An Innocent Man Spent Over 20 Years in Prison Until DNA Evidence Brought Down Real Killer Brian Dripps
"You have shattered our family," said the sufferer's circle of relatives to Brian Dripps. "There is no way to pick up the pieces ever again."
By Jennifer TisdaleFeb. 22 2024, Published 3:34 p.m. ET
Brian Dripps
Like most oldsters and their children, mom Carol Dodge and daughter Angie Rae Dodge would from time to time struggle. According to ABC 7, Angie was once unhappy with a couple of space rules established by her mom. This resulted in Angie transferring out of Carol's space and into her personal position. Three weeks after Angie was once settled into her new spot, she popped via her mom's space to have a talk. The two smoothed things over and determined to put their latest struggle in the back of them.
While Carol sat rocking her then-18 year-old daughter, as though she used to be a baby again, she stated to Angie, "I'm so glad you're not mad at me anymore." Angie appeared up at Carol with love and forgiveness. "Not even in a blue moon," she mentioned. That was once the last dialog they would have as the following day Angie was found dead in her house. The unsuitable guy ended up going to prison for her homicide. It took 25 years and the assistance of science to search out the fellow who did it. Where is Brian Dripps now? Here's what we know.
Carol and Angie Dodge
Brian Dripps is now in jail for the 1996 homicide of Angie Dodge. A person named Christopher Tapp was once wrongfully convicted for this crime.
Dripps is lately housed at Idaho State Correctional Center in Kuna, Idaho, the place he is serving a life sentence for first-degree homicide and rape. He will be eligible for parole May 16, 2039. In June 2021, District Judge Joel Tingey handed down this sentence for Dripps, who used a walker whilst entering the court docket. He was once most effective 55 years previous.
When it got here time for Carol to ship her victim impact remark, she deferred to what her sons said all through theirs. "The pictures that are in our mind are Angie's crime scene pictures," she mentioned. "The way you left her." Sobbing, Carol referenced the final time she saw her daughter and stated Dripps took all of that away from her. "You have shattered our family," she mentioned to Dripps. "There is no way to pick up the pieces ever again."
Police collected DNA evidence from the scene of the crime but were unable to make any arrests for months after Angie used to be killed. Dripps lived around the side road from Angie but authorities selected to focus on a friend of his, a 20-year-old via the title of Christopher Tapp. Despite the truth that Tapp's DNA didn't much the DNA from the crime scene, he was convicted of Angie's murder in May 1998, consistent with the New York Times.
Carol by no means believed Tapp was the person responsible for her daughter's murder, and enlisted the assistance of the Idaho Innocence Project sometime within the mid-2000s. They in flip used a genealogist to make a brand new DNA profile for the assassin by means of evidence from the crime scene. This led police to Dripps in 2019.
What came about to Christopher Tapp?
The East Idaho News reported that Tapp was released in 2017 and exonerated two years later. In June 2022, Tapp and town of Idaho Falls agreed to settle a lawsuit for $11.7 million.
The following year, in November 2023, Tapp died at age 47 in Las Vegas. At the time, scientific personnel had answered to a decision a few man (later identified as Tapp) who had suffered a head harm from a supposed accident. But police later said in January 2024 that Tapp's loss of life was being investigated as a murder.
Just in: Las Vegas Police have dominated the demise of Christopher Tapp a HOMICIDE. Tapp—who spent 21 years in an Idaho prison for a homicide he didn't devote, died after an altercation in a Vegas hotel room in November ‘23. #Dateline pic.twitter.com/PUGax3WbDO
— Shane Bishop (@shanebishop) January 10, 2024“Through the process the suspicious dying investigation, LVMPD Homicide Detectives have learned Tapp used to be in an altercation within a room at a resort sooner than being situated and transported to the health center,” Las Vegas police said. "The Clark County Coroner’s Office has since ruled Tapp’s death a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma to the head."
What happened to Angie Ray Dodge?
When Angie didn't show up for work on the morning of June 13, 1996, co-workers had been despatched to her home to ensure everything was alright. At around Eleven that morning, they discovered her useless frame and immediately referred to as 911, consistent with CBS News. When Detective Mark McBride arrived, he spotted there was once "no sign of forced entry, but there were signs of a struggle," as he instructed the opening. He believes she fought for her lifestyles.
Angie Dodge
Bill Squires, a police officer for the Idaho Police Department, used to be best on patrol for a couple of months when he was requested to process the crime scene. He instructed ABC News that it used to be his first homicide. When he arrived, Squires noticed that her "sweatpants were pulled down, just below knee-level." There was a minimize above her proper breast and a considerable amount of blood, a few of which had been splashed along the walls of Angie's bedroom. Her neck used to be lower so severely, she was once just about decapitated.
The crime scene used to be covered in DNA which is why Tapp's conviction used to be in particular enraging for Carol. The love of her daughter drove Carol to search out the true killer, but she was additionally devastated over the truth that the flawed guy was once in prison. The day Dripps was once despatched away used to be both satisfying and heartbreaking. Carol stated she would by no means forgive him, but no less than part of the nightmare used to be over.
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