Dustin Kjersem’s body was discovered on Oct. 12 at a remote Montana campsite. The 35-year-old’s injuries were so severe that a 911 caller said it looked like a bear attack.

Police suspect he was murdered.

Kjersem set out for a weekend of camping at a remote Montana forest site late last week. Police say he was last in contact with his family the afternoon of Oct. 10. He was meant to meet a friend on Friday, and when he didn’t show up, his friend started searching for him.

The friend found his body inside a tent at a forest service campsite near Big Sky, in southern Montana, around 10 a.m. Saturday local time. The friend called 911, thinking Kjersem had been killed by a bear.

Bear attacks in the area are not uncommon. In July, a 72-year-old man shot and killed a grizzly bear that attacked him while he was picking huckleberries in a Montana forest.

Local law enforcement officials inspected the campsite, along with an agent from the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks service who is an expert in bear attacks.

The agent did not find any signs of recent bear activity, leading police to treat the case as a homicide. An autopsy supported that theory, indicating that Kjersem suffered multiple chop wounds that led to his death, authorities said in a news conference Wednesday.

“People have asked me if there’s a threat to the community and the answer is: We don’t know. We don’t have enough information to know at this time,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer told reporters. “But 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 remain vigilant.”

“We are working all hours of the day and night to find his killer,” he added.

The campsite, located about 2.5 miles up Moose Creek Road, was well kept, with lots of equipment that Kjersem had set up to enjoy the weekend with his friend, Springer said. Authorities found Kjersem’s vehicle, a black 2013 Ford F-150 with a black topper and a silver aluminum ladder rack, at the scene.

Police are calling on anyone who was in the Moose Creek area at the time to share footage from dash cams or game cameras, or any other information that could help apprehend a suspect. The area, while remote, is popular with hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts, police said.

At the news conference Wednesday, Kjersem’s sister, Jillian Price, issued a plea for help to find her brother’s killer.

“This weekend, we lost our brother, our son, our uncle, our best friend and our dad in the most unimaginable way,” Price said.

Kjersem was born in nearby Bozeman, Mont., and worked all over the valley as a tradesman, Price said, pouring foundations, framing houses and installing countertops.

“He was a loving, helpful and adoring father who in no way deserved this,” she said.