Montana fugitive David Burgert featured on CNN Sunday night

The Daily Inter Lake

The hunt for David Burgert, a former Flathead Valley militia member and longtime fugitive from a Missoula County shootout, is going national on Sunday. 

A new show on CNN called “The Hunt With John Walsh” devotes the second half hour of Sunday night’s episode to Burgert, who first gained fame as the leader of the Project 7 militia group in Flathead County.

Burgert spent seven years in federal prison after faking his own death in 2002, then became a fugitive again in 2011 when he was involved in a shootout with Missoula County deputies and vanished into the woods.

The show, produced by Zero Point Zero Production Inc., airs at 7 p.m. MDT and will be repeated at 10 p.m.

Walsh, the host of “The Hunt,” begins the show by reminding viewers that his 6-year-old son Adam Walsh was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. As a result, Walsh, who previously hosted “America’s Most Wanted,” said he learned “how to catch these bastards and bring ’em back to justice.” 

Even people familiar with Burgert’s saga will probably learn something new on the show, which begins with Burgert’s early criminal activities as a young man and then shows him growing into the leader of Project 7, a paramilitary group from the early 2000s that espoused violence as a means of political expression.

His disappearance and subsequent arrest and trial is illustrated with multiple photos and headlines from the Daily Inter Lake. Managing Editor Frank Miele is seen in one brief clip filmed in the newsroom.

Getting extensive airtime is Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry, who was undersheriff at the time of Burgert’s 2002 disappearance. 

Also featured in an interview is Larry “Chance” Chezem, Burgert’s No. 2 in Project 7 and a former candidate for Flathead County sheriff. Chezem was found guilty of charges stemming from his involvement with Project 7 but still defends the importance of citizen vigilance against government overreach. 

Another highlight from the Flathead segment of the show is a tape of Burgert making an announcement on KGEZ radio with conservative talk-show host John Stokes: “I need to let you know as well as the listeners know that those active members that know what I am talking about, they need to secure the areas that they have been assigned to secure. Nobody, nobody surrender your weapons to nobody...”

About a year after Burgert’s release from federal prison, he got into a shootout with Missoula deputies on June 12, 2011, after he was reported to be parked and sleeping for five nights at the “Fort Fizzle” campground near Lolo.

Dashboard cam footage of Missoula County Deputy Sheriff Will Newsom in pursuit of Burgert after he runs a stop sign provides insight into how Burgert tried to lure deputies into a secluded area. Burgert heads into the woods and the deputy follows. When Burgert shoots at Newsom, the deputy shoots back, thinking he has hit him, but when he checks behind Burgert’s car, the fugitive is gone. 

That was the last anyone saw Burgert, although during a lengthy search in the hills around Lolo, authorities found caches of supplies left in the area.

Walsh says at the end of the show that he believes Burgert is still out there on the run and makes a call for tips at the end of the program to solve the “big mystery”: 

“Where is David Burgert?”

If you know the answer to that question, call authorities or call the television show at 1-866-THE-HUNT.