American Terrorist dies at 81 after being chased by police for 18 years.

By: Connie Cao

Ted Kaczynski, who became known nationwide for his rampage of bombings between 1978 and 1995 targeting scientists, died at 81 in federal prison. He was a lone national bomber for 18 years until his arrest in 1996.

As a young kid, Kaczynski was a troublemaker but was highly intelligent. He skipped two grades with no effort. In high school, his math teacher proclaimed him as one of the smartest students ever taught. During school, he was often lonely. While at one of the leading universities, he didn’t talk often.

“I don’t recall more than ten words being spoken by him,” Patrick S. MacIntosh, one of Kaczynski’s roommates, told the Boston Globe.

For 25 years, Kaczynski lived away from other people and located himself in a ten by twelve feet cabin in his Montana cabin near the Continental Divide. No one found him suspicious, and certainly not violent. However, after facing the death of one of his family members, he became anguished in a dilemma and began to become more threatening.

He said living outside in nature was becoming surreal and impossible, and he resolved to fight industrialization and the destruction of nature through terrorism. Kaczynski also further explained that his bombings were necessary for attracting attention to the problem of human freedom and the dignity of modern technology.

The first lethal bomb came in 1985, killing Hugh Scrutonn, the owner of a computer store in Sacramento. In 1994, Thomas Moser was killed when he opened a package at home. President Gilbert R. Murray at the Sacramento headquarters followed the same process. At first, the bombs were notified as crude actions, but gradually, the bomber took it one step further to kill larger masses of academics and businessmen.

To create his bombs, Kaczynski glued components together, those of boiled deer hooves he hunted down and shot. The bombs were created in his cabin. In order to avoid being caught, he made sure to well-polish the bombs to erase his fingerprints and any evidence that it was him. For 18 years, Kaczynski fled from the police by writing false letters and leaving false evidence.

“The Unabomber sent us a 35,000-word essay claiming to explain his motives and views on the ills of modern society. After much debate about the wisdom of “giving in to terrorists,” FBI Director Louis Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno said, approving the publishing of this article in hopes that someone may detect the author.

Eventually, on April 3, 1996, FBI agents, law enforcement, and investigators surrounded the Unabomber’s cabin. They bashed down the door, and eventually, Kacynski had his hands behind his back. With searches, investigators found journal pages and multiple bomb pieces in his cabin.

Kacynski’s reign of violence and terror has come to an end. During court, Kacynski demanded innocence of all previous murders. Judges spared him the death sentence, but Kacynski eventually died behind bars in federal prison at age 81 due to a reported suicide.