Friends discovered a Montana father brutally mangled to death in his tent. In fact, the victim was so gruesomely mutilated that friends thought a bear mauled him. However, police say the "loving" dad was not killed by a bear; they're calling it a homicide.

On Saturday morning, friends of Dustin Kjersem went looking for him after he failed to meet up with them Friday and hadn't been seen since Thursday afternoon. Friends found the 35-year-old father in his tent at a makeshift campsite that morning in Big Sky, one hour southwest of Bozeman, Montana.

'This incident was a vicious attack, and detectives are working hard to develop and track down leads. A suspect has not been arrested at this time.'

Kjersem's friends immediately contacted police and said he was killed in a bear attack.

Members of the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office; Big Sky Fire Department; Montana Highway Patrol; and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks were dispatched to the spot where the body was discovered.

A Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks agent with "expertise in bear attacks" noted that there were not "any signs of bear activity at the scene," which "prompted investigators to treat the case as a homicide."

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release, "Evidence gathered through an autopsy further indicated that this was a homicide."

"This incident was a vicious attack, and detectives are working hard to develop and track down leads," police stated. "A suspect has not been arrested at this time."

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said, "People have asked me if there's a threat to this community, and the answer is we don't know. We don't have enough information to know at this time."

Springer warned, "We do know that someone was out there who killed someone in a very heinous way, so if you're out in the woods you need to be paying attention, you need to remain vigilant."

CBS News reported that Kjersem had sustained "multiple chop wounds," including to his skull, an autopsy revealed.

Authorities noted that there is no cellphone service in the crime scene area, which has made the investigation more difficult.

Kjersem's sister — Jillian Price — said of her brother, “He was a loving, helpful ... father who in no way deserved this.”

“I asked our community to please find out who did this,” she added. “There is someone in our valley that is capable of truly heinous things.”

Kjersem had been driving a black 2013 Ford F-150 pickup truck with a black topper and a silver aluminum ladder rack.

Sheriff Springer said, "He was brutally killed at his campsite, and we need your help."

Capt. Nathan Kamerman said, "Think of the whole canyon. If you saw something weird in the canyon area, or in town with his truck, please reach out to us."

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information on the case or anyone who was in the Moose Creek area around the time of Kjersem's death to contact the GCSO Detectives Division at 406-582-2121 or by email at detectives@gallatin.mt.gov.

You can view a video report here about the incident.

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