July 15th, 1984 Emergency: White Female, 23 At Big Sky...Feared Missing
Olympic class athlete Kari Swenson was jogging along a mountain trail on the afternoon of July 15th. The trail on Lone Mountain gave her a spectacular view of the massive Spanish Peaks of the Gallatin Valley. Four months prior she had placed fifth overall in a ten kilometer final at the women's world championship biathlon at Chamonix. In 1970, when Swenson was nine, the family had moved from a suburb of Philadelphia, where her father had headed Temple University's physics department, to Bozeman, Montana. Kari herself had just graduated from the University of Montana in Bozeman and was working as a waitress that summer at the Lone Mountain Ranch. "Incident At Big Sky," written by Sheriff Johnny France and Malcolm McConnell and published in 1987, gives a full account of Kari's kidnapping and subsequent six month manhunt for the two self proclaimed mountain men, Don and Danny Nichols. Kari was climbing the trail into dense timber when Don Nichols suddenly appeared on the trail not ten feet away. Kari noticed a younger man was half hidden in the trees not far from him on the right. The two men created a sense of apprehension and she slowed her stride. The men were holstered with thick-bladed hunting knives, grungy and wearing sooty clothing. Kari, keeping her voice normal asked, "Is this the trail to Jack Creek?" The older man answered in the affirmative and Kari spun around to dash back down the trail. Before she could get completely turned around Don Nichol's had both her wrists in a tight grip. So began Kari's eighteen hour saga of capture by the self proclaimed mountain men. Kari was tethered with a rope to the youngest, Danny and they moved off the trail into thick dense forest, moving northeast into the forest of the Spanish Peaks. At a stop for water Don Nichol's informed Kari that they were looking for female company, in particular a wife for his son Danny. As they traveled over the rough ground Kari used her cleats to mark the ground in hopes that searchers would see them. At around 6 p.m. the Nichol's set up a camp chaining Kari to a tree. Later in the evening they could hear a single-engine plane circling the ridge. Kari spent a miserable night chained to the tree. In the morning after Danny shot a squirrel for breakfast and was making a fire to cook it they all heard the sounds of dry rustling in the thick timber. Kari aware of the Nichol's guns began shouting warnings to what she hoped were her rescuers. Don Nichol's yelled to his son to shut her up. Danny jerked the cocking slide of his automatic, as if to menace her, and the pistol fired striking the woman in the right side, the bullet passing completely through her right lung. Danny aware he'd shot the woman began yelling for help, his father reprimanding him to, "Shut Up." Jim Schwalbe was one of two men who'd found the camp. He stood with Danny over Kari assessing her condition. He yelled to Alan Goldstein, who was half hidden behind thick lodge pole at the edge of the clearing."Al, call for help." In the next few minutes Don Nichols raised his rifle, sighted down the scope and fired killing Alan Goldstein. Jim dashed off into the woods, leaving the Nichols to collect their stuff and leave camp. Kari left chained to the tree, alone with a dead man, and bleeding. When Jim Schwalbe met up with the search crews he wasn't sure about the location of the crime scene. Hours later Kari Swenson was located and airlifted out. Sheriff Johnny France would be engaged in the next six months in a manhunt for the Nichols. The two fugitives were almost impossible to find in the dense forests and rock landscape of the mountains. They had a series of hidden camps, caches of food and even primitive gardens. The Nichols's evaded capture until December, 1984 when they were captured trying to cross the Cold Springs Ranch single handedly by Madison County Sheriff Johnny France. Both men were eventually tried separately in Virginia City by prosecutor Marc Racicot, who later became the governor of Montana. In May 1985, Dan Nichols was sentenced to 20 years for kidnapping and misdemeanor assault. In September 1985, Don Nichols was sentenced to 85 years for kidnapping, murder, and aggravated assault and remains in prison. Dan Nichols was released on parole in 1991. Dan Nichols was again in trouble with the law in 2011 when he was allegedly caught with marijuana that he intended to sell at a concert. In May 2012, Dan Nichols was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The West Old & New Page 8