The Unabomber Pages
The Unabomber Case Timeline
May 5, 1982
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
A parcel addressed to Patrick Fischer, head of the computer science department, explodes, injuring his secretary, Janet Smith. Fischer is giving a series of lectures in Puerto Rico when the package is forwarded from Pennsylvania State University, where he taught before coming to Nashville. Canceled stamps were used to mail the parcel from Provo, Utah, causing investigators to consider that the bomb may have been intended for LeRoy Bearnson, an electrical engineering professor at Brigham Young University, who is listed as the return address.
One injured.
July 2, 1982
University of California, Berkeley.
Engineering professor Diogenes J. Angelakos picks up what he believes to be a can of some sort left in the fourth-floor faculty break room of Cory Hall, which houses the computer science department. The small metal pipe bomb explodes, causing serious injuries.
One injured.
May 15, 1985
University of California, Berkeley.
The Unabomber strikes Cory Hall again. This time, John E. Hauser, an Air Force pilot, engineering student and aspiring astronaut, looks for an owner's identification on a stack of three-ring binders left in the building's computer lab. He picks up the items, triggering an explosion that claims part of the vision in his left eye and four fingers from his right hand and severs two arteries in his forearm. Engineering professor Diogenes J. Angelakos, a victim of the bomber nearly three years before, is across the hall when the blast strikes. He fashions a tourniquet from a tie for Hauser's arm.
One injured.
June 13, 1985
Boeing Aircraft Co., Auburn, Wash.
An employee in Boeing's Fabrication Division opens a package to discover a bomb that does not detonate. A bomb squad safely disarms the device, which was mailed from Oakland, Calif., just before the second explosion at U.C. Berkeley. The package had been left in Boeing's internal mail because it was not addressed to any specific person.
No one hurt.
Nov. 15, 1985
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Research assistant Nicklaus Suino suffers powder burns and shrapnel wounds when he opens a package bomb disguised as a manuscript at the home of University of Michigan psychology professor James V. McConnell. McConnell, who is in the room at the time of the explosion, loses part of his hearing. A letter postmarked Salt Lake City is attached to the package and reads, "I'd like you to read this book. ... Everybody in your position should read this book."
Two injured.
Dec. 11, 1985
Sacramento, Calif.
RenTech owner Hugh C. Scrutton stops on his way to lunch to remove what looks to be a road hazard in the parking lot behind his Howe Avenue computer rental store. The object, actually a bomb filled with nail fragments, explodes. It rips Scrutton's chest open and penetrates his heart with shrapnel.
One dead.
Feb. 20, 1987
CAAMS Inc., Salt Lake City.
A situation similar to the explosion in Sacramento, this blast results in only injuries. Store co-owner Gary Wright is injured when he stops in the parking lot to move a road hazard — a bag of wooden 2-by-4s with nails sticking out. A secretary who saw a man with a hooded sweatshirt and aviator sunglasses leave the bag in the parking lot becomes the Unabomber's first eyewitness.
One injured.
June 22, 1993
Tiburon, Calif.
A bomb injures Dr. Charles Epstein, a world renowned geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, when he opens a package mailed to his home. He suffers a broken arm, severe abdominal injuries and the loss of several fingers on his right hand. The return address on the package is that of James Hill, chairman of the chemistry department at California State University, Sacramento.
One injured.
June 24, 1993
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
Computer scientist David Gelernter loses sight in one eye, hearing in one ear and part of his right hand when he opens a package mailed to his office. The explosion also wounds the Yale professor in the chest. The parcel's return address is that of Mary Jane Lee, a computer science professor at California State University, Sacramento. Gelernter reportedly dragged himself from his office, down five flights of stairs, to the university medical clinic a block away. A few hours later, an anonymous caller rings the hospital where Gelernter's psychiatrist brother, Joel, works warning, "You are next."
One injured.
June 24, 1993
New York City.
Warren Hoge, assistant managing editor of The New York Times, receives a letter from a person or people claiming to be an anarchist group called "FC." The writer notes that the letter's postmark precedes a newsworthy event and that the FBI is aware of the group. The letter, mailed from Sacramento just before the explosions that injured Dr. Charles Epstein and David Gelernter, also includes the number 553-25-4394 to ensure that future communication from the group is genuine.
Dec. 10, 1994
North Caldwell, N.J.
New York City advertising executive Thomas Mosser prepares to go Christmas tree shopping with his wife and daughters. In the kitchen of his home, he opens a package roughly the size and shape of two videocassettes, setting off a fatal explosion. Mosser's family is home but unharmed. Months later the Unabomber would take responsibility for the package, mailed from San Francisco, claiming that Mosser was targeted for his public relations firm's work for Exxon Corp., the company whose tanker spilled oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
One dead.
April 24, 1995
Sacramento, Calif.
A package mailed to the California Forestry Association, too difficult for the office receptionist to open, is handed over to Gilbert B. Murray, the timber lobbying group's president. The parcel explodes when opened, killling Murray with a force so great it pushes nails from the walls of other offices in the same building. The package is addressed to Murray's predecessor, William Dennison, and bears the return address of Closet Dimensions, a custom furniture company in Oakland, Calif.
One dead.
April 24, 1995
New York City.
The New York Times receives a letter from the Unabomber, billing himself as "the terrorist group FC," which promises to stop sending bombs if a 29,000- to 37,000-word article written by the group is printed in a national periodical such as the Times, Newsweek or TIME magazine. The bomber also demands that three yearly installments be published to clarify material in the treatise and rebut criticisms of it.
June 27, 1995
Los Angeles.
Through a letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Unabomber threatens to blow up an airliner out of Los Angeles International Airport prompting a nationwide crackdown on airport security. The following a day, in a letter to The New York Times, the bomber claims the threat is a ruse.
Sept. 19, 1995
Washington.
The Washington Post prints the Unabomber's manifesto in an eight-page supplement. The newspaper shares the costs, estimated to be between $30,000 and $40,000, with The New York Times. A few days later, a 72-word passage, inadvertently omitted by a typist, also is published.
April 3, 1996
Lincoln, Mont.
Theodore Kaczynski, a former UC Berkeley professor living as a recluse in a one-room cabin without electricity for decades, is arrested at his Montana home for possession of bomb components. He is suspected of being the notorious Unabomber.
June 18, 1996
Sacramento, Calif.
A federal grand jury returns a 10-count indictment charging suspected Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski with four separate bombings that killed two individuals and injured two others.
June 23, 1996
Sacramento, Calif.
Theodore Kaczynski arrives in Sacramento and is booked into county jail to await his first court appearance. His cell includes a toilet, sink, running water and electric lights — comforts his Montana cabin lacked.
June 25, 1996
Sacramento, Calif.
In a brief federal court appearance, a pale and rumpled Theodore Kaczynski pleads not guilty to charges that he carried out four bombings, two of them fatal.
May 15, 1997
Sacramento, Calif.
Following the direction of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, prosecutors file papers in federal court confirming their intent to pursue the death penalty. Theodore Kaczynski's mother and brother, who campaigned passionately for his life to be spared if he is convicted, are devastated by the news.
June 27, 1997
Sacramento, Calif.
Judge Burrell rules that incriminating evidence from Theodore Kaczynski's mountain cabin, including a homemade bomb and a detailed journal, can be introduced at his upcoming trial. Kaczynski's lawyers had contended that the evidence should be thrown out because the government lied to obtain a search warrant for the Montana shack in April 1996.
Sept. 3, 1997
Sacramento, Calif.
Theodore Kaczynski is quietly moved to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, about 20 miles southeast of Oakland, after he complains about noise and lack of sleep at the Sacramento County Jail. The Alameda County prison has housed such famous inmates as newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss and junk bond king Michael Milken.
Nov. 12, 1997
Sacramento, Calif.
Amid reports that discussion of a plea bargain -- admittance of guilt in exchange for a life sentence -- is ongoing, Theodore Kaczynski's trial begins with jury selection.
Jan. 5, 1998
Sacramento, Calif.
Opening statements, scheduled to begin today, are postponed until later in the week after Theodore Kaczynski requests a meeting with the judge to discuss his displeasure with his attorneys, who want to use a mental defect defense despite his protests. Kaczynski ignores his mother and brother, both in the courtroom, whom he hasn't seen in more than 10 years.
Jan. 7, 1998
Sacramento, Calif.
Theodore Kaczynski asks the judge to allow him to fire his court-appointed public defenders and instead use J. Tony Serra, a San Francisco lawyer who has agreed to represent the Unabomber suspect for free. Judge Burrell denies Kaczynski's request, saying it is too late to switch attorneys.
Jan. 8, 1998
Sacramento, Calif.
Opening statements are once again stalled when Theodore Kaczynski stops the proceedings, this time to ask that he defend himself. Judge Burrell says Kaczynski must undergo psychological exams, which he shunned in the past, before a decision can be made. Kaczynski agrees. Shortly after, reports surface that the defendant attempted suicide the previous night by hanging himself with his underwear.
Jan. 17, 1998
Sacramento, Calif.
Dr. Sally Johnson, a government psychiatrist, reports that Theodore Kaczynski is competent to stand trial, but also probably a paranoid schizophrenic, as his lawyers have maintained. Talk of a plea bargain resumes as Kaczynski is taken off jail suicide watch.
Jan. 22, 1998
Sacramento, Calif.
The judge rejects Theodore Kaczynski's request for self-representation. The defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison.
May 4, 1998
Sacramento, Calif.
Following emotional testimony from his victims and their families, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski is formally sentenced to four consecutive life terms plus 30 years. He speaks briefly, stating he expects in the future to respond to the prosecution's sentencing memorandum and "the many falsehoods that have been propagated about me."
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