A Montana man thought a bear had aggressively attacked and killed his friend after finding his grisly remains in a camping tent. However, it turns out that someone actually murdered the camper.
It's a scene from a horror movie like Friday the 13th. Someone had brutally slaughtered the man. Authorities confirmed that they found the remains of 35-year-old Dustin Kjersem in his tent on Saturday. He was located at Moose Creek Road north of Big Sky, Montana. Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer held a news conference following the horrific find.
A friend of the 35-year-old went looking for him when he didn't show up. He found his remains in what he initially thought was a bear attack. He quickly called 911 and relayed that a bear had killed his friend. However, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agent didn't find any evidence of a bear in the area. Authorities soon realized that the man had been stabbed multiple times.
They observed "multiple chop wounds" to his body and skull.
"He was brutally killed at his campsite and we need your help," Springer said. They're working "all hours of day and night to find his killer." So far, authorities don't have a motive or a suspect. The remote area of the crime makes figuring out exactly what happened that much more difficult. The sheriff can't advice whether the community is in danger. But that was no bear!
"People have asked me if there's a threat to this community and the answer is we don't know. We don't have enough information to know at this time," he said.
Authorities are urging people to stay cautious and keep their guard up. "We do know that someone was out there who killed someone in a very heinous way so if you're out in the woods you need to be paying attention, you need to remain vigilant," Springer said.
Right now, authorities are asking for any information or suspicious activity they may have observed. "Think of the whole canyon," Captain Nathan Kamerman said at the news conference. "If you saw something weird in the canyon area, or in town with his truck, please reach out to us."
Kjersem's sister Jillian Price mourned the loss of her brother.
"I asked our community to please find out who did this," she said. "There is someone in our valley who is capable of truly heinous things."
