Authorities look at Unabomber suspect's travel records
April 6, 1996
Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. ESTHELENA, Montana (CNN) -- Federal agents were poring over travel records of Theodore Kaczynski, trying to determine if the man they think may be the Unabomber had the opportunity to mail the deadly bombs.
Kaczynski lived reclusively in a tiny tar-paper shack in remote Montana, but agents have determined that on at least 25 occasions he traveled 50 miles to Helena, where he stayed at a small hotel. Four of those trips apparently coincide with five of the Unabomber's 16 attacks.
Jack McCabe, owner of the Park Hotel, said that the FBI took records of Kaczynski's stays at the hotel, dated between 1982 and 1995. The FBI did not confirm that it had the records, but McCabe showed reporters a receipt for them on FBI stationery.
"I tried to start up a couple of conversations," McCabe said of Kaczynski. "He'd answer that in the shortest way he could."
Agents are also looking for other ways to track Kaczynski's movements.
"That means motels, hotels, airlines, buses, gas stations, anything where his name or a known alias might have been used," said one federal official.
Agents also plan to use DNA analysis to compare Kaczynski's saliva with that found on the back of stamps used to mail the Unabomber's packages. And the FBI laboratory is comparing the lettering on one of two typewriters found in Kaczynski's shack with the lettering on materials known to come from the Unabomber.
Kaczynski was charged Thursday with possession of bomb making materials, a charge designed to keep him in custody while agents continue their investigation. A grand jury will convene in Great Falls, Montana, on April 17 to determine if he should be indicted.
Kaczynski, a former math professor at the University of California at Berkeley who abruptly dropped out of society in the late 1960s, became a suspect in the Unabomber case when his brother contacted the FBI regarding some documents he found in a former family home.
The Unabomber's string of attacks stretched for 18 years, beginning with the first explosions at Northwestern University in 1978 and 1979. Three people were killed in attacks blamed on the Unabomber, and 23 were injured.
Last year, the Unabomber promised an end to the attacks if The Washington Post and The New York Times published his 35,000-word manifesto decrying the state of modern humanity. After consultation with federal officials, the two papers did so.
Related stories
- Typewriter found in cabin may match Unabomber's - April 6
- Agents move cautiously in Unabomber investigation - April 5
- Unabomber investigation far from over - April 4
- Suspect not charged with Unabom crimes - April 4
- Bomb-making materials found in suspected Unabomber's cabin - April 4
- Professor says Unabomber suspect had promising mathematical career - April 4
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