SIGNPOSTS ON A LONELY JOURNEY : THE EARLY YEARS
May 22, 1942: Theodore John Kaczynski, born to Wanda and Theodore R. Kaczynski in Chicago. Family lives in Evergreen Park, a Chicago suburb. His brother, David, born in 1950. Attends Evergreen Park Community High School, where he excels academically.
1958: Enters Harvard at the age of 16 on scholarship. Receives bachelor of arts in mathematics, 1962. Pursues graduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Receives master’s degree, 1964, and doctorate, 1967.
1967: Assistant professor of mathematics at University of California, Berkeley. Abruptly resigns June 1969.
1971: Buys land near Lincoln, Mont., with brother David. Builds a 10- by 12-foot cabin, where he lives without electricity or plumbing.
THE BOMBINGS
May 25-26, 1978: Package found at University of Illinois in Chicago sent back to return address of Northwestern University in Evanston. It explodes when opened May 26, injuring one person.
May 9, 1979: Bomb injures one person at Northwestern University’s Technological Institute.
Nov. 15, 1979: Twelve people suffer smoke inhalation when parcel explodes in cargo hold of American Airlines flight, forcing emergency landing at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.
June 10, 1980: A mail bomb injures United Airlines president at home in Chicago area.
Oct. 8, 1981: Bomb found in business classroom at University of Utah in Salt Lake City. It is defused.
May 5, 1982: Secretary injured at Vanderbilt University in Nashville when she opens package addressed to a professor.
July 2, 1982: Professor of electrical engineering and computer science injured when he tries to move package found in faculty lounge at UC Berkeley.
May 15, 1985: John Hauser injured by bomb found in computer room at UC Berkeley, ending his plans to become an astronaut.
June 13, 1985: Bomb mailed to Boeing Co. in Auburn, Wash., is discovered and disarmed.
Nov. 15, 1985: One person by package mailed to a professor at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The professor, standing nearby, was not hurt.
Dec. 11, 1985: Hugh Scrutton, 38, killed by bomb found near his Sacramento computer store.
Feb. 20, 1987: Man injured by bomb left behind his computer store in Salt Lake City. A woman gives the only eyewitness description of the suspect and an FBI composite sketch showing a man in hooded sweatshirt and aviator sunglasses is widely circulated.
June 22, 1993: UC San Francisco geneticist severely injured by bomb sent to his home.
June 24, 1993: Bomb injures Yale University computer science professor in his office.
Dec. 10, 1994: Advertising executive Thomas Mosser, 50, killed by bomb sent to his North Caldwell, N.J., home.
April 24, 1995: California Forestry Assn. President Gilbert P. Murray, 47, killed opening a mail bomb in the group’s Sacramento headquarters.
June 27, 1995: In a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, Unabomber threatens to blow up an airliner out of Los Angeles International Airport. Later letter calls the threat a “prank.”
SUSPICION
Summer 1995: Published reports of geographic locales associated with Unabomber raise suspicions in brother David’s mind.
Sept. 19, 1995: Unabomber’s manifesto published in Washington Post. Similarities with some of Ted Kaczynski’s correspondence found in family home in Lombard, Ill., deepen his brother’s concern.
October 1995: David Kaczynski contacts private investigator.
January 1996: Investigator contacts Washington, D.C., attorney Anthony Bisceglie on behalf of family. Bisceglie makes initial contacts with FBI.
February 1996: Bisceglie reveals Ted Kaczynski’s name to FBI. David Kaczynski meets with FBI for first time.
March 1996: Wanda Kaczynski, Ted’s mother, is told about the investigation.
April 12, 1996: FBI agents say they find what may be the original copy of the Unabomber manifesto in Kaczynski’s Montana cabin.
ARREST
April 3, 1996: Theodore John Kaczynski, 53, taken into custody by federal agents in his cabin near Lincoln and charged with possession of illegal explosives.
Field of concentration: Mathematics
Scholarships and prizes: Harvard scholarship
Sources: Los Angeles Times files and staff reports
Researched by NONA YATES / Los Angeles Times
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