Kari Swenson Kidnapping: After 32 Years, Abductor Freed

GREAT FALLS, MT — In 1984, Don Nichols kidnapped world-class biathlete Kari Swenson in the mountains near Big Sky, Montana and shot her would-be rescuer to death in an attack that garnered widespread media coverage and was later turned into a made-for-TV movie.

Nichols, 86, who described himself as a "mountain man" was sentenced to 85 years in prison in the ordeal. But after being granted parole in April, Nichols was freed Wednesday after serving 32 years. He must report to a parole office in Great Falls, The Missoulian reported.

Swenson, who was 22 at the time of the attack, said she was chained up during her ordeal and spotted her would-be rescuers before her abductors did. She yelled at them to leave because Nichols had threatened to shoot anyone who tried to help her. (For more information on the Swenson kidnapping and other Montana stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Nichols shot Alan Goldstein, a friend helping to search for Swenson when she failed to return home from her run. Nichols' son Dan apparently accidentally shot Swenson. She said she was left for dead with a "sucking chest wound" for hours as Goldstein's body lay nearby.

Don and Dan Nichols fled and were arrested five months later after a manhunt in the mountains of southwestern Montana.

During the parole hearing in April, board members noted Nichols' clean record in his more than 30 years in prison and his completion of educational programs, including anger management and life skills.

Don Nichols, who kidnapped Swenson to be a bride for his then 19-year-old son, told the board members they would not regret their decision and he felt bad about his crimes.

Before Don Nichols' 2012 parole hearing, Kari Swenson wrote a letter to The Bozeman Daily Chronicle calling the father and son "crazy misfits" who chose to live apart from society and defy its laws.

"I endured being grabbed by both wrists, hit in the face, thrown to the ground, chained to Dan, threatened with knives and guns, marched through the woods, secured like an animal to trees and spent a terrifying night chained next to Dan," she wrote.

She said she spent years in counseling and still has shrapnel in her chest that hurts her and brings back haunting memories of the ordeal that ended her athletic career.

Dan Nichols was convicted of kidnapping and assault and was released from prison in 1991.

The case was the subject of a 1987 made-for-TV movie "The Abduction of Kari Swenson," starring Tracy Pollan. It was featured in an episode of Investigation Discovery's TV show "Your Worst Nightmare."

Photo credit: Nick Wolcott/Bozeman Daily Chronicle via AP