Patrick Dearth and the anonymous call about Mile 47
In January 2025, someone called Alaska State Troopers and said they had committed a murder 32 years earlier. The body, the caller said, was in a barrel.
- When
- November 1993; remains found May 2025
- Where
- Fairbanks and the Steese Highway, Alaska
- Status
- Charged, awaiting trial
Content note homicide, human remains described without detail. No graphic images.
In brief
Patrick Orville Dearth was 34 when his family reported him missing to Fairbanks police in November 1993. The case went cold for more than three decades. On January 22, 2025, Alaska State Troopers received an anonymous tip from someone who claimed to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993. In May 2025 troopers found human remains inside a barrel down a steep embankment near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway, and the State Medical Examiner identified them as Dearth. Troopers say the tipster was Christopher Popps, 54, a former coworker. A Fairbanks grand jury indicted Popps on two counts of second-degree murder in June 2026, and he was arrested in Michigan in July 2026. He has not been convicted.
Turning pointAn anonymous caller told troopers where the body was. Troopers say the caller was the man they now accuse of the killing.
- Victim
- Patrick Orville Dearth, 34 when he disappeared
- Accused
- Christopher Popps, 54, of Michigan, a former coworker; charged, not convicted
- Missing since
- November 1993, reported to Fairbanks police
- Found
- May 2025, in a barrel near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway
- Charges
- Two counts of second-degree murder, indicted June 25, 2026
- Status
- Arrested near Kalamazoo, Michigan, July 16, 2026, pending extradition
Watch the episode
Timeline
November 1993
Patrick Dearth's family reports him missing to the Fairbanks Police Department. He is 34.
January 22, 2025
Alaska State Troopers receive an anonymous tip from someone who claims to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993, and who says the body is in a barrel near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation's Cold Case Investigation Unit takes the case.
Winter 2025
The area north of Fairbanks, near Chatanika, is under snow and daylight is scarce, so investigators wait for spring to search.
May 2025
Troopers and investigators find human remains inside a barrel down a steep embankment near Mile 47. The State Medical Examiner identifies Patrick Dearth and determines his death was a homicide.
2025 to 2026
Investigators track down and interview witnesses from more than 30 years earlier. Troopers identify the tipster, who they say had called multiple Alaska law enforcement agencies, as Christopher Popps.
June 25, 2026
A Fairbanks grand jury indicts Popps on two counts of second-degree murder, and a warrant is issued.
July 16, 2026
Michigan State Police arrest Popps near Kalamazoo. He is held in the Kalamazoo County Jail pending extradition to Alaska.
The full story
What happened
Patrick Orville Dearth was 34 in November 1993, when his family reported him missing to the Fairbanks Police Department. The case went cold and stayed that way for more than 30 years.
On January 22, 2025, Alaska State Troopers took a call from someone who would not give a name. The caller said they had committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993, and told troopers where the body was: in a barrel near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway, north of Fairbanks in the Chatanika area.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s cold case unit took over. But it was the middle of an Alaska winter. The area was under snow and daylight was scarce, so investigators had to wait until spring to go and look.
The barrel
In May 2025, troopers and investigators went to the spot the caller had described. Down a steep embankment below the highway, they found a barrel with human remains inside. The State Medical Examiner’s Office identified the remains as Patrick Dearth and ruled his death a homicide.
That answered where he had been. It did not answer who put him there, or why someone would call the police about it after three decades.
The accused
The investigation that followed took longer than the search. Troopers had to find and interview witnesses who remembered Fairbanks in 1993. According to troopers, the anonymous caller had not called just once; the same person had apparently given multiple tips to different Alaska law enforcement agencies, claiming responsibility for Dearth’s death.
Troopers identified that caller as Christopher Popps, now 54 and living in Michigan. The two men had worked together in Fairbanks. A troopers spokesman said investigators determined there had been an altercation at an auto shop, and that it led Popps to shoot Dearth.
On June 25, 2026, a Fairbanks grand jury indicted Popps on two counts of second-degree murder. On July 16, Michigan State Police arrested him near Kalamazoo, and he was jailed there to await extradition to Alaska.
These are charges. Popps has not been tried or convicted, and he is presumed innocent. At the time of his arrest he had no lawyer listed in Alaska court records, and troopers said they did not know why he had made the calls.
What the video couldn't include
The two men worked together
According to troopers, Popps and Dearth had worked together in Fairbanks. A troopers spokesman said investigators determined there was an altercation at an auto shop that led Popps to shoot Dearth. Those are allegations; Popps has not been tried.
More than one call
Troopers say Popps had apparently made multiple anonymous tips to different law enforcement agencies in Alaska claiming responsibility. The spokesman said he had no information on why.
Why it took until spring
The January tip came in the middle of an Alaska winter, with the search area under snow and little daylight, so troopers and the Alaska Bureau of Investigation waited until spring 2025 to look.
The hard part came after the barrel
Finding the remains was not the end. Troopers said the follow-up investigation, which meant finding and interviewing witnesses from three decades earlier, took even longer.
No lawyer listed yet
As of the day of the arrest announcement, Popps had no attorney listed in Alaska court records and no future hearings scheduled.
The video and the record
The episode tells this case in about 3 minutes with illustrated recreations. Here is how its key moments line up with what is documented.
An anonymous voice confessed to a murder committed 32 years earlier
Documented
Troopers say the January 22, 2025 caller claimed to have committed a murder in the Fairbanks area in 1993.
Mile 47 of the Steese Highway, down a steep embankment, inside a barrel
Documented
Location and description from the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
Patrick disappeared from Fairbanks on November 22, 1993
Compressed
Troopers say he was reported missing in November 1993. The exact date in the video is not in the sources cited here.
On May 8, 2025, troopers stood at the top of the embankment
Compressed
Troopers give the search as May 2025. The specific day is not in the sources cited here.
Police traced the calls to Christopher Popps
Compressed
Troopers say they identified Popps as both the suspect and the tipster through investigative work. They have not said publicly how.
Popps shot him after an altercation, placed his body in the barrel and dumped it
Documented
This is what troopers allege. Popps has not been convicted, and the video says so.
The snowbound highway, the embankment, the barrel
Reconstruction
AI-generated illustrations. No real photographs of the scene are used.
What the four marks mean
- Documented
- Shown as it is recorded in court filings, police statements, or consistent reporting.
- Reconstruction
- A reasonable visual recreation of a documented event. The event happened; the image is illustrative.
- Compressed
- Real events shortened, merged, or reordered to fit the runtime.
- Dramatized
- A storytelling choice (framing, wording, emphasis) that the record does not establish.
Sources
- [1]Alaska Department of Public Safety, Daily DispatchCold case homicide investigation, dispatch AK25006537
- [2]Alaska Public Media“Michigan man arrested in Fairbanks cold case murder of former coworker”
VerifiedKey facts in this file were checked against multiple consistent reports and first-person or official accounts. Last reviewed September 12, 2026. How we check cases
