US / Ted Kaczynski Kaczynski Apparently Killed Himself Official cause of Unabomber's death will await investigation By Bob Cronin, Newser Staff Posted Jun 11, 2023 11:55 AM CDT Copied Theodore John Kaczynski is escorted into the federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., on April 4, 1996. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File) The death of Ted Kaczynski, who once terrorized the nation with a yearslong series of bombings, apparently was suicide. Called the Unabomber by the FBI, Kaczynski died Saturday at a federal prison medical center in North Carolina after being found unresponsive in his cell. Three people with knowledge of his death told the New York Times he killed himself, and CNN reported that prison officials said it was suicide. The official cause of death will be decided after an investigation is conducted. The office of the state's chief medical examiner did not say when an autopsy would be completed. Kaczynski had tried to commit suicide in his cell before his conviction. He told Time magazine in 1999 that he "would rather get the death penalty than spend the rest of my life in prison." The Times reports that Kaczynski's death renews questions about prison security in light of the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein and the slaying of Whitey Bulger in federal custody. That article can be found here. (More Ted Kaczynski stories.) Report an error