'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski dies in prison at the age of 81

A former math professor and "twisted genius" Ted Kaczynski, who was also known as the 'Unabomber' because he carried out a 17-year spree of mysterious bombings that killed three people and baffled the FBI, died on Saturday at the age of 81, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, reported CNN.

Kaczynski was found unresponsive in his cell at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, around 12:25 am Saturday morning, the bureau said in a statement.

“Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measures,” the bureau said. 

“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,” it added.

After Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998 for sending mail bombs that killed three people and wounded 23 others between 1978 and 1995, he was serving eight life sentences. He was arrested in 1996 at a small, remote cabin in western Montana.

According to the bureau, Kaczynski was moved to the federal medical centre in North Carolina in 2021. He had been held at Supermax in Florence, Colorado, before he was transferred to FMC Butner on December 14, 2021.

Kaczynski published a 30,000 words treatise that became known as the Unabomber Manifesto about his intention behind the crime he committed. In the write-up, he 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.

He was portrayed as a vengeful loner by the prosecutors.

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