{"id":306306,"date":"2024-01-11T13:34:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T19:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=306306"},"modified":"2024-01-11T13:38:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T19:38:13","slug":"las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Idaho man who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit died in November 2023 after he was found injured outside Resorts World Las Vegas. Police said Wednesday they are now treating the case as a homicide investigation.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher
Christopher Tapp, above, was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. His death is now the subject of a homicide investigation. (Image: NBC News<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2019, Christopher Tapp, 47, of Idaho, was exonerated for the 1996 rape and murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge, the same year that the true perpetrator was apprehended.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 19, 2023, Tapp was found suffering from serious head injuries in the vicinity of Resorts World. Medical personnel took him to a hospital where he died several days later.<\/p>\n

It was first thought that Tapp\u2019s injuries were sustained during an accidental fall, but the Clark County Coroner\u2019s Office concluded that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Investigators said in a statement they believe he was involved in an altercation with another individual at an unnamed resort before emergency responders found him. They are urging potential witnesses to come forward.<\/p>\n

Conviction Unsound <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tapp was convicted by an Idaho jury of the first-degree murder and rape of Dodge, 18, who was found stabbed to death in her apartment in Idaho Falls on June 13, 1996.<\/p>\n

Although it was obvious that the young woman was attacked and killed by a single assailant and the DNA excluded Mr. Tapp from the start showing his innocence, the police concocted new and different theories to make Mr. Tapp an accomplice to the unidentified man who left his DNA all over the crime scene,\u201d said the Innocence Project, which campaigned for Tapp\u2019s release.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tapp confessed to the crime despite no physical evidence tying him to the scene. It was later determined that investigators had interrogated Tapp \u201cabusively\u201d for 60 hours over two weeks, \u201cmanipulating him, using fake polygraphs, and threatening him with the death penalty,\u201d according to the Innocence Project.<\/p>\n

Real Killer Found <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The real murderer, Brian Leigh Dripps Sr., only emerged after Tapp\u2019s mother begged investigators to have another look at the case in light of new advances in DNA technology analysis and the use of genetic genealogy.<\/p>\n

\n

Using an ancestry database, investigators identified third cousins of the perpetrator and constructed a family tree that eventually led them to Dripps, who later confessed. He had lived across the street from Dodge at the time of the murder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tapp sued the City of Idaho Falls for wrongful conviction in 2020, receiving a settlement of $11.4 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Idaho man who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit died in November 2023 after he was found injured outside Resorts World Las Vegas. Police said Wednesday they are now treating the case as a homicide investigation. In 2019, Christopher Tapp, 47, of Idaho, was exonerated for the 1996 rape […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":306308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,81886],"tags":[89455,89454,82138],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLas Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christopher Tapp was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. He was exonerated of a murder he did not commit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christopher Tapp was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. He was exonerated of a murder he did not commit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-11T19:34:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-11T19:38:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"658\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/\",\"name\":\"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-11T19:34:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-11T19:38:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Christopher Tapp was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. He was exonerated of a murder he did not commit.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":658,\"caption\":\"Christopher Tapp, above, was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. His death is now the subject of a homicide investigation. (Image: NBC News)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide","description":"Christopher Tapp was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. He was exonerated of a murder he did not commit.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide","og_description":"Christopher Tapp was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. He was exonerated of a murder he did not commit.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-01-11T19:34:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-11T19:38:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":658,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/","name":"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-11T19:34:52+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-11T19:38:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Christopher Tapp was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. He was exonerated of a murder he did not commit.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/tapp-1.jpg","width":1000,"height":658,"caption":"Christopher Tapp, above, was found with fatal injuries outside Resorts World Las Vegas. His death is now the subject of a homicide investigation. (Image: NBC News)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-death-of-wrongly-imprisoned-man-treated-as-homicide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Las Vegas Death of Wrongly Imprisoned Man Treated as Homicide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306306"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306312,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306306\/revisions\/306312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}