Incident at Big Sky: The True Story of Sheriff Johnny France and the Capture of the Mountain Men

Incident at Big Sky: The True Story of Sheriff Johnny France and the Capture of the Mountain Men by McConnell, Malcolm. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780393023343.

Incident at Big Sky describes the kidnapping of Kari Swenson by a mountain man and his son, and recounts the police search for the two. In the wilderness of Montanas Big Sky country, a young woman Olympic athlete, Kari Swenson, was kidnapped at gun point while on a training run. Searchers found her chained to a tree and guarded by two mountain men, Don and Dan Nichols, father and son who had left civilization a dozen years before. In the ensuing confrontation, Kari was badly wounded by the younger Nichols and a rescuer was coldly shot and killed before the Nicholses made their escape, leaving Kari behind. The manhunt that followed featured FBI teams, helicopters, electronic aids, and massive manpower. In the end it was Johnny France, the local sheriff, who had spearheaded the search for months and who finally, by chance, tracked them down alone. He faced them in a real-life Clint Eastwood scene, and brought them in. What lay behind this crime? What sort of man was Sheriff Johnny France? What really happened up there in Spanish Peaks? It is all here in a bizarre and fascinating tale, told by the one man who knows it all.