The Untold Story Behind The 1996 Angie Dodge Murder Mystery

Murder. Rape. Deception. Investigation. Coercion. Unjust incarceration. Exoneration. Justice.

This may sound like the makings of a Hollywood suspense thriller, but it’s actually the core of a real life story.

In May of 1996, Angie Dodge was a happy teenager who had just graduated high school in a relatively quiet, beautiful little city called Idaho Falls, Idaho. She was excited about moving into her own apartment and starting a new summer job, anxious to begin the next phase of her life.

Angie’s mother, Carol Dodge, was hesitant to let her move out, but Angie was 18, and, like many teenagers, ready to cut the apron strings and start her new life as an adult. So around the third week in May, Angie moved into her new apartment, which was on the second floor of a building in the central part of Idaho Falls.

It was the worst decision either Angie or Carol could imagine. But how could they have possibly known a monster capable of raping and murdering an innocent young woman was lurking nearby? In 1996 Idaho Falls was a place where the citizens rarely worried about getting their car stereo stolen, let alone being raped and murdered.

But on June 13th, 1996 the entire community’s worst nightmare happened. Angie, alone in her apartment, while apparently getting ready for bed, was attacked, brutally raped, and then stabbed 16 times. Her throat was cut in a most vicious manner, and she was left to die in her own pool of blood. She died next to her bed, still partially wearing the sweatpants she typically slept in. Her favorite teddy bear, which had been used to muffle her screams, lay next to her. Her shirt had been torn from her body during the vicious assault.

The next morning, when Angie didn’t answer calls nor show up for work, her friends went to check on her and made the gruesome discovery. One of the city’s most innocent had been murdered, and the killer was on the loose.

The community was shocked, horrified, enraged and filled with a resolve few acts can create. Whoever committed this crime would be brought to justice no matter the cost. The Idaho Falls PD detectives assigned to the case went to work, and the investigation into Angie Dodge’s murder began.

Officers began questioning neighbors, friends, work associates, family and anyone else who might know Angie. Crime scene investigators collected evidence, photographed the gruesome scene, including the blood spatters on the walls, carpet and bed from when the killer plunged his knife into Angie over and over. They also noticed a different stain on her sweats, possibly semen, and sent the evidence to the Idaho State Crime Lab in Meridian.

As all diligent criminal investigators do, the IFPD homicide detectives followed every lead until it was completely exhausted and ruled out as a possibility. Some of those leads went in absolutely bizarre directions including to a low-budget filmmaker named Michael Usry. Michael lived in New Orleans but had ties to Idaho Falls. After a period of time he was ruled out as a suspect, but not until his life had been completely turned upside down.

As the investigation dragged on, forensic evidence results came back. The stain on Angie’s sweats was semen, and the DNA profile was sufficient to enter it into the FBI’s CODIS database, but no match to a known suspect. The search continued.

Eventually the detectives honed in on a 17 year old acquaintance of Angie named Christopher Tapp. Chris was a typical teenager — raised in a household common in the Southeastern Idaho region, and had gotten into some trouble, but nothing major. Most tragically though, Chris did not understand why the detectives were asking him questions, especially in the small and uncomfortable interrogation rooms of the police station. And they were asking a LOT of questions. And giving Chris polygraphs. And asking more questions. In time the questions became more than inquisitive or information gathering. They became leading. And Chris was naïve and trusting enough to follow them down the path until he eventually he confessed to the rape and murder of Angie.

Despite retracting the confession and adamantly maintaining his innocence, and the fact that the DNA evidence did not match him, Chris was convicted in January of 1997 and sentenced to 20 years to life for Angie’s murder, plus 10 years for the rape. At 18 Chris was looking at spending the next 30+ years in prison. In his mind his life was over.

Two paths began at that moment, and very few people know the full details. Bottom line? Without the following chain of events, Chris Tapp may very well still be in prison and Angie Dodge’s murder may still be an unsolved case.

Path number one. Angie Dodge’s mother, Carol, knew from the beginning that there was another man — still free — who had deposited that semen and likely raped and killed her daughter, or at least helped. And she was not going to rest until he was brought to justice. Carol began asking questions, and educating herself, on everything from DNA to Angie’s relationships.

Meanwhile, in short order of being convicted of a crime he knew he did not commit, Chris began writing to whoever would listen — including the Idaho Innocence Project at Boise State University- professing his innocence and wrongful incarceration. In 2007, the IIP accepted Tapp’s case. Path number two. Dr. Greg Hampikian at the IIP requested testing of new biological evidence, and proposed a novel approach using forensic genealogy on the Y Chromosome to find the paternal lineage associated with the evidence. This required new testing of the semen evidence that had already excluded Tapp before trial. The IIP also requested familial searching of incarcerated Idaho felons, and reached out to neighboring states to request that testing. In addition, the IIP was joined by the victim’s mother Carole Dodge in pushing for mitochondrial testing of hair evidence, and further testing of items for “touch” DNA. In addition, the IIP worked to change Idaho’s DNA testing statute, which barred prisoners from requesting and DNA tests one year after their conviction.

Three, five, eight years go by. No real progress on either path. Chris, a relatively uneducated teenager, was now in his twenties but still couldn’t write his pleas in a way that would convince anyone to really listen to him. At the same time Carol was becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of answers and life in general. The obsession to find Angie’s killer was burning in her like an inferno. After more than a decade since Angie’s death, despite hating Chris Tapp more than any other person on earth, Carol visited him in prison to plead with him to tell her who else had helped him kill her daughter.

The years continued to go by, and Carol continued to visit Chris in prison, always asking him to give up his secrets. But something began to change. Chris’ persistent claims of innocence began to penetrate the hate Carol had for him, and by around 2009, thirteen years after Chris had been incarcerated, Carol had another mission. She had to help the man who she now believed was innocent, to be freed.

With Carol’s help, Chris began to get the attention of the press, and the process of getting Chris’ case re-evaluated gathered support. Eventually the national Innocence Project also got involved. Could Chris Tapp really be innocent?

At the same time, Carol continued to research forensic DNA and how it is used in criminal investigations. She realized that if Chris Tapp had done what he had been convicted of, which was holding down Angie’s limbs while another man raped her, then his DNA would most likely be all over Angie’s sweats. So she began to research ways to collect DNA off of clothing.

In 2016 Carol made an important discovery. There was a new forensic DNA collection technology called the M-Vac system, and it had been invented by a fellow Idahoan named Dr Bruce J Bradley. Not one for wasting time she picked up the phone and called the company. I remember that call like it was yesterday.

I have spoken to victims’ families before. It’s always a sobering conversation and one I really don’t enjoy, but if there’s something we can do without giving false hope or jeopardize an investigation, then of course we will do it. That day I heard Carol’s summary of the incredible and torturous journey in trying to find her daughter’s killer, and I ended up sending her some basic information about the M-Vac — a flyer and validation study that I would typically give out at any forensic conference. We ended our conversation with some pleasantries, a promise from Carol that she would be in touch, and I went about the rest of my day, mentally writing off the chance I would hear from Carol Dodge again.

To my amazement I received a call the next day from an Idaho Falls Police Department cold case homicide detective. He said Carol Dodge had sent him some information on the M-Vac system and he was interested in learning more, including whether or not we could test some clothing from a 1996 homicide. He certainly had my attention!

I referred him to a senior CSI at West Jordan Police Dept named Francine Bardole. Francine had been instrumental in acquiring one of the first M-Vac systems in 2013, and since then had become a master at using it to collect DNA material from a variety of evidence surfaces, including clothing and even spent shell casings. The M-Vac was soon used to sample areas of Angie’s sweats and the teddy bear, apparently with the thought that it would produce Chris Tapp’s DNA profile and the claim he was innocent would be put to rest.

The results? A male DNA profile that matched the semen stain, but did not match Christopher Tapp.

In my many conversations with detectives over the years, very few things can cause a reverberation through a police department like the phone call from a crime lab with forensic results on a major case. I can only imagine how that result affected the IFPD. In short order Francine was asked to resample the evidence, only this time to be even more thorough — thorough as possible.

Caring, meticulous, careful, professional, thorough, and a whole host of other adjectives are all ways I would describe Francine Bardole of the West Jordan PD. She knew the gravity of this case, for Angie’s family as well as for Chris Tapp, and she went to work. She not only aggressively M-Vac’ed the sweatpants, but she also took all the stuffing out of the teddy bear, which has many parts, to lay the pieces out flat so the M-Vac sampling head would make as complete a connection as possible and therefore collect every possible skin, saliva or any other kind of cell, from that teddy bear.

The results? LOTS of DNA. All of it matched the semen stain and none of it matched Chris Tapp.

Reverberation. Chris Tapp had served 20 years in prison and there was no physical evidence he had committed the crime. In fact, all the evidence pointed at another unknown male. Nor was there an eyewitness or confession, and any good investigator knows you typically need at least one of those to convict, and it needs to be vetted and corroborated.

In 2017 Chris Tapp made a deal with the DA. His rape charge was vacated, and he was released with time served, but the murder conviction remained on his record. At least he was out of prison.

The rest of the story has been reported ad nauseum, including how genealogical DNA helped track down Brian Dripps, Angie’s former neighbor and the man who raped and murdered her, so no reason to reiterate that chapter here.

What is worth emphasizing, however, is the fact that had Carol Dodge not discovered the M-Vac system and pushed for it to be used, Angie’s case may still be unsolved and Chris Tapp might still be in prison. Yes, a DNA profile from the semen stain had been produced and it was entered into CODIS, but until the M-Vac was used the assumption that Chris Tapp’s DNA was also on the evidence was exactly that — an assumption. A logical and reasonable assumption, but an unknown nonetheless.

In the context of the Angie Dodge murder case, June of 2021 was a spectacular month. Following up on the original genealogy trail completed by Idaho Falls police and Dr. Hampikian, CeCe More and Parabon Nanoloabs identified a new suspect who matched the Y Chromosome and all the significant evidence developed by the M-Vac. On June 10th Brian Dripps Sr was sentenced to 20 years to life for Angie’s murder. Justice has finally been served. Also, shortly after that Christopher Tapp received a seven-figure compensation for his wrongful conviction and incarceration.

When asked what it was like to be a part of such an amazing case, Francine Bardole stated “The impact in helping solve a case is knowing you have become part of the whole who have worked hard to recognize the importance of a life taken, the family who has suffered and the police who have worked countless hours, days, months and years in order to finally bring closure to those they serve.”

And for the folks at M-Vac Systems? We finally get to tell the full story, and I can assure you we are proud of the M-Vac’s role in it! There’s no other system like the M-Vac anywhere in the world, and the number of cases it is helping solve grows by the day. That being said, there are still far too many crime labs, police agencies and sheriff’s departments that don’t have an M-Vac system. Of course we’re working hard to change that, and the M-Vac itself is working the hardest.

In fact, it was last year at about this same time that the FBI published their comparison data on the M-Vac. On average, it was 12 times better in the comparisons they made. Up to 66 times in some scenarios. Twelve times better may not sound like much, but is amazingly impactful when DNA is scarce or difficult to collect. And the M-Vac collects DNA from places other methods just can’t. There is a list of 61 items or scenarios on the M-Vac website of where it works.

And the M-Vac is moving casework forward. That is where lives are changed and victims receive justice. There are more than 20 case summaries on the M-Vac system website (https://www.m-vac.com/). Each is a story that has been shared with us. As the M-Vac is put to work by law enforcement everywhere, it will help more cases just like Angie’s.

Could Angie Dodge’s homicide be a Hollywood murder mystery? Absolutely, and in many ways it has become one considering all the attention it has garnered. But in the end it’s all about one thing. Justice. Angie Dodge and her family deserved justice, just like all the other victims of crimes out there. How justice was eventually found in this case was twisted and convoluted far more than most, but thanks to the hard work and dedication of many people out there, especially Carol Dodge, it was found. And that’s all that matters. Rest In Peace Angie.