A Montana camper whose mutilated body was found in a forest last month was brutally killed by a stranger he welcomed to his campsite and offered a beer, the authorities said this week, a gesture they contend ultimately led to the killer’s arrest.
The stranger, Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, of Basin, Mont., who was working in construction in the Big Sky area of southern Montana, was arrested on Saturday after the authorities linked his DNA to that found on a beer can on the floor of a tent belonging to the victim, Dustin Kjersem, 35, according to court records.
Mr. Abbey confessed on Tuesday to killing Mr. Kjersem, 35, and was later charged with deliberate homicide, Dan Springer, the sheriff of Gallatin County said at a news conference on Thursday.
Mr. Abbey encountered Mr. Kjersem by chance, the authorities said, noting that they still didn’t know the motive for the killing and that the investigation could continue for months.
“This appears to be a heinous crime committed by an individual who had no regard for the life of Dustin Kjersem,” Sheriff Springer said.
On Oct. 10, Mr. Kjersem traveled to a forested area near Big Sky to camp, the authorities said. He had planned to pick up his girlfriend the next day, a Friday, so the two could spend the weekend camping.
But when he did not arrive, his girlfriend became nervous, so she and her friend drove to the campsite on Saturday, Oct. 12, where they found Mr. Kjersem’s body.
The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said at the news conference that Mr. Abbey had arrived at the campsite, about 35 miles south of Bozeman near Big Sky, on Oct. 10, and planned to stay there. But he found that it was already occupied by Mr. Kjersem, 35, a tradesman from Belgrade, Mont., near Bozeman.
“There does not appear to be any connection” between the two men, Sheriff Springer said.
Instead of turning Mr. Abbey away, Mr. Kjersem “welcomed” Mr. Abbey into his campsite and offered him a beer, Mr. Abbey told authorities, according to Sheriff Springer.
Sometime later, Mr. Abbey struck Mr. Kjersem with a piece of solid wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screw driver and ultimately hit him with an ax. Mr. Kjersem’s body was found with “multiple chop wounds,” the authorities said last month.
After he killed Mr. Kjersem, Mr. Abbey returned to the campsite to remove items that may have had his DNA on it, the sheriff said. On Oct. 24, the sheriff’s office posted to its Facebook page that a camp ax, a shotgun, a revolver and a cooler were “believed to have been removed” from the scene.
Mr. Abbey, however, failed to dispose of a beer can that had DNA on it, Sheriff Springer said.
The DNA was tested by the Montana State Crime Lab, and Mr. Abbey was identified as a match. The authorities arrested Mr. Abbey, originally on the basis of a parole violation. When he confessed to killing Mr. Kjersem in an interview with detectives on Tuesday, the felony homicide charge followed.
It was unclear how the authorities obtained Mr. Abbey’s DNA.
Mr. Abbey told the authorities that he had killed Mr. Kjersem in self-defense, but a lack of defensive injuries on Mr. Abbey contradicted this claim, the authorities said in court records.
In addition to deliberate homicide, Mr. Abbey was also charged with tampering with evidence, records show. The homicide charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
A message left on his Mr. Abbey’s cellphone was not immediately returned, and it was unclear if he had a lawyer.
In 2018 and 2020, Mr. Abbey was charged with two separate driving under the influence offenses in Flathead County, according to the Montana Department of Corrections website. He has multiple Nazi symbol tattoos including two swastikas, the corrections website said.
Mr. Kjersem’s death received national attention in part because it was initially reported as a possible bear attack before it was determined by the authorities to be a homicide. The identity of the person who first reported the death was not clear.
Mr. Kjersem is survived by his parents, at least one sibling and at least one child, according to a GoFundMe set up in his honor.
“He was a loving, helpful and adoring father who in no way deserved this,” Jillian Price, Mr. Kjersem’s sister, said at a news conference last month.
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