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The investigation into the 1996 murder case of Angie Dodge from Idaho Falls saw the light of the day as genetic genealogy led to the conviction of the actual murderer—Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. of Caldwell. The relentless pursuit of justice by Angie's mother, Carol Dodge, led to results as Christopher Tapp was exonerated for the murder charge and Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. confessed to the crime.
After wrongfully accusing a filmmaker from New Orleans named Michael Usry Jr. in December 2014, the police were led to Brian Leigh Dripps. Dripps's DNA sample from a discarded cigarette butt resulted in a full match, thereby leading to his arrest and confession in 2019.
The Dateline NBC episode titled True Confession airing February 23, 2024, at 9 pm EST showcases Angie Dodge's murder case. The synopsis reads:
"An Idaho man is sentenced to life after falsely confessing to his friend's murder; but after the true culprit is caught and the case seemingly closed, a chilling twist unfolds."
Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of assault.
Who killed Angie Dodge? Details explored
Angie Dodge, an 18-year-old resident of Idaho Falls, was found brutally raped and stabbed to death in her bedroom on June 13, 1996, as per The Washington Post. Angie had been stabbed 14 times and left partially naked. The killer had left after ejaculating on her, thereby leaving investigators with a "pristine profile" with the DNA sample.
Nevertheless, as per CBS News, the investigators from the Idaho Falls Police Department struggled to match the sample with a suspect despite interviews with dozens of local men. With the relentless pursuit of Angie's mother, Carol Dodge, the authorities drilled down to the real perpetrator using genetic genealogy after a 25-year-long investigation into the murder.
Let's take a look at the three prime suspects the Idaho Falls police had in Angie Dodge's abuse and murder case.
The conviction of Christopher Tapp
The arrest of Dodge's friend, Benjamin Hobbs, for abusing a woman at knifepoint in January 1997 directed the police to friends that Angie hung out with by the Snake River.
Soon, the Idaho Falls Police went after and suspected another friend in the circle, the 20-year-old Christopher Tapp, of having contributed to the attack and murder of Angie Dodge.
The police reportedly grilled Tapp for over 100 hours, interrogated him nine times, and made him take a polygraph test. According to ABC News, the detectives reportedly "coerced and pressured" him into a false confession by feeding him information about the case.
Despite a failed DNA match made in 2016, Tapp remained in prison till 2017 for charges of aiding and abetting Dodge's abuse and murder. The Idaho Innocence Project reviewed his interrogation tapes and pushed for the exoneration of the charges with his attorney and Carol Dodge's help.
The accusation of Michael Usry Jr.
While Chris Tapp served his sentence, the authorities looked into suspects who matched the collected semen sample using Y-chromosome familial searching. Michael Usry Jr., a filmmaker from New Orleans, was narrowed down as a suspect using his father's DNA sample that he contributed to the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation.
As per The New Orleans Advocate, a close match of 34/35 searched alleles, his frequency of visits to Idaho, and the dark nature of his films led investigators to collect a saliva sample. There was no match to the DNA from the crime scene and the authorities. However, they were criticized for the breach of privacy through the use of a public database for criminal profiling.
The arrest of Brian Leigh Dripps Sr.
After allegations against Michael Usry Jr. were dropped, an autosomal familial search on GEDMatch with the help of Parabon NanoLabs' CeCe Moore led to Brian Leigh Dripps Sr.
As reported by BBC News, the results showcased one of six male descendants of Clarence and Cleo A. (Landrum) Ussery to be the culprit. A seventh unknown suspect, Dripps, was eventually recognized and found to be living on the street across from Angie Dodge in Idaho Falls in 1996. He had moved the year of the murder.
The detectives tailed him in Caldwell and collected a DNA sample from a discarded cigarette butt. A complete genetic match led to Dripps's arrest on May 15, 2019, and a subsequent confession to the abuse and murder of Angie Dodge.
On June 8, 2021, Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. (55) was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison by District Judge Joel Tingey.
