THE REAL KILLER

He Admits to 1996 Murder That Put Wrong Man in Prison for 20 Years

Christopher Tapp spent two decades in prison for the rape and killing of Angie Dodd. Now Brian Dripps has pleaded guilty to the crime.

An Idaho man who walked free for two decades while another man served time for his crime pleaded guilty Monday to murder and rape charges. Brian Dripps admitted he sexually assaulted 18-year-old Angie Dodge in 1996—but said he didn’t intend to kill her or remember doing it. “I guess it just happened when I was there. I remember the rape part… that’s all I remember of that evening,” Dripps said, according to East Idaho News. After Dodge’s throat was slit, a jury convicted Christopher Tapp, even though he wasn’t a DNA match, on the basis of a coerced confession. The Innocence Project took up his case, and he was exonerated in 2019. Investigators used genealogical DNA sleuthing to identify Dripps as a likely suspect and then collected a discarded cigarette butt to make a match.