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A Montana man was convicted in a gruesome 2024 campsite killing in which he hacked a stranger to bits, leaving authorities to assume that the victim was torn apart by a wild bear.
Daren Christopher Abbey, 42, was convicted of deliberate homicide for the slaughter of Dustin Kjersem, a 35-year-old father he shared a campsite with near Montana’s Big Sky in October 2024.
“This verdict reflects our community’s expectation that violent acts resulting in the loss of life will be met with accountability,” Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell said in a statement.
During the initial investigation, law enforcement officials said that Kjersem and Abbey were strangers who met by chance. Abbey later confessed that Kjersem welcomed him into the remote campsite near Moose Creek Road and that they shared a beer.
Sometime during the night of Oct. 10, 2024, Abbey struck Kjersem with a block of wood, then an ax, and stabbed him with a screwdriver, authorities said.
Kjersem’s girlfriend, who planned to meet up with him at the campsite ahead of his death, found his body mutilated by “multiple chop wounds” in his tent on Oct. 12, officials said.
His girlfriend called 911 and reported his macabre death as a possible bear attack. DNA on a beer can found inside the tent led investigators to Abbey, who confessed after being arrested, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said at the time.
Abbey planned to camp at the site, but found Kjersem there instead, the sheriff added. By that evening, Kjersem had already pitched a wall tent complete with multiple beds and a stove.
Abbey tried and failed to claim self-defense as the evidence stacked against him.
During his trial, his defense attorney claimed that Kjersem held the killer at gunpoint, according to a statement obtained by NBC News.
“We asserted self defense in this matter, arguing that Daren was scared for his life when a gun was pointed at him by the decedent. If the jury would have believed there was self defense they would have acquitted,” Kottke said in an email.
Abbey faces up to life in prison on the homicide conviction alone. He was also convicted of two counts of tampering with evidence, which carry an extra decade each.
In 2024, Springer claimed that Abbey might’ve removed multiple pieces of evidence from the campsite, including an ax, a shotgun, a revolver and a cooler before returning a second time to grab other items.
A motive for the killing is not known.
His sentencing is set for Dec. 30.
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