Kari Swenson

In 1970, Swenson‘s father, Bob, former head of the Physics Department at Temple University, moved from a suburb in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife Janet and their three children, relocating to Bozeman where he became head of the Physics Department at Montana State University.[1] Janet Swenson was a nurse and ski patrol volunteer, and Kari took up cross-country skiing in her youth.[2][3]

By 1984, Kari Swenson had become a member of the three woman U.S. biathlon relay team. They competed at the first women's Biathlon World Championships in Chamonix, France. The team was awarded a bronze medal for their performance in the event.[4] Swenson placed fifth overall in the women's 10-km final, a record performance at the time for a U.S. biathlete of either gender in 26 years of international biathlon competition.[2][5] In 2015, Swenson and her 1984 teammates, Holly Beattie and Julie Newnam, were inducted into the U.S. Biathlon Hall of Fame.[4]

Following the 1984 biathlon season, Swenson took a summer job at a Montana guest ranch near Big Sky, Montana, where she could train daily. On July 15, 1984, while on a training run in the Ulerys Lakes area, Swenson was abducted by Don Nichols and his son Dan.[2] The two survivalists intended to force her to become Dan's bride. When Swenson did not return to her job that evening as expected, a search party was organized.[5][6]

By the following morning, over 20 searchers were combing the mountains. Swenson‘s friend Alan Goldstein and another ranch worker, Jim Schwalbe, paired up during the search and stumbled onto the camp. Because the Nichols had threatened to shoot any rescuers, Swenson began shouting out to warn the searchers away. Swenson later recounted that Don Nichols ordered his son Dan to “shut me up.” The younger Nichols looked directly at Swenson and squeezed the trigger on his pistol at point blank range. “It wasn’t an accident,” she said in a 2019 interview,[2] in reference to his later defense claiming it was.[7]

As Goldstein and Schwalbe raced to reach Swenson, Don Nichols fired a single shot from his rifle, killing Goldstein with a gunshot wound to the face. The impact knocked him backward out of Swenson‘s sight. Schwalbe managed to escape. Knowing they had been located, the Nichols’ unchained Swenson, then fled, leaving her alone. The bullet had entered her chest just below her collarbone, went through her lung, collapsing it, and exited below her shoulder blade.[2][8][9]

Swenson remained in the clearing, in pain so intense it prevented her from moving, for four hours before she was rescued.[2] It had been over 18 hours since her abduction.[5][10] Swenson later attributed her survival to the breath control skills she developed as a biathlete.[11][12]

Following the kidnapping and the immediate aftermath from her injuries, Swenson returned to training, earned a spot on the United States Biathlon team again, and competed in the 1986 biathlon competition in Oslo, Norway, where she finished fourth. That year she retired from biathlon competition.[2][15] She then enrolled at Colorado State University Veterinary School, where she graduated in 1990. After working for five years at a small animal veterinary practice in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, she returned to Montana, and today is a practicing veterinarian in Bozeman.[21]