Unabomber Ted Kaczynski hanged himself in his prison cell, according to a recorded 911 call.
“We got a guy that was hangin,’” a caller from North Carolina’s FMC Butner told an emergency services operator in a recording obtained by TMZ.
The 81-year-old domestic terrorist was finishing out his life sentence in that prison medical facility, after being moved from a Colorado supermax in December 2021. The reason for his transfer is unclear.
He was found dead Saturday morning with significant neck injuries and a depressed trachea. TMZ said rigor mortis had already set in when Kaczynski was discovered. A source reportedly told the outlet that he appeared “ghost-like and frail” leading up to his death.
The Associated Press also reported that Kaczynski’s’ death was by suicide.
The bomb-making convict had been behind bars since April 1996, though not before three people were killed and 23 wounded by explosives Kaczynski mailed or delivered to his targets between 1978 and 1995.
The FBI spent nearly 20 years searching for the person behind those attacks before locating their reclusive suspect in a mountainous area of Montana.
The anti-industrialist killer became known as the Unabomber after targeting universities at the start of his crime spree. Prior to his arrest, Kaczynski wrote a 35,000-word manifesto in which he claimed technological advances were destabilizing modern society and causing widespread psychological suffering.
“The continued development of technology will worsen the situation,” he claimed.
His younger brother, David Kaczynski, tipped off investigators to the Unabomber’s possible identity when he and his wife read the published manifesto and recognized the tone. Kaczynski spent his final days of freedom living in a 10-by-14-foot cabin outside of Lincoln, Mont.
