#[1]AP News IFRAME: [2]https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-MCLSCF8 AP NEWS Email: Get AP News stories (BUTTON) Go Listen (BUTTON) Sections * [3]U.S. News * [4]World News * [5]Politics * [6]Sports * [7]Entertainment * [8]Business * [9]Technology * [10]Health * [11]Science * [12]Oddities * [13]Lifestyle * [14]Photography * [15]Videos Listen (BUTTON) Sections 1. [16]AP Top News 2. [17]U.S. News 3. [18]World News[19]Russia-Ukraine war[20]Africa[21]Asia Pacific[22]Australia[23]Europe[24]Latin America[25]Middle East 4. [26]Politics[27]President Biden[28]Congress[29]Supreme Court[30]Election 2023 5. [31]Sports[32]MLB[33]French Open[34]NBA Finals[35]NHL[36]NFL[37]WNBA[38]Soccer[39]Golf 6. [40]Entertainment[41]Film reviews[42]Movies[43]Music[44]Television[45]Fashion 7. [46]Business[47]U.S. economy[48]Financial markets ______________________________________________________________ 8. [49]Videos 9. [50]Technology 10. [51]Health[52]COVID-19 11. More[53]AP Investigations[54]Climate and environment[55]Oddities[56]Photography[57]Travel[58]Science[59]AP Fact Check[60]Lifestyle[61]Religion[62]Press Releases (BUTTON) * [63]Trump indicted * [64]'The hero with a backpack' * [65]Businessman linked to Paxton charged * [66]The Flash film history ____________________ (BUTTON) Search https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-fede ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Click to copy https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-fede ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Click to copy Related topics * [67]Theodore Kaczynski * [68]Bombings * [69]Politics * [70]Obituaries * [71]U.S. News * [72]Washington news * [73]AP Top News * [74]NC State Wire * [75]MT State Wire * [76]CO State Wire * [77]General News Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, has died in federal prison at 81 By MICHAEL BALSAMO and LINDSAY WHITEHURSTJune 10, 2023 GMT 1 of 6 FILE - Theodore Kaczynski looks around as U.S. Marshals prepare to take him down the steps at the federal courthouse to a waiting vehicle on June 21, 1996, in Helena, Mont. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber,” has died in federal prison. The cause of death was not immediately known. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) 1 of 6 FILE - Theodore Kaczynski looks around as U.S. Marshals prepare to take him down the steps at the federal courthouse to a waiting vehicle on June 21, 1996, in Helena, Mont. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber,” has died in federal prison. The cause of death was not immediately known. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died Saturday. He was 81. Branded [78]the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons, told The Associated Press. He was found unresponsive in his cell early Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m., she said. A cause of death was not immediately known. Before his transfer to the prison medical facility, he had been held in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years for a campaign of terror that set universities nationwide on edge. He admitted committing 16 bombings from 1978 and 1995, permanently maiming several of his victims. [79] Politics Trump set for first public appearances since federal indictment with speeches to GOP conventions Donald Trump stored, showed off and refused to return classified documents, indictment says Trump's GOP defenders in Congress leap into action on charges after months of preparation Indictment takeaways: Trump's alleged schemes and lies to keep secret papers Years before the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax mailing, the Unabomber’s deadly homemade bombs changed the way Americans mailed packages and boarded airplanes, even virtually shutting down air travel on the West Coast in July 1995. He forced The Washington Post, in conjunction with The New York Times, to make the agonizing decision in September 1995 to publish his 35,000-word manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” which claimed modern society and technology was leading to a sense of powerlessness and alienation. But it led to his undoing. Kaczynski’s brother, David, and David’s wife, Linda Patrik, recognized the treatise’s tone and tipped off the FBI, which had been searching for the Unabomber for years in nation’s longest, costliest manhunt. Authorities in April 1996 found him in a 10-by-14-foot (3-by-4-meter) plywood and tarpaper cabin outside Lincoln, Montana, that was filled with journals, a coded diary, explosive ingredients and two completed bombs. As an elusive criminal mastermind, the Unabomber won his share of sympathizers and comparisons to Daniel Boone, Edward Abbey and Henry David Thoreau. But once revealed as a wild-eyed hermit with long hair and beard who weathered Montana winters in a one-room shack, Kaczynski struck many as more of a pathetic loner than romantic anti-hero. Even in his own journals, Kaczynski came across not as a committed revolutionary but as a vengeful hermit driven by petty grievances. “I certainly don’t claim to be an altruist or to be acting for the ‘good’ (whatever that is) of the human race,” he wrote on April 6, 1971. “I act merely from a desire for revenge.” A psychiatrist who interviewed Kaczynski in prison diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic. “Mr. Kaczynski’s delusions are mostly persecutory in nature,” Sally Johnson wrote in a 47-page report. “The central themes involve his belief that he is being maligned and harassed by family members and modern society.” Kaczynski hated the idea of being viewed as mentally ill and when his lawyers attempted to present an insanity defense, he tried to fire them. When that failed, he tried to hang himself with his underwear. Kaczynski eventually pleaded guilty rather than let his defense team proceed with an insanity defense. “I’m confident that I’m sane,” Kaczynski told Time magazine in 1999. “I don’t get delusions and so forth.” He was certainly brilliant. Kaczynski skipped two grades to attend Harvard at age 16 and had published papers in prestigious mathematics journals. His explosives were carefully tested and came in meticulously handcrafted wooden boxes sanded to remove possible fingerprints. Later bombs bore the signature “FC” for “Freedom Club.” The FBI called him the “Unabomber” because his early targets seemed to be universities and airlines. An altitude-triggered bomb he mailed in 1979 went off as planned aboard an American Airlines flight; a dozen people aboard suffered from smoke inhalation. Kaczynski killed computer rental store owner Hugh Scrutton, advertising executive Thomas Mosser and timber industry lobbyist Gilbert Murray. California geneticist Charles Epstein and Yale University computer expert David Gelernter were maimed by bombs two days apart in June 1993. Mosser was killed in his North Caldwell, New Jersey, home on Dec. 10, 1994, a day he was supposed to be picking out a Christmas tree with his family. His wife, Susan, found him grievously wounded by a barrage of razor blades, pipes and nails. “He was moaning very softly,” she said at Kaczynski’s 1998 sentencing. “The fingers on his right hand were dangling. I held his left hand. I told him help was coming. I told him I loved him.” When Kaczynski stepped up his bombs and letters to newspapers and scientists in 1995, experts speculated the Unabomber was jealous of the attention being paid to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. A threat to blow up a plane out of Los Angeles before the end of the July Fourth weekend threw air travel and mail delivery into chaos. The Unabomber later claimed it was a “prank.” The Washington Post printed the Unabomber’s manifesto at the urging of federal authorities, after the bomber said he would desist from terrorism if a national publication published his treatise. Patrik had had a disturbing feeling about her brother-in-law even before seeing the manifesto and eventually persuaded her husband to read a copy at the library. After two months of arguments, they took some of Ted Kaczynski’s letters to Patrik’s childhood friend Susan Swanson, a private investigator in Chicago. Swanson in turn passed them along to former FBI behavioral science expert Clint Van Zandt, whose analysts said whoever wrote them had also probably written the Unabomber’s manifesto. “It was a nightmare,” David Kaczynski, who as a child had idolized his older brother, said in a 2005 speech at Bennington College. “I was literally thinking, ‘My brother’s a serial killer, the most wanted man in America.’” Swanson turned to a corporate lawyer friend, Anthony Bisceglie, who contacted the FBI. The investigation and prosecution were overseen by now-Attorney General Merrick Garland, during a previous stint at the Justice Department. David Kaczynski wanted his role kept confidential, but his identity quickly leaked out and Ted Kaczynski vowed never to forgive his younger sibling. He ignored his letters, turned his back on him at court hearings and described David Kaczynski in a 1999 book draft as a “Judas Iscariot (who) ... doesn’t even have enough courage to go hang himself.” Ted Kaczynski was born May 22, 1942, in Chicago, the son of second-generation Polish Catholics — a sausage-maker and a homemaker. He played the trombone in the school band, collected coins and skipped the sixth and 11th grades. His high school classmates thought him odd, particularly after he showed a school wrestler how to make a mini-bomb that detonated during chemistry class. Harvard classmates recalled him as a lonely, thin boy with poor personal hygiene and a room that smelled of spoiled milk, rotting food and foot powder. After graduate studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he got a job teaching math at the University of California at Berkeley but found the work difficult and quit abruptly. In 1971, he bought a 1½-acre parcel about 4 miles (6 kilometers) outside of Lincoln and built a cabin there without heating, plumbing or electricity. He learned to garden, hunt, make tools and sew, living on a few hundred dollars a year. He left his cabin in Montana in the late 1970s to work at a foam rubber products manufacturer outside Chicago with his father and brother. But when a female supervisor dumped him after two dates, he began posting insulting limericks about her and wouldn’t stop. His brother fired him and Ted Kaczynski soon returned to the wilderness to continue plotting his vengeful killing spree. ___ Balsamo reported from Miami. This story includes biographical material written by former Associated Press writer Derek Rose. AP NEWS 1. [80]Top Stories 2. [81]Video 3. [82]Contact Us 4. [83]Accessibility Statement 5. (BUTTON) Cookie Settings Download AP NEWS Connect with the definitive source for global and local news More from AP 1. [84]ap.org 2. [85]AP Insights 3. [86]AP Definitive Source Blog 4. [87]AP Images Spotlight 5. [88]AP Explore 6. [89]AP Books 7. [90]AP Stylebook Follow AP 1. 2. 3. 4. The Associated Press 1. [91]About 2. [92]Contact 3. [93]Customer Support 4. [94]Careers 5. [95]Terms & Conditions 6. [96]Privacy All contents © copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. References Visible links 1. https://apnews.com/OpenSearchDescription.xml 2. https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-MCLSCF8 3. https://apnews.com/hub/us-news 4. https://apnews.com/hub/world-news 5. https://apnews.com/hub/politics 6. https://apnews.com/hub/sports 7. https://apnews.com/hub/entertainment 8. https://apnews.com/hub/business 9. https://apnews.com/hub/technology 10. https://apnews.com/hub/health 11. https://apnews.com/hub/science 12. https://apnews.com/hub/oddities 13. https://apnews.com/hub/lifestyle 14. https://apnews.com/hub/photography 15. https://apnews.com/hub/videos 16. https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-news 17. https://apnews.com/hub/us-news 18. https://apnews.com/hub/world-news 19. https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine 20. https://apnews.com/hub/africa 21. https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific 22. https://apnews.com/hub/australia 23. https://apnews.com/hub/europe 24. https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america 25. https://apnews.com/hub/middle-east 26. https://apnews.com/hub/politics 27. https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden 28. https://apnews.com/hub/united-states-congress 29. https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court 30. https://apnews.com/hub/election-2023 31. https://apnews.com/hub/sports 32. https://apnews.com/hub/mlb 33. https://apnews.com/hub/tennis 34. https://apnews.com/hub/nba 35. https://apnews.com/hub/nhl 36. https://apnews.com/hub/nfl 37. https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball 38. https://apnews.com/hub/soccer 39. https://apnews.com/hub/golf 40. https://apnews.com/hub/entertainment 41. https://apnews.com/hub/film-reviews 42. https://apnews.com/hub/movies 43. https://apnews.com/hub/music 44. https://apnews.com/hub/television 45. https://apnews.com/hub/fashion 46. https://apnews.com/hub/business 47. https://apnews.com/hub/economy 48. https://apnews.com/hub/financial-markets 49. https://apnews.com/hub/videos 50. https://apnews.com/hub/technology 51. https://apnews.com/hub/health 52. https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic 53. https://apnews.com/hub/ap-investigations 54. https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment 55. https://apnews.com/hub/oddities 56. https://apnews.com/hub/photography 57. https://apnews.com/hub/travel 58. https://apnews.com/hub/science 59. https://apnews.com/hub/ap-fact-check 60. https://apnews.com/hub/lifestyle 61. https://apnews.com/hub/religion 62. https://apnews.com/hub/press-releases 63. https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-indictment-classified-documents-miami-8315a5b23c18f27083ed64eef21efff3 64. https://apnews.com/article/france-knife-attack-annecy-1bc0c56f69a172c2a6d0c4da5092e323 65. https://apnews.com/article/texas-ken-paxton-impeachment-nate-paul-b3fabca88d1f55f231c36bca10a34226 66. https://apnews.com/article/flash-movie-timeline-ezra-miller-b5cc7751677e1bdf7701a29b398c8e6d 67. https://apnews.com/hub/theodore-kaczynski 68. https://apnews.com/hub/bombings 69. https://apnews.com/hub/politics 70. https://apnews.com/hub/obituaries 71. https://apnews.com/hub/us-news 72. https://apnews.com/hub/washington-news 73. https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-news 74. https://apnews.com/hub/nc-state-wire 75. https://apnews.com/hub/mt-state-wire 76. https://apnews.com/hub/co-state-wire 77. https://apnews.com/hub/general-news 78. https://apnews.com/article/unabomber-ted-kaczynski-transferred-prison-medical-facility-ebc05e8f2f284001c950a3943366f8f4 79. https://apnews.com/hub/politics 80. https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-news 81. https://apnews.com/hub/videos 82. mailto:support@apnews.com 83. https://apnews.com/accessibility-statement 84. https://www.ap.org/ 85. https://insights.ap.org/ 86. https://blog.ap.org/ 87. https://apimagesblog.com/ 88. https://www.ap.org/explore/ 89. https://www.ap.org/books/ 90. https://www.apstylebook.com/ 91. https://www.ap.org/about/ 92. https://www.ap.org/contact-us/ 93. http://aphelp.ap.org/ 94. https://www.ap.org/careers/ 95. https://apnews.com/termsofservice 96. https://apnews.com/privacystatement Hidden links: 98. https://apnews.com/ 99. https://facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=870613919693099&display=popup&href=https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26 100. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26 101. mailto:?subject=Ted%20Kaczynski,%20known%20as%20the%20Unabomber,%20has%20died%20in%20federal%20prison%20at%2081&body=https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26 102. https://facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=870613919693099&display=popup&href=https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26 103. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26 104. mailto:?subject=Ted%20Kaczynski,%20known%20as%20the%20Unabomber,%20has%20died%20in%20federal%20prison%20at%2081&body=https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26 105. https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26/gallery/1edfc6fd32d040ccbf0953d96a2435fb 106. https://apnews.com/article/ted-kaczynski-unabomber-dies-federal-prison-95fdd4f398fbfe20aaadf5d53a91dc26/gallery/1edfc6fd32d040ccbf0953d96a2435fb 107. https://apnews.com/article/trump-republicans-georgia-north-carolina-2ca9d8f2a5db7199b4a9e111863fe4eb 108. https://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-indictment-classified-documents-miami-8315a5b23c18f27083ed64eef21efff3 109. https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-republicans-weaponization-23fc661b7c4c1d4070538232f4653f2b 110. https://apnews.com/article/trump-indictment-secret-documents-charges-242d466f4a14ef540f6819aa95ebfe14 111. https://twitter.com/AP 112. https://www.facebook.com/APNews 113. https://www.youtube.com/user/AssociatedPress 114. https://www.linkedin.com/company/associated-press