Former Mountain Man Wants To Be Counselor

The odyssey of Dan Nichols: from mountain man to kidnapper to mental health counselor.

Nichols, 31, along with his father Don, kidnapped biathlon champion Kari Swenson near Big Sky in 1984. Today, he is majoring in counseling and psychology at the University of Great Falls and plans to apply to graduate schools in August.

Eventually Nichols hopes to be a counselor, said his common law wife, Liz Zink, who works at a battered woman’s shelter in Great Falls.

“He’s been doing internships, but hasn’t decided what kind of counseling he wants to specialize in,” she told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

To support himself, Nichols is working as a houseparent at a Great Falls home for developmentally disabled, potentially violent male adults.

He and his father kidnapped Swenson on July 15, 1984 while she was running on a trail near Big Sky. The next day, the elder Nichols shot and killed searcher Alan Goldstein of Big Sky. Dan Nichols accidentally shot Swenson in the chest during the confusion, he later testified.

The two hid out in the mountains until they were captured in December 1984 by Johnny France, former Madison County sheriff. Don Nichols later testified they kidnapped Swenson because they wanted her to become Dan Nichols’ “mountain bride.”

Don Nichols was sentenced to 85 years in prison for killing Goldstein and kidnapping Swenson. Dan Nichols was convicted of kidnapping Swenson and using a weapon, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served 6-1/2 years and was paroled. That parole ended in November.

Swenson is now working part-time as a veterinarian in Bozeman and Livingston and writes children’s books.

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