Unabomber dies at 81: Looking back at Sacramento’s history in the series of bombings
By BRADY HALBLEIB
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SACRAMENTO (KOVR) — Ted Kaczynski, the man known as the Unabomber, has died. He was found unresponsive in his prison cell overnight and pronounced dead Saturday morning.
He was arrested in April 1996 after a series of bombings that killed three people, including two from Sacramento.
Kaczynski died while serving eight life sentences after pleading guilty in 1998 to sending bombs through the mail, killing three people and wounding 23 more. His attacks terrorized the country for 17 years before he was arrested in 1996 in a remote cabin in Montana.
The former Harvard grad — and one-time UC Berkeley math professor — had been in hiding after sending homemade bombs through the mail targeting, in part, anyone having to do with the advancement of technology. That included a Sacramento computer store owner in 1985.
Hugh Scrutton was killed after attempting to pick up a package left at the backdoor of his business on Howe Avenue.
Retired ATF agent Nina Delgadillo explained to CBS13 more than a decade ago what it was like working the case.
“It was impactful because someone had died,” she said. “Little did I know what was to lay ahead.”
Ten years later, the Unabomber would attack again. The victim was Gilbert Murray, the president of the California Forestry Association, who was killed just blocks away from the California State Capitol.
“Total mayhem. There was a lot of destruction. It was a difficult scene to process for a lot of reasons,” Delgadillo described.
A year earlier, New York advertising executive Thomas Mozier was killed picking up a package outside his New Jersey home.
After killing three people and injuring nearly two dozen others, Kaczynski fled to Montana, eluding police for years.
After reading a 56-page manifesto that was sent to well-known newspapers, it would ultimately be Kaczynski’s brother who would tip off police and lead them to Montana.
After being taken into custody, Kaczynski was supposed to face trial in Sacramento but was eventually sentenced to four consecutive life sentences in a plea agreement — stemming from charges related to the three deaths and the maiming of two scientists.
As part of the plea bargain, Kaczynski acknowledged responsibility for all 16 mail bomb attacks between 1978 and 1995.
Kaczynski died at 81.
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