Spring Break
Brother of the 'Unabomber' to visit ECU
David Kaczynski to discuss issues in the US
Akela Yarn
Issue date: 10/21/08 Section: Features
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Your decision may also cost that family member their own life.
That is the position David Kaczynski found himself in. In 1995, David Kaczynski turned his brother Theodore in to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His brother was the "Unabomber."
On Wednesday, the ECU Student Activities Board will host David Kaczynski at 8 p.m. in Hendrix Theater in Mendenhall Student Center. Kaczynski's lecture will focus on capital punishment in the United States, mental illness and ethical decision-making.
"The lecture fits in perfectly with the Student Activities Board's theme of the importance of social issues in America," said Stephen Mason, the vice president and lecture committee chair of the Student Activities Board. "Like other social issues, Mr. Kaczynski has dealt with this issue [first-hand]. He has dealt with the U.S. Justice Department on several occasions."
Theodore "Ted" Kaczynski was convicted and sentenced to death for his responsibility in a series of mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 others. He sent his first homemade bombs to Chicago University in 1978 and for almost two decades, he would mail or hand-deliver the bombs.
According to his official FBI file, investigators learned that Kaczynski would choose victims randomly from library research. The FBI used UNABOMB as a code for Kaczynski, named for the University and Airline Bombing.
In an effort to identify him, investigators published the "Unabomber's" manifesto in the Washington Post and the New York Times in hopes that someone would recognize Kaczynski's handwriting.
After reading the manifesto, his brother David recognized the writing and became suspicious. At the urging of his wife, David contacted the FBI to turn Ted in. In exchange for his cooperation, David requested that the death penalty would not be sought in court.
"I didn't really understand the death penalty until it came knocking at my door," David Kaczynski told the New York Times in 2004.
Although David requested leniency for his brother, Kaczynski escaped the death penalty after entering into a guilty plea for his crimes. Although Kaczynski has strongly denied that he suffers from schizophrenia, his mental state is believed to be the reason he committed these crimes. Ted Kaczynski is serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison.
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