The murder of Angie Raye Dodge
Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho · 1996
Overview
Angie Dodge, 18, was raped and stabbed to death in her Idaho Falls apartment on June 13, 1996. Christopher Tapp was wrongfully convicted in 1998 based on a coerced false confession despite DNA excluding him; he was released in 2017 and fully exonerated in 2019. Investigative genetic genealogy by Parabon NanoLabs identified the actual killer, Brian Leigh Dripps Sr., who pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2021.
How it was solved
In November 2018 Idaho Falls police partnered with Parabon NanoLabs, whose genealogist CeCe Moore uploaded the crime-scene profile to the public database GEDmatch and built a family tree from near-matches. The tree pointed to a previously unknown suspect, Brian Leigh Dripps Sr., who had lived across the street from Dodge in 1996. Detectives recovered a cigarette butt he discarded from his car, and its DNA matched the crime-scene profile, leading to his May 15, 2019 arrest and confession.
Sources
- Murder of Angie Dodge
“Tapp was convicted in May 1998 for aiding and abetting Dodge's rape and murder... In February 2021, Dripps pled guilty to the crime.”
- DNA Testing Identifies Actual Perpetrator in 1996 Idaho Falls Rape and Murder
“This is the nation's first exoneration to rely on genealogical DNA testing.”
- After 25 years, Brian Dripps goes to prison for rape and death of Angie Dodge
“20-year to life prison sentence with a 20-year minimum before parole eligibility.”
- In an Apparent First, Genetic Genealogy Aids a Wrongful Conviction Case
“Eventually, Moore narrowed down her results to a new suspect: Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. He had lived across the street from Angie Dodge in 1996.”
- Man convicted of murder in the '90s exonerated thanks to genetic genealogy
“Investigators recovered a cigarette butt Dripps threw out of his car window... Dripps, 53, was arrested on May 15 and charged with Dodge's murder and rape.”
- The Angie Dodge case from 1996 until today
“Angie Dodge was 18-years-old and living in her first apartment at 444 I Street... Her body was discovered by two coworkers who were concerned that Angie had not come to work that morning.”
- Genetic genealogy leads to arrest of Brian Leigh Dripps in Idaho teen's 1996 murder
“Dripps was living across the street from Dodge at the time she was slain... Idaho Falls police used Parabon Labs, a private lab based in Virginia, to conduct the genetic analysis.”