Christopher Tapp resentencing hearing, March 22, 2017

IDAHO FALLS -- Christopher Tapp was arrested in 1996. He was accused of raping and murdering 18-year-old Angie Dodge at her I Street apartment. Several months later, he confessed to Idaho Falls Police detectives that he had committed the crime. He was convicted in 1997, but serious questions were raised during the following years that the confession was coerced or false.

Numerous DNA samples left at the crime scene did not match Tapp’s, and the man to whom the DNA belonged has never been identified.

Judges for Justice, the Idaho Innocence Project and other organizations have been working for years to overturn Tapp’s conviction and have him released from custody.

One of Tapp’s biggest supporters has been Carol Dodge, Angie’s mother. She has tirelessly fought to get Tapp out of prison and believes the man who murdered her daughter is still out there.

On Wednesday, Tapp walked free from a Bonneville County courtroom. An agreement reached between the defense and prosecution stipulated the first-degree murder charge would remain on Tapp’s record, but the rape charge would be dismissed. He would be resentenced to serve 20 years for the murder but get credit for time served. Tapp would give up all rights to appeal, and the case would essentially be over.