Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski is escorted from the federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., on April 4, 1996. John Youngbear / AP file
Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, was found dead in his prison cell at the age of 81. He had been serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for a series of bombings that targeted scientists and resulted in the deaths of three people. The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed his death but did not release the cause.
Kaczynski had been held in a North Carolina prison since 2021 after being transferred from a maximum-security facility in Colorado due to declining health. He was arrested in 1996 at a remote cabin in Montana, where he had been living. Kaczynski pleaded guilty to setting off 16 explosions between 1978 and 1995 that killed three individuals and injured 23 others.
The homemade bombs sent by Kaczynski through the mail, including one that detonated on an American Airlines flight, had a significant impact on how packages were sent and airplanes were boarded in the United States. He was labeled the Unabomber by the FBI because his initial targets appeared to be universities and airlines.
Kaczynski’s anti-technology manifesto, titled “Industrial Society and Its Future,” was published in 1995 after federal authorities urged national publications to print it. His brother recognized the writing and reported him to the FBI, leading to his capture. Kaczynski despised being labeled as mentally ill and pleaded guilty during his trial, expressing his motive as “simply personal revenge” in his personal journals.
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