Daren Abbey, accused of killing Dustin Kjersem at a campsite in the Moose Creek area in October 2024, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, to charges of deliberate homicide and tampering with evidence.
In Gallatin County District Court on Tuesday, Abbey pleaded not guilty to all the charges and told the judge he acted in self defense.
Abbey's next court hearing is set for February 18, 2025. He remains in jail with bail set at $1.5 million.
(NOVEMBER 16, 2024) New information has been released in the case of Daren Christopher Abbey, accused of killing Dustin Kjersem of Belgrade while he was camping in the Moose Creek area in October 2024.
According to charging documents filed in Gallatin County District Court, Abbey, 41, was identified as a suspect in the murder of Kjersem through DNA found on a beer can that was left near the scene of the crime, as well as photos from surveillance cameras at a nearby resort.
Kjersem was found dead by his girlfriend who was accompanied by a friend on the morning of October 12, 2024. The pair had traveled to the campsite near Big Sky after Kjersem failed to pick up the girlfriend as planned on Friday, Oct. 11.
Charging documents say during the investigation, evidence was collected from a tent where Kjersem was found, as well as the campsite and nearby area. On October 24, a Gallatin County Sheriff's sergeant took a report of a white "skinhead dude" who made several employees at Big Sky Resort and The Rocks Tasting Room uncomfortable by talking about him doing prison time and making white supremacist comments.
Employees at The Rocks told the sergeant that the man had made comments to a patron that he was camping in the Moose Creek area.
The next day, the Montana State Crime Lab confirmed that DNA located on a beer can retrieved from the crime scene matched two previous offenders. The DNA matched Daren Abbey and Dustin Abbey, who are believed by law enforcement to be twins, as they share a date of birth.
Court documents say that Dustin Abbey is currently in the custody of the Montana Department of Corrections at the Crossroads Correctional Facility in Shelby, Montana since September 17, 2024.
A detective compared Daren Abbey's driver's license photograph and his CONWEB photograph to the images taken from the Big Sky Resort camera footage. The person matched the description and appeared to the detective to be Daren Abbey.
According to charging documents, Abbey told investigators in an interview that he had gone to Moose Creek to look for a campsite the night of the homicide and saw someone had put up a wall tent. He reportedly told investigators that he started to talk to Kjersem and they had a couple of beers. After cutting some wood, they entered the wall tent to have a fire.
Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said in a press conference that Abbey confessed to killing Kjersem on Thursday, Oct. 10, claiming self-defense.
Abbey allegedly said he struck Kjersem on the head with a piece of firewood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver, and hit him on the face with the blunt side of an axe.
Charging documents also say Abbey admitted to taking multiple items that had his fingerprints on them, including two coolers, a .44 magnum pistol and holster, a shotgun, and a shotgun ammunition sleeve. He reportedly admitted to washing the axe and screwdriver in the creek.
Abbey allegedly said he returned to the campsite the next day because he forgot his hat. According to charging documents, he said he also stole binoculars and a headlamp from Kjersem’s truck, as well as disposing of two phones he took from Kjersem’s tent. The phones were reportedly found on Oct. 17 by friends of Kjersem.
Abbey has been formally charged with one count of deliberate homicide and two counts of tampering with or fabricating evidence.
The Gallatin County Attorney, Audrey Cromwell, has issued the following statement regarding this case:
"As the Gallatin County Attorney, I want to assure our community that our office is fully committed to pursuing justice in this devastating case. Daren Abbey has been charged with homicide and tampering with evidence, and we will work diligently to present all available evidence and facts to the court. We understand that this case has deeply affected our community, and we are determined to handle it with the utmost professionalism and integrity. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and loved ones as we proceed through the legal process."
