The Unabomber previously known by federal enforcement agencies as the “Junkyard Bomber” for his construction of bombs from material available at a junkyard or hardware store, killed three people and wounded two dozen others over a span of 17 years.  The bombings stopped with the arrest of Theodore J. Kaczynski, a Harvard-educated mathematics professor who taught at the University of California at Berkley prior to becoming a recluse at his Lincoln, MT cabin (Douglas and Olshaker, 1996). The Unabomber is reputed to have produced the Unabomber Manifesto (1996), in which he identified himself as the author, “FC”.  The Justice Department sought out the death penalty in this case (Knight-Ridder Service, 1997), but Kaczynski later plead guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

In 1989, a team of clinical-forensic professionals, including the PISCA Director (Dr. Harold V. Hall), offered to profile this case pro bono for the U.S. Secret Service.  At that time, the Unabomber had set off 12 devices and killed one person.  He had been sighted once in Salt Lake City, UT, on February 20, 1987.  A composite drawing was produced from that sole sighting.  Based on material provided by the Secret Service, this author generated a profile delineating the lethal violence sequence for the Unabomber.  In 1990, the U.S. Secret Service sent the profile to the FBI at Quantico, VA, where it was considered together with several other profiles (and was subsequently rejected because it suggested that the Unabomber was college educated, as opposed to the FBI’s belief that he was a blue-collar worker, probably a machinist, due to the precise construction of his bombs).  In 1996, after the Unabomber wrote the Unabomber Manifesto, the profile was updated with further information obtained by the Secret Service.

Profilers are advised to place their findings in a lethal violence sequence to give a sense of temporal flow to the violence.  In this case, data suggested that the Unabomber was right-handed, U.S. born, and obsessive-compulsive, with pathological anger that he kept bottled up in an over controlled fashion.  He was seen to have superior intelligence and a college education.  He was not psychotic nor were there any indications of a thought disorder.  It was likely that he lived near the bomb sites at the times of the first few bombings but then geographically relocated for the bombings in the latter part of the series.  He loved the outdoors and the wilderness.  He was not comfortable around others and could be described as a social loner.  The probability was exceptionally high, absent death or apprehension of lack of opportunity, that he would continue his bombings.

The profile provided a vast number of inferences based on epidemiological data, the circumstances of the bombings, and other factors.  Almost all bombers are male.  The suspect was seen as right-handed because photographs of the wiring of the bombs showed that it was assembled with right-handed twists.  Bomb makers are exceptionally careful individuals and rarely switch hand dominance when they are constructing bombs.  He was seen as U.S. born because he wrote fluently and used colloquialisms in his letters to several victims, including Percy Wood, who was president of United Airlines at the time of receiving the bomb.  The explosion caused Mr. Wood to lose part of his hand and finger when he opened the bomb (June 10, 1980).  The Unabomber wrote in fluent English when he sent a letter together with a bomb to University of Michigan psychology professor, James V. McConnell.  A research assistant was injured when opened the letter.