Montana investigators have arrested a man for the brutal murder of a camper earlier this month at his Gallatin County campsite.
Daren Christopher Abbey was identified from a DNA sample found on a beer can at the campsite, Sheriff Dan Springer said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. He was located in Butte and initially arrested on unrelated charges before he was transferred to Gallatin County to face charges in the death of 35-year-old Dustin Kjersem.
Kjersem had traveled to Gallatin County on October 10 to set up camp, as CrimeOnline reported, planning to travel back into town the following day to pick up his girlfriend after work so they could spend the weekend camping. When he didn’t arrive on Friday, Springer said, the girlfriend became worried, and she and a friend drove to the campsite on Saturday morning and found Kjersem dead.
Springer said that Abbey, 41, ultimately confessed to the murder. He said he had been planning to camp at the same site on Thursday night but found Kjersem already there. Kjersem, he said, “welcomed” him and even offered him a beer.
“At some point, this individual struck Dustin Kjersem with a piece of solid wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver, and ultimately hit him with the axe,” Springer said.
Then, the sheriff said, Abbey took items from the campsite that he’d touched and then returned on Friday to take more items.“This is the behavior of a guilty subject who thought they could get away with murder,” Springer said.
Abbey reportedly said in his confession that he had planned to camp on Thursday, October 10 at the site where he encountered Dustin, already set up.
According to Sheriff Springer, Abbey said in his confession that Dustin welcomed him to the campsite and offered him a beer.
“At some point, this individual struck Dustin Kjersem with a piece of solid wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver, and ultimately hit him with the axe,” Springer said.
Springer said there was no known connection between Abbey and Kjersem, and it appeared that the incident stemmed from a “chance encounter.”
A motive, however, was not clear.
