Ted Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber” because of his package bomb attacks that terrorized the United States from 1978 to 1995, has been found dead in his cell at the age of 81, local media and the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported. On Saturday, June 10, 2023, prisoner Theodore John Kaczynski was discovered unconscious at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Butner, North Carolina, where he had been transferred in 2021 from the high-security prison in Florence, Colorado. Despite receiving emergency treatment, he was pronounced dead at the hospital, the Bureau reported.
Over an 18-year period beginning in 1978, Kaczynski, a Harvard University graduate, sent sixteen package bombs to various individuals and businesses through the postal service, resulting in three deaths and 23 injuries. After an extensive police search, he was arrested in 1996 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998.
According to prison authorities cited by The New York Times, Kaczynski was found unconscious in his cell early Saturday morning, and the cause of his death has not yet been determined.
Kaczynski, a brilliant mathematician turned hermit, waged a crusade against progress and technology, making his bombs in a cabin without basic amenities in the mountains of Montana. His first targets were academics and airline personnel, earning him the nickname “Unabomber” (University and Airline Bomber). In 1994, a publicist was killed when he opened a package bomb sent to his home in New Jersey, and in April 1995, the president of the California Water and Forestry Association was killed when he opened a package at the organization’s Sacramento headquarters.
In September 1995, Kaczynski promised to stop his attacks in exchange for The New York Times and The Washington Post publishing his 35,000-word manifesto entitled “Industrial Society and Its Future,” in which he expressed his aversion to technology and the modern world. It was through the publication of this manifesto that his brother, David Kaczynski, recognized Ted’s ideas and writing style and alerted the FBI, leading to his arrest in April 1996.
Despite being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Kaczynski was tried and pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. In 1998, he was sentenced to life in prison. According to The New York Times, while in prison, Kaczynski corresponded with thousands of people, including journalists, students, and dedicated supporters.