A camper offered a stranger beer in Montana. The can cracked his murder, sheriff says

Investigators said Daren Christopher Abbey confessed to the killing of Dustin Kjersem after DNA from a beer can led Montana authorities to him. Photo / Montana Dept of Corrections

Dustin Kjersem had set up his tent for a weekend camping trip three weeks ago in southwest Montana when he saw a man approach. Kjersem, alone at the remote campsite for the night, offered the stranger a beer, authorities said.

It was that friendly gesture that eventually led law enforcement to the man they say brutally killed Kjersem on October 11. Investigators said the suspect, 41-year-old Daren Christopher Abbey, tried to avoid being caught by removing items he’d touched from the campsite. But it seems Abbey forgot the act of kindness.

Law enforcement officials in Montana’s Gallatin County announced Thursday that Abbey confessed to killing Kjersem after being apprehended days earlier thanks to DNA left on the beer can that matched his own. An attorney for Abbey was not listed on the county court’s website Saturday.

Upon finding her boyfriend’s body on the morning of October 12, Kjersem’s girlfriend called 911 saying Kjersem may have been killed by a bear due to the savagery of the scene.

Upon finding her boyfriend’s body on the morning of October 12, Dustin Kjersem’s girlfriend called 911 saying Kjersem may have been killed by a bear due to the savagery of the scene.

But it had been Abbey, not a bear, that hit Kjersem with a piece of wood before stabbing him in the neck with a screwdriver and then taking an axe to the 35-year-old man, according to authorities.

“This appears to be a heinous crime committed by an individual who had no regard for the life of Dustin Kjersem,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said at a Thursday news conference.

Local law enforcement and an agent from Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks who is an expert in bear attacks inspected the site in the Moose Creek camping area of Gallatin Canyon, but did not find any signs of bear activity, leading authorities to treat the case as a homicide. An autopsy later confirmed Kjersem had suffered multiple chop wounds, according to authorities.

“This is the behaviour of a guilty subject who thought he’d get away with it,” Springer said.

Investigators say they believe that the two men didn’t know each other and that the alleged homicide was a chance encounter. Abbey had planned to camp in the spot, across the border from Yellowstone National Park, where Kjersem had already put up his tent, Springer said.

Kjersem had planned to spend the first night alone before picking up his girlfriend the next day for a second night together in the wilderness. His girlfriend was worried when he didn’t show the morning of October 12, a Saturday, Springer said, so she drove out to the campsite and found Kjersem dead in the tent.

The sheriff’s office began an intense, three-week investigation.

Kjersem’s sister, Jillian Price, on October 16 asked the public to help them find her brother’s killer.

She said her brother was born in nearby Bozeman and worked throughout the valley pouring foundations, framing houses and installing countertops.

“He was a loving, helpful and adoring father who in no way deserved this,” she said.

But there were few good leads and little usable evidence, Captain Nathan Kamerman, head of investigations for the sheriff’s office, said on Thursday.

The big break came October 25, when the crime lab staff told investigators they had a DNA match on the beer can, Springer said. Abbey had previously been arrested for driving under the influence, according to state corrections records.

Authorities arrested Abbey the next day and interviewed him on October 29, which is when he confessed to the killing, according to authorities.

Abbey is from about 140km away in Basin, Montana, but he was in the area working a construction job, Springer said.

Abbey removed items from the campsite he thought would tie him to the slaying, Springer said. That’s why investigators asked the public on October 24 to keep an eye out for a blue Estwing camp axe, a 12-gauge Remington 11-87 shotgun, a .44-caliber Ruger Blackhawk revolver and an orange YETI cooler.

Cases such as this consume the sheriff’s office, said Springer, who leads the 59-deputy agency.

He thanked his investigators, other agencies who assisted and the lab technicians who broke the case. Springer also had a message for Kjersem’s family.

“I hope this can bring a little bit of peace to all of you,” he said.

Abbey is being held with a US$1.5 million bond on a charge of deliberate homicide and two counts of tampering with evidence, according to Gallatin jail records.