By: Eric Liu

After 18 long years of hunting down the infamous man known as the “Unabomber” to the American public, the FBI finally captured Ted Kaczynski and sent him to federal prison in 1996. On June 10th, 2023, he died at the age of 81 by taking his own life in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Ted Kaczynski was well known for his meticulously crafted bombs and hatred for what he thought would be the destruction of society: modern technology. He wrote letters to the New York Times, dropping red herrings that were intended to lure the FBI to false conclusions and wild goose chases. He eliminated possible clues on the bombs that federal agents could use to trace his location and sometimes even planted fake clues.

His attacks developed gradually. Starting out as generally harmless attempts at destruction, they slowly became more fatal as the years went by. In total, his 16 bombs killed 3 people and injured 23 others. His attacks were targeted at airlines and universities, hence his nickname, the “Un-(universities)-a-(airlines)-bomber”.

It took the FBI almost two decades to locate and capture him because his brilliance matched theirs. Early in his life, Ted’s intelligence was noted by his parents and teachers, leading him to skip two grades in school. He majored in Math at Harvard University and later taught Math at UC Berkeley. However, his normal life would soon take a turn.

Shortly after he quit his job at UC Berkeley, he moved into an isolated cabin that he built by himself near Lincoln, Montana. He had no electricity, no running water, and his contact with society was limited to his attacks and letters to the New York Times. He started building bombs in that cabin, making them out of ordinary household materials and fabricated any materials he didn’t have out of natural resources. These bombs would make him one of America’s most feared terrorists.

Strangely enough, the federal agents did not use his explosives to track him down. Instead, they used his letters. Although he had distanced himself from his family, family members still had old letters he wrote to them. His younger brother, David Kaczynski, was the first one to make a connection between the Unabomber’s rambling, furious essays published by the New York Times and his older brother’s letters to the family. They contained similar phrases, like “cool-headed logicians,” “You can’t eat your cake and have it too/ You can’t have your cake and eat it too”, and the way he wrote “willfully”.

After David told the FBI about the striking similarities between the Unabomber and his brother, federal agents soon had Ted Kaczynski’s cabin surrounded. He was arrested and taken into custody on April 3rd, 1996.

The Unabomber had spent 25 years in jail before his death. David Kaczynski used the $1 million dollars he received from the FBI to help the victims of Ted Kaczynski’s attacks.

Sources: https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1686436770584x554189352828208000/Ted%20Kaczynski%20dead_%20Unabomber%20had%20eluded%20FBI%20for%20years%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times.pdf