Unabomber: How Ted Kaczynski's manifesto became the key to his arrest

The new Netflix movie Unabomber revisits the chilling case of Ted Kaczynski (played by Jacob Tremblay) and the manifesto that ultimately helped authorities close in on him. For years, the FBI struggled to identify the man behind a campaign of mail bombings that targeted academics, business executives, and others across the United States, which began in 1978.

The FBI investigation, led by Shailene Woodley's FBI Agent Joanne Miller in the movie, took a turn in April 1995, when Ted Kaczynski demanded that a lengthy Manifesto about his anti-technology beliefs be published by a major newspaper. While the FBI made a shocking decision by giving in to the demands of the most wanted criminal, their unconventional choice resulted in a huge breakthrough in the case and concluded the 17-year long search for the Unabomber.

The publication of Ted Kaczynski's manifesto exposed his writing style and ideas to the public, which were aptly recognized by his sister-in-law Linda Patrik, a recognition that eventually led to his arrest.

Exploring how the Unabomber's manifesto became his own undoing

A still from the Netflix movie (Image via YouTube/Netflix)

In 1995, leading newspapers, the New York Times and The Washington Post, received the Unabomber's 35,000-word essay titled Industrial Society and Its Future. According to the BBC, the killer's manifesto argued that destroying technological systems could prevent social harm. The killer demanded that his essay, which was a twisted justification of his violence, be published by the two most prestigious newspapers in the country. In exchange, he offered to stop the killings.

Initially, there was anxiety among the newspapers' publishers and the FBI Agents about giving in to the demand. However, as FBI special agent Terry Turchie told the BBC, the agents decided to publish the manifesto, in hopes of receiving a groundbreaking tip. Once the newspapers published the killer's manifesto, the FBI's hunch was proven right and they received over 50,000 tip-offs about the killer.

Among a sea of new data, Linda Patrik, a philosophy professor vacationing in France with her husband, David Kaczynski, had an eerie realization. The suspect's aversion to technology, his carpentry skills and the places where his bombs were found formed a strange pattern and Linda suspected her husband's brother, Ted Kaczynski. Speaking with the BBC in a 2016 interview, Patrik revealed how she presented her theory to David:

"I said, 'Is it possible that your brother could be the Unabomber?'"

As shown in Netflix's Unabomber, David initially did not believe his brother could be the most wanted criminal. However, upon reading the first page of the Manifesto, he believed Linda's theory and the couple shared their findings with the FBI. Finally, the FBI hit the jackpot when the officers discovered the original handwritten version of the killer's manifesto in David and Ted's family home, a discovery that confirmed David's brother was the bomber.

David shared his thoughts with the BBC:

"I was literally considering the possibility that my brother was a serial killer, the most wanted person in America, perhaps in the whole world...What would it be like to go through the rest of my life with my brother's blood on my hands?"

The FBI discovered bomb components, over 40,000 handwritten journals about bomb experiments and a live bomb in Ted's secluded log cabin, after which he was arrested by the FBI.

Netflix's latest film largely stayed true to the real events. Once the killer circulated his manifesto to the public, FBI Agent Joanne Miller shifted her investigation to a suspect in academia. Joanne got a breakthrough when a woman named Linda Patrik and her husband David reached out, suggesting David's brother could be the Unabomber.

While Joanne's peers were not convinced by Linda and David's theory, the FBI Agent embarked on a solo mission to David's family house, where she discovered an early draft of the Manifesto, proving Ted was the wanted criminal.