Unabomber Acted Out of Hatred, Not Ideology, Book Says

HELENA, Mont. —  Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski committed numerous acts of vandalism near his mountain home and may have shot a miner, according to a new book by a man who considers himself Kaczynski’s friend.

“Unabomber: The Secret Life of Ted Kaczynski--His 25 Years in Montana” describes Kaczynski as being a man motivated more by anger and hatred than by his reported concern for the environment or distrust of technology.

“As I mulled over his secret years and acts in Lincoln, it became apparent his motivation to carry out his acts of terrorism really had little to do with saving Mother Earth,” writes Chris Waits.

“His true motivation was nothing more than hatred and revenge,” writes Waits, who moved to the mountains near Lincoln about the same time as Kaczynski.

Waits and co-author Dave Shors--the associate editor of Helena’s newspaper, the Independent Record--used Kaczynski’s personal journals to document acts of sabotage against mining companies, vandalism of homes and the apparent attempted murder of a miner.

According to the book, Kaczynski wrote in 1975 about putting sugar in the fuel tanks of a mining truck and a diesel engine that powered a large mining drill.

“Sugar in the gas is supposed to severely damage the engine because it gets in the cylinders and acts as an abrasive,” Kaczynski wrote in his journal. “But I don’t know if this works in diesels.”

The book also says Kaczynski stretched wire across trails at neck height to injure motorcyclists, set fire to a log loader at a logging site and broke into and vandalized a cabin, causing $20,000 to $25,000 in damage.

Kaczynski was suspected in some of these incidents but was never arrested.

The authors also say Kaczynski may have shot a miner from behind with a .30-30 rifle, partially crippling the man. No .30-30 rifle was found when federal officials searched Kaczynski’s cabin, but they found plenty of ammunition.

The book also describes the lengths to which Kaczynski went to make his bombs more difficult to trace, including sanding fingerprints off bomb parts and once inserting into one of his bombs a hair he found in a public restroom.

Kaczynski was arrested April 3, 1996. Earlier this year, he admitted being the Unabomber and pleaded guilty to 13 federal charges covering five bombings, including two deaths in Sacramento and one in North Caldwell, N.J.

He was sentenced to life in prison.