GALLATIN CANYON, Montana — A suspect who confessed to the killing of Dustin Kjersem, a camper found brutally attacked near Big Sky, Montana, last month is in custody.
That’s a relief to hunters and others camping in Custer Gallatin National Forest, but details of the crime that authorities revealed on Halloween still add up to a camper’s worst nightmare.
Gallatin County Sheriff’s officers arrested Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, in the murder of Kjersem, an attack witnesses initially believed to have been the work of a bear because of its brutal nature. The killing, which took place at the victim’s campsite, has disturbed the region, shattering the idyllic image of the outdoors and fall camping trips, where many seek to escape crime and other problems plaguing bigger cities and towns.
Abbey was caught after a nearly three-week search and detained on “unrelated charges,” Springer said, before confessing to the murder.
“This murderer is a 41-year-old male who is currently living in the Basin, Montana, area and working in the Big Sky area,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer told reporters gathered at a news conference Thursday.
Kjersem’s death has prompted forest rangers and security experts to urge campers to consider their surroundings and take special precautions to discourage and detract unwanted attention and strangers at their campsites.
“The motives of this attack are still unknown,” Springer said. “The investigators will continue to piece together everything they can to build a better picture of the events that evening. This appears to be a heinous crime committed by an individual who had no regard for the life of Dustin Kjersem.
“By all accounts, this homicide appears to be a chance encounter. There does not appear to be any connection between our victim and our suspect.”
What Happened
The tragic and fatal encounter between Kjersem and his killer happened Oct. 10, when the 35-year-old victim arrived in the Moose Creek area and set up camp, which included “a wall tent, complete with a woodstove, beds, lamps and multiple other items,” Springer said.
Kjersem also possessed a handgun and a shotgun. He planned to bring his girlfriend up to the camp the next day, but that night Abbey rolled into Kjersem’s campsite.
“We learned the suspect was looking for a place to camp on Thursday night and had planned on this particular site. As he approached the site, he realized someone was staying there. He said that Dustin welcomed him to the campsite and offered him a beer,” continued Sheriff Springer during the press conference. “At some point, this individual struck just Dustin Kjersem with a piece of solid wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver and ultimately hit him with the ax.”
When Kjersem’s girlfriend and a companion discovered Dustin’s body two days later on Oct. 12, they thought he’d been attacked by a bear.
Much of what investigators have learned has only stirred more questions, Springer said.
“We have a bit of his story, but we don't really know what the true story is,” he said. “Do we really know what happened in this case? What caused this? We have a story, we just don't know if it's accurate. So, I'm not willing to share that until we know what's actually accurate.”
With so much unknown, campers in Custer Gallatin National Forest and beyond are left wondering what they can do to stay safe.
‘So Rare’
Mark Genito, a former Yellowstone National Park backcountry ranger who now lives in Bozeman, Montana, said he’s followed the Kjersem case closely. Genito often patrolled the Thorofare region of Yellowstone alone on horseback, acting as a solo law enforcement officer in the deep backcountry, which he believes is the safest place to be on public lands.
“It's counter intuitive because we have this innate fear of deep wilderness because we're so far off, but that fear is what keeps most people out of there and the biggest threat is always other humans,” Genito said in a phone interview. “You know, the biggest threat is never the thing that's creeping around in the dark. That's so rare that there's this predatory monster that wants to get into your tent.
“Most of the things that are on four legs in the wilderness are more afraid of us than we are of them. And the biggest threat to your safety is always mankind — is your fellow human, sadly. So backcountry that is furthest, those are going to be your safest places as long as you know how to handle yourself in the backcountry.”
Kjersem was not murdered in the backcountry.
The crime scene is 2.5 miles off of U.S. Highway 191, the busy link between Big Sky and Bozeman. It runs along the Gallatin River, the setting for the film “A River Runs Through It.”
Kayakers hitchhike back to their cars and campers fill the designated campgrounds. It’s a bustling swath of front country, and Genito said in his experience in YNP, that’s where you are most likely to run into trouble.
“The front country was by far more dangerous,” emphasized Genito, who once faced off with the Hell’s Angels during a traffic stop in Yellowstone. Then there was the time when he was climbing outside of Butte, Montana, and discovered a meth lab deep in the forest.
“You just kind of get this feeling of like, ‘Oh, maybe I'm not alone all of a sudden and there's like some people out here that don't want me around,’” added Genito, saying overall, “I tend to just trust my fellow campers.”
Security
Genito said he agrees with security consultant George Babnick, whose No. 1 rule for safe camping is picking a good spot.
In an online post titled “How to Avoid Camping Disasters,” Babnick suggests: “Always keep security in mind and follow your ‘gut’ instincts. Trusting your gut means following the physical feelings your body gives you that you are making the right or wrong decision.
“Is there someone camping nearby that looks a little sketchy? Is there some trash in the area that might indicate the area is a local ‘party area?’ Are there negative reviews online about the particular area? Is there cell service in the area in case you need to call 911?”
Whether in the front country or backcountry, campers this time of year are not alone.
Jamie Balke, a spokesperson Custer Gallatin National Forest, said the agency, “Conducts hunter patrols across the forest, which provide an opportunity to talk with folks out on the landscape, answer questions, and if the situation warrants, issue warnings or citations.
“Although our employees are out and about year-round to talk with visitors and answer questions, it is great to have a presence on the forest this time of year when people are out hunting or enjoying other fall recreational opportunities on their public lands.”
Like ski patrollers or river rangers who manage popular stretches of water, the hunter patrols operate like a roving force for good, said Terina Hill, a spokesperson for Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. In the transition from fire season to hunting season, crews put down their pulaskis — a firefighting tool — and staff hunter patrols.
“Our fire guys will go out into the woods during this time of year and do patrols, walking into camps,” said Hill.
There’s an art to approaching strangers at their campsites, and Morgan Jacobsen, title? with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said game wardens are practiced in the craft.
“Of course, this time of year with hunting season going on all hunters are armed and game wardens are interacting with thousands of them throughout the season,” said Jacobsen. “They have to be very careful.”
“If you’re dealing with another camper, just be aware,” said retired police officer Scott Swanson of Bozeman during a phone interview called in from the banks of the Gallatin River.
A former deputy chief of police in Santa Rosa, California, Swanson recounted a camping incident years ago when, “We had two shady looking characters next to us and they were both drunk and they were throwing knives.”
Things escalated and law enforcement intervened, causing one of the men to try and escape by swimming downstream, where he was ultimately apprehended.
“Then the last time I trusted someone camped across from me, he offered me psychedelic mushrooms,” recalled Swanson with a laugh. “And then I told him I’d been a cop for 30 years, and he said, ‘Well, I should be leaving.’ And he went back to his camp.”
Swanson said law enforcement in the front and backcountry form a web of public safety designed to protect campers. They have a duty the sheriff of Gallatin County called out in his Halloween press conference.
“We know it is our responsibility to stand between evil and good in this world,” said Sheriff Springer. “We will protect the good people of this community with every resource we have.”
Those resources include a “Death Dashboard” produced by the National Park Service. According to the dashboard, there were 2,149 deaths in national parks between 2014 and 2019, with 25 of those deaths determined to be homicides.
