BATTLE CREEK, MI (WTVB) – Michigan State Police Fifth District Fugitive Team arrested 54-year-old Christopher Popps at a home in Battle Creek, in connection with a 33-year-old homicide cold case from Alaska.
The arrest occurred following a coordinated effort with the Alaska State Troopers’ Cold Case Investigation Unit, which tracked down Popps without incident.
Popps was initially booked into the Calhoun County Jail and is currently held at the Kalamazoo County Jail awaiting extradition to Alaska, where he faces two counts of second-degree murder.
The charges stem from the November 1993 disappearance of 34-year-old Patrick Orville Dearth in Fairbanks, Alaska.
According to Alaska State Police , the investigation took a dramatic turn in January 2025 when they received anonymous tips from a caller, later identified as Popps, confessing to the crime.
Following the caller’s descriptions, investigators discovered Dearth’s remains in May 2025 inside a barrel down a steep highway embankment off the Steese Highway.
Detectives determined that Popps and Dearth were former co-workers who had a fatal altercation at an auto shop, leading a Fairbanks grand jury to officially indict Popps in June 2026.
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