A man accused in a recent Montana slaying has been arrested and convicted in an incident in Bayview more than 13 years ago.

Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, of Basin, Mont., was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of 35-year-old Belgrade man Dustin Mitchell Kjersem, according to News Nation.

Kjersem was found dead on Oct. 12 inside his tent at a remote Montana campsite with injuries to his skull and body so extensive that it was initially reported as a possible bear mutilation.

“Investigators described the situation as a ‘chance encounter’ and said Abbey returned to the scene the next day to dispose of the evidence,” News Nation reported.

In 2011, Abbey pleaded guilty to malicious harassment, a felony, in a Kootenai County court. Abbey was charged with a hate crime after an incident on July 3, when he told a black man in a bar that black people don’t belong in the Bayview and that he “better get out before something happens,” according to the police.

After the man left the bar to avoid an argument, police said, Abbey followed him outside, hurling racial slurs at him and threatening to stab him. The man punched Abbey in the face, knocking him down with one blow.

“Abbey, who suffered facial fractures, told deputies he thought he had been hit with a brick, but witnesses confirmed it was a simple punch to the head in self-defense,” according to a Southern report. Poverty Law Center.

Abbey, a self-described “skinhead”, was jailed for five years for the hate crime, with parole eligibility after three years.

Kjersem went camping northeast of Big Sky, Mont., on Oct. 10 with plans to meet a friend the next day, the Associated Press reported.

The friend found the body on October 26. Another person identified only as an “associate” called 911 and reported possible bear violence, said Capt. Nate Kamerman of the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office.

It is not known when he died.

His campsite — in the Moose Creek area at the base of the Gallatin Mountains — was not in an established campsite, the AP reported.

In connection with Kjersem’s death, Abbey is charged with first degree murder and falsifying or fabricating physical evidence of a crime, News Nation reported.

He confessed to the crime during interviews with police Thursday, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said. Abbey remained in custody Friday at the Gallatin County Jail without bond, booking records show, according to News Nation.

“This appears to be a heinous crime by an individual who had no regard for the life of Dustin Kjersem,” Springer said.