Hutchinson, who worked for the Montana Bureau of Land Management for 22 years, had no criminal history and was married with two children, the sheriff’s office said.
On the evening of July 23, detectives interviewed Hutchinson for nearly two hours, authorities said.
During the interview, Hutchinson “displayed extreme nervousness … sweated profusely, scratched his face, and chewed on his hand,” the sheriff’s office said.
Early the next morning, Hutchinson called the authorities, said he needed help and then hung up, the sheriff’s office said. Responders found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the side of a road, the sheriff’s office said.
After the suicide, authorities confirmed that the “DNA evidence was a complete match to Paul Hutchinson,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said at a news conference Thursday.
In 1996, Hutchinson was a student at Montana State University, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators said they believe Houchins and Hutchinson didn’t know each other. The sheriff described it as a “crime of opportunity” by an “evil man.”
