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Michigan man arrested in 1993 Alaska killing after anonymous tips
Police arrested a 54-year-old Michigan resident on July 16 after an anonymous confession led investigators to human remains near Fairbanks. The remains were identified as a man missing since 1993.
Jul 20, 4:24 AM·1m read2 sources
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A 54-year-old Michigan man was arrested near Kalamazoo on July 16 in connection with a 1993 killing in Alaska. Police traced the arrest to multiple anonymous tips that described a murder near Fairbanks that year. The tips began reaching Alaska law enforcement agencies on Jan.
22, 2025. One caller claimed responsibility for a 1993 killing in the Fairbanks area. Investigators could not search the reported site until May 2025 because of snow cover.
recovered When searchers returned in May 2025, they found human remains inside a barrel down an embankment near Mile 47 of the Steese Highway. The Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office identified the remains as Patrick Orville Dearth, 34, who had been reported missing in November 1993.
The examiner ruled the death a homicide. Police said Dearth and the arrested man had worked together in Fairbanks. An altercation at an auto shop ended with the shooting, according to investigators.
A Fairbanks grand jury indicted the Michigan man on two counts of second-degree murder on June 25, 2026. Michigan State Police took him into custody on July 16. He remains jailed in Kalamazoo County while awaiting extradition to Alaska. As of July 18, no attorney was listed for him in Alaska court records and no hearings had been scheduled.
