Man Suspected in Campground Homicide Arrested Following DNA Evidence

Further investigation into the Montana murder found DNA evidence of killer.

Photo by Brenden Campana on Unsplash

On October 12, Montana resident Dustin Kjersem was found slain in his tent in what was first assumed to be an animal attack. Montana officials have since declared the incident "deliberate homicide" and have a suspect in custody.

Kjersem was murdered the night of October 10, but he wasn't discovered until his girlfriend and friend suspected him missing. Kjersem's girlfriend was meant to be picked up by Kjersem and brought to the campground.

Through DNA evidence, Daren Christopher Abbey was tied to the scene after officials recovered a beer can from the campsite. After Abbey was detained in Butte, Montana, about 80 miles northwest of the crime scene, he divulged to officials that Kjersem welcomed him into his campsite, offering him a beer.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer sent reassurance to the community, noting that this was an isolated incident; Abbey acted alone. Abbey confessed to the killing, but his motives are still unknown. The autopsy revealed the gruesome nature of the killing, detailing that Kjersem was first knocked down due to blunt force trauma with a piece of wood.

The autopsy further revealed that the victim was then stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver and hit with an ax multiple times.

Kjersem was found in his tent about 2.5 miles up Moose Creek Road, an area that is pretty well populated with campers, hikers, and hunters. Prior to the evidence that narrowed the search for a suspect, the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department pled with those that were in the area around the time of the murder to provide any context to what may have happened.

As of Friday, Abbey is being detained with bail posted at $1.5 million. Although he was originally being detained for a probation violation in Butte, Montana, Abbey has now been charged, officially, with deliberate homicide.

Springer noted that Abbey had been cooperative in the process, giving detectives a list of things he had taken from the scene of the crime. The beer can, of course, had been left behind, but Abbey had taken an ax, a Yeti cooler, a revolver, and a shotgun.

The investigation is still ongoing, as Sheriff Springer announced that the department is not sure Abbey has provided an accurate story.

According to a quote gathered by NBC News, some of Springer's final thoughts on the matter were as follows:

We have a bit of his story, but we don't really know what the true story is.

- Sheriff Dan Springer of Gallatin County