← I Wish You Were Here
I Wish You Were Here
A Mom Spent 23 Years Doing What Police Couldn't. She Found Her Daughter's Killer
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He was the convicted murderer. He had been found guilty and he was serving time for it. And the victim's mother, through the heartbreaking loss of her own precious daughter, was fighting hard to get him out of prison. This is the unbelievable story of Angie Dodge. There's so much to go through. I also feel like I haven't sat down to properly talk to you guys in a while. So I'm eager to get into this case, eager to learn your thoughts and what you think about this case, specifically the trial and everything that came along with it. It's a crazy one. There's so much to go through it. So let's get into it. My name is Michelle Cuervo. I am your host and welcome to this episode of I wish you were here. June 13, 1999 A Thursday in Idaho Falls, two teenage girls were concerned about their 18 year old friend, Angie Dodge. 18 year old Angie Dodge was a radiant, beautiful girl with thick blonde hair and a beautiful bright smile. That Thursday in 1996, she failed to show up to her shift at work and when their phone calls also went unanswered, her co workers decided it was the best thing to do to just head over to her apartment to make sure that everything was all right. Angie had just moved out of her family home just three weeks prior and her entire family had a very close knit relationship. She was the youngest of four kids and she was the only daughter. Her and her brothers grew up moving their entire life. It was something that they were used to because they were military kids. But when they moved to Idaho Falls, Angie was so excited to finally make friends that she could keep, which she did make a lot of friends and easily too because she was genuinely such a kind, nice person to be around. She was the kind of friend that you would want to have, the kind of person that you would want to have in your life. So she was so excited for that. She was also really looking forward to just starting new and starting her life there. She moved into her very own apartment at only 18 years old. But the day that she moved out of her family's home, the day that she left home to go and move into her apartment, it was not ideal because like I said, her family was very close knit. They all had really healthy relationships. But the day that Angie moved out, her and her mom did not leave off on the best of terms. They had a disagreement. However, on June 12th of 1996, just the day before Angie would go missing, she had gone over to her family's house and her and her mom had talked about the situation. They made up. They actually had a very sweet mother daughter moment. Carol, Angie's mom, said to her, quote, I'm so glad you're not mad at me anymore. And after agreeing to disagree, Angie laid her head on her mom's shoulder and they rocked back and forth together. Carol has said that she is so incredibly grateful for that moment. Most importantly, her mom was so glad that the last things that she said to Angie, the last words, were that she loved her. Because she didn't know it yet, but that would be the last time that Carol would ever see her daughter alive. The next morning, after not showing up to work, when her friends arrived at her front door to check on her, they knocked. They. They got no answer. And they just attempted to try and twist the door handle to see if it would twist to see if it was possibly unlocked. They expected it to be locked, but it wasn't. So they walked inside. They started yelling out Angie's name. Angie. Angie, where are you? But they heard nothing back. They started making their way down the hallway, checking the living room, the kitchen, anywhere as you would. They were walking around expecting to see Angie in a corner, maybe on her phone, maybe her phone had died, maybe she had slept and in a little bit too late, but there was still nothing. They made it to her bedroom at the back of her apartment, down the hallway, and there she was. Angie was found lying on the floor, her head up against the wall. Her clothing had been completely ripped, exposing her. She was covered in injuries, one so deep across her neck that it had almost decapitated her. Her hands were by her sides and the carpet underneath her was absolutely and completely soaked in blood. Angie had been violently essayed and tragically murdered. After her friends walked into that brutal crime scene, they called the police immediately, and police arrived as fast as they could, immediately taping off the area as a crime scene. However, right off the bat, some things were not adding up. There were no signs of forced entry, but there were signs of a struggle. And there was one crucial piece of evidence left behind. Unidentified male DNA from the SA leaving behind what investigators called, quote, a pristine profile. That piece of DNA would be a perfect match to one person and one person only. The person responsible for doing that horrific act of violence. The worst thing that you can do to a human being. To Angie Dodge. We'll come back to that in a second. But keep that in mind. Angie's parents were given the devastating news, and it absolutely broke them. Their family that was once loving and full of life felt like it was never going to be the same again. Her parents, who had spent the last 18 years admiring their only daughter, seeing her grow up, seeing her becoming her own person, not now would have to learn how to grieve her. Her brothers lost their only sister, their friend. And they would also now have to learn how to remember her only through memories. Angie's tragic murder shocked every single person in Idaho Falls. Things like this, of this nature, of that kind of brutality did not happen in their town. And from day one, Angie's mom, Carol, was determined to get justice for her daughter if it was the last thing that she ever did. A group of teenagers, young kids, young adults used to frequently hang out by a river, water, relaxing, hanging out, swimming, whatever it was. There were always a group of kids hanging out by the river, this specific river. And a lot of those kids were Angie's friend group. And they were often referred to as the river rats. But none of the river rats, after testing the DNA against them, knew none of them were a match. And as days passed, weeks passed, six months passed, there was still no real lead. Angie's family was extremely frustrated, understandably so. Her mother said that she just couldn't understand how six months later, they still had no answers. She said, quote, it makes you wonder what they're doing, if they're doing anything. They're just not qualified. These detectives are street cops that have been promoted, end quote. So she started doing what she could to move the investigation along. On her end, she was printing out flyers with Angie's face on them, distributing them, talking to any and every stranger on the street, offering $5,000 out of her own pocket as a reward. And at the same time, the entire city of Idaho Falls was also feeling the frustration that Angie's family was. And the police department was under massive pressure to get answers, to find out who did this, to make an ARR or at the Bare minimum to at least name a person of interest. The first heartbreak came through seven months after Angie's murder. One of the river rats, Benjamin Hobbs, had been arrested in Nevada for essaying a girl with a weapon present. That situation was proof that that guy not only was capable of essaying a woman, but was also capable of attacking them with a weapon. And not only that, I mean, he was a river rat, meaning that he knew Angie and was likely friends with her, or at the very, very least, friends with friends of hers. So he was brought in for an interview. Benjamin is claiming his innocence. They test his DNA against the DNA found at the crime scene. And what do you know? It's not a match. So police are thinking, okay, you have this guy, he's a river rat. He's probably connected to Angie in some way, shape or form. At the very least, they probably have a in common. So they're thinking maybe he wasn't the one who essayed Angie, but he could very much so still be involved in her death somehow. And investigators, detectives, authorities, they get this idea in the back of their head, for whatever reason, that there was more than one person involved in Angie's attack, more than one man. So they decide to question one of Benjamin's friends, 20 year old Christopher Tapp. Initially, they bring Christopher in for questioning to ask him about Angie. But more so, the intent behind talking to him was to get more information on Benjamin, to try and get him to reveal something that would make Benjamin seem guilty. So Chris goes in for his questioning. He tells investigators that he doesn't know anything, that he couldn't help them, and, and that he had no idea what they were talking about. Basically, fine, whatever, they let him go. He comes back a different day. And now this is where the situation very quickly takes a turn for the worst, because police officers called Chris back in again to basically grill him with questions, leading questions, assumptions, telling him they were telling him, rather than asking him, he. They were telling him that he knew more than he was letting on. Until eventually Chris starts agreeing with police officers after denying and denying and telling them that he did not know a thing. They refused to leave him alone, basically until he was emotionally drained, he was exhausted, and he was so out of it from being that tired that he started to question himself and he started thinking that Benjamin maybe did do something to Angie or then maybe he himself did something. So let's look at this from a very different angle because investigators are under immense pressure to find answers in this case. Pressure from the city, from the community, from Angie's family and the public, meanwhile, are thinking that they are not capable of doing their job because it's been months at this point, and they've come up with absolutely nothing. Chris is being torn down question after question, hour after hour. He's exhausted, hearing the same situation be explained to him in detail over and over again. And in my opinion, being accused of things that officers believe to be true but not really sure of, and I think being threatened and quite literally gaslit, I mean, call it what it is, by the men questioning him. This guy is sitting there in this interrogation room, being shown pictures of the crime scene, finding himself almost feeling delusional again to the point that he's starting to tell authorities that maybe they are right, and he starts telling them what he thinks they want to hear. Authorities look at Chris changing his story. What was once denial, denial, denial. Now him being agreeing and considering the possibility that they were right. They're looking at how unstable his answers have been. The fact that he did change his story 1, 2, 3, 4, a total of six times because he simply didn't know what to say or what to do. And now, in their eyes, he is the prime suspect. Over three weeks, Christopher Tapp was interrogated nine times. He was forced to take seven lie detector tests, and his lawyers would later say that he spent more than 100 hours under intense police questioning. Chris himself has looked back at that time and says, I was broken. There is no other way to explain it. I was just broken and confused and scared. I just wanted to get away from them. I just gave them whatever information they wanted because I assumed that it would get me out of this situation, end quote. There was one issue, however, because Chris's DNA did not match the DNA left at the crime scene. But investigators, quite frankly, did not care. On January 30th of 1997, during another polygraph test, Chris denied eight times that he had absolutely nothing to do with ending the life of Andy Dodge. In return, investigators told him that he was facing the death penalty, which wasn't true, but they said that to use reverse psychology. And they tell him that in order to get out of the death penalty and get a lesser sentence, or at the very least have a chance at getting a lesser sentence, all he needed to do was tell them the truth. An officer said, quote, if you were forced to do it in fear of your own life, that's a different story. We could go with a different charge rather than life imprisonment or death. I'm a cop. I shouldn't be saying this, but I'm Kind of close to you. You have to save your life, period. You got forced into doing something that you did not want to do, protect your own ass. You got trapped. And to that, Chris responded, alright. Then the officer asked Chris again if Benjamin Hobbs forced Chris to attack Angie with a weapon while threatening to end his life, giving him that reason to do it. And Chris just said yes. And after that, quote, unquote confession, any other guy that was being questioned, including Benjamin Hobbs, was released. But Christopher Tapp, despite the fact that there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene, was charged with the murder and SA of Angie Dodge. His trial begun in May of 1998. Every single person in town was watching the news, every single person thinking that Christopher Tapp was this monster that the media was painting him out to be, including Angie's family. Angie's mother, she really believed that her daughter was finally getting the justice that they had been fighting so hard for. In trial, Chris said that his confession was coerced, that his DNA simply proved that he was not the killer. And his team tried to get the judge to get the confession thrown out, but the judge refused to. Chris said, quote, the hardest thing was watching my mother sit there while people looked at me like I was a monster. End quote. In the end, Christopher Tapp was found guilty on all charges and he was sentenced to life in prison. After that, Carol, Angie's mom, felt like there had been some sort of justice served. But she knew that Chris's DNA did not match the DNA left at the crime scene, meaning that in her eyes, and in a lot of the public's eyes, somebody else just had to be involved. There was no other option. And Angie's mom, she was not going to let whoever the person was whose DNA was at the crime scene, she would not let them get away with this. She was determined to finding the person that that DNA belonged to. She wanted to be 100% sure that every and any person that had played any part in her daughter's death was behind bars. In 2009, a local newspaper got a hold of Christopher's confession and interrogation tapes through the Freedom of Information act, and they shared those with Carol Dodge. Carol says that she probably had those tapes for years before she actually found the strength within herself to sit down and find the courage to be able to listen through those tapes and watch them. But when she did, oh, my God, was she furious. Carol watched hours of these tapes looking at this man, Christopher Tapp, this boy, being worn down by investigators, clearly distraught, clearly exhausted, agreeing with police officers Just because it felt like that was his only option. She could very visibly see when she was watching those tapes and that the police would ask Krista question and then they would just answer it for him. And she got so mad at the police. After seeing those tapes with her own two eyes. Carol Dodge was convinced that the wrong guy was behind bars. She knew in her gut that Chris only said what he said because police officers were manipulating him to do so. And she felt so horrible for Chris. For years following that, Chris, Carol and Chris's family and friends, as well as his new defense team tried everything and anything they could do to try and get Chris's sentence overturned to prove that he was an innocent man and always had been. Taking a very quick break in the case to talk about today's sponsor, the Cozy Earth. You guys know, I think I've told you this story before, that in my personal opinion, mental health, everything that comes along with that, and taking care of yourself, being the best version of yourself is quite literally the most important thing in the world. And I'm like, you know, daily affirmations, right? I like to stand in the mirror and talk to myself like I'm a stranger a little bit. I know that sounds weird, but I'll be like, oh, look at her. She needs her hair brushed. Aw, look at her. She should get her nails done. Oh, look at her. She needs cute, cozy pajamas. I treat myself the way that I know that I would treat any other person that I love in my life. And as soon as I changed that perspective, it made my self love so big, for lack of a better word. And I feel like Cozy Earth played such a big part in that because they play such a big role in my life when it comes to what I wear. Comfy pajamas, comfy socks where I sleep, comfy sheets, comfy comforters, comfy blankets. Cozy Earth is so good at making products that make you feel like the best version of yourself and make it easy to pamper yourself, to treat yourself the way that you deserve to be treated. Which is why I when I recommend all of their products to you guys, I genuinely mean them. I feel like they are such an easy thing that really, truly improves the quality of your life, especially bed sheets. So if you haven't tried out anything from Cozy Earth, the best time is now. Try out their sheets. Take care of yourselves. It's buying from Cozy Earth, in my eyes, is an act of self love. I'm not even kidding you. And their bed sheets are not only the best things ever in the whole world, but they also come with a 100 night sleep trial. You can try them for yourself. Every detail is designed to feel effortlessly comfortable. Returns are so easy but but after feeling this level of comfort, you will never want to let them go. Not only do they have the 100 night sleep trial, they also have a 10 year warranty built with care and precision. Because true comfort is meant to endure. Discover how care in every detail transforms simple routines into moments of true comfort and ease. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code WISH for up to 20% off. That is code WISH for up to 20 percent off. And if you get a post purchase survey, please be sure to mention that you heard about Cozy Earth right here on the I wish you were here podcast. Experience the craft behind the comfort and make every day feel intentional. Thank you so much Cozy Earth for sponsoring this video. I love you guys. Now back to the case. By 2017, Kris had been in prison for 20 years. He was supposed to be in there for another 10 years because of his sentence because of the SA charge. But Chris's new defense lawyer was able to get his SA charge dropped. He served the 20. The other 10 was dropped. So Chris was now a free man when he got out. He had so much catching up to do, he said. The world had changed. Cell phones ruled the world and there was no more physical talking between people. That really bothered me when I got home. Plus, in my mind I was still a 20 year old kid, but all of my friends had kids, mortgages, car payments. They had real lives. End quote. And I can't tell you how angry it made not only people of the public, but people obviously from Chris's family how angry they were that his life was basically ruined for all of the wrong reasons. But anyway, Chris is free, he's out of prison, but he is not legally innocent. Because legally on paper, he was still a convicted murderer and they were still trying to work that behind the scenes to get that overturned as well. By this point, Chris and Carol had basically formed a friendship. They were close now and they had both still had so many unanswered questions, so many of the same questions. This story in both of their eyes was so far from over. They needed to find the person they wanted to find the person who was a match to the DNA at the crime scene, to finally be able to prove once and for all that Kiris was innocent and most importantly, to get Angie Dodge the justice that she did deserve and to put her real killer behind bars. In the summer of 2017, the Idaho Falls Police Department got a new chief. And he was also determined to work with Carol to find the real person responsible for ending the life of her daughter, 18 year old Angie Dodge. Around this time as well was one new technology called genetic genealogy was gaining a lot of traction in the U.S. we've talked about this before over on my TikTok page. We've also talked about this before on previous episodes here on the podcast. But genetic genealogy is a method that compares DNA found at crime scenes to personal DNA that individuals submit to websites such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com in the summer of 2018, Carol begged CeCe Moore, a well known DNA expert, to take a further look into the case of her daughter. And CeCe did. She wanted to help out Carolina. So she uploaded the DNA found at the crime scene to a database called GEDmatch. And she began trying to find a trace of a family tree that would eventually be able to lead them to Angie's killer. And it worked. Or so they thought. CZ was able to establish a suspect profile that she had suspected to be the grandson or great grandson of a man called Clarence. Using birth certificates and obituaries, she tracked down every single one of his descendants who would have been around the right age at the time of angie's death in 1996. She narrowed it down to six men, one whom lived in Idaho. And they thought that they had their guy. They tracked this guy down for days, only to then find out that his DNA was not a match either. And the hope that cece had, the hope that Carole had, the hope that Chris had, was crushed in a second. They felt so defeated. Carol said that she was sitting in her kitchen at three in the morning after finding out that the guy that they thought was the killer wasn't the man that they were looking for. And she just cried. She spoke to Angie, hoping that she could hear her wherever she was, saying, quote, Angie, I'm so sorry. I'm tired and I don't know where to go, end quote. Carol said that in that moment, she felt like Angie was in the room telling her, mom, you're almost there. You've come so far, you can't stop now. End quote. And that was all the encouragement that Carol needed to keep fighting this battle and to keep going. So remember that I said that CZ was able to trace the DNA down to six men. Well, it turns out there was a seventh. They had missed him because that person had taken his stepfather's last name, so he didn't share the same last name as the Rest of the family members, the rest of the family tree, which is where the confusion was and how they missed him. But luckily, by finding him, they had found the missing piece to their puzzle. Brian Lee Drips senior. He was now in his 50s, but. But at the time of the crime, he would have been around 30 years old. And not only did he live in Idaho Falls, but he lived in Idaho Falls in 1996. Get this, right across the street from where Angie Dodge was brutally and senselessly killed 23 years ago. It was a massive operation to watch this guy and to follow him, waiting for him to discard or throw away and anything that would have had his DNA on it so that the cops could then take it, grab it, take it back to the lab and test it against the DNA found at the crime scene to be able to then say with a 100% certainty that this was their guy, the guy that they had been looking for for over two decades. On May 10th of 2019, detectives saw Brian discard a cigarette out of his car window. And as soon as he drove away, they ran over, sped over to that one spot, picked up the cigarette, grabbed it and took it. They tested it. And what do you know? After over two decades and 100 DNA samples, the test came back positive. Brian Dribbs was a match. Three officers approached him when he was walking out of the bank one day and they took him in for questioning. This man, he denied absolutely everything. But after a while, investigators were like, dude, cut it out. We have your DNA. We tested it. It is a match. Your DNA was found at the crime scene. We know that this was you. And then Brian confessed. He said that he did kill angie Dodge over 23 years ago, that he went after her with intentions of only essaying her in his own words, but said that he, quote, didn't mean to kill her. He said, quote, I guess it just happened while I was there. I remember the essay part, but that's all I remember from that evening. End quote. Sorry, what do you mean? Because what do you actually mean? What are you talking about? 55 year old Brian Drapes was finally arrested after taking a life over two whole decades ago. He was found guilty, duh. And he was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years to life. On July 17th of 2019, there was a motion approved dismissing every single charge against Kris Top. And he was finally declared an innocent man by a judge. This is a quote from Chris, quote, I was able to tell my mom that my name is clean. That was the most important thing to me in this world. I'm so thankful and grateful for what everyone has done for me. But Carol, she has been like a second mom. If it wasn't for Carol's perseverance and drive, then none of this would have ever transpired for me. If she hadn't sat down and watched those interrogation tapes and seen how bad it was, then none of this would have happened. I'm so in debt to her. End quote. And this is a quote from Carol. Quote. My fight was to find my daughter justice. Every road I went down, somebody tried to put up a barricade or a roadblock. Everywhere I turned, somebody said, you can't do this, you can't do that. I said, just stand back and watch me do it. End quote. Every person in Idaho Falls was over the moon for Carol and for all of Angie's family. Obviously not over the moon because of the situation that happened, because it was horrible and it was traumatizing. And nothing could ever fill that hole that Angie's death had left, not only in their family, but in anyone who knew her and loved her, which was so many people. But they were just so glad to finally have found Angie justice. Chris Tapp got six years of complete freedom. He found a woman that he loved. They got married, but tragically, both of them would lose their life. In 2023, Chris's wife tragically lost her life in a car accident. And two months after she passed away, 47 year old Krist would lose his life after an accidental fall that left him with blunt force trauma to the head. He was rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately did not make it. Chris is remembered as a caring son, a friend to many, and a tireless advocate on behalf of others wrongfully convicted. Angie Dodge is remembered as a beautiful friend, a sister, and a daughter who will be deeply, deeply missed. And that is all I have for this case. Thank you guys so, so much for spending time with me today, for listening to Angie's story. Please let me know your thoughts on this case and if you enjoy this podcast, thank you so much for listening to it. Thank you so much for listening to me. It means more to me than I could ever put into words. And yeah, I love you guys so, so much. I hope you're having the best day. If not, go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy. And I will see you in my next video. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of I wish you were here. As a reminder, you can listen to this podcast anywhere you get. Your podcast video version is also available on YouTube.
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You. The wrongs we must right. The fights we must win. The future we must secure together for our nation. This is what's in front of us. This determines what's next for all of us. We are Marines. We were made for this.