CNN
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Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the man known as the “Unabomber,” has died, according to a law enforcement official. He was 81.
Kaczynski was found unresponsive in his cell at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, around 12:25 a.m., Saturday morning, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.
“Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measures. Staff requested emergency medical services (EMS) and life-saving efforts continued. Mr. Kaczynski was transported by EMS to a local hospital and subsequently pronounced deceased by hospital personnel,” the bureau said in a statement.
Kaczynski had been serving eight life sentences after he pleaded guilty in 1998 for sending bombs that killed three people and wounded 23 others through the mail from 1978 to 1995.
The Harvard-educated former math professor was arrested in 1996 at a small, remote cabin in western Montana.
In 2021, Kaczynski was moved to a federal medical center in North Carolina, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He had been held at Supermax in Florence, Colorado, before he was transferred to FMC Butner on December 14, 2021.
Portrayed by prosecutors as a vengeful loner, Kaczynski published 30,000-word treatise that became known as the Unabomber Manifesto.
In the document, Kaczynski claimed a moral high ground for his deadly campaign, justifying the attacks in the name of preserving humanity and nature from the onslaught of technology and exploitation.
“I believe in nothing,” Kaczynski wrote. “I don’t even believe in the cult of nature-worshipers or wilderness-worshipers. (I am perfectly ready to litter in parts of the woods that are of no use to me – I often throw cans in logged-over areas.)”
A sentencing memorandum quoted extensively from Kaczynski’s journals, in which he wrote of a deep hatred of people.
Since a tip from his brother David led to Kaczynski’s arrest in April 1996, the family has claimed the writings reflected the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic, not a cold-blooded killer. A federal prison psychiatrist agreed, opening the way for prosecutors to drop their demand for the death sentence and allow a plea bargain.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
