Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the convicted domestic terrorist also known as the “Unabomber,” died Saturday in federal prison at the age of 81, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed.
Kaczynski was a Harvard-educated mathematician who led a bombing campaign from his home in the Montana wilderness. He killed three people and injured 23 others between 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming many of them. Kaczynski was considered America’s most prolific bomber.
He was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m. The cause of death is unknown.
The FBI, who had dubbed him the Unabomber, arrested him in 1996. It was one of the costliest manhunts in U.S. history. He pleaded guilty in 1998 and was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years. Kaczynski was held in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colo., before being transferred to a prison medical facility.
In 1995, before he was identified, Kaczynski demanded a major newspaper publish a 35,000-word manifesto entitled “Industrial Society and Its Future,” promising to stop his bombing campaign. At the request of Attorney General Janet Reno and Louis J. Freeh, the director of the FBI, the Washington Post and the New York Times acceded to Kaczynski’s request in what was an agonizing decision.
In the manifesto, Kaczynski remarked that the Industrial Revolution and technology have had profoundly negative consequences on society and the environment, leading to alienation. He acknowledged his terrorist actions, saying they were necessary to get his message before the public.
Although his victims at first appeared to be random, it later turned out Kaczynski had targeted individuals associated with technology or the destruction of nature.
The manifesto ultimately proved to be his downfall. His brother, David, and his sister-in-law, Linda Patrik, recognized the manifesto’s tone and tipped off the FBI.
Kaczynski’s homemade devices were sent through the mail. Universities were frequent targets and the Unabomber also targeted an American Airlines flight in 1979. His campaign led postal and airport security to be upped. They would ultimately increase even more significantly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.