect

but did not share DNA with the earlier matches. So that would be my genetic network number two. I'm now trying to find a connection between these two networks. Grandpa, great-grandma. That link will narrow my search for a descendant who might be Angie's killer.

From genetic network number one, we have a daughter named Cleo. From genetic network number two, we have a grandson named Clarence. Guess what happens? They marry. Our suspect has to be a descendant of this marriage, through a son. But guess what? They have five sons. It has to be someone that was old enough and young enough in 1996. So both their grandsons and great-grandsons could be our suspect.

We're down to six possible males that could be Angie's killer. Five of the six males lived over a thousand miles away, but one of them lived in Idaho. So in the middle of winter, I decided to take a trip to Idaho Falls. Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you, Bill. Say? Good to meet you. Cece Moore.

So I was able to narrow it down to six possible suspects for you. Wow. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Six is pretty good. Can I ask you something? Yeah, please do. How would you get that familial information for the descendants? That's a great question. I was able to find obituaries for this family. I use newspaper archives quite a bit, marriage announcements and engagement announcements, really valuable information. That's great.

- CR detective. - Yes, I am. - See, CR detective. It was not only the first big lead, but really just about the only lead. - Now this fifth son is most interesting to me because they moved to Idaho. Even though it wasn't Idaho Falls, it was a lot closer than everybody else was. - That just puts the onus for us to do our job. We're not just going off of the information we get from you. We're going to have to do the rest of the traditional police work. We're not gonna grab all these six guys.

So that means you all have a job to do. You always have a job to do, but you really have a job to do. Okay, I'm back to eyes on the trooper. Just lost visual on him. We're trying to catch him. And you guys are going to have to work for this one.

I think everybody knows why we're here. We got some really cool information from Parabon through a forensic genealogist. We're going to try to covertly get a DNA sample from one of six people that CeCe has identified as a possible contributor of the semen and hair found at the Angie Dodge homicide.

He lives in the area. He has the right surname, right, I guess, autosomal DNA. It's very good. Very good. I'll be able to pronounce that. Everybody's just like, wow.

So, one thing that's beneficial for us is he's got two sons who will share a lot of his same DNA and according to CeCe, even if we can get a sample from them, that'll help us to narrow down who our likely suspect is. This is the first step in what's going to eventually help us catch this guy. I know it's the kind of thing that's been giving me goosebumps for months and I'm excited about it so I hope you guys all are too. Get some gloves, get some swabs, get some evidence bags.

We want to be secretive when we do it, but we also want to preserve that DNA evidence as best as we can. One of the six names that CeCe had identified lived near a city that was about two and a half hours away from where we are.

He worked in a factory, was a family man, living out in a home in a rural area. He didn't seem like the type of person that would do something like this, but I've learned in my work you can't always tell who is capable of such violence. The suspect knows what they did 22 years ago, when I can only imagine that they're on heightened alert every day, all day.

So we put a plan together between six and eight of our own detectives. There could be DNA here. And we've made contact with their local investigators as well in that area. This is the target vehicle. We'll keep an eye on it and wait. So we're just going to hopefully find some piece of DNA that he discards, whether blowing his nose, drinking a soda, whatever it may be. And then we'll collect that without him noticing and submit that for further testing.

Any information that I'm providing to the detectives is simply a tip. They are not going to just run out and arrest someone. I have good eyes on the car. They have to build that traditional case and collect that DNA sample to compare to their crime scene DNA. That's him. He didn't spit or throw anything out on the way out to the vehicle. I'll follow him out. It was really hard to surveil him because his house was in a really remote location.

where it was mainly rural farm country. It doesn't look like there's a really good spot to actually watch the house itself, so we're going to have to find out. Nobody's going to have to get an eye. And so to have surveillance vehicles around just stuck out like a sore thumb. Hey Bill, I'm going to take a parallel road. The first day was a long day, a 12 or a 14 hour day. Here at the house, there has been really no movement. So hopefully we'll have better luck tomorrow and be able to get that DNA sample.

Second day, we split half of the team on the son and half of the team on the father. If we can get the father's sample, that would be fantastic. But if it's too difficult, perhaps we can get the son. All right, he's starting to move. We follow the father from his place of work. Now we realized through the course of our surveillance-- The car we're looking for right here.

His vehicle registration was expired. And officers use handheld devices now to check for blood alcohol level concentrations. So if we could get a breath sample voluntarily, not coerced in any way, we could probably get an adequate sampling from this breath tube.

His son ended up going into a local bank there. So the farmer blows right there. He came out of the bank and spit a couple wads of chew here. Hopefully we'll get some DNA. Looks like we'll get some good stuff.

We continue to surveil the father. Hey, Bill, so our trooper's up at the window. And he has his alpha sensor with him to try to get a breast sample. Oh, yeah. It's so cold, it doesn't stick. Well, gentlemen, the magic just happened. He just blew up the alpha sensor, too. Sweet. Looks like you're going to owe somebody some dinner tonight, Bill. I love my wife, but you are now a close second, sir. Thank him. He did all the dirty work. Oh, my gosh. There's sample one. Beautiful. There's sample two.

Well Bill, you're the proud new owner of two spit tubes. Awesome dude. Spencer's so awesome. I tell you what, Spencer's MVP. So I'm really excited that they've been successful in getting this DNA. I was still on pins and needles waiting for those results to come in. But when the results came back, it was a total shock.

This case becomes the enigma that has hovered over Idaho Falls now for more than 20 years. The case retains, as a cold case, remarkable urgency to move forward and find the real killer. So I'm really excited that they've been successful in getting this DNA. I can't wait to get the results. We sent those samples in. We're just waiting to get the details back from CeCe.

The genetic genealogy had led to just these six cousins. But when the results came back, it seemed to eliminate all of them. And then it felt like the rug was pulled out from under me. The thought crossed my mind that, "Great, we're done." I really thought that we might be at a dead end right there. And so it was really depressing. It was a total shock. I just couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. Never before had genetic genealogy given me the wrong answer.

And I think the thing that I was most afraid of was failing Carol and having to tell her that I couldn't identify him. Stay in mind, though, he's asking this court to propose a death penalty. When I haven't found that answer yet, when the pieces haven't come together, the case doesn't ever leave me. It's always in the back of my mind. He's so young. I thought about straddling whatever lunatics I am. Judge, I ask you to spare my life.

Thank God he didn't get the death penalty. When I met with Carol, she really impressed upon me how important it was to her that Christopher Tapp's name be cleared. He'd been released fortunately, but he still had a murder conviction hanging over his head. I had never been in a situation where there were such high stakes.

I had to figure out what had gone wrong. I couldn't walk away from this and say, "Oh well, wasn't one of the six, I'm done, nothing more I can do here."

I knew I could not fail Carol. And Chris needs for the true killer to be found so he can be exonerated. So the bad news is we don't have a match. But it had to be a descendant of Clarence and Cleo Ussery. That can't be a coincidence. And so I went back up that tree and back down that tree.

When I had done the initial research, one of the grandsons had an early marriage. He was really young, his wife even younger. She was 16. 16! I mean, that's odd. I was really surprised not to find any children from that marriage, because most people don't get married that young for no reason. So I decided to look at her parents. And my hope was that an obituary would name the daughter and any children from that marriage.

but I couldn't find it. So a couple days passed. I was on an airplane and I got an email from my team member that says, "I got it. Here's the obituary." And not only does it name the daughter, but it names her son. He was carrying his stepfather's surname. And in 1996, guess where he was living? Idaho Falls.

Not just Idaho, but Idaho Falls. Hey everyone, how are you guys doing? You look very serious. We're scared. We're apprehensive about what we're gonna hear. I guess we can go over it

on my screen. She begins to lay out all of the work that she had done on the report. And that makes him much less likely to be the subject. They only share centimorgans. Definitely not what we expected. Major problem for us. We're kind of sitting here listening to this going, is she going to give us the bad news? When is it coming? And we might never find them. She just kept us on the edge of our seat. It was excruciating. And...

You're really adding a lot of drama for us on this. I'm feeling it. We've got him. Are you serious? I'm serious. Wow. Wow. We've got it. I'm positive. It was really emotional. It was a really emotional call. Now, we don't take anything for granted at this point, and we have to confirm all this information.

But to have a lead like that after 23, 24 years, huge is probably an understatement. His name was Brian Dripps. Brian L. Dripps. At the time of the crime, he was 30 years old. It was just a few days before his 31st birthday. He was going through a divorce.

He had a child being born. - Dripps had only had some minor issues. There was a couple of misdemeanors on his record. - He was a concealed weapon permit holder at one point. Through our investigation, we find out that he actually was in Idaho Falls at the time. - Not just in Idaho Falls, but right across the street from her house.

It is 06:20 in the morning and we are in Caldwell, Idaho. We're gonna go set up on our person of interest's house here. We don't know anything about where he works or what his daily activities are. So wherever he goes, we can tail him and try to figure out what he does. We're about to pass by his house. He's at the end of this street on our left.

That's good news. All right, so this is where his house is. So the main access road that he's probably going to use when he leaves is this one. So we've got a guy down here watching this intersection. We're up here watching this. And then we've got a guy down here north. Is this guy potentially dangerous?

Yeah, we're not... I mean, it's something we've got to keep in the back of our mind in that, you know, this is a murder investigation. So the crime is the most significant crime you can have out there. And if he gets desperate, then you never know what could happen here. We've got to be careful. It's just a waiting game now. We could be sitting here for two minutes up to 12 hours. This is torturous.

just watching one intersection for one car. Then you start thinking to yourself, like, how often do I leave my house if it's my day off? We've been going for five and a half, almost six hours, just waiting. Man, this is it. This could be great. So our subject is a couple cars ahead of us.

We've got a UC guy right behind him. He's got eyes on him, and those cigarette butts are like... They're like DNA traps. It'd be perfect for collecting a sample. I think I'm behind Sage. I'm right behind Spencer. Where is it?

He said it's right past the rumble strip. Dude, I'm looking for smoke. I don't see it. I can smell it. Oh, hey, Sage? Huh? There's one here. I don't know if it's it, though. Does it look fresh? There's a bunch of cigarette butts. Oh, back here? It's going to be on your side, right, if you tossed it that way? Yeah, there's a couple over here. That one's beat to hell. They're all over, dude. Ugh. We could have picked up 100 and sampled them. Son of a . We might not have got the one. It's a crapshoot. It's a crapshoot.

And there's butts all over the place. After a long and sometimes frustrating search for a killer, Idaho Falls Police, with the help of genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, have a suspect in their sights. The challenge now is to watch and wait for the precise moment to finally get the proof they've been hoping for. This is day two of our surveillance, trying to get our DNA sample. He seems to be a creature of habit.

A couple of times a day, like clockwork, he goes and hits him a pop. - Getting any draft right now? - Somebody on our team thought that he would come out right about noon. Sure enough. - Pick that right down to the bed. - We're gonna follow him down here. We've got some guys pre-positioned. - He's back towards town now, towards Redland. - So we just got the information that our guy's moving. In fact, he's going by us right now. - You got you behind him, Jones? - Cigarette is in hand.

Still smoking. Oh my gosh, don't get out. Bingo, looks like you got it. Spencer's better than me. Just flipped it out, Spencer's got it. That could have just been our huckleberry right there, guys. Better get out of that van. Right here, dude. Yes, good job.

Yeah! That's awesome. It's right there. Hey, we're not done yet. So let's stay focused. We're not done yet. Hello, is this Cece? Yes, it is. We were able to get a cigarette butt. It was still smoking when we picked it up. Good work.

Hey Cindy. Hi, how are you? Very well, thank you. I'm here to drop off this sample. If you guys could work your forensic magic and compare it against our unknown sample. Absolutely, we can do that. Woohoo! If it's not a match, I give up.

The next day, I'm out on my lawnmower on Saturday trying to get my yard mowed. Lieutenant Tisdale calls me, and I know he would only be calling me about this at this time. And you're probably ready for some results. I am. Well, I think before we get to that, we should go back and talk about some things in more detail. Yeah, thanks. I am what you're doing. Brian L. Drips is the matchmaker.

to the crime scene semen that was left. It was a huge relief we've got our match. It was huge. That's probably where it set in the most with me. Man, this is the guy. This is the guy we've been looking for for 23 years. So how does it feel, guys?

Unbelievable. And now we're in game face mode, figuring out what we need to do for the rest of the investigation. Yeah. My work's done, and your work is just starting. This is not just a regular case. It's not even a regular homicide. It's woven in the fabric of every IFPD guy's career that's here. So yeah, guys. Let's do this. We'll do this. Let's go catch murder.

Our plan was that if he was as regular as what we had seen in the past, this is the street he'll be coming out on. Set up in very similar surveillance spots that we were before. Target is going mobile now. Backing out of the driveway. Sweet. Jeez. Sure enough, right about noon, gets in his red truck. There he is. All right, I've got him. He's coming up to the stop sign at midway. Stand by. We couldn't have timed that any better, could we, guys?

He takes kind of a roundabout course. Yeah, it's kind of conspicuous, guys. Watch out through some country roads and into the city. Somebody got an eye. A suspect stopped here, did a little banking. We're going to stay outside, and our guys are going to contact when he comes out of the bank.

We got our two guys on foot going in now. What up, brother? Copy that. We got John and Sage are in position, just so you know. OK, he's-- he's coming up now.

All right, heads up. He's heading for the exit. Here he comes. There he is, camo fatigues, black shirt, big long beard. Here we go. They're walking up, making contact now. Stand by. That's our guy. Saves the lead detected on this case. The sergeant next to him. Got the lieutenant on the other side of the truck.

Trying to see if he'll be willing to come down voluntarily and answer some questions at Caldwell PD. I think he's agreeing to go with him. He's trying to get back in his car. Or maybe he's just wanting to leave and go away. I can't remember tell which one it is. Well, he's always getting in his truck with him. John's gonna sit in his truck with him. Damn, I don't like that without the wire. I don't like that without the wire.

He arrives at home, gets his dog out, hugs his mother, goes back to the Colville Police Department for our interview.

We used the Caldwell Police Department's interview rooms, denied any involvement right off the get-go. This interview went for about five and a half hours-ish. And they told him, we have your DNA. He still really didn't want to admit anything, but wanted to take a smoke break. And then when he came back in... He kind of slumps a little bit. He was silent for a couple of minutes. And then he just said, I did it. I raped her.

And apparently I killed her. He told us that he had gone over there with the intention to rape Angie, but not kill her. We asked him if anyone else was involved, and he said no. This was the way to make this nightmare finally come to an end. It was a huge victory for me. Hey, lady. You want to say hi to Bill? It's good to see you. It's so nice to see you. Good boy, you're good.

We made it. We sure as hell did. You fucked him. We sure as hell did. Yep. See you, see you. We got it. Take care, old man. We got it, man. Thank you.

- Oh, yeah. - It couldn't have been done without you. I did it for you. - I know, I know. - You're almost superhuman to us. - I wouldn't give it up without Carol. - Two o'clock in the morning, what are you up to, doing CC?

- To see Carol finally get the answers that she'd been seeking for so long was really gratifying as much as it was incredibly difficult to watch. - We've charged a 53-year-old man named Brian L. Drips with the murder and rape of your daughter.

Just 23 years ago we were in the same building hearing the sad news that she was gone. And thank you, Brandon. And all my grandchildren that I've failed to be a part of because of my craziness.

But it took craziness to get where we are at today. There will be a constant theme as the police department talks today, and that theme is Carol. And I know Captain Squire's report is heart and soul to it because of Carol Dodge. Man, it was a lot of tears shed. It was surreal for me.

Today we're here to announce that we have arrested Brian Lay Dripps. His DNA matches the DNA sample left at the scene. Carol, for 23 years, every second of every day, she's been looking out for her daughter. Angie's given us something here. What we've learned from working with DNA in this case will be applied to many, many other law enforcement cases going forward. I can't even express how hard this journey has been.

and the hundreds of people that's been affected by one person's choice to take my daughter's life. At the time that the Idaho Falls Police announced Brian Dripps' arrest, Chris Tapp was still convicted of this murder. Good work. Thank you. I recognize it was another generation of officers, but at this point, does Christopher Tapp get an apology and/or...

Reparation or something? Chris Tapp's part of this case deserves its day in the sunlight and we will do that. That day is not today, but that will come. Our justice system, lumbering, often blind, still does its best to make order out of our disordered existence. The saying is that justice delayed is justice denied. But that is not true in this case.

After too many years and too many mistakes, Carol was finally going to get justice for Angie. Count one, as set out in the information, is a charge of murder in the first degree. How do you plead? Guilty. Tell me what you did which makes you guilty of this charge. Went over there with the intent to just rape her. I was pretty high on cocaine and alcohol.

I had a pocket knife with me. I didn't mean to murder her, but I guess it happened. Had police not focused in on Ben Hobbs and Chris Tapp, they may have been able to identify Dripps as the assailant long ago. This is a 23-year case, and we're going to talk about about the last year and a half and really focus on the last six months.

I could see Chris Tapp right over my left shoulder, and I kept peeking back at him to see his reaction to the news. Dripps is 53 years old and has been residing most recently. The press conference was overwhelming, but it was more of the vindication of it all because I kept telling him I didn't do it.

for years upon years. And it was good to be there for Carol. Her family can go to bed easier now because they actually have the true killer. There was no hatred, there was no animosity. They were happy to see me. Sorry you had to give 40 years of your life for this, but you gave candy.

When Chris walked out of prison, he was not exonerated. He was still a convicted murderer. And so while he was physically free, he was not mentally free. I was in that courtroom. It was a miracle to finally see Chris Tapp be exonerated. The court has granted the state's motion to dismiss both the rape conviction and the murder conviction on the basis of actual innocence and retrial.

This was a community reckoning and it just really felt like a restorative moment. I'm just gonna enjoy it every day living the life that I should have been living for the last 22 and a half years. The silver lining for me in this case is Carol Dodge. This case begins and ends with Carol.

Without Carol Dodge, Angie Dodge's murder would have gone off into the annals of boxes upon boxes in some basement somewhere. She is the person that you would want fighting and advocating for you in any context. Her fighting for me to help get released is the reason why I'm home today. Her quest for justice ought to give us hope about what human beings are capable of.

She renews my faith in humanity and in the capacity to forgive. I love all of you, dearly. Only in the mystery novel are we delivered final and unquestionable solutions. The irony is that fiction gives you a truth that reality can't deliver. Our lives are often far messier than that. But if we cannot find the truth, what is our hope for justice?

This is Debra Roberts with some updates to this story. Brian Dripps, who pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Angie Dodge, received a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. In 2021, Chris Tapp filed a lawsuit against the city of Idaho Falls. In 2022, the city agreed to pay him $11.7 million in a settlement.

On November 5th, 2023, Chris Tapp suffered a head injury and passed away. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Friday nights at 9 on ABC, you can find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening.

Hi all, Kate Gibson here of The Bookcase with Kate and Charlie Gibson. This week we talked to Whoopi Goldberg about lots of things. But one of the things we talked to her about is how as a science fiction and graphic novel fan, she never saw herself on those screens or on those pages growing up. I mean, I didn't realize that part of me until I watched Star Trek. And I saw it because I love sci-fi.

And for some reason, it never occurred to me that I was missing until I was present. You're not going to want to miss this episode of The Bookcase from ABC News.