Ted Kaczynski: Difference between revisions

== Biography ==

Theodore John Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, to working-class, second-generation Polish Americans, Wanda Theresa (née Dombek) and Theodore Richard Kaczynski, a sausage maker. His parents told his younger brother, David Kaczynski, that Ted had been a happy baby until severe hives forced him into hospital isolation with limited contact with others, after which he "showed little emotion for months". Wanda recalled Ted recoiling from a picture of himself as an infant being held down by physicians examining his hives. She said he showed sympathy to animals who were in cages or otherwise helpless, which she speculated stemmed from his experience in hospital isolation.

[[File:Young Ted Kaczynski.jpg|left|thumb|264x264px|Theodore John Kaczynski when he was still a young math teacher.]]

Neighbors in Evergreen Park later described the Kaczynski family as "civic-minded folks", with one stating that the parents "sacrificed everything they had for their children". Both Ted and David were intelligent, but Ted stood out in particular. One neighbor said she had "never known anyone who had a brain like he did", while another said that Ted was "strictly a loner" who "didn't play ... an old man before his time." His mother recalled Ted as a shy child who would become unresponsive if pressured into a social situation. At one point she was so worried about Ted's social development that she considered entering him in a study for autistic children led by Bruno Bettelheim. She decided against it after observing Bettelheim's abrupt and cold manner.

In 1971, Kaczynski moved to a remote cabin without electricity or running water near Lincoln, Montana where he lived as a recluse. His original goal was to become self-sufficient so that he could live autonomously. He taught himself survival skills such as tracking game, edible plant identification, organic farming, bow drilling and other primitive technologies. He used an old bicycle to get to town, and a volunteer at the local library said he visited frequently to read classic works in their original languages. Other Lincoln residents said later that such a lifestyle was not unusual in the area.

[[File:Unabomer's police sketch.jpg|left|thumb|224x224px|The police sketch of Thedore John Kaczynski.]]

Kaczynski was the subject of the longest and most expensive investigation in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Before his identity was known, the FBI used the acronym UNABOM (University and Airline Bomber) to refer to his case, which resulted in the media naming him the "Unabomber". The FBI and Attorney General Janet Reno pushed for the publication of ''Industrial Society and Its Future'', which led to a tip-off from Kaczynski's brother David, who recognized the writing style.

FBI agents arrested Kaczynski on April 3, 1996, at his cabin, where he was found in an unkempt state. A search of his cabin revealed a cache of bomb components, 40,000 hand-written journal pages that included bomb-making experiments, descriptions of the Unabomber crimes and one live bomb, ready for mailing. They also found what appeared to be the original typed manuscript of ''Industrial Society and Its Future''. By this point, the Unabomber had been the target of the most expensive investigation in FBI history.

After his arrest, Kaczynski tried unsuccessfully to dismiss his court-appointed lawyers because they wanted him to plead insanity in order to avoid the death penalty, as he did not believe that he was insane. In 1998, a plea bargain was reached under which he pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to eight life sentences without the possibility of parole. He has been imprisoned at ADX Florence, a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. In December 2021, the 79 year old Kaczynski was transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.

== Trivia ==

* He was once suspected of being the [[Zodiac Killer]].

* He admitted to destroying a neighbor's cabin with an ax and to defecating in their tub. He said that he did this because he didn't like the way that they rode their motorcycles through the woods.

* Ted Kaczynski was in a relationship with a women that was a co-worker that worked at the Cushion-Pak, an Illinois rubber foam factory, that was under the control of Ted's brother, David.  Ted and the woman had a few dates in 1978 and he had his first kiss at age 36, she told to her legal analyst Lis Wiehl in the author's book "Hunting The Unabomber." After, she rejected him and Ted was very upset about this. So, he started to harass her by posting limericks on the work site. David tried to make him stop telling him that if he didn't stop he would fire him. Ted continued to harass her and shortly after he was fired.

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