A 911 caller said a camper was killed by a bear. Police say it was murder.

[littlemissmartypants]

A 911 caller said a camper was killed by a bear. Police say it was murder.
Dustin Kjersem’s body was discovered by a friend at a remote Montana campsite. The 35-year-old’s injuries were so severe that it looked like a bear attack.

(Image at the link.)
A sign near Big Sky, Mont., warns visitors to beware of bears. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez for The Washington Post)

By Rachel Pannett
October 17, 2024 at 1:40 a.m. EDT
Dustin Kjersem

Dustin Kjersem’s body was discovered on Oct. 12 at a remote Montana campsite. The 35-year-old’s injuries were so severe that a 911 caller said it looked like a bear attack.

Police suspect he was murdered.

Kjersem set out for a weekend of camping at a remote Montana forest site late last week. Police say he was last in contact with his family the afternoon of Oct. 10. He was meant to meet a friend on Friday, and when he didn’t show up, his friend started searching for him.

The friend found his body inside a tent at a forest service campsite near Big Sky, in southern Montana, around 10 a.m. Saturday local time. The friend called 911, thinking Kjersem had been killed by a bear.

Bear attacks in the area are not uncommon. In July, a 72-year-old man shot and killed a grizzly bear that attacked him while he was picking huckleberries in a Montana forest.

Local law enforcement officials inspected the campsite, along with an agent from the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks service who is an expert in bear attacks.
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https://wapo.st/3BNMECB

[Srkdqltr]

1. So why do they say murder? And who did it? I hate these .

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Bears don't use axes to kill.

[Srkdqltr]

5. Where does it say axes?

The link is unreadable.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Says body had received several "chops".

From the article,
An autopsy supported that theory, indicating that Kjersem suffered multiple chop wounds that led to his death, authorities said in a news conference Wednesday.

[hlthe2b]

3. A bear attack is not that hard to distinguish. So presumedly the total absence of bear scat, tracks,

hair or scratches/destruction of small bushes/undergrowth anywhere in the vicinity, not to mention autopsy findings (bear mouth tearing, biting, and eviscerating injuries are pretty unique) and no bear sightings in the area pretty well leave a two-legged murderer as the conclusion. I tend to believe them (as a bear attack would have been the "path of least resistance" for law enforcement if the intent was to "solve it fast" ).

[Midnight Writer]

4. The body may have been ravaged after death by scavengers, making the true cause of death difficult

to spot at first inspection.

[True Dough]

7. Sounds like a case for

Encyclopedia Brown Bear!