PARABON LABS , THE IDAHO POST-REGISTER VIA AP X3
THE STRANGE CASE
OF THE MISSING 7TH
DESCENDANTEighteen-year-oldAngieDodgefromIdahoFalls
wasrapedandmurderedon 13 June1996,andin
1998 ChrisTappwasimprisonedforthecrimefor
20 years.It wasn’tuntilMay 2019 thatgenetic
genealogyprovidedtheleadsthatnotonly
foundthetrueculprit– BrianLeighDrippsSr–
butalsoexoneratedTapp.
CeCeMoore,thechiefgeneticgenealogistof
DNAanalysisandgeneticgenealogycompany
Parabon,remembersit ashermostsatisfying
case.ButthepathtoDrippswasnotaneasyone.
ThecrimesceneDNAwasbadlydegraded,and
notobviouslysuitableforanalysis.Butenough
wasdecodedforit tocomeupwithseverallinks
onGEDmatchandforMooretobeginstudying
familytrees.Intotal,sheworkedonthecase
for 100 hours.
“Thepersonweendedupidentifyingasthe
murdererwasactuallymissingfromthefamily
tree,”shesays.“I hadnarrowedit downtosix
personsofinterestandit wasnoneofthoseso I
wassortofstumped.”
Moorerealisedtheremustbea seventh
missingdescendant,whoeludedofficialrecords
andfamilycontact.Shesuspectedthishad
somethingtodowitha teenagemarriageand
earlydivorcebetweenoneofthegenetically
matchedmenanda youngwoman.It waslikely
therehadbeena childthatnoonehadrecorded
andnoonetalkedabout.
Mooreknewshecouldn’tmakeenquiries
amongpossiblerelatives,becausethatmight
alertthesuspect.Soshedugdeeper.
Thegeneticallymatchedmanhaddied,and
hisobituarydidn’tmentiona son.Hiswife
couldn’tbetraced.SoMoorelookedforrecords
ofhermotherinstead.Eventuallyshefoundan
onlineobituary,wheretherewasmentionofa
namedgrandson.
“Theyoungwomandidindeedhavea baby
sonwiththatfirsthusband,butshelefthimso
earlythatheclearlywasneverpartofhisdad’s
family’slives,”saysMoore.“Andthatwasit.
Oncewefoundtheson,wefoundhewasinIdaho
Fallsin1996.Hewastheseventhmissing
descendantandit turnsouthelivedacrossthe
streetfromDodgeatthetimeshewasmurdered.
Weknewtheguyhadbrowneyes– justlikethe
geneticphenotypepredicted.Andweknewwe
finallyhadhimafterarounda year’swork.”
BrianLeighDrippsSrwasarrestedon 15 May
2019 and confessed to the crimes.DNA DETECTIVES FE ATUREFROMTOPTOBOTTOMAngieDodge,whowasa
victimina caseCeCeMoorehelpedsolve;ChrisTapp
talkstojournalistsafterhisexoneration;CarolDodge,
Angie’smum,is emotionalwhenthankingthepeople
whohelpedidentif ythecorrectsuspect;Tappand
Dodgeembraceafterhearing that Brian Leigh Dripps
Snr had been arrested