Angela was out meeting a guy friend the night she was abducted,raped and killed. Given that the body was burned after the fact it would have been difficult to get a sample from her fingernails or clothes. The DNA sample that Willoughby mentions being taken comes from Angela's unknown friend she was meeting that night, hence why that turns up with no leads and doesn't match the guy that Dixon coaxes into a fight.
- while it is true that the DNA evidence could be mistaken, we also found out that the man Dixon fought was not in the country at the time. As horrible as the man was, he clearly did not kill Angela.
- Also, as horribly stomach-churning as it may be, since she was sexually assaulted it's possible the DNA samples came from...somewhere else in her body where the fire may not have reached; after all, her corpse was not entirely cremated, as it was shown in the photographs of the case... you can go get the Brain Bleach now
The Idaho Man
Despite Chief Abercrombie telling Dixon that the Idaho Man was not the guy who raped and murdered Angela, this Troper believes there's more to this man than that simple answer.
For starters, the fact that he is from Idaho. He drove from Idaho to Missouri, which at the soonest would be somewhere around an 18 hour drive, across multiple states. And when does he show up? Specifically when Mildred is raising awareness about Angela's case.
Second. His first appearance in the town is specifically to Mildred. Why would an out-of-towner want to get himself involved in any way, nevermind expose his face? He even specifically says to Mildred that he'd be coming back. This Troper believes he is taunting Mildred, and clearly letting on more than he knows.
Next, he is clearly paranoid about his visits, and suspicious of Dixon very quickly after entering the bar. He is very clearly shaken when he learns Dixon was affiliated with law enforcement. If he really had nothing to do with the case, why would he even be worried?
Finally, even if he is not a DNA match, that doesn't exclude him from being present at the scene or knowing information about it. It also doesn't exclude his superior covering for him and falsifying information to throw the police off his back - we have seen several instances in the film dealing with the concept of culpability and enabling people to do harm, like Mildred's culpability speech to the priest or Willoughby's enabling of Dixon's behavior. If we are following the film's themes, why should we trust the military's word that the man was not anywhere in the area, if we have seen the man for who he truly is? Who is to say the military is not hiding the truth, and they are using the position of the military to intimidate law enforcement into backing off?
Even if the Idaho Man is not "the rapist", he is a rapist and a murderer that the military is protecting in this troper's view, and he knows more than he is letting on.
