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Ted Kaczynski earned the name “Unabomber” in the early days of his criminal career. During that time, his mailed bombs were sent to universities and airlines. He eluded police officials, including the FBI from 1978 to 1995 and was finally arrested in 1996. During that time, letters and documents were sent to various sources, but the man who was described as a loner, living in a cabin still managed to avoid capture. He pleaded guilty in 1998 and was given a life sentence, which he is currently serving in a Super Max prison in Florence, Colorado. Before being arrested, his bomb attacks killed three people and wounded twenty three others.
Kaczynski is now being questioned in conjunction with the Tylenol poisonings in 1982 which left seven people dead. Those people were all poisoned after consuming Extra Strength Tylenol which had been laced with potassium chloride. Potassium chloride is given medically to treat hypokalemia, however its high toxicity rate, particularly in regard to the heart and its functions have led it be included in the three drug cocktail used for lethal injection.
The people who took the tainted Tylenol were all in the Chicago area but others in dozens of other cities were hospitalized with symptoms consistent with suspected potassium chloride ingestion. Tylenol was immediately pulled from all shelves, nationwide and the new standards for medication bottles, including tamper evident linings under all caps were started in response to the event.
Reports were released that the FBI would seek a DNA sample from Ted Kaczynski in connection with that case, however, there has not been a confirmation to those by the FBI. Kaczynski himself did file a handwritten brief, saying that he would submit to the DNA sample willingly if he was granted one condition in return. That condition was not named in reports nor in the brief as Kaczynski felt that naming it at this point was “irrelevant” and that he did not hold much faith in the condition being met or that he would be dealt with honestly.
Kaczynski’s handwritten paper also suggested that evidence that would be important to this investigation might be contained in his belongings that remained in his cabin and again asked that the sale of his items be blocked. Those items, all found in his cabin at the time of his 1996 arrest include his personal papers and documents, clothing and photographs. The items were court ordered to be sold to help pay restitution to the families of four of his victims. Those people were awarded $15 million dollars. He concluded by saying that he never had any potassium chloride in his possession but stopped short of professing his innocence in the crime.
Included in the online auction of these belongings is the handwritten manifesto which eventually led to Kaczynski’s arrest. That document is over 35,000 words long and bidding was up to $12,000 already. In total, sixty items that were seized from the cabin are going to be sold off in that online auction.
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