48 Hours - The DNA of a Killer

Episode Date: April 16, 2017

Police have DNA evidence in a brutal murder but can't match a killer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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The ability to kill is obviously somewhere in all of us because it happens every day across the country. across the country. Two and a half years ago, my wife and I, we were living in New Orleans, having a good time, living there in the Big Easy. And I was working in the movie business. I produced and had directed a few short films. Murderabilia. It was then I knew it was a girl.

And she was young. Got me the reputation of being a person who is really into murder and things like that. I shoved her body over in the shower. I just kept stabbing her. My name is Michael Ushery. I'm a filmmaker and was a suspect in the Angie Dodge case. I'm a filmmaker and was a suspect in the Angie Dodge case. 19-year-old Andy Dodge was murdered last week, the latest violent crime in Idaho Falls.

At least one of the weapons used in it was a knife. As the officers arrived at the crime scene and found Angie Dodge laying on the ground, it was obvious that there was a very brutal murder that had happened a lot of blood it's sad to see an 18 year old girl and see her life taken at the hands of somebody else in this fashion Angie was my only daughter and she's baby. I'll never stop missing her. During the investigation, when we collected all the evidence, we came across a significant amount of DNA that we believe is from the killer. Would you say that this crime scene provided really good evidence? Excellent evidence.

We had a neat semen sample. evidence. We had a neat semen sample. For nearly two decades police could not find a match to the killer's DNA. So in 2014 they went way outside the box and searched a public DNA database owned by Ancestry.com. It led us to this Michael Essary Jr. who just happened to be a filmmaker. Films of homicide, kind of a murder mystery filmmaker. Then he cuts off her head. It was pretty creepy. We had Louisiana State Police call him. He had agreed to come down to the state offices there in New Orleans.

The majority of the time that I was in the interrogation room, I just didn't know what they were talking about. They finally had to look at me and go, no, we think that you, Michael Ushery, we think that you're involved in this murder case. My whole purpose is to find who killed Angie Dodge. Nobody ever thinks that they're going to get picked up by the police and taken into an interrogation room and questioned about a murder. When it happens to you, it's definitely a game changer.

I'm Anne-Marie Green. Tonight on 48 Hours, the DNA of a killer. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly. Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights

to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals.

However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+.

Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Grief has no time limit. I just can't, I can't let go. I can't let go of her. Carol Dodge lost her daughter Angie when she was just a teenager. She was just discovering who she truly was and wanting independence. She says, just let me grow up.

Let me make my own mistakes. You know, you don't need to watch me. You know, you don't need to be my shadow. It was the summer of 1996 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, a mostly Mormon community where neighbors knew each other by name. And doors were rarely locked, says Chief of Police Mark McBride. But it was a very, really very quiet, peaceful town overall.

Just three weeks before her death, 18-year-old Angie got her own apartment in this house. I saw her the night that she was killed. She said it was so hard growing up. And she laid her head on my shoulder, and we just kind of rocked back and forth. And I'm so grateful for that moment. Extremely grateful that my last words were that I love her. The next morning, Angie didn't show up for work at a local beauty supply store.

We got a phone call at our 911 center about 11 o'clock in the morning. And one of her friends at work came to check on her. And the door was unlocked. She went in and she found a body laying there on the floor in a very bloody crime scene. There was no sign of forced entry, but there were signs of a struggle. Do you think she fought for her life? Yes, I do. There was no sign of forced entry, but there were signs of a struggle. Do you think she fought for her life? Yes, I do.

Angie was stabbed and cut 14 times and left half naked. There were no signs of rape, but the killer did ejaculate, leaving behind what DNA expert Greg Hampikian calls a pristine profile. It's a single profile, complete identification, one man to the exclusion of everyone on the planet. Police tested the DNA of dozens of local men, but couldn't get a match. So for months, they interviewed everyone Angie knew, including this man, Christopher Tapp. Although his DNA didn't match and he denied any involvement,

after more than 28 hours of interrogation over 23 days, Tapp confessed to participating in Angie's murder. You were there, correct? Correct. Did you know Christopher Tapp? No, had no clue. Tapp told police that the night of Angie's death, he and two friends stopped by her apartment. During an argument, Tapp claimed one of his friends

started stabbing Angie while he held her down. You hold her down, okay, while she's being cut. You hold her down while she's being cut. But when Tapp went before a judge, he pled not guilty. I said, you beast, you horrible beast. How could he do this to my daughter? The defense argued Tapp's DNA didn't match the killer's. But on May 28, 1998, it took the jury only 13 hours to reach a verdict.

Guilty. Nearly two years after Angie Dodge was murdered, Chris Tapp faced his punishment, with Carol Dodge glaring at him. You are guilty of the crimes of murder in the first degree and rape. His sentence, 30 years to life. But the murder of Angie Dodge was still an open case. Remember, Chris Tapp did not match the DNA, and he wouldn't tell police who did. I just couldn't understand why he would go to prison

and take a life sentence and not give the other person up. Tapp did give authorities several names, including someone named Mike. How sure are you that this person is? I'm dead positive. But police could never make a DNA match, so the case went cold, but not for Carol Dodge. I never stop looking for the actual person who matches the DNA.

It's one individual. That's the person I'm looking for. By 2009, the killer's DNA had been entered into the National Criminal Database, known as CODIS. But there was still no match. So Carol called well-known DNA expert Greg Hampikian. I had this message, they don't know who killed my daughter. By then there had been many advances in DNA technology.

And so with Hampikian's help, Carol Dodge pushed authorities to use a new controversial search process called familial DNA. It looks for anyone who may be related to Angie's killer. Which means going into that database in Idaho of the convicted offenders and looking for a family member that might match this DNA partially. a family member that might match this DNA partially. Two places, DC and Maryland, passed a law that says no familial searches are allowed. New York University law professor, Aaron Murphy, wrote Inside the Cell,

The Dark Side of Forensic DNA, and says there's real privacy concerns with familial DNA searches. The states, I think, that are worried about this are worried about maybe we could use your DNA to see if your brother's breaking the law or your dad's breaking the law or your son's breaking the law. Idaho doesn't allow familial searches in their criminal database, so Greg Hampikian made an even more controversial suggestion, a familial search through public databases. I'm the one that went to the Idaho Falls Police Department and the prosecution saying we need to do this.

Imagine you're one of millions of Americans to open up a kit like this, spit into a test tube like this, and then send your DNA off to a commercial database. Well, now that database owns your DNA profile, and you may not realize it, but police may be able to access it. We're interested in solving a crime, and we're going to use any technique we can that we can legally use. and we're going to use any technique we can that we can legally use.

In the summer of 2014, detectives searched a public DNA database owned by Ancestry.com. They got a hit. I was told they got 34 out of 35 markers, I believe. Is that good? Yeah. That's a good investigative lead. Yeah, that's a good investigative lead. It was a close enough match to make Detective Patrick McKenna think they had found a relative of Angie's killer. So police got a warrant for Ancestry.com to reveal his identity. It was a man named Michael Usry Sr. We know it's not that individual or we would have had 35 out of 35 on that.

So that's when we started doing research into the family. That led investigators to suspect Usry's son, Michael Usry Jr. Detective McKenna wondered if this could be the Mike that Chris Tapp once named. And then we started researching him and the films that he was making. I was a little eerie to try to think that that could possibly be a solid suspect in the case. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror.

Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked.

And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app.

In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn. And it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.

When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely, Pacific island to the brink of extinction.

Listen to the Pitcairn trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I have to ask you this question. Yes. Do you have a particular interest in murder? I don't have a particular interest in murder. It sure seems like it based on your film. I know, it does. But no, I really have quite an aversion to it.

But authorities investigating the brutal murder of Angie Dodge weren't so sure. Precisely at 2 o'clock, three gentlemen came to my door. In December of 2014, more than 18 years after Angie's murder, two detectives from Idaho Falls and a Louisiana state police officer brought Michael Usry Jr. to a state police office near the New Orleans Superdome and started grilling him. They said, so what about your travels to Idaho? Have you ever been to Idaho? And I had, in fact. I actually went up there with some friends for just one night. He was 19 years old back then, and he and his friends drove to Rexburg, Idaho,

passing right through Idaho Falls. Well, they were really interested in that. A little surprised that we were able to actually place him in Idaho Falls. Well, they were really interested in that. I'm a little surprised that we were able to actually place him in Idaho Falls. It was a big red flag for Detective Patrick McKenna. It's kind of weird, but I just really didn't get it. Then one of the officers pulled out a warrant. Biggest law enforcement guy I've ever seen in my life. And swabbed his cheek for DNA. At that point, I went, hey, what's going on here, you guys?

Should I get a lawyer? Once they had his DNA, they drove Michael Usry home without any explanation. I just basically stood on my sidewalk in a daze. It was a call to a close friend that finally shed some light. And he said, well, what's the case? What is this? And I go, well, they wouldn't tell me anything except that it was a high-profile murder case in Idaho Falls. So he gets on the computer, and within 20 seconds he's like,

oh, yeah, this is the case right here. It's some girl named Angie Dodge. The filmmaker, whose movie featured a convict describing how he stabbed a woman to death, Watched her insides spill out all over the floor. was now suspected of doing just that to Angie Dodge. I mean, it was very much a case of an overkill. They stabbed her and cut her and it was just a butchery. People were like, wow, what does this imply, you know, for your career, for your life, for your family, for your family's name. Usry remembers being terrified,

spending days holed up at home, worried what police would do next. Pretty sure that they were tapping my phone calls, possibly staking me out, certainly checking my computer searches. Also anxious, four states away, was Carol Dodge, Angie's mother, who prayed this new lead would finally unmask the killer who left his DNA at the scene. She deserves justice. All victims deserve justice. But Usry knew he hadn't killed anyone, and he wanted answers.

He hadn't killed anyone, and he wanted answers. A local newspaper reporter showed him a copy of the warrant investigators used to obtain his DNA. And right there, the answer to the question, why him? And I went, wow, this is because of my dad? Fifteen years ago, the filmmaker's father, Michael S. Reese Sr., participated in a genealogy project at his local church. A sample of his DNA went to that public database, which was later purchased by Ancestry.com, and that's where police came across it.

There are 34 out of 35 LLs that match. It seems shocking to me. You know, 34 out of 35. I mean, that's a great number, right? Who wouldn't be, you know, drawn to that? 34 out of 35 DNA markers sounds like a stunningly close match to Angie Dodge's killer. But the reasons police honed in on him instead of any of his other relatives are detailed in the warrant. I told you what, Mike is his first name, okay?

Remember, Chris Tapp told police a guy named Mike was involved in the murder. Police took to Facebook and found his profile. Bingo. Facebook showed Usry had friends living in the Idaho Falls area. And then there's Usry's films. And then bludgeoned her to death with this very hammer. The more Usry read, the more furious he grew that anyone would think he was a killer. It would be torture. I mean, most people would not be able to just continue sailing through their day if they were under suspicion for a rape homicide.

NYU law professor Erin Murphy. I mean, someone who is in a sensitive position like a teacher, a doctor, can't just go on their daily business. I don't think my dean would be pleased if I was coming to work with students every day under investigation for a homicide. Are people going to wonder if I'm a killer? You know you're not the killer. Right. If you google his name, one of the first things that comes up is this. Mike's now forever associated with this very serious and gruesome incident. Do you start to think maybe someone in my family is the killer? How could I not think it?

Michael Ostry worried every day. He knew that Idaho Falls Police suspected him of murdering Angie Dodge, and the uncertainty of what would happen next kept him up at night. Until January 13, 2015, more than a month later. They sent me an email and it says, Michael Usher Jr., we just wanted to let you know that your DNA did not match our crime scene DNA, something you already knew. In an email from police, Michael Usher was officially cleared of the murder of Angie Dodge, but he was still thoroughly traumatized. You were angry at Ancestry?

I was angry at everybody. The police, scientists, you know, these database companies. You know, how could they misfire so bad? 48 Hours asked Ancestry.com about Usri's experience. In a statement, they said they will not share any information with law enforcement unless compelled to by a court order or search warrant. Usri's case, they say, was unique. And the only time they have received a formal legal request for DNA related information. After what happened to Usri, Ancestry.com told us they took action. The public

database used by authorities was made private and can no longer be accessed by the public or police. But we were wondering could what happened to Michael Usri happen again to someone else, with police using another public database? To our surprise, law professor Erin Murphy says maybe. You know, these cases tend only to come to light when something goes wrong. So you might never know if police checked your DNA to look for a criminal. Yeah, most of them don't have to tell us, how many times have you done these searches?

How many people did you investigate without them even knowing? Usri decided the best way to prevent it from happening again was to go public with what happened to him in a documentary. He was shocked when Angie Dodge's mother was willing to talk. What he didn't realize is that Carol Dodge had an agenda of her own. She's fairly certain that a killer is in my bloodline. Do you believe Mike Usry is related to the killer of your daughter? Somehow. Despite all that, Carol Dodge and Michael Usry have forged a rather odd, close bond. You're a really special person.

You are too, Carol. And after hearing Carol and Angie's story, the focus of Usry's documentary changed dramatically to Carol Dodge's search for her daughter's killer. I thought that a better, a more productive thing to do would be to try to make a film, to try to bring attention to this. Usry wanted to help Carroll, so he immersed himself in the case, starting with the man who had confessed, Chris Tapp.

How many times did you stab him before you let go that first time? Usry quickly learned that Chris Tapp was now claiming that his confession was forced and that the Idaho Innocence Project, headed by that DNA expert Greg Hampikian, was now working to set Tapp free. Based on the DNA, is there any way that Chris could have been in that room? No, not based on the DNA. The more Carol Dodge learned about DNA, the more she questioned Chris's confession that he held Angie down while she was being stabbed.

It wasn't until I started studying science that I said it's impossible. How could Chris admit in doing what he said he did and there be no physical evidence. But it wasn't just the science that bothered Dr. Hampikian. He believes that Chris Tapp's confession was coerced by the detectives who interrogated him. Come on, man. I mean, you're the heat of the moment. She's putting up the fight. You know, you're caught. You're right there in the middle.

I watch it, and it's so frustrating. This is Chris Tapp now at 40 years old. He's been inmate number 56265 for 20 years. You look at that 20-year-old kid, you know, and you realize, God, I was just an idiot. Think hard about it. I know it's there. Tapp says his confession was a lie, a story fed to him by police and then forced back out of him on tape. You can see him specifically pointing out facts to me or giving little innuendos. This would be the stairs going up. So you went up these stairs.

Or hints of how the murder went down. Well, it's a porch that goes outside. It all began six months after Angie's murder when one of her friends, Ben Hobbs, was arrested in Las Vegas for sexually assaulting a woman at Knife Point. Now, Idaho Falls detectives had already questioned and cleared Ben Hobbs, but because the crime he committed in Vegas was so similar, they wondered if he might be Angie's killer. And so while Ben Hobbs remained in custody in Nevada, detectives brought in his best friend for questioning, Chris Tapp. Emphatically, I said I had nothing to do with it. I don't know what you're talking about.

But instead of leaving it at that, Tapp cooperated. I felt like, trust them, they're not going to do anything wrong. He doesn't know they can lie to him. And most innocent people have no idea that the interrogators can lie to you. First, Tapp was told that there was irrefutable evidence that his friend Ben Hobbs killed Angie Dodge and that Tapp was there that there was irrefutable evidence that his friend Ben Hobbs killed Angie Dodge and that Tapp was there when it happened. I'm pretty sure we know what happened and who did what, how, when, where and why.

Tapp kept denying all knowledge of the crime. Did you hear a scream or anything like that? I wasn't there. But detectives persisted. And even though he had a lawyer, Tapp kept talking. And so when they offered you a polygraph, seemed like a good idea? Yeah, seemed like a great idea.

I had nothing to hide, no reason not to do it. But Tapp was told he was being deceptive. Detectives promised him full immunity, no jail time, in exchange for the truth, as long as he didn't participate in the actual murder. That's when Tapp says he started telling police what he thought they wanted to hear. Now, are you sure Ben's there? Yes. You're positive? Yeah. Yes. Tapp told detectives he was there when Ben Hobbs killed Angie Dodge.

Then, just hours later, a shocking twist. Detectives learned that Ben Hobbs did not match the killer's DNA. Tapp was told there was now evidence that a third man was at Angie's apartment that night, Jeremy Sarges, a friend of Tapp and Hobbs. 90 minutes later, Tapp was blaming Sarges for Angie's murder. I continue to lie. I continue to give them story after story, and they should have just stopped. But they didn't. But Chris, why didn't you stop? I didn't think I could.

Detectives tested Jeremy Sarge's DNA, and it was also not a match. And when Jared's DNA came back, it was the day they voided my immunity agreement, ripped everything up, and told me I'm the humongous liar. That's when Chris Tapp says police pushed him to change his story one last time. After 23 days and seven interrogations, Chris Tapp confessed to participating in Angie's murder. Chris Tapp confessed to participating in Angie's murder.

You hold her down, okay, while she's being cut. You hold her down while she's being cut. That's what was the end of it all. That's what brought me to prison. Authorities have repeatedly dismissed Tapp's claims of a forced confession until about a year ago when a shocking discovery would change the game. Never before seen videotapes of seven polygraph exams administered to Chris Tapp. Tapes that convinced even Carol Dodge that Chris Tapp. Tapes that convinced even Carol Dodge that Chris Tapp is innocent.

Chris Tapp basically just got railroaded. Carol Dodge took on a new mission to free the man convicted of her daughter's murder and find the killer who left his DNA, even if it turned out to be a member of Michael Usry's family. As Michael Usry began looking into the Angie Dodge murder case, he had preconceived notions. Why would you confess to something that you didn't do? I wouldn't do that. And now what do you think?

That it's possible that anybody could do it. Now Usry believes that Chris Tapp was forced to confess to a crime he didn't commit and condemned to a place where he doesn't belong you always got to have a little faith gotta have a little hope i haven't accepted this as my aunt i can't imagine spending one day in prison let alone 20 plus years mike hevey is a retired Superior Court judge who believes so strongly that Chris Tapp is innocent, he spent the last four years trying to help prove it. When you look at the interrogation videos, he knows nothing. So, Chris Tapp, Ben Hobbs. He struggles for details. Let it out. You're there.

Why? Because he wasn't there. Heavey runs a wrongful conviction project called Judges for Justice and took on Tapp's case after watching the interrogation tapes. I wasn't there. I wasn't even down the stairs. I wasn't nowhere around. Judge Heavey became convinced that Chris Tapp had been coerced into changing his story an astounding six times and knew that something was missing. I was concerned. He went from one day saying, I wasn't there.

And the next day, You're standing above her like this, like her head's right here. I'm at the crime scene and I stabbed her. I couldn't see how he made that jump. So I went back to look at the polygraph and my jaw just dropped. In between Chris's nine interrogations, detectives also administered seven polygraph exams. All of them were recorded, but no one had ever bothered to look at the tapes because polygraphs are inadmissible in court and the

sound is barely audible. Polygraphs are typically used to assess the credibility of the witness when they're done honestly. And how was the polygraph used in this case? This case was used to trick Chris Tapp into giving false testimony. Our polygraph expert says it was used like a psychological rubber hose. They beat him up with the psychology of it all to coerce him into falsely accusing other people. They manufactured testimony to get him to implicate himself in the murder of Angie Dodge. Judge Heavey says that detectives in this case

broke the rules in the polygraph room and thought no one would ever notice. The United States Supreme Court has held that it's improper to threaten. You can't threaten because it leads to false confessions. They threaten him with the gas chamber, being an accessory to murder, and being a conspirator to murder. They figured no one's going to look at the polygraphs, so it'll be hidden. No one will ever see it. Heavey says Chris Tapp was brainwashed. Chris Tapp eventually comes to believe that the polygraph is an all-knowing scientific instrument that can read his subconscious and is telling the machine that he was at the crime.

I'm going to take your hands off. I wouldn't say this, but I believe you could. You're trapped. Chris finally says yes. I stabbed her because Ben threatened me. And then Chris said, the police officer walks over, says, give me your hand.

Like, he passed the polygraph. And that gets Chris tapped. 30 years to life. Charged with the death penalty. Ugly stuff. Do you remember that moment? Yeah. Scared. Scared. That's pretty much the day my life ended. But Tapp never told anyone what happened during those polygraph exams. I didn't know what they did in the polygraph tapes was wrong. I didn't know. If I would have known these things 20 years, 15, 10 years ago, then maybe we wouldn't be here today.

Idaho Falls police deny any wrongdoing in their interrogations or polygraph exams. Do you think the polygraph was used as a coercive tool? I don't know that was the intent. I think the intent is find out the truth. Over the years, the courts have upheld Tapp's confession as valid and admissible and not the product of coercive police conduct. I don't think they were trying to cause harm. It wasn't any malicious intent, I don't think.

It's hard for me to wrap my head around what the police are thinking. Don Thomas is Chris Tapp's appellate attorney. It's okay. You made a mistake, Just say, hey, I made a mistake. We got the wrong guy. Let's all rally around and let's get the right guy. Mike Heavey was hoping that the newly discovered polygraph tapes would be enough for a judge to grant Chris Tapp a new trial. Those polygraph videos are now new evidence. They're the wedge to get Chris in front, a new trial. Those polygraph videos, now new evidence.

They're the wedge to get Chris in front of a judge to see the coercion that went on. The polygraphs are the answer to getting him out. What's your biggest fear when it comes to this case? I guess my biggest fear of this entire case would be that it just continues on indefinitely. Chris stays in jail. Carol continues to search. I hope he walks out a free man. It's not often you hear the mother of a victim say that about the only man serving time for her daughter's murder.

True. For the first time ever, Michael Usry was about to come face-to- face with the man convicted of killing Angie Dodge. Chris. Chris Tapp. I need to just take a moment because I didn't think that this would ever happen. And interview him for his documentary. Why did you confess?

To give them what they wanted. To get away from them. To do whatever it took for me to go home. The day Usry met Chris Tapp, to get away from them, to do whatever it took for me to go home. The day Usry met Chris Tapp, he was only weeks away from two hearings that his lawyer, John Thomas, hoped would set him free. We have too much evidence showing that Chris Tapp wasn't there. That I'm innocent. Have you ever found DNA that matched Chris Tapp at the scene?

No. Police Chief Mark McBride maintains that given Tapp's confession... You hold her down while she's being... The absence of his DNA at the crime scene proves nothing. Then, a stunning turn of events. The district attorney's office wanted to make a deal. Tapp's murder conviction would stand, but the rape conviction would be expunged and there would be no probation. Chris Tapp would just take his lumps on his 20 years and walk a free man.

Unwilling to risk another 10 years in prison, Tapp took the deal. There were too many what ifs. We had had a number of post-conviction petitions before, and all of them had been denied. The next day, a 48 Hours producer followed John Thomas as he sped to the county jail, paperwork in hand.

We are headed to the jail to get Chris to review the plea agreement. And if he reviews it and agrees with it, I will sign it and he'll be out of prison for the rest of his life. What you got there? I got it. Signed. Signed and sealed. It's all good. 48 hours later, TAP supporters Greg Hampikian, Mike Heavey, and even Michael Usry had made it to Idaho Falls for an emergency hearing. Nervous. A little over two decades from the day Chris Tapp was first arrested, he walked into the courtroom one more time in handcuffs.

All rise. This court is now in session. The Honorable Alan Stevens presiding. And after some legal formalities... Did you read the stipulation, every line of it, before you signed it? Yes, Your Honor. Carol Dodge was called on to make a victim impact statement on behalf of her daughter, Angie. Go ahead, Ms. Dodge. I stand here today not as a victim,

but I am a survivor of a horrific crime that took my daughter's life. Chris Tapp fought back tears. And I hope that you will help me find justice for Angie. But it was clear that along with her daughter, Carol considers Chris Tapp another victim in this endless tragedy. But I'm extremely happy for you that you have your life back. But the judge still had to sign off on the deal.

And then, with just a few words. And I do accept the stipulation. Judge Alan Stevens set Chris Tapp free. Chris's handcuffs were removed, and Carol Dodge was the first to hold him in her arms. Just feet away from the celebration, Victory! Victory! the hunt for Angie Dodge's killer continued.

I got a tap on the shoulder from one of the bailiffs, and he said that Detective McKenna wanted to talk to me. Detective McKenna showed Michael Asri a new sketch of Angie's killer, which they are not ready to release to the public. It was made with new technology that claims to recreate facial features using DNA. When he showed me the sketch, there was a split second where I really had this fear that I would actually recognize this person. But Michael Usry was, once again, a dead end. It was not a face he knew. There was a little bit of relief when I saw the composite sketch

because I have never believed that someone in my family could be involved in a crime like this. It's highly likely that his family has nothing to do with this crime at all. While police still believe that Michael Usry's family tree contains a killer, law professor Aaron Murphy is not so sure. 99% of people match to one another on the genome. So I will match someone who lives on the other side of the globe, who has no direct genetic connection to me whatsoever, and just because we're human beings.

So what's really important to ask is, what's the quality of the match? How much information did you look at? Carol Dodge must now find the strength to keep going. You have to be really strong to continue the journey to justice. I don't know how she goes on and yet I can understand how she could never quit. Carol is worried that police will never catch Angie's killer if they remain focused on their theory of the crime, that Chris and two of his friends killed Angie. I hope that they can now go forward and get out of the Chris tap box, stop looking for two to three people when we just have one DNA.

That's all we got is one DNA. Everyone involved in the case has vowed to never stop searching for the man who murdered Angie Dodge, even the young filmmaker once suspected of being her killer. You could have walked away. And I probably would have. I continue to stick with it because, mainly because of Carol Dodge. I want to help her. I love Carol. We're in it together. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com

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