Tipster charged with murder after police say anonymous call helped solve 30-year disappearance

More than 30 years after an Alaska man vanished without a trace, an anonymous confession breathed new life into the cold case and ultimately led investigators to the alleged killer.

Christopher Popps, 54, of Michigan, was arrested after Alaska State Troopers said they traced the confession back to him, accusing him of fatally shooting his former co-worker, Patrick Orville Dearth, in 1993 before dumping his body inside a barrel off a remote highway.

Dearth, 34, disappeared in November...