Don Nichols Papers, 1983-2018

Don Nichols was probably born in Sterling, Montana, around 1931. His childhood was spent in the outdoors near North Meadow Creek and the Beartrap Mountains with his father, Pat, who was an artist and former Oakie gold miner. When Nichols was six years old, his father died. Nichols's mother married a man named Steve Engelman and they moved to Harrison, Montana. Nichols reportedly had a strained relationship with his stepfather and a difficult childhood. Nichols spent a short time in the Navy and was stationed in Guam. Upon leaving the Navy, he married and homesteaded at Noxon, near the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Nichols claims he abandoned farming after strip mining and logging began in the area. Sometime later, the Nichols family lived in West Virginia.

Nichols had two children, Barb and Dan. Dan was born around 1966. Around 1972, Nichols's wife, Verdina, divorced him and stayed in Montana with Dan, and Nichols moved to Jackson, Wyoming. He worked in a machine shop during the winter. In the summer, Nichols took his son on extended "camping trips" into the Montana mountains. Dan dropped out of high school during his junior year and moved to Jackson to live with his father. The two men moved into the Beartrap Mountains in August 1983, where they lived until the kidnapping of Kari Swenson.

On July 15, 1984, Kari Swenson was training for a biathlon near Big Sky Ski Resort in Madison County, Montana, when she was kidnapped by the Nicholses. They reportedly kidnapped Swenson with the intent of making her Dan's wife. Swenson was reported missing from Lone Mountain Guest Ranch and two men, Jim Schwalbe and Alan Goldstein, went searching for her. On the morning of July 16th, they encountered Swenson and her kidnappers. In the events that followed, Dan Nichols accidentally shot Swenson and Don Nichols fatally shot her rescuer, Goldstein. The Nicholses fled into the Spanish Peaks wilderness in the Madison Range. A four day search ensued, but they were not captured until December 1984 by Madison County Sheriff Johnny France. The Nicholses were tried separately in Virginia City by prosecutor Marc Racicot. In May 1985, Dan Nichols was sentenced to 20 years for kidnapping and misdemeanor assault. He was paroled in 1991. In September 1985, Don Nichols was sentenced to 85 years for kidnapping, murder, and aggravated assault.

The Swenson kidnapping received national media attention. It was the cover story in Time, Newsweek and other major publications. Two books have been written on the subject: Victims: The Kari Swenson Story by Janet Swenson and Incident at Big Sky by Johnny France and Malcolm McConnell. The kidnapping was also the subject of an NBC TV movie, The Abduction of Kari Swenson. Nichols was paroled to Great Falls in 2017.