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Ted Kaczynski, Infamous Unabomber, Found Dead in Prison: A Closer Look at His Life

Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, was found dead in his prison cell, federal officials confirmed to media.


Ted Kaczynski  and officers

Kaczynski, 81, killed three people and injured 23 more during a mass mail-bombing spree between 1978 and 1995. He later pleaded guilty to his crimes.


He was sentenced to life without parole in 1996 after evading capture for almost 20 years, the BBC reported.


The Harvard-trained mathematician was eventually caught in a Montana cabin.


He was a man who fascinated America for decades, and he became the focus of numerous TV documentaries.


Kaczynski spent the past three decades held at prisons across the US - most recently at the Federal Medical Centre in Butner, North Carolina.


Prison guards at the facility discovered Kaczynski's body on Saturday morning at around 00:25 local time (04:25 GMT), a spokesperson for the US Bureau of Prisons told the BBC.


His cause of death was not immediately clear.


"Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measures," the spokesperson said. Kaczynski was then "transported by EMS to a local hospital and subsequently pronounced deceased by hospital personnel".


Before suffering from declining health which prompted his transfer to the facility in December 2021, he had been held at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998.


The Life and Crimes of the Unabomber: Ted Kaczynski


Born on May 22, 1942, Kaczynski showed early signs of brilliance, graduating from high school at the age of 15 and eventually earning advanced degrees in mathematics from prestigious institutions such as Harvard University and the University of Michigan. However, he abruptly resigned from his position as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1969 and retreated from society.


Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski carried out a series of mail bombings that caused the deaths of three people and left 23 others injured. Following a nationwide manhunt, he was finally apprehended in a remote cabin in Montana. Kaczynski's crimes shocked the nation and his case garnered significant media attention over the years.


For almost two decades, Kaczynski lived in seclusion, engaging in a solitary life in a remote Montana cabin. During this time, he meticulously planned and executed his bombings, targeting universities, airlines, and individuals. His motive and ideology became apparent through his manifesto titled "Industrial Society and Its Future," in which he expressed his anti-technology and anti-industrialization beliefs.


The Unabomber's reign of terror came to an end when Kaczynski's brother, David Kaczynski, recognized similarities between the manifesto and his brother's writing style. Concerned, David alerted the authorities, ultimately leading to Ted Kaczynski's arrest in 1996.


In 1998, Kaczynski pleaded guilty to all charges, and he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He spent the last few decades of his life in various prisons across the United States, including the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, until his deteriorating health prompted his transfer to the Federal Medical Centre in Butner, North Carolina, in December 2021.


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