A Michigan man suspected of murdering a coworker in Alaska in 1993 was arrested after he placed what he meant to be an anonymous tip revealing where he had hidden the victim’s long‑missing body, investigators said.
Christopher Popps, 54, faces a second‑degree murder charge in the death of Patrick Dearth, according to a statement from Alaska State Police outlining the latest developments in a case that remained unsolved for more than three decades.
Dearth, 34, was reported missing to Fairbanks police in November 1993. His whereabouts stayed unknown until an initially anonymous tipster called authorities in January 2025, confessed to Dearth’s disappearance and disclosed the location of the remains, the state police statement said.
Investigators identified the tipster as Popps, though they did not elaborate. In May 2025 they located what was later confirmed to be Dearth’s remains inside a barrel at the base of a steep highway embankment where Popps allegedly directed them, state police added.
Alaska Public Media, citing state police spokesperson Austin McDaniel, reported that Popps and Dearth had worked together at an auto shop. McDaniel said Popps allegedly shot Dearth to death during a workplace altercation, according to the outlet.
McDaniel told Alaska Public Media that Popps had provided several anonymous tips about Dearth and his responsibility for the disappearance to various law‑enforcement agencies in the state. It remained unclear what motivated Popps to do so, McDaniel added.
The spokesperson also said investigators waited about four months to search for Dearth’s body because the area was snow‑covered when the January 2025 tip arrived, and daylight is limited at that time of year, Alaska Public Media quoted McDaniel as saying.
Court records indicate that Alaska’s Office of Special Prosecutions secured an indictment from a Fairbanks grand jury charging Popps with Dearth’s murder on June 25.
Court records list Popps as a resident of Battle Creek, Michigan, at the time of the indictment. Michigan State Police arrested him on July 16 and booked him into the Kalamazoo County Jail near Battle Creek, officials said.
He remained held without bond at that facility on Monday, pending transfer to Alaska authorities. Under Alaska law, a conviction for second‑degree murder could carry a sentence of 10 to 99 years in prison.
Alaska state police said they had notified Dearth’s family of Popps’s arrest.
Attempts to reach Dearth’s surviving relatives on Monday were unsuccessful, and no information about a legal representative for Popps was immediately available.
