Incident reported as a possible bear attack was actually vicious murder, investigators say

(GALLATIN COUNTY, MT) — Investigators are asking for help solving a “vicious” murder that was so brutal a 911 caller had reported it as a possible bear attack, according to the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office.

A friend found 35-year-old Dustin Kjersem dead in a tent on Saturday morning about 2.5 miles up Moose Creek Road, in a fairly remote camping area in Montana, according to Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer.

Kjersem was last heard from on Oct. 10 as he was leaving to go camping for the weekend. He had plans to meet with a friend on Friday afternoon, according to the sheriff’s office.

After he did not make it to the meetup location, Kjersem’s friend went looking for him and ultimately found him dead.

When investigators responded to the scene of the crime, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agent with expertise in bear attacks did not find any signs of bear activity at the scene, prompting investigators to treat the incident as a murder, according to the sheriff’s office.

This was further confirmed through evidence gathered during an autopsy which determined multiple wounds led to his death.

Investigators are not sure what the murder weapon was, but the weapon was something “hard enough to cause significant damage to the skull as well as some flesh areas of the body,” Springer said at a press conference Wednesday. 

“This incident was a vicious attack, and detectives are working hard to develop and track down leads. A suspect has not been arrested at this time,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

It has not yet been determined what time he was killed and investigators have not identified any suspects in the murder.

Kjersem had lots of equipment at the campsite with him and it was “very well kept,” according to Springer.

The remote location of the murder makes it difficult for the investigation due to limited cellphone services, which typically can be very helpful to investigators, Springer said.

“If you are out in the woods, I need you to be paying attention, you need to remain vigilant. Please, just call us,” Sheriff Dan Springer said at a press conference Wednesday.

The sheriff’s office said people have reached out to them already, giving them multiple leads that they will explore as the investigation into what happened continues.

“If you were in the Moose Creek area, or anywhere in Gallatin Canyon, between Thursday afternoon and early Saturday morning and noticed anything unusual — whether you saw Dustin, Dustin’s truck, noticed suspicious activity, have footage from game cameras or in-vehicle cameras from the area or observed something out of place — please come forward. Even the smallest detail could be crucial to the investigation,” the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook.

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