A Michigan man who called Alaska authorities to confess to a decades-old killing has been charged with the murder he reported, after investigators traced the anonymous tip back to him and found the victim's remains in a barrel off a remote highway.
Christopher Popps, 54, was arrested near Kalamazoo, Michigan, on July 16 after a Fairbanks grand jury indicted him on two counts of second-degree murder in the 1993 death of Patrick Orville Dearth, a former co-worker who vanished from Fairbanks more than 30 years ago. Michigan State Police took Popps into custody, and he remains jailed in Kalamazoo County awaiting extradition to Alaska.
The case sat cold for three decades. Dearth, who was 34 when he disappeared in November 1993, had been reported missing to the Fairbanks Police Department. Investigators had few answers for years, no body, no suspect, and no clear lead, until an anonymous caller changed everything on January 22, 2025.
On that date, Alaska State Troopers received a tip from someone who claimed to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation's Cold Case Investigation Unit took over. But Alaska's brutal winters delayed the search: snow cover and limited daylight made it impossible to reach the area the caller described.
Investigators returned in May 2025. Down a steep embankment near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway, a remote stretch of road northeast of Fairbanks, they found human remains stuffed inside a barrel.
The Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office identified the remains as Patrick Orville Dearth and ruled his death a homicide.
That confirmation turned the anonymous tip into a murder investigation. And the trail led back to the man who had placed the call.
Investigators determined that Popps had not made just one anonymous confession. The New York Post reported that Popps reached out to multiple Alaska law enforcement agencies, claiming responsibility for Dearth's death. Troopers have not disclosed the total number of tips, the specific agencies contacted, or the dates of the additional calls.
Why Popps allegedly began confessing more than three decades after the killing remains unknown. Investigators have offered no explanation, and Popps has made no public statement.
Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told Alaska Public Media what investigators believe happened in 1993:
"Based on our investigation, we determined there was an altercation at an auto shop, which led Popps to shoot Dearth."
Popps and Dearth worked together in Fairbanks. Beyond the co-worker relationship, authorities have not described the nature of their connection or the cause of the altercation. After the alleged shooting, Popps allegedly dumped Dearth's body inside the barrel and left it off the Steese Highway, where it remained undiscovered for more than 31 years.
A Fairbanks grand jury returned the two-count indictment on June 25, 2026. An arrest warrant issued the same day. Three weeks later, Michigan State Police picked up Popps near Kalamazoo.
As of the most recent court records, no attorney is listed for Popps in the Alaska case, and no future hearings have been scheduled. He awaits extradition from Michigan to face the charges in Fairbanks.
Several key questions remain unanswered. Investigators have not said how they identified Popps as the anonymous tipster. The precise cause of death has not been publicly disclosed beyond the homicide ruling. And the specific legal basis for charging two counts of second-degree murder, rather than one, has not been explained in available court records.
Fox News Digital reached out to both Alaska State Troopers and Michigan State Police for additional information.
For more than 30 years, a man walked free while his alleged victim's remains sat in a barrel on an Alaskan hillside. That it took the suspect's own apparent guilt to break the case is a grim reminder that justice delayed is not always justice denied, but it comes close.
