Authorities said Thursday that a man has admitted to killing a camper in Montana who was first thought to have been killed by a bear.
CNN reported that Dustin Kjersem’s bloody body was found in a tent on October 12 about two and a half miles up Moose Creek Road, east of Big Sky. This was after a friend who was looking for him called 911 and said that Kjersem looked like he had been killed by a bear. Thursday, the police said that Kjersem’s lover found him dead. She was worried when he didn’t show up to pick her up.
A bear expert from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks was one of the investigators who went to the scene after the 911 call but did not find any signs of bear behavior.
According to the sheriff’s office, an autopsy showed that the 35-year-old had “multiple chop wounds.” At first, investigators said they didn’t know what weapon was used, but they did say, “We do know it was something hard enough to do major damage to the skull as well as some fresh areas of the body.”
After the fact, the sheriff’s office found that a cooler, a camp axe, a shotgun, and other things had been taken from the crime scene.
Galatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said, “He was brutally killed at his campsite.”
The sheriff’s office says it has found a suspect and is holding them “on unrelated charges.” The search took almost three weeks.
The police got DNA from a beer can that was left in the victim’s tent while they were investigating. Springer said that they finally found a match and were able to arrest Daren Christopher Abbey, 41. Abbey admitted to killing Kjersem.
CNN is looking into it to see if Abbey has a lawyer.
Springer said Abbey told police that he was in the area looking for a place to camp and had his sights set on where Kjersem was staying when he found the victim there. Springer says that the victim invited Abbey to his elaborate tent and even offered him a beer before they killed each other.
Springser says that Abbey hit the victim with a solid piece of wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver, and hit him with the axe at some point. Springer said Abbey then reportedly took things from the campsite that he thought might have been evidence linking him to the crime. He later went back to the scene of the crime to take more things.
The attack’s cause is still unknown, but police think Abbey did it by himself and that the two men did not know each other.
Springer said, “Investigators will keep putting together everything they can to get a better picture of what happened that night.” “This looks like a horrible crime that was done by someone who didn’t care about Dustin Kjersem’s life.”
“The family of Dustin Kjersem is still in our thoughts and prayers.” We hope that in some small way, our work can help them feel a little better during this terrible time. “Everyone in our community is sad for you,” Springer said.
