Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, (above left) was beforehand arrested for the slaying of Dustin Kjersem, 35, (above proper) who was discovered useless in a tent whereas tenting in Massive Sky, Montana. He was charged with one depend of deliberate murder and two counts of tampering with proof.

With police beforehand alleging Abbey “hit the sufferer on the top with a bit of firewood, stabbed the sufferer within the neck with a screwdriver, and hit the sufferer on the face with the blunt aspect of the axe,” Abbey’s aspect of the story has emerged, due to court docket docs through Fox Information Digital.

Per the docs, Abbey arrange a campsite close to Kjersem on October 10 and the pair started to speak over some beers. Abbey claimed his canine, at one level, jumped onto Kjersem’s air mattress and left muddy paw prints throughout it — one thing he says set Kjersem off.

“Kjersem said he was going to shoot his canine after which was going to kill him,” claimed Abbey, who stated Kjersem got here at him, earlier than the pair “tangled.”

In the course of the combat, Abbey stated he hit Kjersem 3 times with a block of wooden. Whereas he reportedly did not point out the axe at first, when police stated his story did not match up with the accidents, he allegedly then admitted to hitting him with an axe.

He allegedly stated that he additionally then stabbed Kjersem with a screwdriver he picked up from the bottom, claiming the sufferer was nonetheless transferring. That is when the combat ended, he stated. Abbey allegedly additionally informed police he washed the screwdriver and axe in a creek close by, earlier than taking Kjersem’s telephones and axe with him when he left the location.

The docs declare he additionally informed police he returned to the campsite a day later, believing he left a beanie behind and did not need to depart any “free ends.”

Abbey reportedly informed police he was performing in “self-defense,” although authorities identified a scarcity of defensive wounds on the suspect.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer stated Kjersem “arrived within the Moose Creek space” on October 10, and “arrange camp,” which featured “a wall tent full with wooden range, beds, lamps and a number of different gadgets.”

In response to Springer, Kjersem had deliberate on choosing up his girlfriend on Friday night time. When he did not present up, he stated Kjersem’s girlfriend “turned apprehensive” — and, on Saturday morning, she drove to the campsite with a pal and located Kjersem’s physique.

After Kjersem’s physique was found, his dying was initially thought to have been the results of a bear assault. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, nonetheless, discovered no indicators of bear exercise within the space and a murder investigation started.