Beneath Big Sky Country: Unraveling a Campsite Horror Story

In a story that truly gripped Montana, especially those familiar with the serene, almost untouched beauty around Canyon Ferry Lake, a verdict has finally come down. Jonathan Bertsch, a 39-year-old man, was found guilty just this past Friday in a deliberate homicide case that has haunted the state for nearly three years. And honestly, for many, it felt like a long time coming — a moment of crucial closure, though nothing can ever truly erase the horror of what happened.

It was a grim discovery, you see, back in early June of 2021. Mathew David Allen, 41, had been murdered. His body, severely burned, was found at a campsite near the sprawling lake, a place where people usually go for peace, for fishing, for an escape from the daily grind. But for Allen, it became a scene of unspeakable violence, a chilling end under the vast Montana sky. The details, to put it mildly, were harrowing, prompting a swift and intense investigation by the Montana Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation and the Broadwater County Sheriff’s Office.

The trail, at first, might have seemed cold, yet investigators are a tenacious bunch. They meticulously pieced together what happened, digging through evidence, sifting through surveillance footage, much like finding needles in a very large haystack. Key to their case was linking Bertsch to the scene. There was footage, for instance, showing him purchasing gasoline and a tarp — items that, in retrospect, painted a grim picture. And then there was the vehicle, found right there at the campsite, a truck belonging to Bertsch's own father. But perhaps most damning? A cell phone, discovered near Allen's body, bearing Bertsch's fingerprints. It all started to connect, piece by agonizing piece.

Bertsch, when questioned, offered a defense that, to many, just didn’t hold water. He claimed that Allen had, in fact, taken his own life. A suicide, he suggested. But then, rather incredibly, he admitted to burning Allen’s body afterward, an act he insisted was an attempt to cover up a suicide, not a murder. The jury, however, clearly saw through this narrative, understanding perhaps that such an act, no matter the initial cause of death, constituted a severe perversion of justice, if not a direct hand in the ultimate tragedy.

The trial itself stretched for a week, a period undoubtedly filled with emotional testimony and the stark presentation of forensic evidence. On May 10, after all was said and done, the jury returned its verdict: guilty of deliberate homicide. Not only that, but Bertsch was also convicted on charges of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs, specifically methamphetamine, and — significantly — tampering with physical evidence. These additional charges only served to further underscore the complex, troubled nature of the man at the center of this grim saga.

Justice, as we often say, moves slowly, but it moves. And for the family and friends of Mathew David Allen, this verdict, though it cannot bring him back, might offer a measure of peace, a sense that accountability has finally arrived. Bertsch now faces sentencing on July 12, a day that will mark the next, and hopefully final, chapter in this deeply unsettling story that unfolded right in the heart of Montana's beautiful, yet sometimes stark, landscape.