DNA Exposes Real Killer 20 Years After Wrong Man Convicted

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front door there's no answer but the door is unlocked so her co-workers proceed inside when they reach angie's bedroom they're hit with a sickening sight there on the floor of her blood-soaked bedroom lies angie's half-naked body her co-workers immediately call 911 and officers from the idaho falls police department race to the scene based on the numerous stab wounds covering her body it's clear to officers that they're dealing with a homicide detectives are swiftly called in as they survey the crime scene they note the blood spatter all over the bedroom walls it's a haunting signal that angie fought for her life with no signs of forced entry or theft the motive here is unclear there's no murder weapon to be found inside the apartment oddly there seems to be a lack of fingerprint evidence too however whoever killed angie left behind plenty of physical evidence on her body including semen and hair strands that evidence along with her bedding is carefully collected and sent to the crime lab for testing as officers continue processing the scene detectives make contact with angie's mother carol dodge and deliver the heart-wrenching news that her only daughter is dead carol is devastated she tells police she saw angie the night before she was killed on june 12th she had no idea it would be the very last time she'd hear her daughter say i love you according to carol and angie's three older brothers angie was a vivacious creative soul with a heart as big as her infectious smile just three weeks ago she moved out of her parents house and into her first apartment excited about her newfound independence angie was eager to make her way into the world but her killer made sure she never got the chance as word spreads of angie's shocking murder the entire community is left reeling and frightened there's a killer on the loose and if residents weren't locking their doors before they certainly are now the next day the medical examiner's report reveals the sheer savagery of angie's death she was stabbed a total of four times and she was killed in the middle of the night 15 times in the head neck and chest and evidence suggests she was sexually assaulted police begin interviewing angie's friends and collecting dna samples from men she knew including her ex-boyfriend who she recently broke up with but they come up empty for a match months go by and detectives find themselves spinning their wheels then seven months after angie's murder a potential suspect emerges when one of angie's friends benjamin hobbs is arrested in nevada on rape charges while idaho falls detectives wait for their chance to question benjamin they discover he's part of the river rats a group of local ne'er-do-wells that hang out and party down by the snake river one of benjamin's fellow river rat pals is 19 year old high school dropout christopher chris tapp detectives bring chris in for questioning but he denies any knowledge of the crime i don't know i don't and he agrees to take a polygraph test does it help to say that i'm nervous well if you're not then it's a draw i'm actually nervous regarding angie dodge being murdered do you intend to answer truthfully each question about them yes did you kill angie dodge regarding angie dodge being killed did you do it you know who did it tell me the truth i really don't i wish i did if i don't i'm scared you're scared the reason why is because you subconsciously you remember but you don't want to try this remember you don't want to admit you remember right now chris you can be charged with conspiracy which means basically idaho law states that if you're convicted of conspiracy okay you take the same punishment and the same fall as if you actually did commit the crime itself okay i'm just i'm telling you where you're at with him okay i'm trying to be as upfront and honest as possible regardless of whatever okay chris yeah we need to we need to try to help construct a plan okay for chris to see what we can do to try to help you okay you know the burden and everything that you're feeling okay we want to try to help you with that all right we can't help you i'll say help myself over the course of the next several weeks detectives re-interview chris again were you in the vicinity were you acting as a lookout at the time no sir i wasn't even around at that time and again i'm not going to lie to you i'm not going to lie to you i wasn't there and again seeing somebody go off on somebody like that would just be i wasn't there would just be horrible i wasn't there no and i'm not i'm not saying you were okay that's i'm not no no i'm not trying to put me there no i'm not i'm not saying you were i'm just it's it's really it's really difficult you know if in your mind if you were there you're you know you're thinking oh man i can do something but after multiple failed polygraph tests on the one question of did you kill angie dodge all come out minus five and minus seven huh for a total of minus 12 okay but you told me that you said i didn't do it you said okay that's where you score out at okay it's minus 12 that's what the question of you said i didn't do it you said i didn't do it did you kill angie dodge regarding angie darkling kill did you do it okay come out minus 12 so what that's saying i did it sure you're deceptive detectives offer chris an immunity deal and that's when his story changes he claims he witnessed benjamin hobbs and their mutual friend jeremy sargis rape and murder angie dodge when was the idea first proposed to go over to angie's home when after we were high okay well i couldn't say we weren't high but after we were higher i guess after we got that smoking some more okay i guess ben wanted to get off his chest or something okay so the idea was proposed did she even come down the stairs or did you guys just go on in no she came down the stairs okay all right i don't like to even break in a minute okay she came down the stairs okay she came down the stairs okay all right i don't like to even break in a minute because everything started off was in the living room because i know that okay and that's where all this stuff started okay it was right in the living room she says get out of here at that point in time she's starting to forcibly you know trying to hurt you guys out right and then what that's when men started losing okay shoving her back okay she's starting to forcefully you know trying to hurt you guys out right and then what that's when men started losing okay shoving her back so he takes the knife out of his pocket is that correct so he walked up kind of yeah grabbed her and drove the knife and then what you know she started to go down how many times by this time had he uh stabbed her or cut her before she went to the ground in your opinion twice okay maybe three in what area of the body somewhere okay in the chest area yeah okay um what was jared during doing during this time i i'm not going to say he was like me in a daze yeah and i i wasn't really paying much attention i was just trying to figure out my own my own life at that time yeah but once angie got on the ground because ben got on the ground Thank you. and jerry went over and held held her arms before she wouldn't fight or nothing so was she trying to fight at that point in time yeah she was trying to struggle away trying to you know kind of save her own ass ben said help so jerry moves around pins her arms down and then you see him then did did you see him stab her anymore in the chest i think you said you thought maybe about two or three times yeah so when he's on top of her did you see him stab her anywhere else okay except for the to the throat is that correct yeah you saw him cut her across the throat did you recall hank joined bj's wholesale club the day he became a father of 30. i coach football now coach hank saves up to 25 off grocery store prices 30 pounds of pasta three cases of protein bars 75 sports drinks and that's just pre-game he knows teamwork and bj's knows savings this is your home coach home of the save join for just twenty dollars at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save this episode is brought to you by txu energy for the first time ever texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings it's called free nights and cool summer you get free nights every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use all summer it's a first of its kind plan created for how texans actually use energy discover how much more you could save with free nights and cool summer txu energy energy for everything visit txu.com for more information rep number one zero zero zero four which side of the throat okay she's laying down okay she's laying down do you recall which side of the throat left to right i think did you touch her you did not touch her at all i was too scared apparently you know she was doing some stuff or they were forcing her to do some stuff before she was she was killed right and that's the part that's uh so ugly isn't it yeah sure it is so okay let's open up the door just for a minute okay let me in okay let me try it all right so what'd they make her do or i mean i guess not even okay so just forcibly sex okay you saw them force you to have sex is that correct and that's before they cut her okay um so they're basically raping her is that correct okay who raped her i guess okay so they're both doing her okay i believe that you started in the living room when they started doing all the sex act and stuff like that did they go into another room okay that's fine okay no big deal on that okay okay so while the sex stuff is going on if i if i heard you correct okay so he stabs her a couple of times so now she's hurt okay help me through this okay are they forcing her i mean do they got threatening her with the knife i mean is she willing participant is she still putting up a fight what's she doing here she wasn't willing she was not willing god no okay after his confession chris tabb is arrested and held on charges of accessory to a felony but when detectives questioned benjamin hobbs he doesn't budge i'm not guilty if that's what you're trying to get out of me i'm not guilty you're familiar with chris tabb yeah i hate to say it buddy chris is saying that for a couple three days before angie was killed that you were really pissed at her and that and just listen for a minute okay and then i'll you tell me what you think you correct me if i do this wrong ken but chris is telling us that you were you were pissed about angie i believe at one point on his statement he even said that you had talked about killing her or wanted to get rid of her he's saying that he was with you all that night he's saying that it was really sick it was barbaric um he broke he's breaking down and crying saying that it was sick and that you had told him several times that or told him that you had cut her several times my question to you is you and chris are friends correct or were friends you were friends at that time yeah why would why would he do that why would he go to jail why would he make those statements first off what's in jail for accessory to a valley partner right no he's in jail for accessory to it and he's at an attorney maybe he's trying to get out of what he maybe he's guilty of something that do you think he killed her i don't know if he did or not i don't know who did all i know is i did not kill angie dodge why would chris say all that stuff i don't know i have no idea detectives try to coax a confession out of jeremy sargis too myself detective grimes and just about everybody working on the case has no doubt that you have knowledge of the case okay that you have knowledge that you knew that ben killed her and was involved let's put it that way that ben was involved in homicide and that you had knowledge of polygraph bears that out wow i'd like to see that okay so this is i want you to kind of think about this chew on this one for that okay uh when all this comes out in the watch okay uh and you have not come clean with that information okay you will be arrested for what you don't have on me you won't have me i'm guaranteeing you that right now angie was not a good friend of mine she was not anything more than acquaintance you know an acquaintance that i know better than maybe my other acquaintance i have no reason to have a positive or a negative feeling towards her i don't have any reason to have a positive or a negative feeling towards her i don't have any reason to have a positive or a negative feeling towards her i have no reason to have a positive or a negative feeling towards her i don't have any reason to have a positive or a negative feeling towards her okay i have no reason to kill in an attempt to clear their names benjamin hobbs and jeremy sargis each agree to submit their dna for testing and the results are conclusive neither one of their dna profiles matches any of the dna evidence recovered from the crime scene jeremy sargis has a rock solid alibi too in the end both are cleared of any involvement frustrated detectives go back to chris doing dna and stuff like him i don't know if you realize how much dna does but it kind of succeeds to have dna right okay and uh these alibis look like this is checking out so be it but the bottom line is this chris the bottom line is this i don't know you told us jeremy sargis was there you not only told us that he was there but he took an active part in it now we're finding now the sergeant probably wasn't there and that you were screwing with us i'm not screwing with you what is it chris i don't know what the hell you guys want listen you're the one that's providing the details you're running the show here not us okay you're running the show chris you tell us things then it's our job to verify if it's true or not that is our job we need to verify that before we go and put our butts out on the line and make an arrest we got to have our ducks in a row so when chris tap tells us things we think great cool that sounds pretty good i think he may be telling us the truth this time we go check it out and it's bogus i'm trying to give you everything i can remember what more i mean that's it okay let's do this okay let's go ahead and uh let's put you on the polygraph like i said if i got no one else whatsoever this one takes a fall me but that's why for you it's very important to come come clean with everything so if you didn't stick you didn't slice her or if you were forced to do it in fear of your own life that's a different story now we're talking that you either did it or die okay you're smart you were forced into it so they could go with a different charge rather than life imprisonment or death okay i know you're in a tough position you're in a health position right now and so i'm trying to give you the full scope the next day detectives grill chris again i'm thinking maybe do these guys threaten you to do something to her so that you're a full part of the crime yes sir and who does that trip it's ben who has you tonight ben does what do you do with them i held it i i didn't know what to do with it i didn't want to cut her i don't think he did i know you didn't i know you did not want you i know you didn't cry does make does ben make you cut her yeah i mean it was just if i don't do it he's going to kill me and i knew he would i mean there was no thought don't doubt in my mind that if i didn't do something i guess to make him happy did they try to force you to do a sexual tour or what did they say they just basically wanted me to do something to you like what a long time i've seen like the cutting just anything to put myself yes to make you be one of the three musketeers one goes we all go that's about it ben i mean i don't know what to do with you i don't know what to do with you i don't know what to do with you i mean chris never did anything sexual tan you know just the cut yeah because i'm not i mean you're not that kind of guy i'm not i couldn't handle it with his full confession on record chris's charges are upgraded from accessory to a felony to first-degree murder rape and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony but chris pleads not guilty to all charges he insists that his so-called confession was actually coerced and he recants his incriminating statements and there's key evidence that supports his claim testing reveals that chris's dna does not match the dna found at the crime scene either undeterred prosecutors point to chris's police interviews as proof of his guilt and it works a jury finds chris tapp guilty on all charges a judge sentences the now 21 year old to life in prison with a minimum sentence of 30 years for the murder conviction and 10 years for the rape conviction years pass and as he remains behind bars chris maintains his innocence and attempts to clear his name almost 10 years after his conviction he finally gets a lifeline the idaho innocence project agrees to review his case after reviewing all the evidence including over 25 hours of chris's police interviews and polygraph tests they come to the conclusion that chris is telling the truth they believe hank joined bj's wholesale club the day he became a father of 30. i coach football now coach hank saves up to 25 off grocery store prices 30 pounds of pasta three cases of protein bars 75 sports drinks and that's just pre-game he knows teamwork and bj's knows savings this is your home coach home of the save join for just twenty dollars at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save this episode is brought to you by txu energy for the first time ever texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings it's called free nights and cool summer you get free nights every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use all summer it's a first of its kind plan created for how texans actually use energy discover how much more you could save with free nights and cool summer txu energy energy for everything visit txu energy.com and subscribe to txu energy for everything visit txu energy txu.com for more information rep number one zero zero zero four if he was manipulated into confessing to a crime he did not commit support also comes from another unexpected ally angie dodge's mother carol after reviewing the evidence herself she also believes the wrong man is behind bars the fight to overturn chris's conviction begins fortunately the dna evidence from the crime scene was well preserved and advancements in dna testing offer chris and his supporters including his mother vera new hope in 2009 the idaho falls police department agrees to run dna from the crime scene through codis the fbi's national dna database system unfortunately codis turns up no new leads determined to get answers carol reaches out to a renowned dna expert he suggests police run the dna evidence through public genetic genealogy databases even if they can get a new suspect there's just one problem idaho law doesn't allow crime scene dna to be uploaded to public genetic genealogy databases but as advancements in dna testing and technology continue to soar these laws change and in 2014 idaho falls police submit dna recovered from the crime scene to a public ancestral genealogy website lo and behold authorities identify a partial match and a new name emerges michael usry jr michael usry jr. and in an eerie coincidence investigators discover that michael is a new orleans-based horror film director and in the months prior to angie's murder he had traveled through idaho falls which means he could have family in the area energized by this major new lead detectives contact michael and he agrees to meet with him at the new orleans police station we had a crime in idaho about 16 years ago and we want to know if you know any of the players in the crime what your connections are to it that kind of thing does that make sense yes we've been working at the case for some time now and uh basically we had a few names popped up and uh i think i think you may even have some friends in that area uh and you say that you haven't been to idaho falls or rigby or you went to rexburg you said yes sir yes sir went to rexburg the one time got to pass through idaho falls to get there okay actually had to go into idaho falls and then why are you going up there i was going up there to meet my buddy who was going he was up there at the time and this is before we had all gone on our missions how old do you think 18 17 i was 17 and a half yes sir and i didn't go on i was 19 and a half when i went on the mission in the summer of 98 so 17 and a half family line do you have any uh cousins uncles anything like that that live in idaho or no sir not that i know of everybody's in clinton it's always pretty much been yeah based out of mississippi cousins and everything they got any connections to rexburg any college students going there are they lds no sir they're not so no connections for expert as far as you know sure well basically you understand what we have to kind of lay it out for you is we've got uh dna and we ran the y strand which is the bell side of this and i you understand how dna works at all or uh i mean i mean the quick lesson basically is to get dna which i'm sure you know what dna is and dna produces uh two different there's a male side of dna and a female side of dna the male side is called ysdr it gets passed down a family line father to son father to son father to son and so forth only on the male side that's how i pass it down so basically what we've done is taken the dna sample we have and ran it through the system and ystr basically shows that somebody in your family line is involved in this case and that's and when i'm talking your family line i'm talking how do you pronounce your last name usher usher somebody in your family line last name usher is our suspect so and and we're not saying that person was involved directly in the murder but we're saying that that person male was there so we can prove that through dna and that's why we're kind of hounding on this you know i've got a number thing yeah uh anybody close to you got a skype to be a brother uncle cousin when did this crime happen i mean is this this is exactly when i'm saying this is within the timeline that i'm saying yeah it's not within that timeline you're saying that's what it's it's uh it would be a little bit before that so okay but there's you know dna evidence is a pretty damning thing you guys i mean you know yeah and and we're like i said we're not saying it's your dna right but it's a it looks to be somebody in your family line and that's what is throwing me off a little bit well how you know somebody in my family line could that be cousins could that be basically anybody within probably three generations so probably back up to vertus as your grandfather and he had eight brothers so yeah yeah it could be you know potentially anybody in that line no it's it's possible that somebody hasn't great whatever over here that we don't know about yet so right That's kind of what we're working on. So, you know, it wouldn't be a good place to come in and talk to you and see if you have anything. Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't have anything more for you guys. I'll rack my brain, but we've always basically been based in Mississippi. Before their interview concludes, Michael agrees to provide a direct sample of his DNA for further testing. Okay, open up. I'm just going to rub this side. As detectives continue searching for new leads and suspects, Chris Tapp obtains new counsel. In 2016, his team files a motion with Idaho's Supreme Court for post-conviction relief, arguing that Chris's confession was the result of police coercion and deception. They also argue that his polygraph tests indicate coercion, too. I'm going to be straightforward with you. You're on videotape. You already talked to your attorney. Your ass is in deep trouble. Okay. You've got to get everything out. I know that's not the case. I don't want to hear that. I'm trying to remember. You know it. Okay. In 2017, the DA's office comes back with a deal. Chris's rape conviction will be dismissed and his sentence for murder will be. Tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college. That's why she shops at BJ's Wholesale Club, saving up to 25% off grocery store prices. Beef jerky. Microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Have you met my kids? And with BJ's gas, she gets there for less. They call me the road warrior. This is your home, road warrior mom. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at BJ's.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's, home of the save. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. For the first time ever, Texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings. You get free nights every night, all year long. Plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use all summer. It's a first of its kind plan, created for how Texans actually use energy. Discover how much more you could save with free nights and cool summer. TXU Energy. Energy for everything. Visit TXU.com for more information. Rep number 10004. Reduce the time served. Chris agrees to the deal. And after almost 20 years in prison, he's a free man. TXU.com. For Chris, his family, and his supporters, including Carol Dodge, it's the moment of justice they've been waiting for. But for Carol, it's a bittersweet victory. As much as she believes in Chris's innocence, it means Angie's killer is still out there. And there will be no justice for her daughter until he's caught. Months go by, and under the direction of a new police chief, the Idaho Falls Police Department doubles down on their hunt for Angie's killer. With the help of Michael Usry's DNA and family records, they build out his extended family tree. And their strategy pays off. It turns out Michael has a distant cousin, 54-year-old Brian Dripps. Brian currently resides in Caldwell, Idaho. But back in 1997, he lived directly across the street from Angie Dodge. When detectives dig through the case files, they discover that in the days after Angie's murder, police actually interviewed Brian. But he told them he didn't know. He didn't know Angie, and he had no knowledge of the crime. And, for reasons unknown, his DNA was never collected and tested. Detectives find it suspicious that Brian denied knowing Angie at all. So they re-interview some of her former neighbors. And they all agree, not only did Brian know Angie, but neighbors had seen them hanging out and smoking together a few times. But instead of bringing Brian in for questioning, detectives opt for a different strategy. They head up to Caldwell, Idaho and conduct surveillance outside Brian's house. When they spy him discarding a cigarette butt outside his car, they wait for him to leave, and then they grab it. The cigarette butt is immediately sent to the crime lab to run against the crime scene DNA. The next day, the results come back. Testing shows Brian Dripps' DNA is a 100% match. Armed with an arrest warrant, detectives follow Brian to a local bank in Caldwell, and then they make their move. Brian Dripps: He's at the counter now doing some business. Brian Dripps: All right, heads up, he's heading for the entrance now. Brian Dripps: Heading for the entrance. Brian! How you doing? I'm Sergeant John Marley with the Idaho Falls Police Department, and this is my partner, Detective Sage Albaugh with the Idaho Falls Police Department. We were wondering if you'd be willing to come with us to talk to us for a little bit. Well, something that occurred in Idaho Falls several years ago, what we're doing is reinvestigating the case, and we're going back and talking to everybody that was involved in that case, and I know that at some point an officer had spoken to you because you live close to the area. That's what it's about. That's what it's about, but we'd like you to come and talk to us. We're down at the Caldwell Police Station, and I don't know what case you're working on. Yeah, we have our case files and stuff like that. What we'd like to do is just be able to go from the beginning and stuff like that. We just would not like to do it here in front of the bank. Yeah, but let's just go now with me. You can follow me in my truck. What's the difference? Is there room for one of us in the truck? If you want to get in the truck, I don't care, whatever. At the Caldwell Police Station, detectives methodically establish a rapport with Brian. Well, I understand. As we were coming in here and we were chatting a little bit, I'm sure you've got a lot of questions for us and everything that's going on here. We obviously wanted to talk to you, but I wanted to tell you I appreciate you coming in here and talking to us. Like I said, it had something to do with the case that took place years ago, and we're going back and reinvestigating everybody from the beginning of that case. I know that you had spoken to a patrol officer at that time, and there's other people that had too that we just want to re-communicate, talk, touch, bake with. That lived around the area there. And after they read him his rights, Brian agrees to keep talking. What's basically going on? Well, so back in. Probably, it's the only thing I can think of is the murder case. It's the only thing I can think of that happened when I was living there. Yeah. Tell us what you remember about that. Well, I was asked what I knew about it back then. Yeah. And I don't remember much, because I remember, you know, from what I remember that night was we were drinking. I was drinking with my buddies. And I told the cop that night, we called the cab for my buddy. The cab can't pick my buddy up, because I was passing out. I passed out. Woke up the next day, and there was a cop car sitting out front, and I went to work. And that's all I remember. Well, a murderer ran across the street, which is kind of a big deal. Yeah. You don't remember hearing anything more about that? Or nobody ever talked about it? No, I remember hearing it on the news, but that was about it. And didn't really talk much about it, no. Because I didn't know her or nothing, you know. But, you know, we thought, wow, that's kind of crazy that it happened right across the street. But, you know, that was just about it. So you guys weren't neighbors that chatted or smoked together? No. Or hung out together? No. And was that neighbor ever over at your house? No. OK. And you were never over at her house? No. OK. No. I'd maybe see her once in a while when I'd be getting in my truck, leaving, and she'd be getting in her car, going somewhere, or getting out of her car. Maybe that'd be it. Brian says two months after Angie's murder, he moved to Caldwell. Over the years, he's seen a few updates about her case on the news. There was that kid that they did arrest and got charged with it. You know, and that the mom, I guess, said that he wasn't -- he never did it or whatever, and that he finally got out. Well, I'm glad you finally, you know, told us some things that you remember from that. It was hard for me to believe that you could live across the street, and that case could be that big at the time, and you not remember anything. Well, a lot of it is my memory where it's rooted anyway. But if it's not important to me, or if it's something that didn't concern me, I just kind of let it go and forget about it. Did you smoke weed back then? Did you -- Yeah. You hung around with people that did? Mm-hmm. We know that Angie's friends from that time -- the victim's friends at that time -- were -- they smoked weed. Yeah. They smoked weed. And you were smoking weed, but your circles never mixed. Not that I recall, no. You know, it's just odd that two neighbors who witnesses say know each other are not involved in that same -- same circle. Yeah. Does that make sense? Well, I can see your point of view, yeah, but -- yeah, but like I said, I've never been to her place, and she's never been over to my place. What if we had witnesses that put you at her place? Well, I don't know. So what would put you over there? Nothing that I can think of except for that. I can think of except for maybe weed. But, you know, like I said, I've never been there. So you're saying it's possible that you've been at her place? smoked weed with her but you don't remember ever smoking weed with her yeah so if we had a witness that could put you there is that is that witness lying or are you lying i don't know i didn't tell you because like i said i don't remember i don't remember being there so i don't know there's a lie you probably would remember though if you had associated or smoked weed with a woman who was later murdered probably yeah i probably would have remembered that but i don't remember being over there so you're never as far you remember you're never over there you know we would like to get a sample from you a buckle swab or a dna sample uh is that something you'd be willing to do it's really unobtrusive it's just a swab that goes i know it is i just don't like the simple fact that my dna will be in some database well i can i can understand that but this is kind of a i know your dna actually wouldn't get submitted to the database it would it would be compared against something else like i mean it's not some tammy regularly hauls stuff to her kids at college that's why she shops at bj's wholesale club saving up to 25 off grocery store prices beef jerky microwave meals laundry pods even they can't screw up have you met my kids and with bj's gas she gets there for less they call me the road warrior this is your home road warrior mom home of the save join for just twenty dollars at bjs.com mesquite and save ten cents per gallon for six months open soon limited time offer new members only bj's home of the save this episode is brought to you by txu energy for the first time ever texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings it's called free nights and cool summer you get free nights every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use all summer it's a first of its kind plan created for how texans actually use energy discover how much more you could save with free nights and cool summer txu energy energy for everything visit txu.com for more information rep number one zero zero zero four it's not in the database basically right it'll just be compared to what you got on file yeah and what and what we told you in the beginning is technology's gonna leave some balance from what we were able to do back then we have now so and if i refuse then what you get a court order and make me get one yeah yeah you're a little hesitant is there just is there a reason that you're hesitant yeah because i don't like my dna but let's just do it i just don't want my dna in the database but let's just do it yeah it you're is there any reason that you think your dna would be at that crime scene no no no reason that fingerprints or dna or any anything biological from you would be there shouldn't be no what was that shouldn't be no shouldn't be yeah because like i said i wasn't in there after a cigarette break brian reluctantly provides his dna so i just need when i do it just open your mouth and i'm just gonna just in the inside of your cheek a little bit and detectives reveal the ace in their pockets we have your dna at the scene that's why we're here that's why we're here well from that swab you just took no we've been you've you've been a subject of interest in this case for a little while and we we did our due diligence and we got a sample from you without your knowing it we've been you've you've been a subject of interest in this case for a little while and we we did our due diligence and we got a sample from you without your knowing it uh and we were able to test it and confirm that your dna matches gaining from the crime scene faced with irrefutable evidence brian realizes it's game over all messed up i guess didn't mean to kill her you know i didn't want to kill her you know i didn't want to kill her just a reaper. What'd you do with the gloves? Beef jerky, microwave meals, laundry pods, even they can't screw up. Home of the save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save 10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Uh, buried him next to the river. Buried him next to the river? Do you know where? Not really. Earlier, you said that being killed was an accident. Can you explain that to me a little bit more? The only thing I can think of is when, during the act of raping her, and she was fighting back. Is there anything else you think that would be important for us to know? No. That's all I can think of. Well, Brian, at this point, it's our obligation to tell you that you are under arrest for the charges of rape and murder. And you're going to be placed in handcuffs and taken to the local jail. And you'll await transport back to Bohengo County. Can I smoke a little of that cigarette before you do that? That's, I mean, that's going to be up to the subject officer, but I don't see a problem with that. Detectives are confident they finally have their killer. And a second DNA test proves it beyond a reasonable doubt. In July of 2019, Chris Tapp's murder conviction is vacated. In 2021, he's awarded $11.7 million under Idaho's newly created Wrongful Conviction Act. And in 2021, Brian Dripps pleads guilty to rape and murder. He's sentenced to 20 years in prison. At his sentencing, Carol Dodge addresses her daughter's killer, saying, quote, You have shattered our family. You, Brian Dripps, deserve eternal hell. For Angie Dodge's family, justice has finally been served once and for all. And in the years following his release from prison, Chris Tapp has turned his pain into purpose, working as an activist and advocate for the wrongfully convicted. But in a cruel twist of fate, just like Angie Dodge, his life ends in a nightmarish tragedy. In October of 2023, during a trip to Las Vegas, Chris is fatally injured in a fall. Initially, his death is ruled an accident. The Clark County Coroner's Office later rules that Chris's death was, in fact, a homicide. In 2024, Las Vegas police announced that 45-year-old former wrestler and congressional candidate Daniel Rodimer has been arrested and charged with Chris's murder. According to court documents, eyewitnesses allege that Daniel and Chris got into an argument at a Halloween party. And they say Daniel repeatedly punched Chris, causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground. Daniel Rodimer pleads guilty to two charges, while the judge pleads not guilty. As of September 2026, he remains free on bail as he awaits trial. For almost 20 years, the justice system failed Chris Tapp. Now his family hopes it won't fail him again. His mother Vera tells reporters, He was a human being. He was a kind-hearted person. All I want is for the justice system to show respect for Christopher. He was a human being. It's called Free Nights in Cool Summer. You get free nights every night, all year long, plus a 25% bonus toward your daytime use all summer. It's a first-of-its-kind plan, created for how Texans actually use energy. Discover how much more you could save with Free Nights in Cool Summer. Free Nights in Cool Summer. TXU Energy. Rep number 10004.