A mountain man has been charged with the brutal killing of a camper who was originally reported as a bear attack after DNA evidence collected from a beer can point the police in his direction.

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

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said Abbey confessed to the killing once investigators zeroed in on him as the prime suspect in Kjersem’s death. ABC News reports.

Investigators began focusing on Abbey after finding DNA matching his on a beer can in Kjersem’s tent.

Police said the killing appeared to be 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 scheduled to meet him on the night 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 believed his friend had been killed by a bear.

However, when investigators — including wildlife officials — searched the site, they found no evidence of bear activity at the camp, leading them to believe a human must be responsible.

Apparently Abbey was in the area that same night looking for a campsite and found that Kjersem had already set up a tent on the spot she had been considering.

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

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

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

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

Abbey allegedly returned to the crime scene later to remove items from the camp that he believed might link him to the crime, but overlooked the beer can.

An autopsy found that Kjersem’s injuries included “significant injuries” to his skull and that he died of multiple injuries from Abbey’s attack.