'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, 81, Dead After 26 Years in Prison

The infamous "Unabomber" died on Saturday, June 10.

Ted Kaczynski, 81, was pronounced dead by police at a federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina this morning.

The criminal was taken to the medical facility after he was found unresponsive in his cell, though the cause of death has yet to be revealed.

Prior to his passing, Kaczynski was imprisoned for 26 years for domestic terrorism. From 1978 to 1995, he would send homemade explosives in packages to American's homes, which resulted in three deaths and 23 people severely injured. The bomber primarily targeted people who were working on technological advancement.

Kaczynski was arrested for his wrongdoings in April 1996 after 17 years of illegal activity. At the time, he pleaded guilty to his charges to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life without parole.

For the first 20-plus years of his sentence, he was held at a Supermax prison in Florence, Colo., but was moved in December 2021 to the North Carolina institution due to undisclosed health issues.

Before becoming the "Unabomber," Kaczynski was a talented mathematics student. He attended Harvard University on scholarship and graduated with his bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1962. After that, he enrolled in masters and doctorate programs in mathematics at the University of Michigan.

Following the years of education, he was hired as an assistant math professor at UC Berkeley, but two years later, he resigned from his career and went to live in a remote cabin in Lincoln, Mont. There he began reading about the harms of technology.

He wrote Industrial Society and Its Future in his cabin, which would later be labeled as the Unabomber Manifesto.

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During his years as an active bomber, the murderer sent 16 packages of explosives across eight different states. As the years went on, the bombs became both more sophisticated and more dangerous, though the FBI was able to identify that the victims all shared ties to advancing modern technology.

The FBI finally caught Kaczynski after he demanded his manifesto be published. Once it was made public, Kaczynski's brother contacted the authorities claiming that the writing style of the message was identical to that of his brother.

The Associated Press reported on Kaczynski's death.