Outdoor-loving family of man killed in tent afraid to camp with killer on the loose
A killer is still on the loose after the "brutal" murder of an avid outdoorsman and father, whose body was found 12 days ago while he was camping near Big Sky, Montana.
Dustin Mitchell Kjersem, 35, was found dead in his tent about two and a half miles up Moose Creek Road on Saturday, Oct. 12. His friend who found him and called 911 initially believed he had suffered from a bear attack, but authorities quickly determined it was a homicide.
"Everybody stop and look and help find who did this," Kjersem's sister, Jillian Price, told Fox News Digital in an emotional interview.
"This isn't a big valley…but there's so many people who don't know that this happened…I want them to know, I want them to keep talking about it in hopes that we, that somebody hears it, that it clicks to somebody, and they call and just give the detectives just a little bit of what they need to find who did this, to put this together," she said.
MONTANA MAN CAMPING NEAR BIG SKY FOUND DEAD IN TENT AFTER ‘VICIOUS ATTACK,’ POLICE SAY
Kjersem was last seen on Oct. 10 in the afternoon, leaving to go camping in his Ford F-150. He had plans to meet up with a friend the next day but never made that meeting. The friend went looking for Kjersem and eventually found his body, authorities said.
"Unimaginable, right? You have to wake up every day, and it keeps running through your head," Price said, adding that she found out about her brother's death when a coroner knocked on her door. "He asked me if I was Dustin Kjersem's sister… I knew it was bad at that point. But there's no way I could have even imagined what he was going to tell me."
Autopsies showed that Kjersem sustained "multiple chop wounds, which led to his death," police said.
"People have asked me if there is a threat to this community, and the answer is, we don't know," Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said in a news conference. "We do know that someone was out there who killed someone in a very heinous way."
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A Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agent with expertise in bear attacks responded to the scene of the attack and did not find any signs of bear activity, which led investigators to treat the case as a homicide. An autopsy further confirmed the death to be a homicide.
"This incident was a vicious attack, and detectives are working hard to develop and track down leads," the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
The Moose Creek area is a popular hunting and camping location, and Price said it was not unusual for her brother to be camping there.
"He was born in Montana, raised in Montana. All of us, we loved the outdoors more than anything," Price said. "You know, his life fishing, snowboarding, camping. He was well-prepared. He knew what he was doing. He's been out there by himself. I mean, so many times. So many times."
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Price said she last spoke to her brother on Sept. 23, when he called to wish her daughter a happy birthday.
"We had a not great childhood and I took custody of him when he was a teenager," Price shared about her brother. "He was so helpful, and he was so sweet. I was a young mother, and so I mean, he helped me so much. He was the best uncle. I mean, as a 17-year-old boy, he would sit with my daughter and have tea parties with her for hours."
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Price added that Kjersem has a daughter and a stepson. When asked what she hopes others will remember about her brother, she said, "I wish they could have heard his laugh, but I just hope they know just how caring he was."
A fundraiser Price started in support of her brother's children describes him as "a loving, helpful, and adoring father."
"This is a homicide, and we are working all hours of the day and night to find his killer," Springer said. "He was brutally killed at his campsite, and we need your help."
Springer added that investigators do not know what weapon was used, "but we do know it was something hard enough to cause significant damage to the skull as well as some flesh areas of the body."
They are seeking information from anyone who was in the area between Thursday, Oct. 10 and Saturday, Oct. 12.
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"There is a team of people out there that are working so hard and they are pushing. They are determined to find who did this," Price told Fox News Digital. "And so on their behalf… I am asking anybody for help. Anybody."
Investigators have not made any arrests, and the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital that there are no further updates on the investigation at this time.
"It's scary," Price said. "I don't want to have to live in fear. I don't want my daughter to have to live in fear."