Going West: True Crime - Angie Dodge // 129

Episode Date: July 14, 2021

In 1996, an 18-year-old woman had finally moved into her first apartment in Idaho Falls, Idaho when something tragic happened inside. After she failed to show up to work the following morning, her co-workers went to her home and discovered her murdered. The 23-year investigation that unfolded would be a complex and grueling fight for justice full of false suspects, an intense DNA search that crossed the country, and a web of deceit. This is the story of Angie Dodge. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/postregister/name/angie-dodge-obituary?pid=137516177 https://www.eastidahonews.com/2019/07/the-angie-dodge-case-from-1996-until-today-whats-happened-why-and-whats-next/ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14272064/jack-roger-dodge https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7645270/angie-raye-dodge https://www.angiedodge.com/tribute/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/angie-dodge-murder-how-a-discarded-cigarette-led-to-an-arrest-in-idaho-falls-teens-cold-case/ https://innocenceproject.org/cases/christopher-tapp/ https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/brian-dripps-sentenced-to-life-for-angie-dodge-murder/article_bfb0a7cf-3ea3-5b0a-99a4-0fd5068e7fe6.html https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3317506/ https://innocenceproject.org/christopher-tapp-exoneration/ https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/06/after-25-years-brian-dripps-goes-to-prison-for-rape-and-death-of-angie-dodge/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to crime fans? I'm your host Heath. And I'm your other host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Good to be back in our studio, Sans the Echo and stuffy voices for last week. Oh my god. Yeah, thank god. Actually, Heath realized after recording that he was sick with a nasty cold and then I got it, so it's been quite the week of sickness. Stay safe, everyone. Be well.

Today, we're headed to Idaho to discuss the tragic death of a young woman and the complex search for justice that followed. I mean really guys this case is freaking bananas, the circles the investigators went and truly boggled my brain so I'm really excited to talk about it. I just wanted to remind all of you lovely listeners that we do have merch available if you head over to our website goingwestpod.com, click the shop tab, so make sure you pick some up and rep some going West. Alright guys, this is episode 129 of Going West, so let's get into it. In 1996, an 18-year-old woman had finally moved into her first apartment in Idaho Falls,

Idaho, when something tragic happened inside. After she failed to show up for work the following morning, her coworkers went to her home and discovered that she had been murdered. The 23-year investigation that unfolded would be a complex and grueling fight for justice, full of false suspects, and intense DNA search that crossed the country and a web of deceit. This is the story of Angie Dodge.

Angie Ray Dodge was born on December 21, 1977 to parents Carol and Jack Dodge in Vancouver, Washington. While her father Jack was serving in the Navy, he and Carol got married in Vegas on December 31, 1970. And after they were married, they had three sons, Brett, Todd, and Roger. And then finally, Angie came along as their only daughter. The family of six didn't remain in Vancouver, Washington for long, though, and then finally Angie came along as their only daughter. The family of six didn't remain in Vancouver, Washington for long though, and actually moved down to San Diego, California when Angie was in preschool. And this is because Jack was still serving in the Navy, which he did for 21 years, so

the family moved a pretty decent amount. But after retiring, Jack wanted to bring his family to Idaho Falls where he was born and raised. And there he began working as a security guard for INEL, which from my research appears to be the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Idaho seemed like a great place to live for the family because they were super outdoorsy. Jack loved taking the boys fishing and Angie herself absolutely loved being out in nature. One of her favorite activities was camping and the Idaho Falls area has lots to offer in that department.

And anytime she could find a camping spot that was near water, she was the first one in to start a water fight with her cousins and siblings and friends. That's who Angie was. She was just a silly, vivacious young gal who loved to give hugs and make people smile. During Angie's teen years, she had an old mobile that she and her friends named the boat because it was so massive and I actually had a friend that had an old mobile in high

school. They are massive. They really are. Yeah. So Angie and her friends would usually go everywhere in that thing. Angie, typically driving with one hand on the steering wheel and one foot out the window. So she was very social and had a ton of friends while also remaining close with her parents and her siblings.

Angie was also very intelligent. And while she was attending Idaho Falls High School, she even tutored younger kids both in reading and in math. So it's no surprise that she graduated with honors in 1995, and then she headed off to Idaho State University in Pocahtello, which is just around a 45 minute drive from her parents' home, so really not far, to work towards becoming an entrepreneur and start her own business. Angie had this incredible enthusiasm for life, and she was known to be very positive and

probably thanks to her birthday being near Christmas time, she loved holidays, Christmas parties, and spending time with her family and friends. And for those Christmas parties, she loved making these special holiday necklaces out of bells and ribbons to give to the guests. In the early summer of 1996, 18-year-old Angie moved into her first apartment at 444 Ice Street, which according to Google Street View, looks like it's on a nice residential street just a few blocks from the infamous Snake River that runs right through Idaho Falls. Angie had just completed her first year at Idaho State

University and had been making the 45 minute commute from her parents' home. And now planned to do that from her Idaho Falls apartment for her second year that was coming up that fall. Idaho Falls is a town of just around 60,000 people and we actually discussed it in episode 76 on Darwin Vest's 1999 case because this is also where he lived. It's a safe town, you know, like in everyone knows everyone kind of town, with a large Mormon community, lots of parks, and a beautiful waterfall, hence Idaho Falls. With Angie being so close to her parents, she often visited but had no idea the last time she would see them would be on June 12th, 1996.

Angie headed over around 9.15pm to tell her family how excited she was about her new apartment. Although it was a bit tough being on her own, she was excited about the opportunity to grow and become the person she was going to be. She and her mom had a special moment that night when her mom Carol pulled her in for a hug and said, you'll always be my baby. To which Angie responded saying that, she was still whittled, which she used instead of little to always kind of prove to her mom that she was still her baby girl, and they just hugged and told each other how much they loved each other.

About an hour after she arrived so at around 10-20pm Angie left and headed back to her apartment alone. That very night and just three weeks after moving into this apartment, something absolutely terrible happened to Angie. The following morning which was Thursday June 13, 1996, Angie didn't show up for work at the local beauty supply store, which was called Beauty for All Seasons. Her co-workers were concerned that she hadn't called in and that they couldn't get a hold of her. So a little while after her shift was set to begin, so at around 11 a.m., two of

her co-workers that she was close with went over to Angie's apartment to check on her. When they arrived, they noticed Angie's front door was unlocked, so they let themselves inside. But when they walked in, they found 18-year-old Angie Dodge brutally murdered and lying on the floor partially clothed. It was a terrifying scene, and one of the girls immediately called 911. At the scene there was no sign of forced entry, so it's believed that Angie either left

her door unlocked because this was the safe kind of town people left their doors unlocked in, or that she opened the door for her attacker. However, there was a sign of struggle, so it was clear that Angie fought hard for her life. And in fact, one of the Idaho Falls detectives on the case, Detective Jeff Pratt said, it was probably the worst case I've ever seen. It's the nightmare.

It was a very angry scene, so police began to wonder if this had been a personal attack against Angie versus a random act of violence. And they also pondered if the attack had been committed by more than one person, but that wasn't initially clear. Angie had been raped, stabbed, and cut 14 times, and was left partially nude. Because of the sexual assault, there was a very solid seamen sample left at the scene, since the perpetrator had ejaculated on Angie.

There was also someone else's hair found at the scene that was not Angie's. So as absolutely horrible and sad as that was to discover, police at least felt confident that Angie's killer would be found rather easily. I mean, it was the kind of sample where it would be a match to just the person who it belonged to. And the gap between when the crime occurred was fairly large, sometime between 12.45am and 11.15am, so it's a pretty big time frame. As we stated, Angie was very close with her family, and her mom Carol often called her at work to chat or just to kind of check in on her.

And she did that on the morning that Angie was found dead. Unbeknownst to Carol, Angie hadn't shown up to work that day. So when she called asking for Angie that morning, she was given the horrible news that Angie had just been found dead in her own apartment. Of course, her family was absolutely torn to pieces over this news. It didn't seem like it could be possible. They lived in a peaceful town, Angie had just gotten her own place not far from where the rest of the family lived, and

she was so excited about her future. It didn't take long for Carol to greatly appreciate the final moments that she had with her daughter. Holding each other and explaining how much they loved each other. Carol, Angie's father Jack and her brothers rushed to the police station to learn more information and be questioned. And that's when they received all the horrifying details of what exactly happened to Angie. So while the Dodge family laid Angie to rest at the Fielding Memorial Park Cemetery right there in Idaho Falls, the Idaho Falls Police Department worked on collecting dozens of DNA samples from local men and spent the upcoming months interviewing every person in Angie's life to see who would have

committed this awful crime and why. Despite having that very crucial DNA sample of the perpetrator and testing over 100 different DNA samples, months went by and police didn't have any hits on who committed the crime. There was a young man who stood out a bit to detectives, though, and it was a guy named Benjamin Hobbs. His sample did not match, and he seemed to have an alibi for the night that Angie was murdered, so he was out for the time being. But as 1996 came to a close, Benjamin Hobbs committed a heinous act against a woman in Ely Nevada, which is about a seven-hour drive from Idaho Falls, since Nevada is a neighboring state of Idaho.

Benjamin raped a woman at knife point and was arrested for doing so on January 5th, 1997. So this was obviously a very interesting parallel to police. They had a young man that they had interviewed for Angie's case, who happened to be somewhat of a friend to Angie. And now he goes out and commits a violent sexual assault against a woman with a weapon in toe. So Idaho Falls investigators felt that they needed to re-interview him and hopes of building a case against him and nailing him for Angie's case.

They also wanted to interview Benjamin's friends to get the full story around how well he knew Angie and what he was really up to that evening, and one of the friends that they brought in was a 20 year old man named Christopher Tap. Christopher lived in Idaho Falls and was a part of Benjamin's crew, a group that was often referred to as the River Rats, since they often got together by the trails along the Snake River, a spot that wasn't too far from Angie's apartment. On January 7th, Christopher Tap was first interviewed, and that's when police learned that he had been seen with Angie Dodge and a gathering the night before she died.

After this interview, he was released, and then he was re-interviewed two more times in the days to come. Before the third interview on January 11, 1997, his parents decided to hire him and attorney, because the investigators were clearly trying to pin Angie's murder on him. But before the third interview would commence, police showed up to his house with an arrest warrant for Christopher Tap, and they charged him with being an accessory to a felony, believing that he at least took some part in what happened to Angie.

In his original interview, Christopher had said that he had nothing to do with Angie's rape nor death, and neither did Benjamin Hobbs, and in fact, he knew nothing about it anyway. But in the second interview, Christopher said that Benjamin was the one who killed Angie, and that he was simply Benjamin's alibi for the evening and nothing more. Then on January 15th, so shortly after his arrest, his story changed yet again. Christopher said that he was with Benjamin Hobbes when he murdered Angie and that the reason Benjamin murdered her was because she was supposedly trying to break up his marriage.

But things got a little complicated a few days later. On January 18, DNA tests excluded both Benjamin Hobbs and Christopher Tap from this crime scene. It was conclusively determined that neither of their DNA samples matched the seam and found, and the same goes for the hair. Then police began to ponder if one of their other friends was the one who committed the crime. A young man named Jeremy Sarges. And after he was brought up, Christopher tapped change to the story yet again and said that Benjamin and Jeremy raped and killed Angie on their own.

But the following week, Jeremy samples came back and they were also negative. And on top of that, Jeremy's alibi for the late evening of June 12th checked out. So as if this whole thing isn't already a mess, Christopher was taken to the crime scene Sans' attorney and he changed his story again. He told investigators that he, Jeremy and Benjamin had gone to Angie's apartment and that he had held Angie down while Benjamin committed the acts.

During this time, Jeremy had left in another one of Benjamin's friends had stepped in. A man named Mike, who Christopher didn't really know all that well. So this is pretty alarming. You know, it's always alarming when somebody changes their story and we're going to get into this throughout the episode, but it's very frustrating that even up to this point,

the story has changed this many times. And you're wondering, is this because of the investigators and their interrogation methods or is this because of Christopher? Is he just not want to seem guilty? Is he really guilty? What's going on? Right, and we're gonna get into that, definitely. But I also think that the fact that there's admission

in these stories, it went from, he had nothing to do with it to, okay, yeah, I was there to, yeah, I held her down. It just keeps me worse. Yeah, it's progressively getting worse. So Chris had implicated himself multiple times at the very least as an accomplice in Angie's murder. He was also given over five polygraph tests

to which he was told he passed, but the police officer noticed that he was deceptive. So that's kind of like sketchy. I think I just said noticed, but I meant noted, like the officer wrote down that he was deceptive in Chris' notes for the polygraph, but told Chris that he passed. And yes, we know that polygraph tests are not reliable

and that they're not foolproof. Exactly. I do always like to bring up when they're used though, and the fact that he was given five, I mean, that's a lot, but it is weird that he was told that he passed, but then the officer noted that he was deceptive. That's just really scummy.

You know, I don't know why someone would do that. So during one of the questionings, police also told Christopher that he could likely get a more lenient sentencing, if he just said that he was, you know, maybe in fear of his life after seeing what Benjamin had done to Angie. So Christopher came out with another story that he had cut Angie's breast because Benjamin forced him to. So this kind of is the first lead into Chris being manipulated by the police.

lead into Chris being manipulated by the police. With that being said, Christopher Tap was charged with first degree murder, rape, and for use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony on February 3rd, 1997. So seven months after Angie Dodge was killed. Of course, there would still need to be a trial where a jury would decide if Christopher really was guilty. And this trial took place over a year later on May 12, 1998. And here's where things get a little bit tricky.

So Christopher Taps' defense attorney tried to prove that his confession was coerced, since he had been questioned for 100 hours over the course of 23 days. Since most of the trial was the various confession tapes and the interviews between investigators and Christopher, the jury had a lot of hard listening to do. It seemed pretty clear that investigators were trying to get Christopher to implicate his friend Benjamin Hobbs as the perpetrator, but police also told Christopher that Benjamin had placed him at the crime scene and that they could help him only if he cooperated and told them what happened, which wasn't true.

Right, so investigators were saying, Benjamin basically told us what happened, we know your guilty, just tell it to us yourself. Right, which is really messed up. And that's the thing we're going to talk this, again, we're gonna go into this. Investigators are allowed to lie in that situation, but it can totally backfire. So although Christopher didn't testify, a young woman and witness named Destiny Osborne did,

and she stated that she was at a party a few days after Angie was killed, and although she admitted to being high on drugs, she believed she heard Benjamin Hobbs tell Christopher Taps that he killed Angie Dodge because she owed him money for methamphetamine. But Christopher had told police that he knew Angie and that she didn't do drugs, so it was really hard to know if Destiny was telling the truth. Another witness testified during the trial and said that Christopher couldn't have committed

the crime because he had spent the night with a woman, and Christopher's ex-girlfriend confirmed this because she said she caught them together the next morning. However, other witnesses who knew Chris said that those dates were wrong, meaning he very well could have committed the crimes against Angie. In the end, a jury of nine women and three men found 21-year-old Christopher Tapp guilty on all three charges, and he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum sentence of 30 years for the murder conviction and 10 years for the rape conviction. So at the very least, Christopher would get out when

he was about 60 years old. Christopher, who had pleaded not guilty, fought his conviction with various appeals, but each one was rejected. Police in Angie's family thought that Christopher took the fall for someone who really did it because they knew his DNA didn't match. So it kinda seemed Christopher knew who actually committed the crime and he just wouldn't say it. And because of this, although Christopher would be serving life for the crimes, Angie's case was still considered open. 3 years after Christopher Tap was sentenced to prison, he officially recanted his confession and tried to prove that he had been heavily coerced by the police. And a few years later in 2007, the Idaho Innocence Project actually reviewed his case, and

someone who worked for the Innocence Project, who was a professor at Boise State University, came to the conclusion that it was clear Christopher had very much been coerced into his confessions. Back to this soon. Although Angie's case went cold and investigators had felt that they'd done all they could do to find the killer, Angie's family never gave up. And finally, 13 years after the murder occurred, so in 2009, the killer's DNA sample was entered into Kodis, also known as the National Criminal Database. This could have proved to be an amazing thing to do because if the person who matched that

DNA had committed a crime over the past 13 years and had their DNA sample entered into the system as well, which is routine, a match would be found almost instantly, but sadly, there was still no match. Despite no match being found in Kodis, the Dodge family still pressed on, and Carol decided to contact an established Idaho DNA expert named Greg Hamkin. I don't know if it's Hamkin or Hampikian. Either way, Greg. Because of all the advancements in DNA, Greg helped the Dodge family

convince the Idaho Falls Police Department to use familial DNA, which at this time was a very new and somewhat controversial searching process. We know now that it's incredibly helpful in solving cases by comparing a DNA sample against a family member of a criminal, so basically it compares a DNA sample against possible family members of, in this case, Angie's killer looking for a partial match. Police ultimately came to the conclusion that this was absolutely worth doing.

So in 2014, they used Ancestry.com and searched this public DNA database in hopes of finding that partial match, and they got a hit. The person who came up as a match was a man named Michael Usri Senior and he hit 34 out of 35 markers. So it wasn't a perfect match, meaning it wasn't his DNA, but it was close enough that the DNA found on Angie's body more than likely belong to someone that he was related to. Which is crazy the fact that they can use that now and we're seeing in so many cases, so many older cases that are now being solved this way is insane. Yeah, familial DNA is literally mind-blowing and it's amazing. So that's when his son became a suspect. A New Orleans filmmaker named Michael Usry Jr.

And this was obviously huge because as we remember from earlier in the episode, Christopher had told investigators both in an interview and during trial that one of Benjamin's friends was named Mike. And he had been the one to kill Angie. In the new suspect in question was named Michael. And when police found out that he had directed and produced a couple horror movies, one of which was titled Murder Abilia, which included the brutal stabbing death of a young woman, they felt that they had their guy. I mean, it makes sense. We've got this guy or his dad who has a 34 out of 35 marker match on the DNA, his son is into horror movies which does not

mean you're a murder at all. Yeah, he thought I would be murderers. Definitely don't want to go there. But his name was Michael, and Chris had mentioned a mic, so it's kind of like, it totally makes sense that they're looking into this guy for sure. And in December of 2014, two detectives from Idaho Falls, as well as a Louisiana State Police Officer, visited Michael's home in New Orleans and began questioning him about Angie's murder.

It turns out Michael had been to Idaho just one time when he was 19 years old around the time Angie was killed. And he and some of his friends drove to Rexburg, Idaho, and they passed straight through Idaho Falls. So the connections here are crazy. Yeah, so investigators are like ding, ding, ding. Exactly. So they wouldn't tell Michael why they were there. Exactly why they wouldn't say whose case they were working on. They only stated that it was regarding a murder case in Idaho. And then they brought him down to the local station, swabbed his mouth for a DNA sample, and then they drove him home. Michael didn't hear any more news until one month later,

when he received an email from the investigator stating that, he already knew this, but his DNA wasn't a match. Michael was in complete disbelief at this whole thing, because not only did he know he didn't kill anyone, but then he started to wonder if someone else in his family did. It was all just too strange, so this guy didn't do it, and it seemed very promising, but it wasn't him, but this totally turned his life upside down.

And he wasn't the only person to think this. Of course, because the match was so close to Michael's father who had previously submitted his DNA sample for a genealogy foundation through his church, and his own family also felt that the killer was related to Michael. Because Michael Ursi, Jr. is a filmmaker, and he was so traumatized by the whole experience of being a suspect and a murder that he knew nothing about, he actually began making a

documentary about it. And he was surprised when Carol Dodge was willing to be in it and to talk with him. And Carol had agreed to do this because she wanted to get names from Michael of people in his family. And Michael complied. He wrote down a list of his brothers, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, etc. And because Carol and Michael got so close, he shifted the focus of his documentary to Carol's search for her daughter's killer.

And he became incredibly involved in helping her solve the case. And for those wondering if this documentary came out, I was not able to find that it did, it's not listed on his IMDB, there's really no information about it online other than just the talks of him making it. So I don't know if it's ever coming out or if he's still working on it, but I would be super interested in seeing that and I'm sure you guys would too. So I will let you know if I find out. So both Michael and Carol began to believe that Christopher Tapp really was innocent, especially

as they learned more about what the Idaho Innocence Project was doing to prove that he was. As they studied the science behind the DNA, even Carol admitted that it was, quote, impossible for Christopher to have committed the crimes. That's when Carol also started to believe that Chris' confession was coerced by police. Basically, police put the words in his mouth and made it seem like they knew exactly what happened and that all he needed to do was say yes. And when DNA expert Greg Hempkin or Hempikian, I'm so sorry Greg, not sure which one it is, he explained to the Dodge family that Chris didn't know that the police were allowed

to lie to him and say they knew things that they didn't know. So it was suddenly so disturbingly obvious that Chris was not involved. There's so many hours of conversation tapes, but so many of the snippets that we read include the police basically explaining what Chris supposedly did very matter a faculty over and over again in different ways. And then Chris just saying things like,

all right, and did I do it? Sadly, the police can be very convincing, and sometimes it backfires by putting innocent people in prison. Like, that happens. Yeah, they definitely had this tunnel vision when it came to Chris, and, you know, they basically just railroaded him. I just think it's interesting that they railroaded Chris and not Benjamin, when Benjamin is the rapist here. Like this is the guy, this is the criminal of the two.

I mean, it's possible that Benjamin had a stronger alibi than Chris in that scenario, so we just don't know that though. It's just sad because sometimes when police lie and say things matter effectively while interviewing a suspect, it works and it puts an actual guilty person in prison, but other times it's total brainwashing and is really devastating to innocent people's lives. In March of 2017, nearly 20 years after Chris entered prison, he was still fighting hard to be exonerated. And his attorneys had a slew of evidence that proved Chris was not at the scene and did

not commit the crimes. By this time, Chris was married with a full-time job, and he was ready to get back into the world and be a functioning member of society, especially since he should have never left in the first place. Meanwhile, investigators were still trying to find someone in Michael Ircy's senior's family tree who did match the DNA found at the crime scene. Well, turns out, investigators had been looking at the wrong side of the family tree, and instead of looking at his direct family members, they started looking at members of the family that he didn't even know, people who were split off long ago in his lineage. And they came up with a list of around 10 persons of

interest that they wanted to question, but that list got smaller as they compared the ages of the people back in 1996. And this left about six people who could have technically been the killer. To make sure they did this the right way, it detectives wanted to secretly collect DNA from all six of these people and compare it to the sample they had of the killer. So they went out into the world and essentially followed these people hoping to pick up a water bottle they threw away. Between spit out chewing tobacco, to cigarette butts, and chewed gum, investigators kept getting

negative test results, and they just worried that they would never find a match. I mean, they were really working hard to find someone in this family tree. I think that's amazing that they're literally just like walking behind these people like, see them spit out a piece of gum and they're like, yep, gonna go grab that. I know, and they had to do that so many times. But between all six of the people on their list, none of them matched. So they really had to get smart here. And they wondered if maybe there was someone connected to Michael Urce's family tree that

wasn't under the same name, but was still an extension of his family. With a lot more digging, they discovered that someone who was once married to an Ersi had a child with said man in the Ersi family, but that child was given a different last name after the divorce, more specifically the last name of his stepfather. The son's name was Brian drips. And hold on to your freaking butts people, because when investigators saw that name, they realized that they had interviewed a man named Brian Drip's early on in the investigation. He lived right across the street from Angie when she was murdered. A young police officer had questioned then 31-year-old Brian Drip's shortly after Angie's

murder while canvassing the whole neighborhood looking for any answers. Brian just said that he didn't know anything about what had happened, and the police never asked for his DNA. So it seemed that Brian somehow just completely slipped through the cracks, yet to no surprise, just seven weeks after Angie was murdered, Brian drips left Idaho Falls and moved to California, and then Caldwell Idaho, which is about 300 miles west of Idaho Falls just 30 minutes outside of Boise, Idaho.

So when police put all this together, they found him, grabbed one of his discarded cigarette butts that he threw from his vehicle, and then have been hard. Yeah, and then tested the DNA. And finally, it was a match to both the semen and the hair. Truly, truly mind-blowing. Like I cannot believe that this is the end result of this. So right away, investigators picked Brian Drepz up and began to question him. And it was clear he was nervous since his hands were shaking. Now, of course, that's probably natural for anyone since being questioned by the police

when in regards to a crime is nerve-wracking, but it didn't take long for him to confess. Police explained that they found his DNA at the crime scene. And Brian said that he murdered her and acted alone and that he didn't even know Christopher Tap. So this totally exonerates Christopher Tap right here. Yeah, so none of these guys Benjamin, Christopher Tap, some dude named Mike, not even linked. Not even linked to the river rats and had nothing to do with this. He said that he entered her apartment with a knife in the intent to rape her. But during the sexual assault, he held a knife to her throat and it cut her.

And mind you, she was nearly decapitated, so this would have taken a lot of effort. So him just saying, oh yeah, he held her, held a knife to her throat and it cut. No, he's volatious. That's absolutely not true. He also mentioned that he had drank alcohol and done cocaine prior to entering her apartment with a pocket knife. He told police that he didn't remember slitting her throat but also didn't deny doing it and said it just happened.

With that, 54-year-old Brian Drypps was arrested for Angie Dodge's rape and murder. And two months later, in July of 2019, Christopher Tap headed to court in hopes of becoming fully exonerated. And he was. And it was the first case in the entire world where someone was exonerated because of genealogical DNA testing. And there's this really sweet photo of Christopher Tap and Angie's mother, Carol, coming out of a hug in court right after he's exonerated.

And during the time of the original trial, Carol had said, you beast, you horrible beast, how could you do this to my daughter? Because everyone thought he did it, including her. So to care all this was the man who brutally murdered and raped her innocent and incredible daughter. So for her to say that, comment it totally made sense. But to find out that he didn't actually do it, she was so sympathetic. And so for them to hug and when he was exonerated, it was a really sweet moment where they both finally had real justice for what happened. And we posted it on our social media. In February of 2021, Brian drips pleaded guilty to the crimes against Angie Dodge.

But Brian's attorney asked the judge for leniency since Brian has not committed any other crime since, at least none that he's been convicted of. In another reason his attorney believed he deserved leniency is because he was so incredibly remorseful and had been drinking heavily and using drugs because his wife had left him, which is like, who cares, you're trying to justify a murder and a rape now. Yeah, basically she's saying that due to his excessive drug and alcohol use and his wife leaving him, he deserves a lesser sentence, like as if any of that justifies brutally

murdering and raping an innocent 18-year-old who is mining her own business in her own home. Yeah, plenty of people's spouses leave them and they don't go out and rape and murder people. Yeah, interesting. She also said, Brian did commit one of the most serious offenses possible in 1996, but he didn't repeat it. He didn't hurt anybody else. He was a devoted son, a solid father figure, and a solid friend. But Deputy Attorney General Jessica Cuen made a fantastic point that Brian Dripps was

able to vacation with his kids and enjoy a life with friends and family, whereas because of his actions, Angie's life ended at just 18. She also explained to the judge that the case wasn't just about the day Angie died, but it was also about every single day that followed it and what her family had to experience, how it ruined their lives too. She stated, quote, he lived every day of those 23 years with the opportunity to show that he is so incredibly remorseful.

And yet, what did he do? He lived every day of those 23 years like he had never taken a life. He lived every day of those 23 years, like another man was not sitting in prison for his crime. Before the verdict was read, Brian said, I just wish I could do over that night. I am sorry, I know you will never forgive me." Carol Dodge was quoted saying, We had to go through 25 years of hell. Whatever you give this man is not enough. of hell. Whatever you give this man is not enough." Her son Todd has said,

He sentenced me to a lifetime of hell, and so far I have served 9,126 days. 55-year-old Brian Dripps was sentenced to 20 years to life due to a plea agreement made in early 2021, and he was required to register as a sex offender. Due to his failing health, he is apparently not believed to live to his minimum sentencing, which was handed to him just about a month ago from when we're recording this episode on June 8th 2021. Yeah, so the fact that it was her neighbor all along and this absolutely massive DNA search was conducted, just to figure out they had already questioned the man who did it before

another man spent 20 years in prison for it, just blows my mind, like talk about walking in the biggest circle ever made. And the fact that this man was free for 23 years, while Chris sat in prison is just devastating. And you have to kind of wonder what he thought, because you know, you kind of assume he, Brian, I mean, followed the case and learned that somebody went to prison for what he did. Like, I wonder what he thought about that.

Yeah, I'm actually curious to know as well, because it's like, he knows in the back of his mind that this innocent person is serving his sentence I mean to be fair if he murdered an innocent young woman. He probably didn't give a shit Yeah, very true. He's just Not a good dude. Yeah, he's just a horrible person Carol Dodge and one of her son's Brent started a nonprofit called Five for Hope, which helps raise money for underfunded cold cases as well as police departments,

so they're trying to make a difference in help other families. Sadly, the conclusion to Angie's case came about 15 years after Angie's father Jack died of sudden heart failure in 2004. But her mom Carol, as well as her brothers, luckily are still alive even today, and we're able to finally get justice for their Angie. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening

to this tragic episode. And next week we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. Cases like this always throw me, and when I started researching this case, I didn't know the full extent of it, but wow, like what a whirlwind this one was. Yeah, and in the end, the family, Angie's family got justice, which is amazing, and there's so many cases out there that will never see this kind of justice. So, Angie's family got justice, which is amazing and there's so many cases out there that will never see this kind of justice. So it's really incredible stuff here. And I know how much Carol is appreciative of the familial DNA and the fact that that exists and she just obviously, I'm sure, is so grateful that her daughter's case was able to be solved. But at the end of the day,

her daughter will never come back and that's something you really just can't heal from. So our thoughts go out to her family and just so glad that the right person is behind bars now and the wrong person is free. By the way, guys, we have a Patreon where you guys can get bonus episodes and we're gonna have an episode out for you guys this week.

It's a crazy case out of Long Beach, California and I'm really excited to tell you guys about it. Yes, if you guys go and join patreon.com slash going west podcast. That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com. It's also in the description of every episode we release. You can get over 40 episodes, depending on which tier you join. With the $5 tier, you get one bonus episode a month, the $10 tier, you get two, but you also get the whole backlog. Yeah, and they're full length, ad free, and we actually cover cases that aren't US cases.

So if you're interested in that, head over and check that out. Yeah, this week we're doing a California case, but we do like to mix it up and do international as well. So go check that out and join, and thank you so much to everybody who has joined in the last week. Yeah, we got a big thanks going out to Sean. Aaron, Amanda, Hannah, thank you, Aaron, and big thanks going to Julie and Jillian.

Thank you so much to Amanda, Casey, Blair, Alissa, Gemma. Gemma has got to be one of my favorite names and Beth. And another thanks going to Brittany, Katie, Jacqueline. I'm totally gonna butcher this one, but Larva kite, I think it is. Thank you Larva kite and Carlotta. And last but not least, thank you so much to Joe Ray, Charlie, Kristofina, Alexandra, or Alexandra. And Haley, thank you guys so much.

I hope, by the way, if we ever like mispronounce your name, please tell us and we'll say it again, because you guys deserve the shout out and we love you so much. Alright guys, so for everybody out there in the world, cheerio and don't be a stranger. you