Project 7

Larry Schwindt was a rookie deputy with the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office on June 12, 2011, when he and his partner got a call about a man illegally camping at a place called Fort Fizzle. Little did Schwindt know the call would change his life forever. A few minutes later, Schwindt was being led deep in the Lolo National Forest by a man named David Burgert, a convicted felon who a decade earlier had organized a militia in hopes ...

After a brief stint in prison for breaking into a trailer and stealing a sandwich, David Burgert arrives in the sleepy town of Kalispell, Montana in 1989 looking to start a new life. But David struggles to leave the ghosts of his past behind and quickly spirals out of control. After hitting rock-bottom, David finds solace and companionship in a local Alcoholics Anonymous group. But trouble soon finds David again.

In episode 2 of...

For much of 2001, a conflict was brewing between David Burgert and law enforcement in the Flathead Valley. Early in the year, David got into a physical confrontation with some cops at his home in Kalispell. Later, in November, the local search and rescue team refused his assistance when a young boy was lost in an area David was familiar with; the boy later died. And finally, on Nov. 27, 2001, David was pepper-sprayed and arrested i...

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, anti-government extremists were among federal law enforcement’s top concerns before everything changed on Sept. 11, 2001. Yet regardless of what law enforcement was focusing on after the terror attacks, there was a growing threat in Kalispell as David Burgert stockpiled weapons and turned a fledgling militia into an army to deliver revenge. And just as his militia appeared to be ramping up to a...

Project 7, the six-part mini-series from the Flathead Beacon, will return with Episode 5 on May 13.

Until then, here are a pair of segments from bonus episodes of the show that are released each week for members of the Flathead Beacon Editor's Club. Bonus episodes include in-depth conversations with the show's hosts, interview clips that could not fit into the regular episode and other related conversations. To join the Editor's...

For more than a year, David Burgert had been stockpiling weapons and making a list of public officials he wanted to assassinate in an apparent attempt to overthrow the government. But it all came crashing down in February 2002, when a close friend of David went to the FBI and told them about his plans. After an all-night standoff with police, David is arrested and spends nearly a decade behind bars. When he gets out in 2010, David ...

Nine years ago, David Earl Burgert Jr., a former militia leader and convicted felon, disappeared in the mountains of Montana. No one has seen him since. In the years since that day in June 2011, Burgert's legend has grown and the hunt for answers has continued, but so far, it has only turned up more questions.

In the final episode of Project 7, Flathead Beacon reporters Justin Franz and Andy Viano look back at nearly 18 months o...

Show hosts Andy Viano and Justin Franz sat down on the ninth anniversary of David Burgert's disappearance to talk about the series they spent more than 18 months putting together. Flathead Beacon Editor-in-Chief Kellyn Brown guides the conversation, which covers Justin and Andy's theories about what happened back in 2011, what they learned from making the show and what they still want to know.

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Michael Jamison was the Flathead Valley bureau chief for the Missoulian newspaper in the late 1990s and early 2000s, giving him an up-close look at David Burgert and Project 7 as the story unfolded. In this episode, you'll hear Michael explain when authorities started to take David seriously, how he became part of a raging battle over logging and conservation, and what he thinks of the entire saga when he looks back through the len...