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A Montana man has been charged with the brutal murder of a camper, which was initially reported as a bear attack after DNA evidence from a beer can pointed police in his direction.

Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, of Basin, Montana, has been charged with the intentional murder of Dustin Kjersem, police announced during a news conference Thursday.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said Abbey confessed to the murder after investigators focused on him as their prime suspect in Kjersem’s death, ABC News reported.

Investigators began looking into Abbey after finding DNA that matched his on a beer can in Kjersem’s tent.

Police said the killing appeared random.

“There does not appear to be any connection between our victim and our suspect,” Springer said.

He said the men had a “chance encounter” in the woods while Abbey was looking for a campsite.

One of Kjersem’s friends was supposed to meet him on the evening of his death. He went looking for Kjersem when he didn’t show up, before making the gruesome discovery in the Moose Creek area.

When the friend called 911 to report the death, he told a dispatcher he thought his friend had been killed by a bear.

However, when researchers – including conservationists – searched the site, they found no evidence of bear activity in the camp, leading them to believe a human must be responsible.

Abbey was reportedly in the area the same evening looking for a campsite, and discovered that Kjersem had already pitched a tent on the property he was considering.

He reportedly told investigators that Kjersem “welcomed him to the campsite” and offered him a beer.

Investigators said that at some point in the evening, Abbey hit Kjersem with a piece of wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver and then chopped him off with an axe.

Police are still trying to determine a motive for the attack.

“We have a piece of his story, but … we don’t really know what the true story is,” Springer said.

Abbey is said to have later returned to the crime scene to remove items from the camp that he thought could implicate him in the murder, but he had overlooked the beer can.

An autopsy revealed that Kjersem’s injuries included “significant damage” to his skull and that he died from multiple injuries caused by Abbey’s attack.