Theodore ‘Ted’ Kaczynski, infamously known as the “Unabomber,” has been found dead in federal prison, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons confirmed to the .
His body was discovered around 8 a.m. in a federal prison in North Carolina, where he was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. A cause of death is not yet known.
Kaczynski had been moved to the federal prison medical facility in North Carolina after spending two decades in a federal Supermax prison in Colorado for a series of bombings that targeted scientists.
Kaczynski carried out a string of bombings over a period of almost 17 years — until forensic linguistics led to his arrest in 1996. He was found in a rural cabin in Montana after evading capture for years.
Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski set 16 explosions that killed three and wounded 23 others.
Well before Ted Kaczynski was ever a household name, 150 agents with the FBI, Postal Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives worked to figure out who he was and why he was killing seemingly random people across the country, through the mail. They didn’t have physical clues, so they had to rely on others — specifically, the bomber’s written words.
“Unabomb” is short for “University and Airline Bombing” because the culprit initially targeted colleges and aircraft companies, leading initial profilers to assume the bomber was likely a less-educated man who once worked for the airlines. The bombs came disguised as ordinary packages addressed to anyone from professors to CEOs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
