Is the Unabomber Still Alive? Ted Kaczynski Died by Suicide in 2023

Ted Kaczynski, the man behind the Unabomber attacks, is dead. He died by suicide in prison in 2023, at age 81, using a shoelace as a rope in his cell.

The news comes as Netflix’s Unabomber movie begins streaming, starring Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley. The film follows Kaczynski’s rise at Harvard in the early 1960s and his capture by the FBI decades later.

Early Years at Harvard

Kaczynski’s story begins at Harvard, where he studied mathematics and participated in psychology experiments led by Professor Henry Murray, played in the film by Russell Crowe. That period shaped the man who would later send bombs through the mail.

In the movie’s timeline, Jacob Tremblay plays the young Kaczynski during those years. The film draws a direct line between his academic isolation and the violence that followed.

The Bombing Campaign

From the 1970s into the 1990s, Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 others with homemade bombs sent through the mail. The attacks were scattered across the United States.

The FBI eventually caught him after receiving a tip and linguistic evidence gathered by a private investigation team hired by his brother, David. A fictional FBI agent named Joanne Miller, played by Shailene Woodley, is likely based on real agent Molly Flynn.

The Prison Sentence

Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998 and received a life sentence. He spent over 25 years in maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.

In 2021, when he was in his late 70s, Kaczynski was diagnosed with rectal cancer and moved to a prison medical facility in North Carolina. He received chemotherapy until March 2023, when he refused further treatment due to negative side effects and a poor prognosis, according to medical examiners as reported by NBC.

Death by Suicide

Kaczynski died by suicide in June 2023. He was 81 years old.

An autopsy report obtained by NBC described the circumstances. Kaczynski was depressed before his death and had been sent for a psych evaluation. His cause of death was listed as a hanging, with a shoelace used as rope, in his solitary cell in the prison medical facility in North Carolina.

“At around midnight on June 10, 2023, he was found to have hung himself from a handicap rail in his room with shoelaces,” the report read. “He was initially pulseless, and resuscitation was initiated.”

The Legacy Question

The Netflix movie is likely to draw attention to a story many younger viewers know only secondhand. The film’s release coincides with renewed public curiosity about Kaczynski’s life and death.

The details of his suicide — the shoelace, the rail, the cell — are grim. They are also part of the record.

Timeline of Key Events

1. 1998 — guilty conviction and life sentence
2. 2021 — cancer diagnosis, move to prison medical facility in North Carolina
3. March 2023 — end of chemotherapy
4. June 2023 — death by suicide
5. June 10, 2023 — date of death, per autopsy report

The Netflix movie is streaming now. The story it tells is true.

The Unabomber is not alive. He died in 2023, and the record of his death is now public.

Source material: “Is the Unabomber Still Alive? What Happened to Ted Kaczynski, As Seen in Netflix’s ‘Unabomber’ Movie,” Decider.

Netflix · Russell Crowe · Shailene Woodley · Ted Kaczynski · Unabomber