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The arrest and conviction of Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. closed the cold case of Angie Dodge after 25 long years. Dodge was found brutally stabbed, r*ped, and with her throat slit in her bloodied Idaho Falls apartment on June 13, 1996.
The officers from the Idaho Falls Police Department zeroed in on members of Dodge's friend circle, the River Rats, in a dearth of leads and eventually coerced the 20-year-old Christopher Tapp into a confession, leading to his arrest in May 1998. However, his charges were exonerated, and genetic genealogy and forensic analysis led investigators to the real murderer, Brian Leigh Dripps Sr.
The Dateline NBC episode True Confession airs on February 23, 2024, at 9 p.m. EST and showcases the resilience of Tapp as his charges were exonerated in July 2019. The synopsis reads,
"An Idaho man is sentenced to life after falsely confessing to his friend's murder; but after the true culprit is caught and the case seemingly closed, a chilling twist unfolds."
Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison on June 8, 2021. He is presently incarcerated at the Bonneville County Jail.
How was Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. caught? Details explored
While Christopher Tapp was arrested for the brutal murder and r*pe of 18-year-old Angie Dodge, the real perpetrator remained at large for 25 years. Angie's mother continued her investigation to find the killer when she reportedly realized Tapp's innocence and brought in the Idaho Innocence Project to help with his release.
Carol Dodge, furthermore, pursued the Idaho Falls Police Department to try familial DNA testing to identify the killer. With the efforts of DNA experts, Dr. Greg Hampikian and CeCe Moore, the police, along with Carol, got to find the person who had left his semen sample behind at the crime scene.
The Police Department had initially made a wrong accusation as they made use of a Y-chromosome familial search on a public database acquired by Ancestry.com. A filmmaker from New Orleans, Michael Usry Jr., was found to have 34/35 allele matches to the DNA sample. However, his saliva sample did not come back as a match for the killer's DNA.
The allegations against Michael Usry were dropped, and autosomal familial searching was then used to find a seventh unknown suspect from the family tree identified earlier. The genetic genealogical investigation led to Brian Leigh Dripps Sr., who had lived across the street from the Dodge household in Idaho Falls in 1996.
The investigators picked up a discarded cigarette butt thrown out from his car window in Caldwell and found a perfect match to the DNA sample from 1996, per NBC News. He confessed to the charges upon interrogation and mentioned that he had no plans of killing Angie Dodge, per East Idaho News.
Where is Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. now?
Brian Leigh Dripps Sr. pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder and r*pe of Dodge as part of his plea agreement in February 2021, per The Washington Times. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison by District Judge Joel Tingey.
Carol Dodge spoke to BBC News to share,
"I begged them to take his DNA at the time and they told me to let them do their jobs. I’m still angry over it."
Brian Leigh Dripps is presently serving his sentence at the Bonneville County Jail.
