Officials say ‘Unabomber’ Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison
ByJessica Goodman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Unabomber dead: Theodore 'Ted' Kaczynski (in orange) is guided to his arraignment by federal marshals, Helena, Montana, April 4, 1996. He had been arrested in connection with the 'Unabomber' bombings and the deaths those explosions caused. (San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag)
ByJessica Goodman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
BUTNER, N.C. — Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, who has been known as the Unabomber, was reportedly found dead in his prison cell Saturday morning.
Update 2:12 p.m. EDT June 11: Four people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Ted Kaczynski took his own life in prison. He was found in his cell around 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
Emergency responders performed CPR and were able to revive him. The AP reported that he was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Kacynzki was suffering from late-stage cancer, according to the AP.
Original story: The Federal Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina. He was found around 8 a.m. and the cause of death is unknown.
Kaczynski was found unresponsive in his cell, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said, according to The New York Times.
Kaczynski was in a maximum security facility in Colorado for about two decades and was eventually moved to a medical facility in North Carolina, the AP reported.
The bombings targeted scientists, the AP reported.
Kaczynski’s homemade bombs changed the way Americans mailed packages and traveled years before Sept. 11, according to the AP. Air travel in some parts of the country virtually shut down in July of 1995.
Kaczynski forced newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post to publish his manifesto which was about 35,000 words. The AP said it was called the “Industrial Society and Its Future.” He had claimed that society, as well as technology, was leading to “powerlessness and alienation.” Kaczynski’s brother David and David’s wife, Linda Patrik, tipped off the FBI after recognizing the tone.
He was arrested in 1996 living in a cabin in western Montana, according to the AP. Journals, a coded diary, explosive ingredients, and two completed bombs were found inside the cabin.
His capture was one of the longest and costliest manhunts in United States History, the Times reported.
Kaczynski was serving four life sentences plus 30 years, according to the AP. He pleaded guilty to setting 16 explosions that killed three people and injured 23 others between 1978 and 1995.
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'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski is escorted by US Marshals outside the Sacramento County Federal Court, Sacramento, California, May 4, 1998. Kaczynski was given four consecutive life sentences. AFP PHOTO/POOL (Photo credit should read RICH PEDRONCELLI/AFP via Getty Images) (RICH PEDRONCELLI/AFP via Getty Images)
'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison Theodore 'Ted' Kaczynski (in orange) is guided to his arraignment by federal marshals, Helena, Montana, April 4, 1996. He had been arrested in connection with the 'Unabomber' bombings and the deaths those explosions caused. (Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) (San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag)
'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison Mugshot of Ted Kaczynski, identidentified as the domestic terrorist known as the Unabomber, April 1996. (Photo by Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images) (Donaldson Collection/Getty Images)
'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison View of Theodore 'Ted' Kaczynski, the suspected 'Unabomber,' during a press conference following his arrest, Lincoln, Montana, April 4, 1996. (Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images (Michael Macor/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Imag)
'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison Screen shot, from WBBM-TV Chicago, shows a high school yearbook photo (from Evergreen, Illinois in 1958) of Theodore Kaczynski, April 3, 1996. Kaczynski was detained by FBI agents in Lincoln, Montana, in connection with the 17-year-long mail bombing campaign by the man the FBI called the Unabomber. WBBM-TV via AFP PHOTO WBBM-TV (Photo credit should read WBBM-TV/AFP via Getty Images) (WBBM-TV/AFP via Getty Images)
'Unabomber' Theodore Kaczynski has died in federal prison Archival photo of American mathematician and Professor Ted Kaczynski, later a domestic terrorist known as the Unibomber, as he poses outdoors ar the University of California, Berkeley, June 1968. (Photo by Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images) (Scott Manchester/Sygma via Getty Images)