The Snare, Bonus: Legacy
20/20
This final episode of 'The Snare' explores the wrongful conviction and exoneration of Chris Tapp in the murder of Angie Dodge. It highlights how interrogation tactics led to a false confession, the emotional journey of b
Key takeaways
- False confessions can result from coercive interrogations despite DNA evidence.
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) This is Deppra Roberts here with the final episode of our latest true crime series from 2020 and ABC audio, The Snare. If you aren't caught up, you can still go back and listen through the whole series. Just search The Snare on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app. Now, here's the final episode of The Snare. This show is sponsored by Murder in the Heartland, a podcast from ID. Murder in the Heartland explores real crimes across small-town America, towns that might look a lot like your own. Every week uncover shocking stories of murder and betrayal, from a suspicious hunting accident to a college student who disappears after her shift at the local bar. Hear from investigators, witnesses, and family members as they share the chilling details behind each case. If you're interested in true crime with a small-town twist, you might love this podcast. Listen to Murder in the Heartland wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Brad Milkey, the host of ABC's Start Here podcast, and if you're joining us today, it's because you just listened to the latest series from ABC Audio and 2020 The Snair. Welcome to a special bonus episode. Because if you're like me, you were listening with bated breath as it was revealed that this brutal killing, the rape and murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge in her apartment, leads to a false confession from Chris Tapp, despite the fact that his DNA never matched the DNA found at the crime scene. You've got a trial, a conviction, and then Angie's own mother, who once advocated for a death penalty sentence, fighting to exonerate Chris Tapp. Well, today, we're going to dig more into how all of this went down. We're going to do it with the host of the show, Maggie Rooley. And in fact, later, we will hear directly from someone involved in the case. So, thanks for being here. Let's get this going. We got my colleague and good friend Maggie Rooley with us. Hey, Maggie. Hey, Brad. So happy to be here with you. Most people might not know this. You and I sat next to each other at ABC News headquarters for years, right? So I can't even calculate the number of... The best years of my career, Brad. Right, I can't even calculate the number of hours we have spent discussing stories, but I've been waiting to pick your brain about this one in particular, because it's so well told. But what made you want to tell this story, Maggie? Yeah, Brad, we've worked on so many stories next to each other over the years, but this one is really incredible. I think what's amazing about this story is that it really shows how one crime can hurt, affect so many people. Then at the core of it, you have this one crime and how it ruined people's lives. Not only, obviously, Angie Dodge, who had her life stolen from her at 18, not only her family, her mom, Carol Dodge, whose lives were upended when she lost her daughter, but also the man falsely accused Chris Tap, who then goes to prison for decades, right? So you have two victims here, one crime, and so many people that are just, never the same afterwards. This is your first podcast with ABC News at least, right? What was it like working in this medium? It was amazing, Brad. You know, I'm so used to working on TV where you can rely on video and audio. But this was fascinating because you really realized how powerful the voice can be. And there's this one moment for me, Brad, that I'll never forget really taught me that lesson. And it's near the end of the podcast and we hear from Angie's mom, Carol. And, you know, Carol is just this incredible force of nature. and she's talking about what it's like when they finally get the right man behind bars. And you don't see her face, but you just hear her voice and the emotion. It's raw. There's still so much pain and grief and there's this relief and joy mixed in in this moment. And it's something I'll never forget. I must have listened to that sound bite. I mean, dozens of times, Brad, and every time I would start to tear up. And again, I never saw her face. I just heard her words, but those words were so powerful. And I think sometimes hearing a voice can almost mean more than seeing their face because you're forced just to listen. Yeah. I find sometimes, Maggie, like you can almost hear the emotion before you, before the tears ever flow, right? And you hear it from her so clearly. Hey, what surprised you the most about this story? Because there are so many twists and turns here. Yeah, you really never know what's coming, Brad. And I think the biggest surprise in this story is who ends up supporting. Chris Tapp, he ends up confessing to this crime, he's convicted, he goes to prison, you have Carol, Angie's mom wanting the death penalty for Chris Tapp. Now, when it comes to Carol, I mean, Brad, I'm not sure about you, but I don't know if I've ever really heard of a victim's mother supporting the man convicted of killing her child before. I mean, just imagine that partnership. But that's how much those interrogation tapes changed her, that she not only believed him, but was one of his biggest supporters, called, you know, his attorney, advocated for him, went out of her way to free him from prison. And then you have this other man, Jeremy Sargis, a friend of Chris's who at the very beginning of the podcast, you'll remember that in Chris's interviews with police, he falsely links Jeremy to the crime. Jeremy denied ever being involved in Angie's rape and murder. He had an alibi the night Angie was killed and his DNA was not a match. He was charged with being an accessory to a felony, but, the charge was eventually dropped. Jeremy was cleared as a suspect, but he says despite being cleared, it rocked his world. He felt like he had to leave town because everyone in town still associated him with being a part of this crime, even though he was cleared of any guilt. And now, Jeremy, he also watched the interrogation tapes, and he said after watching them, it changed his perception of Chris instantly. Here's Jeremy talking about watching the footage. Well, I was watching these tapes, I felt like a sports fan or something like that. You see the guys didn't scream and yell at the TV and get all emotional at the TV. I felt like that guy. I was yelling at him. Why did you say that? Didn't you hear what they just said? Why did you say that? Dude, what are you doing? And so it was a whole new light on the subject. And so you have this. this unbelievable character arc, which again is almost too incredible to believe. Maggie, like hearing that, that is the crux of the entire podcast for