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Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, aka the “Unabomber,” was reported to have died by suicide in North Carolina federal prison on Saturday.
While authorities have not yet revealed an official cause of death, The New York Times reported that 81-year-old Kaczynski died by suicide, citing three people familiar with the situation.
“For safety, security and privacy reasons, this office does not share details about an inmate’s cause of death. The official cause of death is determined by the medical examiner and not the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), ” a spokesperson for told the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Prisons to Fox News Digital Sunday when asked about the Times report.
“Apart from this and the attached press release, we have no additional information,” the spokesperson said.
UNABOMBER TED KACZYNSKI FOUND DEAD IN PRISON CELL
Former University of California at Berkley math professor Theodore John Kaczynski is taken to the federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., on April 4, 1996. Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber”, has died in federal prison. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
Fox News Digital also contacted the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s office on Sunday, but didn’t immediately hear back.
At approximately 12:25 p.m. Saturday, inmate Kaczynski, a Harvard-educated mathematician convicted of conducting a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, went unresponsive at the Federal Medical Center ( FMC) Butner in Butner, NC, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a press release obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Responding personnel immediately took life-saving measures,” the release said. “Staff requested emergency medical services (EMS) and lifesaving efforts continued. Mr. Kaczynski was transported by EMS to a local hospital and subsequently pronounced dead by hospital staff. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified. No staff or other inmates were injured And at no time was the public in danger.”
Kaczynski was an 81-year-old man who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Eastern District of California for transporting an explosive device with intent to kill or injuring, shipping an explosive device with intent to kill or injure, and use of a Destructive Device in connection with a crime of violence,” the press release added Saturday. “He had been incarcerated at FMC Butner since December 14, 2021. FMC Butner is an administrative security facility and currently houses 833 male offenders.”
Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski is flanked by federal agents as he is led to a car from the federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., April 4, 1996. (AP Photo/John Youngbear, File)
Prior to his transfer to the prison’s medical facility, he had been incarcerated at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998 when he was sentenced to four life terms plus 30 years for a terror campaign that put universities across the country on edge .
He admitted to committing 16 bombings between 1978 and 1995, permanently disfiguring several of his victims.
Years before the September 11 attacks and the anthrax mailing, the deadly homemade bombs of the Unabomber changed the way Americans shipped packages and boarded planes, virtually shutting down air traffic on the West Coast in July 1995.
At the urging of federal authorities, The Washington Post in conjunction with The New York Times published its 35,000-word manifesto, “Industrial Society and Its Future,” in September 1995, claiming that modern society and technology were leading to a sense of powerlessness. and alienation. That led to Kaczynski’s brother, David, and David’s wife, Linda Patrik, recognizing the tone of the treatise and tipping off the FBI, which had been searching for the Unabomber for years in the nation’s longest and most expensive manhunt.
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Theodore Kaczynski seen as U.S. Marshals prepare to take him down the steps of the Federal Courthouse to a waiting vehicle in Helena, Mont, on June 21, 1996. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
Authorities found him in April 1996 in a 12-by-15-foot plywood and tar paper cabin outside Lincoln, Montana, which was filled with diaries, a coded diary, explosive ingredients, and two completed bombs. The FBI dubbed him the “Unabomber” because his early targets seemed to be universities and airlines. An altitude-triggered bomb he sent in 1979 exploded as planned aboard an American Airlines flight; a dozen people on board suffered from smoke inhalation.
Kaczynski killed computer rental company owner Hugh Scrutton, advertising executive Thomas Mosser, and timber industry lobbyist Gilbert Murray. California geneticist Charles Epstein and Yale University computer expert David Gelernter were maimed by bombs two days apart in June 1993.
In light of Kaczynski’s death, the Times noted the controversy surrounding the August 2019 death of Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
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Widespread osculations circulated suggesting Epstein was killed while facing federal sex trafficking charges, but authorities have maintained he died by suicide, citing instead lax patrol practices and staff shortages that the disgraced financier reportedly left the chance to commit suicide.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
