The Twisted Case of Angie Dodge | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] my name is Carol Dodge and I am the mother of Angie Dodge who was brutally
murdered in June of 1996 and for 23 years I've traveled every road there is turned every St
there is to find Justice for my [Music] daughter as the officers arrived at the crime scene and found Angie Dodge laying
on the ground and it was obvious that there was a very brutal murder that had happened a lot of blood during the
investigation 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 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
lre Jr who just happened to be a filmmaker films of homicide um kind of a murder mystery filmmaker then he cuts
off her head my name is Michael ushery uh I'm a filmmaker and was a suspect in the Angie
Dodge case murder abilia 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 and I shoved her body over in the
shower and just kept stabing her it was pretty creepy we had uh Louisiana State Police call
him he had agreed to come down to the estate 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 Usher you know we think that you're involved in this murder
case my whole purpose is to find uh who killed Angie Dodge the ability to kill is obviously
somewhere in all of us because it happens every day [Music] [Music] 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 teenage
she was just discovering who she truly was and wanting Independence she says just let me grow
up let me make my own mistakes so 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 former Chief of Police Mark McBride but it was very really very
quiet peaceful Town overall just 3 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's so hard growing up and she laid her head on my shoulder and we just
kind of rock 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 now we got a phone call at 911 Center about 11:00 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 were no signs of forced entry but there were signs of a struggle you think she fought for her
life yes I do Angie was stabbed and cut 14 times and left half naked the killer ejaculated on her leaving behind what
DNA expert Greg hampikian calls a pristine profile it's a single profile uh complete identification one man to the
exclusion of everyone on the planet police began collecting the DNA of dozens of local men and spent months
interviewing everyone Angie knew including this young man Christopher tap although his DNA didn't match and tap
denied any involvement after more than 28 hours of interrogation over 23 days tap confessed to participating in
Angie's murder you were there correct correct did you know Christopher tap no didn't
know had no clue tap told police that the night of Angie's death he and two friends stopped
by her apartment during an argument tap claimed one of his friends started stabbing Angie while he held her down
you're holding her down okay while she's being cut you're holding her down while
she's [Music] being but when tap went before a judge he pled not guilty of raping and murdering Angie Dodge I
said you Beast you horrible Beast how could he do this to my daughter defense argued tap's DNA didn't match the
killers but on May 28th 1998 it took a jury approximately 13 hours to reach a verdict
[Music] guilty nearly 2 years after Angie Dodge was murdered Chris tap 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 Chris tap 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 and take a life
sentence and not give the other person up tap did give authorities several names including someone named Mike how
sure are you that he first name is Mike I'm dead said 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 by 2009 the Killer's DNA had been entered into the national criminal database known as cotus 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 my daughter by then there had been many advances in DNA technology and
so with hampikian help Carol Dodge pushed a 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
[Music] partially Idaho doesn't allow familial searches in their criminal database so
hampikian made an even more controversial suggestion a familial search through public
databases I'm the one that went to the idol 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 interest in solving a crime and we're going to use any Technique we can
that we can legally use in the summer of 2014 detective 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 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 usri senior 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 Us's
son Michael usri Jr detective McKenna wondered if this could be the mic that Chris tap once
named and then we started researching him and the films that he was making was a little eie to uh try to think that
that could possibly be a solid suspect in the case [Music] [Music] I have to ask you this question yes do
you have a particular interest in Murder I I don't have a particular interest in Murder um it sure seems like
it based on your film Pro I know it does but no I I really have quite an aversion
to it but authorities investigating the brutal murder of Angie Dodge weren't so sure precisely at 2:00 three uh
gentleman came to my door in December of 2014 more than 18 years after Angie's murder Michael usri Jr was living in New
Orleans when two detectives from Idaho Falls and a Louisiana State Police office officer brought usri to a state
police office near the New Orleans super doome and started grilling him they said so what about your travels
to Idaho have you ever been to Idaho and um I had in fact 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 Ed in that a little surprised that we were 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 didn't get
it then one of the officers pulled out a warrant and swabbed his cheek for DNA at that point I went hey what what's
going on here you guys should I get a lawyer once they had his DNA they drove Michael
usri home without any explanation I just basically stood on my sidewalk in a days it was a call to a
close friend that finally shed some light and uh he said well what's the case what 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 inside 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 a Butchery people were like wow what does this imply you know for your career what
is for your life for your family for your family's name usri remembers being terrified spending days hold up at home
worried what police would do next pretty sure that they were capping my phone calls uh possibly staking me out
certainly checking my computer searches but usri knew he hadn't killed anyone and he wanted answers a local
newspaper reporter showed him a copy of of the warrant investigators used to obtain his DNA and right there the
answer to the question why him dated back about 17 years and I went wow this is because of my dad the filmmaker's
father Michael usri senior 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 34 out of 35 DNA markers sounds like a
stunningly close match to Anie 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 was Mike is the first name okay remember Chris tap told police
a guy named Mike was involved in the murder police took to Facebook and found his profile Bingo Facebook showed asri
had friends living in the Idaho Falls area and then there's 's films and then bludgeons her to death with this very
Hammer the more usri read the more Furious he grew that anyone would think he was a killer but even more troubling
was the idea that Angie Dodge's killer might be someone in his family just knowing that somebody in my
family would possibly do something like that is disturbing I mean to say the least you know
[Music] [Music] Michael ustri 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 13th
2015 more than a month later they sent me an email and it says Michael Usery 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 lustri 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 scientist you know these databased companies you know how could
they misfire so bad 48 Hours asked and ancestry.com about Us'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 usry'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 Usry 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 can't control fate and what happens to you so
I just figured that this was there was a reason for this uh happening Michael usri decided he wanted to try and
prevent it from happening to anyone else by making a documentary about his experience he was shocked when Angie
Dodge's mother was willing to talk what he didn't realize is that Dodge had an agenda of her own she's fairly certain
that a killer is in my bloodline I remember Mike and I sitting down and I say okay Mike here's a piece of paper
now I want you to write down from your great-grandfather to your grandfather to your dad and he did me a genealogy sheet
my grandfather he had six other brothers Carol just wonders hey maybe it's somebody you don't even know maybe it's
an illegitimate son of one of your papies Brothers despite all that Carol Dodge and Michael usri 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 Us's documentary changed dramatically to Carol Dodge's search for her daughter's killer he immersed
himself in the case starting with the man who had confessed Chris tap how many times did you stabber before you let go
that first time usri quickly learned that Chris tap was now claiming his confession was forced and the Idaho
Innocence Project headed by that DNA expert Greg hin was now working to set tap 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 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 Carol Dodge she believed Chris taff's confession was
coerced by the detectives who interrogated him I mean come on man I mean you're the Heat of the Moment she's
putting up the fight do you know you're caught you're right there in the middle I watch it right and it's so frustrating
this was Chris tap when we first met at 40 years old he'd 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 I know it's there you know Chris tap 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 them specifically pointing out facts to me or or giving little
innuendos this should be the stairs going up okay so you went up these stairs or hints of how the murder went
down well it's a porch that goes outside it all started because Chris tap's friend a man named Ben who also
knew Angie was arrested in Eli Nevada for assaulting a woman at knife point to investigators the crime seems
similar to the attack on Angie so while Ben was in custody in Nevada investigators brought Chris in for
questioning emphatically I said I had nothing to do with it I don't know what you're talking about I'm going I knew
there's no way but instead of leaving it at that tap then just 20 years years old
cooperated I felt like trust him 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 tap was told there was irrefutable
evidence that his friend Ben killed Angie and that tap was there when it happened I'm pretty sure we're we know
what happened and who did what how when where and why tap kept denying all knowledge of the crime crime did you
hear a scream or anything like that I wasn't there but detectives persisted and even though he had a lawyer tap 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 no reason not to do it but tap was told he was being deceptive and detectives promised him
full immunity no jail time in exchange for the truth as long as he hadn't participated in the actual
murder that's when tap says he started telling police what he thought they wanted to hear now are you sure Ben's
there yes positive yeah yes okay tap told the detectives he was there when Ben killed atie Dodge God he told him no
don't do it don't do it okay so did do he have the night par yeah but just hours later
detectives learned that Ben did not match the Killer's DNA A desperate Chris tap started changing his story blaming
several other friends for the murder I continue to lie I continue to give them story after story and it they should
have just stopped but they didn't but Chris why didn't you stop I didn't think I could when none of the men he named
matched the DNA tap says police still refused to let up after 23 days and seven interrogations Chris tap confessed
to participating in Angie's murder and authorities voided his immunity agreement you're holding her down okay
while she's being cut you're holding her down while she's been cut that's what was the end of it all
that's what brought me to prison authorities have repeatedly dismissed tap's claims of a forc confession until
an astonishing Discovery would change the game you're fine never before seen videotapes of seven polygraph exams
administered to Chris tap tapes that convinced even Carol Dodge that Chris tap is innocent Chris tap
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 's family [Music] [Music] you always got to have a little faith got to have a little hope I haven't
accepted this as my an I can't imagine spending one day in prison let alone 20 plus years Mike heee
is a retired Superior Court Judge who believes so strongly that Chris tap is innocent he spent the last four years
trying to prove it when you look at the interrogation videos he knows nothing so
Chris tap Ben he struggles let it out for details let it out you're there why cuz he wasn't there hee runs a wrongful
conviction project called judges for justice and took on tap's case after watching the interrogation
tapes I wasn't SC I wasn't even down the stairs I wasn't nowhere around judge heee became convinced that
Chris tap had 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 heads right here yeah 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 judges dropped do it help to say that I'm nervous in between Chris's nine
interrogations detectives 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 your 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 tap into
giving false test testimony our polygraph expert says it was used like a psychological rubber hose to get him to
implicate himself in the murder of Angie Dodge judge heee says that detectives in
the case broke the rules in the polygraph room and thought no one would ever notice 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 accessory to murder and being a conspirator to murder know
accessory that's being charged with just like the person do they get they figured no one's going to look
at the polygraphs so it'll be hidden no one will ever see it hee says Chris tap was brainwashed I'm scared you're scared
the reason why is cuz you subconsciously Chris tap 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 wouldn't say this you you [Music] trapped Chris finally says yes I stabbed
her because Ben threatened me and then Chris said did I do it the police officer walks over says give me your
hand like he passed the polygraph and that gets Chris tap 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 tap never told anyone about 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 and I don't remember seeing 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
tap'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 John Thomas is Chris tap'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 around and let's get the right guy Mike heee was hoping that the newly
discovered polygraph tapes would be enough for a judge to Grant Chris tap 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 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 man
serving time for her daughter's murder [Music] true it was March 2017 and Chris tap was
just two weeks away from two hearings that his lawyer John Thomas hoped would set him free we have too much evidence
showing that Chris tap wasn't there have you ever found DNA that matched Chris tap at the scene no but
police chief Mark McBride maintained that given tap's confession the absence of his DNA at the crime scene proved
nothing then in a stunning turn of events the District Attorney's Office wanted to make a
deal tap's murder conviction would stand but the rape conviction would go away and there would be no
probation Chris tap would just take his lumps on his 20 years and and walk walk a free man victory
victory tap took the deal that was in 2017 2 years later I've got a full-time job I'm
married I've actually become that productive member of society that I truly thought I could become meanwhile
Carol Dodge never stopped hunting for Angie's killer I've done a lot of research on technology and I was B deter
when I was going to solve my daughter's [Music] case not long after Chris's release
Carol got some help new police chief Bryce Johnson says he already had his sights set on Angie's case I talked to
all the detectives and I kind of told them let's not worry about what's been done over the past 23 years we have one
Mission it's to find out who left this DNA sampled it wasn't easy but 2 years later
there was news today we are here to share developments in the homicide investigation of Angie Dodge on May 16th
2019 thank you and thank you for being here Chief Johnson told the world they had finally found and arrested the man
who matched the DNA Carol inspired us all to try harder and to do better the thing about Carol is she knew more about
DNA than I knew about DNA what Carol knew is that this woman good afternoon CC Mo and a company called parabon
nanolabs had been making huge strides in solving cold cases using genealogy and public
databases this is our 56th case this year at parabon using genetic genealogy to identify unknown suspects and victims
Moore and parabon were able to generate an even more complete DNA profile of Angie's killer than ever
before that profile could now be uploaded to a large public DNA database called Jed match a free website that
allows people to upload their own DNA Profiles In Search of relatives in return if users opt in their data can be
accessed by law enforcement when we upload that data we get a list of people that share significant amounts of DNA
with the unknown suspect Moore found a family tree that she was confident contained a killer and
it was Michael Us's family tree he apparently was a split off of the usri family from something like over
a hundred years ago so we're talking about right family tree but the branches way off on the other side way off yeah
did you know anything about this sort of offshoot of your family no totally not now detective Sage Albright and
Captain Bill Squires were laser focused on the men in this way off branch of Us's family tree it had been whittel
down to a list of persons that I think was around 10 or 11 people that we were able to reduce down further just because
they weren't in Idaho at the time or they were 3 years old at the time left with six possible SU ects detectives had
to secretly collect their DNA following them around for days waiting for discarded cigarette butts soda cans or
plastic straws one guy was a tobacco chewer the detectives came out kind of scooped that up we sent off the lab came
back negative it wasn't the person we're looking for then they started running out of men and a fear set in the thing
we were concerned about is there a child out there that nobody knows about right
does someone have a baby and it's in the genealogy record they were right and this obituary miraculously LED CC Moore
to a missing usri this woman Helen Darnell had a daughter who was once married to an usri after their divorce a
son was born under a different last name Brian drips when we looked at that name uh we
realized we had talked to him in the first days of the investigation he lived across the street from Angie
I literally said you got to be kidding Brian drips he was right across the street that it took me 23 years when
they had it in the first 25 pages of the investigation the police report indicates that the day of Angie's murder
a young police officer who was canvasing the neighborhood had briefly questioned
a then 31 year-old Brian drips everyone in that neighborhood got got a knock on the door drips denied any knowledge of
the crime and police never asked for his DNA about 7 weeks after the murder drips
left Idaho Falls he was living in Idaho about 300 mil away when a cigarette butt
linked his DNA to the crime and detectives picked him up for questioning it was obviously was nervous he he put
on a pretty good game game face but his his started to shake for several hours drips denied any involvement in Angie's
death and then when we told him we have your DNA at the crime scene uh he there was there was a noticeable change in his
demeanor and eventually he he told us that he had been involved detective Albright says trips also reported that
he acted alone that meant Chris tap could not have been there 2 months after drips was
arrested tap was back in court there was putar convincing evidence the defendant
was convicted of a crime for which you not commit this time to be fully [Music] exonerated this case is the world's
first exoneration by way of genealogical DNA testing I'm extremely happy for him I
hope that he can piece together his life again but usri says he still has doubts
about the use of genealogy kind of a scary thing to me to think about what this world is going to be like um if all
of our genetic codes are in a computer database once it's in a computer uh that's almost like more permanent than
carving something in stone nowadays but I think that we really really need to be
uh cautious and and and take a step back and look at this technology Carol Dodge
disagrees without technology without genealogy research uh we would have never found
Angie's killer it is the key that opens the door to Justice [Music] [Music]

A brutal murder and police have DNA evidence. Could a discarded cigarette lead investigators to a possible killer and close a case two decades later? CBS News correspondent Anne-Marie Green reports for "48 Hours." Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the murder of Angie Dodge and the wrongful conviction of Chris Tap, culminating in the identification of her actual killer through DNA evidence.

Key points

Carol Dodge's Quest for Justice. For 23 years, Carol Dodge searched for justice for her daughter Angie, who was brutally murdered.
DNA Breakthrough. In 2014, police searched a public DNA database, leading them to a potential suspect.
Michael Usry's DNA Connection. Michael Usry Jr. was linked to the case through familial DNA, raising suspicions against him.
Chris Tap's Confession. Chris Tap confessed to Angie's murder after 23 days of interrogation, but his guilt is questioned.
Carol Dodge's New Mission. After learning of new evidence, Carol Dodge seeks to free Chris Tap and find the real killer.
Chris Tap's Confession. Chris Tap's coerced confession leads to a life sentence for a crime he didn't commit.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Grief has no time limit.

Carol Dodge reflects on her enduring pain after losing her daughter.

3:44WatchJun 10, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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