Ep 74. The Case of the Girl Who Never Came Home

In season 18, episode 74 of Dateline, viewers are taken on a journey through the disappearance of an 18-year-old girl, Angie Dodge, from her Idaho home in 1996. Twenty years after her murder, Chris Tapp was convicted for the crime, but it wasn't until several years later that DNA evidence proved he was innocent. With a new suspect on the horizon, Dateline investigates what really happened to Angie Dodge.

The episode opens with Angie's mother, Carol Dodge, and the detective who worked on her case, discussing the day that Angie went missing. The mother recalls her daughter's joyous personality and how she was always smiling. She had just started working and had plans for her future. However, when Carol went to Angie's apartment after not hearing from her in a while, she found her daughter's lifeless body with stab wounds all over her.

Viewers are introduced to a younger Chris Tapp, who was picked up by police and interrogated for hours until he eventually confessed to being involved in Angie's murder. He was later convicted based on his confession and faulty witness accounts. After serving 20 years of his life sentence, Tapp reached out to a woman named Lisa on a prison pen-pal website, who then connected him to a private investigator, Scott Reisch.

Reisch and his team worked tirelessly to exonerate Tapp, and finally uncovered DNA evidence that proved he was not at the scene of the crime. Instead, the evidence led them to a new suspect, Brian Leigh Dripps, who had lived in the same apartment complex as Angie at the time of her murder.

Throughout the episode, Dateline interviews those involved in the case, including Carol and Tapp, as well as new witnesses who reveal shocking information about Dripps' past and potential involvement in Angie's murder. The detectives who worked on the original case explain how faulty evidence and coercive tactics led to Tapp's wrongful conviction, and express their frustration at the new evidence that point to Dripps as the likely culprit.

With interviews with law enforcement officials, legal experts and family members of both Angie and Tapp, Dateline takes viewers on a riveting ride through the twists and turns of one of the most compelling murder mysteries of the past few decades. The episode explores how a botched investigation and a false confession were ultimately put right by diligent investigative work and advances in forensic science.

Overall, season 18, episode 74 of Dateline is a gripping exploration of the search for justice for Angie Dodge, and how her family, law enforcement, and legal teams worked to bring the true killer to justice.