Could He Have Gotten Away With It?
Dr. Christine Picard, director of Indiana University’s Forensic and Investigative Sciences program tells A&E Crime + Investigation “it would be really hard to get away with a murder these days,” thanks to all of the advancements scientists have made in forensic science, particularly, DNA.
While forensic specialists decades ago required what Picard describes as “enough biological material, usually sperm or blood, to cover a quarter” to build a suspect’s DNA profile, “we now have this way of extracting DNA from a small amount, like saliva left on a can or bottle.”
“People end up leaving their DNA all over the place,” Picard explains. “A lot of it just sloughs off of us, off of our skin. Basically, anything you touch with bare skin has the potential to transfer your DNA.”
Two days after Kjersem was murdered in October 2024, his girlfriend went to the campsite to look for him when he failed to pick her up for a scheduled event. She ended up finding his mangled body.
When his girlfriend called 911, she mentioned to the operator that it looked as if he had been mauled by a bear. But wildlife experts called to the scene could find no signs of animal activity around the campsite, and after Kjersem’s autopsy, investigators were told that his body had chop-like wounds, inflicted by an axe.
Once Abbey was informed about his DNA being found at the scene, he eventually confessed to police, telling them he’d gone to the same camping site to spend the night, but Kjersem already set up.
Kjersem, Abbey said, welcomed him to the site, and shared his beer with him. But Abbey claimed the two eventually argued—over either how best to handle the campfire or Abbey’s muddy dog—and he wound up committing the killing in self-defense.
Darren Christopher Abbey’s Trial
During his trial, Abbey’s defense team alleged that Kjersem was the actual aggressor that evening, and had taken out one of his guns and aimed it at Abbey, who claimed Kjersem had threatened to shoot both him and his dog. The jury ultimately rejected that story.
Fearing for his life, Abbey struck Kjersem in the head with a block of wood, hit him in the face with the axe and then stabbed him repeatedly in the neck with a screwdriver, he said. But prosecutors countered to the jury that Abbey used excessive force during the murder, and the jury saw photographs of Abbey posing with the firearms he stole from Kjersem after the killing.
At his sentencing hearing on February 3, 2026, Abbey pleaded for leniency he did not receive. “I ask for you to see the truth,” he said to the judge. Upon learning his punishment, Abbey brazenly informed Ohman that he’d “be appealing your crooked ass court system.”
Abbey has never offered up a motive for the killing, but Kjersem’s aunt, Cathy Turnquist, believes he was jealous of her nephew. “People knew Dustin throughout the area as a master tradesman who took pride in his work, so he was very much sought after because of his expertise,” she tells A&E Crime + Investigation, adding that the family has stopped celebrating holidays and birthdays in the wake of Kjersem’s murder.
Kjersem loved being in the outdoors, she says, and could often be seen either fishing in the area’s many rivers with friends of skateboarding or snowboarding, depending on the season. Turnquist describes her nephew as a highly “confident” man who friends knew they could always rely on
“We’re all devastated,” Turnquist continues. “He was a loving father to his daughter, Addy, who was born in 2014. That was his favorite role of all. We all just miss him What happened to Dustin was unimaginable and evil, and I’m glad that [Abbey] will never walk freely again.”
