Alaska Department Of Public Safety,State Troopers Public Information Office

Dispatch Text:

On January 22, 2025, the Alaska State Troopers received an anonymous 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 assumed responsibility for the case. In May 2025, Troopers and Investigators traveled to the area where the tipster stated the body was left. Troopers located human remains inside a barrel near mile 47 of the Steese Highway, down a steep embankment. The remains were sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for positive identification and autopsy. The State Medical Examiner's Office identified the remains as belonging to Patrick Orville Dearth. Dearth was reported missing to the Fairbanks Police Department in November 1993 and was 34-years-old at the time of his disappearance. Through investigative efforts, Troopers identified the suspect in the murder and the tipster as 54-year-old Michigan resident Christopher Popps. On June 25, 2026, a Fairbanks grand jury indicted Popps on two counts of Murder in the Second Degree of Dearth. On July 16, 2026, Popps was arrested near Kalamazoo, Michigan, by the Michigan State Police on an active warrant for the Murder indictment. He was remanded to Kalamazoo County Jail pending extradition to Alaska. Dearth's next of kin have been notified.