By Delilah Rippee
On Saturday, October 12th, in Big Sky, Montana, a deceased male was discovered along Moose Creek Road in a tent. The caller who discovered the body described it as a possible bear attack. However, the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks spokesperson stated that it was not consistent with a bear attack. On October 15th, the victim was identified as 35 year old Dustin Mitchell Kjersem. He was believed to be camping alone. The autopsy, which is still in progress, has so far ruled his death a homicide. Investigators now are treating the case as such.
Sheriff Dan Springer stated, “Obviously, our hearts go out to his family. It is a hard job, and I’ve got a lot of resources on it to figure out who did this … Fact of the matter is, this person was killed. For whatever reason we don’t know. It was a fairly vicious attack, and we are committed to finding out who did this.” Springer urged the public to share any information they may have and report to the proper authorities if they saw the victim leading up to the attack. The victim’s sister, Jillian Price, spoke out recently, saying, “Dustin was a great kid. He was born here in Bozeman, and he worked all over the valley … He was a hard working, skilled tradesman. He was a loving, helpful, and adoring father who in no way deserved this. There is someone in our valley that is capable of truly heinous things,”
So far, there are no suspects in custody. However, the sheriff’s office has been given multiple leads. The investigation is ongoing at this time. It’s made difficult due to lack of cell phone service in the area and how remote it is. Sheriff Springer gave a statement to the community discussing the case so far. “People have asked me if there was a threat to this community, and the answer is, we don’t know. We don’t have enough information to know at this time, but we do know that someone was out there who killed someone in a very heinous way. So, if you’re out in the woods, I need you to be paying attention. You need to remain vigilant,” Springer said. “If you see anything suspicious, please just call us. We will take a look. No information is too small.”
As of now, the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. The Sheriff’s Department is working hard to solve the case and encourages the public to help in any way they can.
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