On April 28, 1984, 33-year-old Roger Culp of the Fairbanks area went to the cabin of his neighbor, 25-year-old Michael Alan Silka, and never returned. Witnesses reported hearing a rapid succession of gunshots soon after Culp entered Silka’s dwelling, and blood was later found in the snow outside the cabin. Troopers questioned Silka on April 29; he said the blood came from a moose hide and initially left the scene. When troopers executed a search warrant on May 8, Silka had disappeared and the spots were confirmed to be human blood.

Silka was later linked to several other disappearances and killings in mid-May 1984. A manhunt ended on May 19 in a shootout on the Zitziana River that killed Alaska State Trooper Troy L. Duncan and left Silka dead from return fire. With Silka deceased, what exactly happened to Roger Culp cannot be definitively determined; many believe Culp was Silka’s first victim and that his body may have been disposed of in the Tanana River. Culp’s body has never been recovered.

If anyone knew Roger Culp or has information about his last known movements or possible burial locations, please share what is known.