Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s death an apparent suicide, sources say

Ted Kaczynski, the convicted terrorist known as the Unabomber, died in an apparent suicide, two sources briefed on the matter confirmed to CBS News. 

Kazynski was found unresponsive Saturday morning in his prison at the federal medical facility in Butner, North Carolina, where had been serving a life sentence. He had been serving a life sentence at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, but had been transferred to the North Carolina facility in Dec. 2021 due to poor health. 

The U.S. Department of Justice said Saturday in a news release that prison officials “immediately initiated life-saving measures” after finding Kaczynski unresponsive, and he was then transported to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital around 8 a.m., the department said. 

Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 after an almost two-decade campaign of terrorism that involved sending homemade bombs through the mail. From 1978 to 1995, three people were killed and 24 were injured as a result of his bombings. 

Kaczynski pleaded guilty to charges that included transportation of an explosive with intent to kill or injure, mailing an explosive device with the intent to kill or injure, and use of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence. 

Kaczynski, a Harvard-trained mathematician and former UC Berkeley math professor, was found by the FBI in a remote cabin in Montana after a nearly 20-year manhunt. 

Kaczynski was captured on April 3, 1996, after being turned in by his brother David Kaczynski and his wife Linda Patrik. David Kaczynski suspected his brother wrote an anti-technology manifesto titled “Industrial Society and Its Future” that was published in The New York Times. 

Cara Tabachnick and Kerry Breen contributed to this report.