Murder Solved by a Beer Can? | Ep. 117Episode

A 25-year-old cold case. One beer can. And a DNA match that cracked the case, this is one of our wildest Heavy Pours yet.

In this true crime twist, Kendra takes us through the bizarre and tragic murder of Dustin Kjersem, finally solved when police linked DNA from a tossed beer can to the killer: Daren Christopher. This isn’t your average murder mystery, this one ties beer, bad decisions, and forensic science together in a way only Arsenic Culture could tell it.

Come for the chaos, stay for the cold case.

#TrueCrime #BeerCanMurder #ForensicDNA

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Transcript

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Was he like dismembered or anything like that? Or was it just like, bloody I mean? I didn't see a lot of details, but I know he had been stabbed with a screwdriver and killed. Used their out afterwards. Like, oh shit, it, this guy was murdered. Welcome back to Arsenic Culture where beer don't count, but bad decisions do I'm Matt. I'm Jason. Kendra. And, uh, I'm still hungover. We scrapped this first intro, so, uh, we somebody didn't hit record. Uh, yeah. Oh yeah. The only camera closer to you. Yeah. Uh, me and Kendra just got back from Rail Bird. We had a good time. We were gonna go for second day, but, uh, I, my liver needs a break. Pretty priorities. Got a film. Yeah. I had, uh, I woke up this morning and I was like, my, all the whites in my eyes were red, so I got up, I smashed like 32, uh, pizza rolls, and, uh, then shoved like two liquid IVs and then went back to bed. That's, that's the play actually, I feel, I I, I feel I felt a lot better W Waffle House also works. for those, with did, I did not want to get up and getting into a vehicle. I probably Did you like check your body for bruises after You rolled out? of Oh yeah. I got a big old gash on my knee where okay. And, uh, ground and uh, but uh, I'm okay. I told Michelle I got the bone structure for a 4-year-old, so I just Yeah. pat said he heard something pop, So yeah, that was my dignity. Yeah. Um. But today we have a pretty intriguing story. It's a, it's a little off from our, our typical content. We do a lot of spirits and beer and food tie-ins with stories and different cultural things and a lot of history. This one's pretty much just true crime murder. Uh, but that's Kendra's Forte. She's a all into that shit. She's all in it. So she's our resident, uh, I guess conspiracy theorist slash true crime expert. Um, but this story is interesting because, uh. Beer kind of saved the day. Uh, beer also is what possibly enabled this thing to go down. Uh, but I don't wanna give too much away. This was a recent story, right? You said this happened last Yeah. October, 2024. Um, yeah. Start us, start us out here. Introduce us to this, this, Okay. Um, well, it was it made the news because at first they thought this guy had been murdered, um, by a bear while camping. so he was out on a Friday night. Um, Dustin Kum in Montana. Kum, I'm probably not pronouncing that first and last time we'll try to say that Yeah. Let's call him Dustin. We saw him. Dustin, He's 35. Um, But he was sitting up camp for his, uh, he and his girlfriend. They camp and he was like an avid outdoorsman. um, and he was supposed to pick her up when she got off her shift that night. Yeah. And sh um, he never showed to pick her up. So the next morning she gets a group together, and they go looking for him. They know where he should be. And they find him in his tent and. Think that he has been like mauled by a bear because it's just like a horrible crime scene and shit's everywhere, Yeah. So, um, the police come and at first they think that too, but once the medical examiner sees him or does his ex exam he'd been like, um, hit in the head with a piece of, uh, firewood, He'd been. Stabbed in the head. They saying this was a very grizzly scene. Yes. I don't mean grizzly bear scene. I mean Grizzly has a nasty like Yes. like horrible. Yes. Like he, of passion. Something, something I, well maybe, I dunno. I think it was just so bloody And there he, the, the person that had used the ax. Oh, wow. So he'd been like basically chopped up? I think. So the first time, whoever who found this guy? The girlfriend. The girlfriend. The girlfriend, yeah. girlfriend? The girlfriend. And her they, she found him. She was the first on the scene. Yeah. Probably beside herself. So all she saw were like, God, blood and guts everywhere was, yeah. yeah, and I'm, did she even, like, did they say like she recognized him right away, or I guess maybe she knew what his tent looked like so something like that. was, probably knew where he was camping, right? Is what she said. Yeah. So You walk up there, you're just thinking, oh God, you know, something's wrong. I can't imagine It's like something of a horror movie. Like a, like a Friday the 13th after, be the one that have to discover. That sounds kind of unreal. Um, but yeah. in Wyoming, um, Montana. Montana. Was he like dismembered or anything like that? Or was it just like bloody Well, it didn't give, um, I mean, I didn't see a lot of details, but I know he had been stabbed with a screwdriver and hit with the firewood and then he had an ax. and then This, that's what they figured out afterwards. Yeah. After they after the autopsy, Then they were like. oh Shit, this guy was murdered. So then they started investigating it as a crime. You know, it's a crime scene now. Um, and they realized that things had been stolen. So they were actually, he was in a, um, like a park, camping there, uh, a national park. So they had video footage of the killer. So they see it's this, they keep seeing this white. It's um, they call him a, they think he's a supremacist guy. He is got like white supremacist. supremacist. White supremacist. He is got like Nazi tattoos. everywhere. wait, they have cameras in national parks? Um, like in the parking area. Leading into the mountains. Yeah. like, I didn't know they put cameras in the woods of trees. I mean, I guess they could do like hunting cams and That'd be terrifying. That would be very terrifying if. Yeah. Yeah. Big brother can see you, man. They can watch you somebody's out in the wilderness. Yeah. So, yeah. He was a white supremacist, you Yeah. Like they, the police refer to him as a skinhead. Well, anyways, they had footage of him. So, so was the guy that was killed was he African American? Was he black? Was he he was a white dude. Okay, okay. He was just, yeah, just a regular white this suspect, uh, what was his So the suspect, uh, it took a minute for him to become a suspect. Okay. But his name is Darren Abby. He's 41. Um. So the police found footage of him though from, um. Entering and leaving the crime scene that night. And then he actually went back the next morning and he stole a bunch. of shit. He like stole. Um, he, stole, Dustin had two, um, like Yeti coolers. Um, he stole, um, he, Dustin had a shotgun uh, handgun, um, all kinds of things. So they saw him go and then, and then leave on the night of the murder. Mm-hmm. And then they saw him come back the next day. Yeah. And like haul a bunch of shit out. Before his, before the girlfriend found him. Yes. Oh God. Why didn't he just do that the I've never killed anybody. That's a bad plan. I mean that's, I know. know. Like, well, I'm assuming don't come back to the scene, the crime. I mean, he is definitely a moron. he's, he's an idiot. So I'm gonna make the assumption that he did not know that anybody else knew that this guy was out there. He there. He was camping in an area. They said that he had a wall tent. So I imagine like his camp, his campsite Dustin or the Dustin. Okay. up against a, a mountain or something like that kinda wall, I guess. Um, I'm not sure. It just referred to it as a, um, okay. a wall tent. So I think it, He, he was probably pretty hidden behind there, you know. Okay. So this wouldn't just walk by and see the crime so let's, let's say this guy was, he was seen there, he probably didn't know that his girlfriend, I'm assuming, knew that he was out there, that somebody was gonna look for him. So he is probably there. I'm just gonna take my time. So he goes, maybe goes home and showers, gets some food, and then comes back. Um, but yeah, that, that, no shit, but that's like a, and that, that's like a normal thing for a lot of people that are murderers, like. To return to the scene of the crime. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. It's almost like, um, I, you hear about it in all the stories you hear, but it's like a, I don't know, it's an ego thing. It's like a, it gets 'em off, something like that. You see, um, you hear stories of like, when, like police will show up to a murder scene, like a house or something. Like the Killers sometimes will go in the back and they'll just be in the crowd, just like hanging out, like watching everything unfold. see that in tv, movies or yeah, apparently that's a real thing, right? Uh, apparently, Um, I don't know what he, his deal was, but um. So the police didn't look at those videos until, you know, after the autopsy. So that took a few days, But anyways, um, so the videos did reveal this Darren Abby guy. Um, so the police started, you know, questioning him. He said no, he didn't know anything about it. He just, you know, happenstance had been hocking or whatever. Um. and so, they like, why were you carrying two coolers, two Yeti coolers out? Why are they stained in Yeah. Yeah. I dunno how any of that, went that's my blood. I I was in a bear attack too. Yeah. So, um, but as the investigators were going through what was left behind, they found beer cans and, um, there were two shot glasses with, um, there was a bottle of tequila and lime rims, so they were taking shots probably. So, he kinda lured them in, I guess. right? Yeah. I mean, you think. so? You think so? Think so. Probably buddied up to him. him. So I'll just go ahead, and tell you. go ahead. The, um, well, the DNA did come back to Darren, so they started investigating him. Why is your DNA on this beer can? And so he says that, um, he was walking by and saw Dustin and that they started talking and became friends, and Dustin would offered him a beer. Um, they were having a beer and he was helping Dustin set up his camping stuff. And then. At some point, the killer said that, um, Dustin said something that pissed him off and um, and he acted like that it was self-defense. So Darren, the killer, said, Dustin attacked me, so I, I just defended myself. Right. That was, that's how that story went. Um, I don't know what really happened. I mean, it sound, I think Dustin was probably being like really good to him, and Darren was like. this guy's got a lot of stuff. I can still, yeah. Well, not to mention I could Rob. Yeah. Usually somebody that is a skinhead and a white supremacist, they usually don't have the best track record of honesty. No. agree with I think we can all agree I would say, but, um, were you gonna say something. Okay. But here's the kicker. The DNA to the beer can it came back with two sets of DNA on it matching. Darren had a twin brother. that was An identical twin brother, and, but they knew it was Darren because the twin brother is already in jail. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. There was two sets of DNA on the beer. Well, the DNA, the DNA came back as two people. Oh. their identical twins. so their DNA was the same. So the police had, when they pulled it up, they were like, we have two suspects. but but one of them was, Um, is already in jail. That's And you know what? I'm kind of, I feel like an idiot. I didn't realize that. If you're an identical, is it same with fraternal twins? Fraternal twins have different DNA. didn't know it either. If you're an identical twin, you have the same DNA, exact That's insane. I never knew that. Yeah. yeah. You hear a lot of like defense stories. with, with identical twins, They'll like blame it on each other and then they I always thought like in movies and something, I thought that was something they made up like in the trial, just for like tv, you know? But that's a real thing you guys, a. so the moral of that story is if you want to Get away with murder you need to have an you identical twins. Yeah. Or clone yourself, I guess you you can do Uh, so his brother was already a, I guess a felon. He was a felonious individual. He was in jail. Um, and then they found this, so they found the DNA of them on the beer can. Yeah. But that is more or less what I guess did him in, is they, they found his DNA on the beer can at the site. Um, and there's beer cans. You said there was shot glasses. There was a tequila bottle. Uh uhhuh And I don't know if his DNA was on the shot glasses, but I mean, it has to be presumed because they were the only two there. So So. So that's pretty crazy. So like where, where's everything stand right now? Um, well, he, um, now he's pleading self-defense. Um, I don't think, he's gone to trial yet. It's, it's in the process of like going to trial now, you're probably a year from that. A big, big murder case like that. Yeah. It sounds like but it, is, I mean, it sounds like. he's 100% guilty and they're going to get him, so. Okay. Um, so what I thought was kind of interesting about this is from what we can kind of ascertain in the, the timeline of events, uh, is that the beer or maybe the tequila or both really play the role in kind of bringing those two people together. Um. oh, The beer can definitely, it solved well, I mean just, he just like, well, but I mean like, actually like them, like wanting to hang out together. Hey, hey, you want a beer? You know, let's hang out. Um, and, you know, whether there was a, a provocation or whether he was, it was premeditated all along, I guess. It's, you know, really not neither here nor there, but, uh, yeah, the beer brought them together and then he was murdered. But the beer can is also what. Help them solve the case. And without that, there would've been, I didn't see any mention of the actual beer I looked everywhere to find out what, what beer they were drinking, just so we could maybe have a drink for Dustin. But I couldn't find Montana. probably probably drinking the big boys out there. I mean, Coors or something like that. Probably Coors banquet. I did a little, I did a little like minor sleuth thing, just out.'cause I was just curious, you know, this is what we do. I'm like. I wonder what kind of beer that will like lured him in. Okay. So I started looking into craft beer. I'm gonna assume, uh, so the killer who's a white supremacist probably is not a big craft beer I would say not. No. Um, but Dustin being like an outdoorsy guy, very well, could have been. That's, that's, that's all part of our culture, you know. Um, but if, if the killer's, a guy that had the beer and approached him was like, Hey, you want to hang out and drink? Uh, then it was probably a macro. Yep. So I'm looking at the best selling beers up in that part of the country, and it looks like Budweiser Bud Light and then Kors Light Kors. Yeah. Well, you know, it's not gonna be Bud Light because No, the, the guy's already a racist, so he's probably definitely anti-gay. And they got in that whole deal with the, the commercials and stuff that they did, you know what I mean? Like there was a huge boycott backlash, but like, you know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah, I know what you're talking about. But Dustin had bought the beer, not the, not, not what. I'm sure. okay. We know did buy the beer. Well, Well, I probably crack, Maybe that's why he got mad and killed. him. I don't Drink this bullshit. yeah, yeah. Gimme a real Fuck that. Yeah. Okay. So I didn't know that. So Dustin is the one I assumed Dustin had the beer because he had two Yeti coolers, so, ah, that's a good point. I didn't yeah, they were probably full of we, We can still, we can still believe. this other guy. He could have, I thought I had figured it out. So what the, the rabbit hole I was going down. Is that, uh, they're, they're over in Montana, so they're in the Rockies anyway, which would be Coors area. You know what I mean? Um, and there's actually, uh, an old, uh, racist group from California called the Coors Family Skins. Really? Yeah. I've never, I was just kind of googling random stuff and this popped, I was like, that's interesting. heard of that. And they actually used as in co C-O-O-R-S. like the beer, It stands for, um. Comrades of our racial struggle. Um, yeah. And sometimes they use the Coors Light or the Coors Emblem as like their logo. And Coors is like, we have no affiliation with these guys whatsoever. It sounds pretty bad. So I was going down this rabbit hole. I was like, I bet you it was a Coors Light. But yeah, maybe if it, if he brought the beer. Um, here's the, here's the other problem though. The bestselling craft beer out there is, uh, kettle House, cold smoke Scotch Ale. Don't think you're bringing that camping. Um. it's cold. And you're familiar with familiar with Big Sky, right? Yeah. Big Sky, moose, drool Brown. It could have been that's, that's a popular Yeah, it could have been something like that. I'm still thinking it was probably a So What, what would it take? What craft beer would lure you in for a Killer's Trap? Matt? Uh, Um, be co. I don't know. Man. It would, hell would be a Coors. Yeah. If a guy with swastikas on his forearm was like, here you wanna Coors? I'm like, I'm, I'm cooled out I don't know if there's a beer with a guy with a SWA swastika on. his, I know. I like any beer. Yeah. I think, I think if they had some tree house you know, something out there, I'd be like, ah, about I might have one beer with you. Yeah. But then I'd also be like, yeah, them. yeah, exactly. I'll be like, how old is that tree house? You know? Is it, is it a month old? Yeah. Can I see that candidate before, before I take it from you? Um, I don't know, man. Anything on my trophy shelf up there, I guess. Yeah. Uh, gimme like an old Bourbon County or something. Sure. I'd hang I don't think somebody would take those camping. Yeah. Well, no, we would, you know, I'll tell you what the other story. We were out there in Colorado. at Glenwood Springs area up Casey brewing. Yeah. Yeah. And Angie was with me, my wife. And we got up early the early one morning to go. camping. Drove about an hour. south. Can't remember the name. I think Hanging Lake is where you went Hanging lake. Hanging lake. Lake. Hanging lake. It's probably, um. I'd say a three mile plus hike straight up a hill. like it was. It was A intermediate hike. but it's intermediate For Colorado, which is like hard as hell for me. I right? Yeah. Seem Like we get to the top, we get almost. to the, you Know to ing the lake and everything. I don't like heights at I don't either. So there's this rickety ass like. Manmade. A metal set of staircase the edge of this like cliff. Yeah. That you go up back and then you're on hanging. have like a rail? At Oh my one rail. I mean, there's nothing you're looking lake was up there. the leg was on top. Oh Oh my really cool though. It was really cool. but I couldn't I couldn't make it. So I'm Like I can't, I can't go. So I'm mad as hell. I'm like, Angie, why didn't you tell me? Oh, I didn't know. I'm like, this is bullshit. Like I walked all this far. I can't go up there and look this damn leg. lady. Did she go up and take Yeah. I'm like, just Take some pictures. Oh man. then She comes back down about 20 minutes later and she's got a tree house beer. in her hand. I'm like, What the hell? Where? Where'd you get that all the other couple that was walking up, you know, we saw him walking up. They offered me a tree house. Beer. I'm like, did you get me one? No. She goes, well, You know? I was like, you have any left. No. I'm like, That's That's hilarious. It's like I'm at the top of this mecca. middle of nowhere. Everyone's just sharing the best beers in like the entire country. And Jason's just like standing up there like, just like drooling, like crying, like, what the hell? yeah, It's like that Green blue water. Like I saw the pictures She, took. I'm, this is beautiful. And I'm just down there sitting. I got water, I got a bottle of hot water. I just sitting there waiting. That was don't know, story. sounds really cool. hate heights too, but I don't know. I might like something to know that Lake was up there and to see it. I may like just suck it I tried. I made like three steps. I'm like, I turned You Couldn't do it. Well, like my heart starts racing. I get like anxiety. It's crippling. Yeah. I get like vertigo. Yeah. I get freaked out. I've Been parasailing. Not a problem. Yeah. But that mm-hmm. Just can't do heights Yeah. We went natural bridge. Freaks me out. Just depends if I'm up there dude. I'm the same Yeah. That On the bridge. Yeah. There's no railing. There's no railing. People have died. People have died on natural bridge before, over in, uh, red River Gorge. But um, yeah. It's like the last time I was, I was a lot younger, but I remember the last time I, I went up there. The, the sides sloped down like that. and erosion has made it worse over time. Yeah. When I was a kid. I remember it being felt like it was real big. I could walk across with no problem. But I went probably three or four years ago. Like the sky Skylift doesn't bother me. I'm fine in that. that chairlift is real. a rickety, but it, but It doesn't bother me. But When I get up there. done, I'm like, I can't, I can't make it a Oh I went last year and now it, it felt huge as a kid, but it feels tiny now You talking about natural bridge. off? Yeah. Yeah. I feel like he got two feet on each side. and I'm like trying to walk like that. That's the thing, dude. It's like I will stay right in the middle. Like I'll get a fucking ruler looking down, I'm looking down. just like this man Yeah, Look straight ahead. One step. This is what they do in the military when they do those like they need a rope, so you can just like hang on and go like straight across. I do the, I'll do the military, crawl it just like on my stomach, just like sl. Yeah. That's just terrifying to me. We went, uh, this is a, we're way off on a tangent here, but, uh, we went to the city museum in St. Louis. That place is cool as hell. I, I've seen it, but I've driven Yeah. Yeah. We, we needed go out there to an episode or something like that, but it's like this eight story, uh, warehouse that was an old paper mill. And they had like 50 welders from the, from the area like St. Louis area, all contribute a bunch of steel and their skill and they just welded an eight story playground in there. It is fucking You, you can see it from the road, right? Like yeah. that's what I thought. yeah. Yeah. And then a lot of, a lot of the structure actually, uh, is outside the building, just kind of snaking around and stuff like that. It is so cool and it is amazing what they've done with that. I love it. But there is a plain fuselage, um, somehow like lifted up on like a big. I guess scaffolding kind of, but it's like, it's all this steel welded scaffolding that you can climb through like a, like kid if you want to. And that thing is probably two stories high, right? Two or Oh, more than that, yeah. Yeah. Actually, I think to get out there, you have to go to the second story of the building and walk out and then it's like two or three more stories high walk up and uh, yeah. I remember like, there's like a, just like a tunnel of like steel, like steps. You could just like walk up and they got netting so you can't fall through a little better. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, that was just like, I peed my pants a little bit. I started like shaking. I was like, Hey, ain't go up there Max or nephew. He's just like, let's go. And he just like starts running. Oh, him especially he's he's fucking fearless. Yeah, that's crazy. We gotta check that well we, we are off track. But I like the stories. Yeah, But that's a very interesting one. Kender What to, what to follow that in the news. Now, What was the, what was the guy's name? again? The first um, Dustin Co. Yeah, we won't K something. Kj something. Yeah. Dustin. K. Yeah, in K. K Dustin. K. Yeah. That's really sad. I bet you, It is. Sad, but Wild wild story there. Uh, do you know if there's like a GoFundMe or anything um, yeah. There is a GoFundMe. Mm-hmm. Um, I, I think he had a kid. Um, but everybody was talking about what a great guy he was. Like I said, an Outdoors money, like to hunt. and fish and Yeah, He was a good Dude we can link it in our, uh, when we yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd say so. Um, yeah, I'd definitely say, uh, somebody liked that. I'd have a hard time believing that they would've started an altercation unless he found out the guy was a blatant racist and he was like, fuck you. Which I guess could happen, but I think he was just an asshole. Hopefully he will get his, yeah, the moral of the story is, um, don't take beer from strangers, it is a good Story or candy or candy. Or candy or beer flavored candy. That's really good. Let's just craft beer crack, let's just grab flavor from candy. Yeah, yeah. Uh, guys, thanks for tuning in. If you like it, then please share it. If you didn't, then just keep drinking until you do. For more arsenic culture, you can check us out on all the socials. We are at arsenic culture. 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