In one of the most bizarre abduction cases in modern American history, Olympic hopeful and world-class biathlete Kari Swenson was kidnapped on July 15, 1984, by two self-styled “mountain men” while training in the rugged Montana wilderness, who said she was being taken to become the younger man’s “bride.”
According to The New York Times, Swenson, then 22 and a rising star on the U.S. biathlon team, was out for a routine training run near Big Sky when Don Nichols, 53, and his 19-year-old son, Dan Nichols, emerged from the forest and forced her into captivity. The pair, who had been living off the grid in the mountains of southwestern Montana, told Swenson they needed a woman to live with them, effectively abducting her to satisfy what they described as a need for a wife for Dan.
