Manhunt: Unabomber (2017) s01e05 Episode Script
Abri
1 The country's trash can's being dumped in our lap here, and it's all worthless.
DON: Your TDY with the Unabom Task Force is terminated.
Hey, it's me.
I don't want to, uh, upset you.
I just Have you read the Unabomber manifesto yet? [DOG BARKING.]
LINDA: What are we gonna do, David? Uh, are you already assuming he's guilty? 'Cause, I mean, really, when you look at the evidence here Uh, no.
I-i-I'm not I'm not.
- I feel like you - I'm not.
I'm not assuming he's guilty.
All I'm saying is that I see a connection between that letter of Ted's and the Unabomber manifesto.
Well, when I look at it, I don't see the connection.
I don't see this.
I don't.
Maybe you're Have you considered your own personal feelings for Ted might be getting in the way of making an objective determination here? - You're asking me that? - Well, you don't know Ted.
I mean, you've never met him.
You've never even spoken to him.
Yes, he sent you a nasty letter.
Yes, he's different.
But every family has its oddball.
I know Ted.
H-he was always good.
He was my hero.
Well, if you're right and he's innocent, then He's got nothing to worry about.
Well, that's not true.
The Ted lives a very unconventional lifestyle.
He is paranoid.
He has that hunting rifle.
I mean, those people on Ruby Ridge, they were innocent, too.
And an FBI sniper shot them in the back.
If we accuse him and we are wrong it'd be like Taking my own brother's life, and I-i c I can't.
I can't live with that.
But, David What if we're right? [SIGHS.]
[EXHALES DEEPLY.]
ANTHONY: [SIGHS.]
Okay.
Y-you came to me why exactly? I mean, you could just mail it in.
I'll give you the address for the task force.
- W-well - yeah, I mean, I-I deal with law enforcement all day long at the shelter where I work, and, you know, once these poor kids get into the system, it's impossible to extricate them again.
As soon as you get on the criminal justice system's radar, you become a target, especially if you live an unconventional life.
All right.
Here's what we'll do.
I will channel this directly to the Unabom Task Force.
It'll come from my office, but you and your brother will remain completely anonymous.
I'll make it clear that this is not for distribution, even internally within the UTF.
Tight chain of custody.
Need only.
Now, they'll do a complete analysis and get us an opinion.
And if it's not a match, we can all sleep easy.
I think yeah.
All right.
I To be clear, our priority is Is Ted's safety.
I mean, he Even if he is the Unabomber, he's a human being.
He has a soul.
And and we need to We need to protect him.
TED: Dear David, the only thing I've really respected in you has been your life in the desert.
And now you're going to leave all that just because this female has decided to permit you to become her personal property.
I presume you will now be adopting a conventional middle-class lifestyle, become an accountant maybe.
Or why not sell out all the way and become a lawyer? The reason you get me so upset is that I do care about you, David.
You're still my little brother and you still have my loyalty.
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
- Hello? - David, Tony Bisceglie.
I just got word from my guy in the UTF.
They analyzed the letter, and they're not moving forward with the lead.
It's the wrong typewriter.
So it's not him? It's not him.
Your brother's been cleared.
Thank you.
It's not him! It's not Ted! Ted Kaczynski is not the Unabomber! Oh, god.
Oh.
[KEYBOARDS CLACKING.]
[TELEPHONES RINGING.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Three months you've been back here.
Three months Of sleepwalking.
Half an eye on that manifesto there, the other half on the fax machine.
You're like a teenage girl waiting for her ex to call.
He dumped you.
Move on.
Fitz You are capable of great things here, but not until you let Unabom go.
I've been where you are right now.
I know.
I know that it seems like more than a case right now.
But it's just a case.
And I say, from experience, let it go.
Yeah.
JIM: There's nothing.
There's nothing by him.
This is all you got? WOMAN: I weeded out, like, the grocery lists and stuff.
Well, this is garbage.
It's not here.
There's a million-dollar reward.
You realize how much crap we get in? [CLICK, DIAL TONE.]
Oh, I see.
You're all gonna gang up on me.
WOMAN: You know that's not what this is about.
MAN: You have three parents now.
And we want to make sure we're all saying the same thing.
[CHILD WAILING.]
WOMAN: To unpack.
[CHILD WAILING.]
MAN: My dream is for you to [ LAUGHTER.]
It's still okay if you want to come live with me.
- Hey, negro.
- What up, brah? Yo, look.
A long-ass letter come across your desk? Evidence slip says it's not a match.
I'm about to bag it up and send it back to the lawyer.
Why? It's the wrong typewriter.
It's not from the Unabomber.
Hey.
Ernie? Can you put your headphones on and look the other way for like 10 minutes? That's "do not distribute.
" It can't leave this room.
If the boss catches you with that or finds out I let you Look.
It's on me.
You looked away.
Please.
This goes into the safe at 3:00.
Thank you.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
I'll get my daughter! Do not try any kind of rescue.
Do you understand me? You would jeopardize the lives of the vice president and everyone else in the arena.
Believe me.
We know what the hell we're doing.
[PAGER BEEPING.]
Our agents are entering the arena.
- You stay where you are.
- Excuse me.
We are gonna do this by the numbers.
[ SCREAMING.]
[TELEPHONE RINGS.]
- Where have you been? - It's later here.
I'm at the movies.
There's a 23-page letter going through right now.
It's "do not distribute.
" It was sitting in the fax machine tray at the B.
A.
U.
Shit, dude, if I get caught All right.
I'm going there now.
Hey.
Just gonna run to work.
I'll be back before it's over.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- You guys okay? - Yeah, we're fine.
Keep an eye on him.
[BEEP.]
[BEEP.]
[BEEP, WHIRRING.]
"Human beings will become dependent On technology" "beginning of this already Inability of people to avoid boredom" [WHIRRING, BEEP.]
"Let us first consider the solution" Sketched by Perry London in his book 'behavior control.
' "this solution makes a convenient example.
" "disseminate it among the population at large.
People can then use this technology" "disseminate it among the population at large.
People can then" "Continued scientific progress will inevitably result in the extinction of individual Liberty.
" "Technology," "freedom," "control.
" It's him.
Are you sure? I-i wouldn't It's him.
It's an outline of the manifesto.
It's the same ideas in the same order and the way he writes, his intellect.
It is identical! It's identical! S-so, what's his name? What's the name?! I don't know.
Some D.
C.
lawyer anonymous.
Look, it's DND.
You got to shred your copy.
- What lawyer?! - I don't know! Okay? Just please let me go through the proper cha Just find out! I don't care how! 'Cause this is him! This is him! This is the man! And the man that wrote this letter, he is the Unabomber! You hear me?! Fitz? You there? What's happening? Fitz? Why the hell would you abandon your children? I was only gone one minute.
I was coming right back.
What how long have I been? It's been 4 hours.
Danny's in the car crying.
Are you coming? [CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
You're seriously trying to argue that the famously anti-technology Unabomber has two similar but not identical typewriters? Look.
I know what forensics said, but the language of that letter is really similar to the manifesto.
The ideas are laid out in a similar way, and I really Yeah, I read it.
Uh, I didn't see it.
You know something concrete that I missed? Yeah, you got an "analyze" with an "s" or a "willfully" with one "l", one of your other special spellings? It's a steel trap.
Well, no.
Not exactly.
It's just the overall.
Look, I just think that this is a strong lead that we should go down the road with! Track down the writer, do some interviews.
I don't think you understand the backstory.
It's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
And it's a letter that forensics has said conclusively is not a match.
It's a hornets' nest, Tabby.
Why you kicking it? Hey, yeah.
It's Francine in accounting.
I got an incomplete billing record here.
Uh, one of Anthony Bisceglie's cases.
Hey, are you coming with us tonight? "While you were sleeping.
" Opening night.
You should come.
Uh, record number 31040.
I need an address.
I mean, Peter Gallagher, right? Thanks, hon! See ya later.
Bad move, Tabby.
Bad, bad move.
[RINGING.]
- Tabby.
- Fitz.
[BREATHES DEEPLY.]
How sure are you about this letter? Because, uh I am completely certain, Tabby.
Anything and everything you get out of this has to go through me.
You do not talk to anyone at the UTF without coming to me first and making a plan.
I swear I will not even breathe without going through you.
All right? Okay.
Got a pen? Perry Avenue, Schenectady, New York, 12301.
Thank you.
I could have got these.
You know that.
You didn't have to.
I don't really want you You know, inside here.
Let me finish this case.
When I want to get this guy And I'm gonna get this guy we should put it all back together, just start over.
You don't even realize you were wrong, do you? What you did to those boys You know what, Jim? Boys and I we're gonna be okay.
We're gonna be fine.
Everything's gonna work out for us.
But unless you stop now, I don't I don't know how all this ends for you.
I really don't.
I-it's not the case.
It's you.
[ ROCK 'N' ROLL MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO.]
[ CLASSICAL PIANO PLAYS.]
WOMAN: In the early morning, otherwise partly cloudy skies in the Albany area with highs around 65 and lows dipping into the 50s.
MAN: Overnight at a gas station in Schenectady.
Police at the scene [THUNDER RUMBLES.]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR.]
Hi.
I'm supervisory special agent James Fitzgerald.
I'd just like a word.
May I come in? Um, wh I-I'm sorry.
What is this about? Uh It's about the letter.
Can I come in? I'm sorry.
I don't know how you got my name or my address, but I'd appreciate it if you get off my property right now.
I'm so sorry to tell you this, but I read the letter you submitted, and the man who wrote that letter is the Unabomber.
You Is Th is this a joke? I mean, w-who Who the hell are you? What are y I'm the profiler.
I was assigned the investigation.
- I can explain everything.
- You, you're the profiler? - Well, well your boss.
- If you just let me in.
Just called my attorney to communicate that the FBI had ruled out my brother as a suspect, so I don't know what you're doing here Your brother? He's your brother? He's your brother? Get off my property! I came forward, I did what was right, and he was cleared! David? David, he's your brother? [VEHICLE DOOR OPENS.]
JIM: The FBI have gotten thousands of letters sent in.
Mothers turning in sons, wives turning in husbands, brothers across the country turning in brothers, just like you.
Now, I know you thought it was all over and me being here is your worst nightmare, but I read every piece of writing that came in.
I read thousands of possible leads.
I only knocked on one door! Stop harassing me, or I'll call the police! [HORN HONKS.]
One door your door! If you're an FBI profiler, you know they're looking for an airline mechanic who is around 45 years old and he is uneducated.
He does not fit that profile at all.
That's not the profile.
Well, then why are your bosses on "Charlie Rose" - saying, "this is the profile"? - It's it's wrong.
It's oh, oh, the FBI profile's wrong and they stand behind it? And and your boss, he He rules out my brother's letter, but he's wrong, too.
Everybody's wrong, except for you.
Yeah.
You know, I I counsel at-risk kids, okay? And the first thing I tell them If everybody in the world seems crazy except for you and you're the only sane one, right? It's time to take a hard look in the mirror.
You knocked on the wrong door.
And I am done.
You need to leave me alone, please! I'm please! And get out.
- Why don't you listen to my profile? - I come on, man! Why don't you listen to the real profile? And if it isn't a match for your brother, you can drive out of here in good conscience and you never have to see me again.
He's 50 to 55 years old.
He was raised near Chicago.
Read the Chicago Tribune as a boy.
He got his PHD between '67 and '72.
Sometime after that, he just got cut off from the world.
There's no TV, no pop culture, no close friends, no romantic relations.
Nothing.
Just isolated.
He's smart, patient, extremely precise.
And he's angry.
He's just thin-skinned, takes offense easily, and he lashes out at those that he loves 'cause he's got no one else in his life.
He feels underappreciated, victimized.
He's sidelined by his lesser-talented peers.
He's lonely.
He longs for human connection.
But he can't find it.
And it is tearing him apart.
So you talked to Linda? She she you've been talking to her about my brother? Is that she contacted you.
I don't know who she is.
I don't know who you are.
I don't know your brother.
I don't know anyone in your life.
I do know the Unabomber.
I know him like I know myself.
Uh uh Um Ted.
[THUNDER RUMBLES.]
His name is Ted.
DAVID: Okay.
This is Ted.
That's the Unabomber.
I don't see any resemblance.
I mean, not at all.
And I've looked at the sketch for for hours.
It's not the Unabomber.
What what do you It's an eyewitness sketch.
The woman at Rentech, she Yeah, the woman at Rentech, the only person to ever have seen the Unabomber.
See, the day after the Rentech bombing, she described the Unabomber to a local sketch artist.
The sketch was published and was so close that the Unabomber went into hiding for six years.
But that isn't the sketch.
In 1994, 10 years after the Rentech bombing, the head of the task force decides he wants a new sketch, so he sends a new sketch artist to the eyewitness, and this time, what the eyewitness describes is that sketch.
And it is iconic.
It is the most famous police sketch in history.
But it's not the Unabomber.
See, the second time around, the eyewitness was describing the original sketch artist this guy.
Some crazy thing in the human memory.
She was remembering remembering the Unabomber.
And she had spent Yeah, think about it Three seconds looking at the Unabomber.
But she spent the whole afternoon with him, the sketch artist.
And over time, the faces blend together.
What about the original sketch? What does that look like? Oh, my god.
Is this where he lives? David, is this where he lives? Oh.
That's the cabin we built together.
He's a mathematician.
He designed the cabin to a perfect mathematical ratio.
There's no electricity or running water.
It's, uh it's perfect simplicity.
It's western Montana.
It's the middle of nowhere.
It's really beautiful.
He just lives off the land.
He forages, hunts for food.
Has a little garden.
I think he lives off something like $400 a year.
He's got no job? He does odd jobs here and there, but he lives about as far outside the system as as anybody can this day and age.
You know, a lot of people, even my wife, they They look at that and they think he's He's crazy.
He just has the courage to live according to his ideals.
I respect that.
Yeah, I do, too.
But it was a bit of a push/pull situation, Ted going to live out in the woods.
He was pulled out there by his ideals, but there was a push, too, not long after this photo was taken.
So what was the push? He eventually ran out of money living out there, and he came back to Chicago to get a job.
I got him work at this phone factory that my, uh, father worked at I was a foreman there that summer.
Anyhow, there was a girl there he had a crush on.
Her name was Ellen.
He asked her out.
They went on a few dates.
I think they went apple-picking, baked a pie in my mother's oven, but Ted is not great with people, so she told him she didn't want to see him again.
Think she was cordial about it, but when I showed up to work the next day, there were, um "Certain young lady named Ellen whose fanny is very repellin'.
" The place was covered in these.
These dirty limericks.
They were all about Ellen.
Must've been 150 of them.
They were everywhere.
JIM: I mean, anonymous messages is his weapon.
It's the Unabom in miniature, right down to the typewriter.
Ted?! I fired my brother, uh, and that's really when he made his break.
He took his last paycheck, and he went out to the cabin for good.
- You still see your brother? - No.
- You still contact him? - No.
- Call him, visit? - He doesn't have a phone.
We used to write until a few years ago.
I mean, he sent me so many letters.
He would send me another one before I could even respond.
I probably have 100 of them.
Hundreds.
I'm gonna have to see those letters.
I'm gonna have to see every letter that you have.
Some are them are, uh, at my Abri in Texas.
It's a small cabin I used to live in out there.
The rest are are at my mother's.
She's nearby, so we could go get those.
We can go get 'em.
We'd have to tell my mother that [Inhales deeply Her son, uh, is And I'm the one that [CHUCKLES.]
That I'm the one that turned him in.
You know, you said there were other mothers and brothers who came forward, but, um It's my brother.
My brother's the Unabomber.
Do you know what would happen if it was someone else? 99% of them would just let it go.
They would have lacked the courage.
They would have lacked the awareness to make that call.
They would have let fear get in the way of doing what was right.
And we would never, ever know who he was, and we would never be able to stop him.
The world is lucky that it was you.
And you have to take that burden of guilt and suffering so that the rest of us can sleep safely at night, and it is the most anyone can give.
[DOOR OPENS.]
LINDA: Hey! [DOOR CLOSES.]
What's going on? Yeah, so, if it's him, then he must be stopped.
Because his victims, they all had mothers, too.
But he was such a happy boy.
He he was so gentle with you, so loving.
Don't you remember? So where did I go wrong? What what happened? Did something happen to him at Harvard? He would never tell me.
But I always felt like something changed inside him there.
Or maybe when he was a little boy.
Or when? Is there no answer? Ted wrote all of these? Yes.
These go back 30 years.
[BRAKES SQUEAL.]
- The spelling checked out? - Diction's right on.
It's him.
It's just I need to present this to the U.
T.
F.
, and I need to make them see it, too.
Okay.
We can do this.
We need to go through Ted's handwritten letters His language, his ideas And then find points of comparison in the Unabomber's manifesto.
Yeah, and his life, too.
We work out his history, who he is.
Does it match the timeline? Does it match the profile? [WHIRRING.]
It's him.
Do we have it? We have him.
[LAUGHS.]
we have him.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
- Wait.
- Whoa.
What are you doing? Well, y-you said you left your wife.
- I just thought that - Yeah, I did.
But Wow.
Sorry.
Thank you.
"Thank you"? You show up here why? You leave your wife, you come all the way across the country to me.
Why? What are you even doing here? You here for me or are you here for him? Is that what I am to you? Some accessory to get you closer to him? [SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE.]
I'm gonna go walk the dogs.
You can let yourself out.
Holy crap.
- Hey.
Where's Tabby? - I don't know.
Where's Tabby? Tabby! STAN: Hey! Double hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?! You told me to put a name on the board, so I'm putting a name on the board.
Told you to put a name on the board three months ago! This is him.
This is the Unabomber.
Theodore Kaczynski.
Hold on, Stan.
You got five minutes.
Go.
Meet Ted Kaczynski.
He's born in 1942 outside Chicago, makes him 53.
He's got an IQ of 167.
He's a bona fide genius.
He attended Harvard on a full scholarship at age 16.
Got a PHD in mathematics at the University of Michigan in '68, which correlates with the formatting of the manifesto.
His dissertation was brilliant.
It won prizes, got published.
Just it was so advanced, only four or five mathematicians in the world could understand it.
But this plays into his need to be listened to and acknowledged as a profound genius thinker.
Now, he taught at Berkeley for two years before he withdrew into the woods in Lincoln, Montana.
Built that cabin with his brother.
Ted went back and forth from Chicago, but he moved there permanently in 1980.
He's living the life that he describes in the manifesto Free from technology, completely alone.
Yeah, but a lot of people live like that, and a lot of people have big degrees and grew up in Chicago.
So he fits your profile.
That's great.
That does not make him the Unabomber.
You're right.
Except in 1971, he wrote a document that could only be described as a trial run at the manifesto.
It mirrors the manifesto point by point.
It's the same order of ideas.
It's the same preoccupations.
It's the same linguistic idiosyncrasies.
Where'd you get this letter, Fitz? His brother.
His brother read the manifesto when we published it, and he recognized the ideas, which is why we had it published in the first place, right? Plus, look.
He gave me hundreds of letters to analyze.
There's more coming from his place in Texas in the next couple of days.
Look.
I compared his writings to the manifesto, and I found dozens of similarities.
I also used Kaczynski's letters to map his movements for the past 20 years, and they track closely with the Unabom events.
He's familiar with Salt Lake City, Chicago, and the bay area the Unabom nexus.
And he feels safe at universities, which is why he can plant the bombs there personally.
He fits the profile.
He fits the timeline.
The language is a match.
I got him.
Ted Kaczynski's the Unabomber.
Kaczynski's not tier one.
He's not tier two.
He's not even in our initial pool of 15 million.
Computationally, he's not a suspect.
He's 1,500 miles away.
Every single Unabom letter, every single Unabom package came from the bay area, right? So you're telling me he drove three days every time he wanted to mail something? He doesn't have a car.
Took a bus.
Took a bus.
It could explain why all his letters came in batches.
That's always confused me.
He'd send a bunch of letters and two mail bombs all together at the same time, and then he'd disappear for months until the next burst.
We have to be very, very careful about this.
Unabomber or not, this guy's got guns, knows how to live off the land.
So best case, he's a flight risk.
Worst case, we're talking "Ruby Ridge" Montana edition.
Stan, set up a stakeout in Lincoln, Montana, and get eyes on the cabin.
Let's see if we can find his bank records, set up a mail cover.
If he is taking a bus, there's got to be a record of it.
- Yeah, I'm on it.
- Fitz, what are your next moves? Oh, I would love to mine these letters for linguistic evidence to prove that Ted wrote the manifesto.
Good.
Andy, I want you to sit down with Steve Freccero.
He's our D.
O.
J.
Liaison.
Start figuring out what we need to feed a federal judge to get inside of that cabin.
From now on Ted Kaczynski is Unabom suspect number one.
Ted Kaczynski.
That's it.
Fitz.
Now, uh, if I remember correctly, this letter came here with a "do not distribute" cover.
Now, you were at the B.
A.
U.
When it did.
Care to shed some light on that little mystery? Did you just screw me? All right.
Got some work to do.
Come on, Fitz.
I told you you had to run - everything by me.
- I tried to find you.
I stuck my neck out for you.
Look, I can fix this.
Tabby, I can fix it.
I looked up to you.
I wanted to be you.
[CHUCKLES.]
When you came, it was like someone finally saw me, you know? Saw my potential.
I wasn't just "Tabby the street agent," - who stumbled behind a desk.
- Hey.
You know, I thought I could do something cool, be something more.
But you used me and you screwed me over.
[SIGHS.]
Well, you did break protocol.
You did send the document.
You know, when you sent the address, what'd you think was gonna happen? You're leaving a trail of burnt-out corpses in your wake, man.
It's gonna catch up with you.
You know, at the end of the road, you're gonna have nobody by your side.
Right.
[SCOFFS.]
Thank you.
We have to save Ted.
Whatever it takes, no matter what we have to do or say, we have to save his life.
MAN: There it is.
TED: Dear David, I find myself at a strange crossroads in my life, and I am in need of some fraternal advice.
A certain activity, which has been very time-consuming for nearly the entirety of my adult life, now seems to have become no longer necessary.
I've been living on anger my whole life.
It is all that has sustained me.
David, I need to know How do you know if it's too late to change? How can you tell if it's still possible to begin again?
DON: Your TDY with the Unabom Task Force is terminated.
Hey, it's me.
I don't want to, uh, upset you.
I just Have you read the Unabomber manifesto yet? [DOG BARKING.]
LINDA: What are we gonna do, David? Uh, are you already assuming he's guilty? 'Cause, I mean, really, when you look at the evidence here Uh, no.
I-i-I'm not I'm not.
- I feel like you - I'm not.
I'm not assuming he's guilty.
All I'm saying is that I see a connection between that letter of Ted's and the Unabomber manifesto.
Well, when I look at it, I don't see the connection.
I don't see this.
I don't.
Maybe you're Have you considered your own personal feelings for Ted might be getting in the way of making an objective determination here? - You're asking me that? - Well, you don't know Ted.
I mean, you've never met him.
You've never even spoken to him.
Yes, he sent you a nasty letter.
Yes, he's different.
But every family has its oddball.
I know Ted.
H-he was always good.
He was my hero.
Well, if you're right and he's innocent, then He's got nothing to worry about.
Well, that's not true.
The Ted lives a very unconventional lifestyle.
He is paranoid.
He has that hunting rifle.
I mean, those people on Ruby Ridge, they were innocent, too.
And an FBI sniper shot them in the back.
If we accuse him and we are wrong it'd be like Taking my own brother's life, and I-i c I can't.
I can't live with that.
But, David What if we're right? [SIGHS.]
[EXHALES DEEPLY.]
ANTHONY: [SIGHS.]
Okay.
Y-you came to me why exactly? I mean, you could just mail it in.
I'll give you the address for the task force.
- W-well - yeah, I mean, I-I deal with law enforcement all day long at the shelter where I work, and, you know, once these poor kids get into the system, it's impossible to extricate them again.
As soon as you get on the criminal justice system's radar, you become a target, especially if you live an unconventional life.
All right.
Here's what we'll do.
I will channel this directly to the Unabom Task Force.
It'll come from my office, but you and your brother will remain completely anonymous.
I'll make it clear that this is not for distribution, even internally within the UTF.
Tight chain of custody.
Need only.
Now, they'll do a complete analysis and get us an opinion.
And if it's not a match, we can all sleep easy.
I think yeah.
All right.
I To be clear, our priority is Is Ted's safety.
I mean, he Even if he is the Unabomber, he's a human being.
He has a soul.
And and we need to We need to protect him.
TED: Dear David, the only thing I've really respected in you has been your life in the desert.
And now you're going to leave all that just because this female has decided to permit you to become her personal property.
I presume you will now be adopting a conventional middle-class lifestyle, become an accountant maybe.
Or why not sell out all the way and become a lawyer? The reason you get me so upset is that I do care about you, David.
You're still my little brother and you still have my loyalty.
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
- Hello? - David, Tony Bisceglie.
I just got word from my guy in the UTF.
They analyzed the letter, and they're not moving forward with the lead.
It's the wrong typewriter.
So it's not him? It's not him.
Your brother's been cleared.
Thank you.
It's not him! It's not Ted! Ted Kaczynski is not the Unabomber! Oh, god.
Oh.
[KEYBOARDS CLACKING.]
[TELEPHONES RINGING.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Three months you've been back here.
Three months Of sleepwalking.
Half an eye on that manifesto there, the other half on the fax machine.
You're like a teenage girl waiting for her ex to call.
He dumped you.
Move on.
Fitz You are capable of great things here, but not until you let Unabom go.
I've been where you are right now.
I know.
I know that it seems like more than a case right now.
But it's just a case.
And I say, from experience, let it go.
Yeah.
JIM: There's nothing.
There's nothing by him.
This is all you got? WOMAN: I weeded out, like, the grocery lists and stuff.
Well, this is garbage.
It's not here.
There's a million-dollar reward.
You realize how much crap we get in? [CLICK, DIAL TONE.]
Oh, I see.
You're all gonna gang up on me.
WOMAN: You know that's not what this is about.
MAN: You have three parents now.
And we want to make sure we're all saying the same thing.
[CHILD WAILING.]
WOMAN: To unpack.
[CHILD WAILING.]
MAN: My dream is for you to [ LAUGHTER.]
It's still okay if you want to come live with me.
- Hey, negro.
- What up, brah? Yo, look.
A long-ass letter come across your desk? Evidence slip says it's not a match.
I'm about to bag it up and send it back to the lawyer.
Why? It's the wrong typewriter.
It's not from the Unabomber.
Hey.
Ernie? Can you put your headphones on and look the other way for like 10 minutes? That's "do not distribute.
" It can't leave this room.
If the boss catches you with that or finds out I let you Look.
It's on me.
You looked away.
Please.
This goes into the safe at 3:00.
Thank you.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
I'll get my daughter! Do not try any kind of rescue.
Do you understand me? You would jeopardize the lives of the vice president and everyone else in the arena.
Believe me.
We know what the hell we're doing.
[PAGER BEEPING.]
Our agents are entering the arena.
- You stay where you are.
- Excuse me.
We are gonna do this by the numbers.
[ SCREAMING.]
[TELEPHONE RINGS.]
- Where have you been? - It's later here.
I'm at the movies.
There's a 23-page letter going through right now.
It's "do not distribute.
" It was sitting in the fax machine tray at the B.
A.
U.
Shit, dude, if I get caught All right.
I'm going there now.
Hey.
Just gonna run to work.
I'll be back before it's over.
- Okay.
- Okay.
- You guys okay? - Yeah, we're fine.
Keep an eye on him.
[BEEP.]
[BEEP.]
[BEEP, WHIRRING.]
"Human beings will become dependent On technology" "beginning of this already Inability of people to avoid boredom" [WHIRRING, BEEP.]
"Let us first consider the solution" Sketched by Perry London in his book 'behavior control.
' "this solution makes a convenient example.
" "disseminate it among the population at large.
People can then use this technology" "disseminate it among the population at large.
People can then" "Continued scientific progress will inevitably result in the extinction of individual Liberty.
" "Technology," "freedom," "control.
" It's him.
Are you sure? I-i wouldn't It's him.
It's an outline of the manifesto.
It's the same ideas in the same order and the way he writes, his intellect.
It is identical! It's identical! S-so, what's his name? What's the name?! I don't know.
Some D.
C.
lawyer anonymous.
Look, it's DND.
You got to shred your copy.
- What lawyer?! - I don't know! Okay? Just please let me go through the proper cha Just find out! I don't care how! 'Cause this is him! This is him! This is the man! And the man that wrote this letter, he is the Unabomber! You hear me?! Fitz? You there? What's happening? Fitz? Why the hell would you abandon your children? I was only gone one minute.
I was coming right back.
What how long have I been? It's been 4 hours.
Danny's in the car crying.
Are you coming? [CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
You're seriously trying to argue that the famously anti-technology Unabomber has two similar but not identical typewriters? Look.
I know what forensics said, but the language of that letter is really similar to the manifesto.
The ideas are laid out in a similar way, and I really Yeah, I read it.
Uh, I didn't see it.
You know something concrete that I missed? Yeah, you got an "analyze" with an "s" or a "willfully" with one "l", one of your other special spellings? It's a steel trap.
Well, no.
Not exactly.
It's just the overall.
Look, I just think that this is a strong lead that we should go down the road with! Track down the writer, do some interviews.
I don't think you understand the backstory.
It's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
And it's a letter that forensics has said conclusively is not a match.
It's a hornets' nest, Tabby.
Why you kicking it? Hey, yeah.
It's Francine in accounting.
I got an incomplete billing record here.
Uh, one of Anthony Bisceglie's cases.
Hey, are you coming with us tonight? "While you were sleeping.
" Opening night.
You should come.
Uh, record number 31040.
I need an address.
I mean, Peter Gallagher, right? Thanks, hon! See ya later.
Bad move, Tabby.
Bad, bad move.
[RINGING.]
- Tabby.
- Fitz.
[BREATHES DEEPLY.]
How sure are you about this letter? Because, uh I am completely certain, Tabby.
Anything and everything you get out of this has to go through me.
You do not talk to anyone at the UTF without coming to me first and making a plan.
I swear I will not even breathe without going through you.
All right? Okay.
Got a pen? Perry Avenue, Schenectady, New York, 12301.
Thank you.
I could have got these.
You know that.
You didn't have to.
I don't really want you You know, inside here.
Let me finish this case.
When I want to get this guy And I'm gonna get this guy we should put it all back together, just start over.
You don't even realize you were wrong, do you? What you did to those boys You know what, Jim? Boys and I we're gonna be okay.
We're gonna be fine.
Everything's gonna work out for us.
But unless you stop now, I don't I don't know how all this ends for you.
I really don't.
I-it's not the case.
It's you.
[ ROCK 'N' ROLL MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO.]
[ CLASSICAL PIANO PLAYS.]
WOMAN: In the early morning, otherwise partly cloudy skies in the Albany area with highs around 65 and lows dipping into the 50s.
MAN: Overnight at a gas station in Schenectady.
Police at the scene [THUNDER RUMBLES.]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR.]
Hi.
I'm supervisory special agent James Fitzgerald.
I'd just like a word.
May I come in? Um, wh I-I'm sorry.
What is this about? Uh It's about the letter.
Can I come in? I'm sorry.
I don't know how you got my name or my address, but I'd appreciate it if you get off my property right now.
I'm so sorry to tell you this, but I read the letter you submitted, and the man who wrote that letter is the Unabomber.
You Is Th is this a joke? I mean, w-who Who the hell are you? What are y I'm the profiler.
I was assigned the investigation.
- I can explain everything.
- You, you're the profiler? - Well, well your boss.
- If you just let me in.
Just called my attorney to communicate that the FBI had ruled out my brother as a suspect, so I don't know what you're doing here Your brother? He's your brother? He's your brother? Get off my property! I came forward, I did what was right, and he was cleared! David? David, he's your brother? [VEHICLE DOOR OPENS.]
JIM: The FBI have gotten thousands of letters sent in.
Mothers turning in sons, wives turning in husbands, brothers across the country turning in brothers, just like you.
Now, I know you thought it was all over and me being here is your worst nightmare, but I read every piece of writing that came in.
I read thousands of possible leads.
I only knocked on one door! Stop harassing me, or I'll call the police! [HORN HONKS.]
One door your door! If you're an FBI profiler, you know they're looking for an airline mechanic who is around 45 years old and he is uneducated.
He does not fit that profile at all.
That's not the profile.
Well, then why are your bosses on "Charlie Rose" - saying, "this is the profile"? - It's it's wrong.
It's oh, oh, the FBI profile's wrong and they stand behind it? And and your boss, he He rules out my brother's letter, but he's wrong, too.
Everybody's wrong, except for you.
Yeah.
You know, I I counsel at-risk kids, okay? And the first thing I tell them If everybody in the world seems crazy except for you and you're the only sane one, right? It's time to take a hard look in the mirror.
You knocked on the wrong door.
And I am done.
You need to leave me alone, please! I'm please! And get out.
- Why don't you listen to my profile? - I come on, man! Why don't you listen to the real profile? And if it isn't a match for your brother, you can drive out of here in good conscience and you never have to see me again.
He's 50 to 55 years old.
He was raised near Chicago.
Read the Chicago Tribune as a boy.
He got his PHD between '67 and '72.
Sometime after that, he just got cut off from the world.
There's no TV, no pop culture, no close friends, no romantic relations.
Nothing.
Just isolated.
He's smart, patient, extremely precise.
And he's angry.
He's just thin-skinned, takes offense easily, and he lashes out at those that he loves 'cause he's got no one else in his life.
He feels underappreciated, victimized.
He's sidelined by his lesser-talented peers.
He's lonely.
He longs for human connection.
But he can't find it.
And it is tearing him apart.
So you talked to Linda? She she you've been talking to her about my brother? Is that she contacted you.
I don't know who she is.
I don't know who you are.
I don't know your brother.
I don't know anyone in your life.
I do know the Unabomber.
I know him like I know myself.
Uh uh Um Ted.
[THUNDER RUMBLES.]
His name is Ted.
DAVID: Okay.
This is Ted.
That's the Unabomber.
I don't see any resemblance.
I mean, not at all.
And I've looked at the sketch for for hours.
It's not the Unabomber.
What what do you It's an eyewitness sketch.
The woman at Rentech, she Yeah, the woman at Rentech, the only person to ever have seen the Unabomber.
See, the day after the Rentech bombing, she described the Unabomber to a local sketch artist.
The sketch was published and was so close that the Unabomber went into hiding for six years.
But that isn't the sketch.
In 1994, 10 years after the Rentech bombing, the head of the task force decides he wants a new sketch, so he sends a new sketch artist to the eyewitness, and this time, what the eyewitness describes is that sketch.
And it is iconic.
It is the most famous police sketch in history.
But it's not the Unabomber.
See, the second time around, the eyewitness was describing the original sketch artist this guy.
Some crazy thing in the human memory.
She was remembering remembering the Unabomber.
And she had spent Yeah, think about it Three seconds looking at the Unabomber.
But she spent the whole afternoon with him, the sketch artist.
And over time, the faces blend together.
What about the original sketch? What does that look like? Oh, my god.
Is this where he lives? David, is this where he lives? Oh.
That's the cabin we built together.
He's a mathematician.
He designed the cabin to a perfect mathematical ratio.
There's no electricity or running water.
It's, uh it's perfect simplicity.
It's western Montana.
It's the middle of nowhere.
It's really beautiful.
He just lives off the land.
He forages, hunts for food.
Has a little garden.
I think he lives off something like $400 a year.
He's got no job? He does odd jobs here and there, but he lives about as far outside the system as as anybody can this day and age.
You know, a lot of people, even my wife, they They look at that and they think he's He's crazy.
He just has the courage to live according to his ideals.
I respect that.
Yeah, I do, too.
But it was a bit of a push/pull situation, Ted going to live out in the woods.
He was pulled out there by his ideals, but there was a push, too, not long after this photo was taken.
So what was the push? He eventually ran out of money living out there, and he came back to Chicago to get a job.
I got him work at this phone factory that my, uh, father worked at I was a foreman there that summer.
Anyhow, there was a girl there he had a crush on.
Her name was Ellen.
He asked her out.
They went on a few dates.
I think they went apple-picking, baked a pie in my mother's oven, but Ted is not great with people, so she told him she didn't want to see him again.
Think she was cordial about it, but when I showed up to work the next day, there were, um "Certain young lady named Ellen whose fanny is very repellin'.
" The place was covered in these.
These dirty limericks.
They were all about Ellen.
Must've been 150 of them.
They were everywhere.
JIM: I mean, anonymous messages is his weapon.
It's the Unabom in miniature, right down to the typewriter.
Ted?! I fired my brother, uh, and that's really when he made his break.
He took his last paycheck, and he went out to the cabin for good.
- You still see your brother? - No.
- You still contact him? - No.
- Call him, visit? - He doesn't have a phone.
We used to write until a few years ago.
I mean, he sent me so many letters.
He would send me another one before I could even respond.
I probably have 100 of them.
Hundreds.
I'm gonna have to see those letters.
I'm gonna have to see every letter that you have.
Some are them are, uh, at my Abri in Texas.
It's a small cabin I used to live in out there.
The rest are are at my mother's.
She's nearby, so we could go get those.
We can go get 'em.
We'd have to tell my mother that [Inhales deeply Her son, uh, is And I'm the one that [CHUCKLES.]
That I'm the one that turned him in.
You know, you said there were other mothers and brothers who came forward, but, um It's my brother.
My brother's the Unabomber.
Do you know what would happen if it was someone else? 99% of them would just let it go.
They would have lacked the courage.
They would have lacked the awareness to make that call.
They would have let fear get in the way of doing what was right.
And we would never, ever know who he was, and we would never be able to stop him.
The world is lucky that it was you.
And you have to take that burden of guilt and suffering so that the rest of us can sleep safely at night, and it is the most anyone can give.
[DOOR OPENS.]
LINDA: Hey! [DOOR CLOSES.]
What's going on? Yeah, so, if it's him, then he must be stopped.
Because his victims, they all had mothers, too.
But he was such a happy boy.
He he was so gentle with you, so loving.
Don't you remember? So where did I go wrong? What what happened? Did something happen to him at Harvard? He would never tell me.
But I always felt like something changed inside him there.
Or maybe when he was a little boy.
Or when? Is there no answer? Ted wrote all of these? Yes.
These go back 30 years.
[BRAKES SQUEAL.]
- The spelling checked out? - Diction's right on.
It's him.
It's just I need to present this to the U.
T.
F.
, and I need to make them see it, too.
Okay.
We can do this.
We need to go through Ted's handwritten letters His language, his ideas And then find points of comparison in the Unabomber's manifesto.
Yeah, and his life, too.
We work out his history, who he is.
Does it match the timeline? Does it match the profile? [WHIRRING.]
It's him.
Do we have it? We have him.
[LAUGHS.]
we have him.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
- Wait.
- Whoa.
What are you doing? Well, y-you said you left your wife.
- I just thought that - Yeah, I did.
But Wow.
Sorry.
Thank you.
"Thank you"? You show up here why? You leave your wife, you come all the way across the country to me.
Why? What are you even doing here? You here for me or are you here for him? Is that what I am to you? Some accessory to get you closer to him? [SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE.]
I'm gonna go walk the dogs.
You can let yourself out.
Holy crap.
- Hey.
Where's Tabby? - I don't know.
Where's Tabby? Tabby! STAN: Hey! Double hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?! You told me to put a name on the board, so I'm putting a name on the board.
Told you to put a name on the board three months ago! This is him.
This is the Unabomber.
Theodore Kaczynski.
Hold on, Stan.
You got five minutes.
Go.
Meet Ted Kaczynski.
He's born in 1942 outside Chicago, makes him 53.
He's got an IQ of 167.
He's a bona fide genius.
He attended Harvard on a full scholarship at age 16.
Got a PHD in mathematics at the University of Michigan in '68, which correlates with the formatting of the manifesto.
His dissertation was brilliant.
It won prizes, got published.
Just it was so advanced, only four or five mathematicians in the world could understand it.
But this plays into his need to be listened to and acknowledged as a profound genius thinker.
Now, he taught at Berkeley for two years before he withdrew into the woods in Lincoln, Montana.
Built that cabin with his brother.
Ted went back and forth from Chicago, but he moved there permanently in 1980.
He's living the life that he describes in the manifesto Free from technology, completely alone.
Yeah, but a lot of people live like that, and a lot of people have big degrees and grew up in Chicago.
So he fits your profile.
That's great.
That does not make him the Unabomber.
You're right.
Except in 1971, he wrote a document that could only be described as a trial run at the manifesto.
It mirrors the manifesto point by point.
It's the same order of ideas.
It's the same preoccupations.
It's the same linguistic idiosyncrasies.
Where'd you get this letter, Fitz? His brother.
His brother read the manifesto when we published it, and he recognized the ideas, which is why we had it published in the first place, right? Plus, look.
He gave me hundreds of letters to analyze.
There's more coming from his place in Texas in the next couple of days.
Look.
I compared his writings to the manifesto, and I found dozens of similarities.
I also used Kaczynski's letters to map his movements for the past 20 years, and they track closely with the Unabom events.
He's familiar with Salt Lake City, Chicago, and the bay area the Unabom nexus.
And he feels safe at universities, which is why he can plant the bombs there personally.
He fits the profile.
He fits the timeline.
The language is a match.
I got him.
Ted Kaczynski's the Unabomber.
Kaczynski's not tier one.
He's not tier two.
He's not even in our initial pool of 15 million.
Computationally, he's not a suspect.
He's 1,500 miles away.
Every single Unabom letter, every single Unabom package came from the bay area, right? So you're telling me he drove three days every time he wanted to mail something? He doesn't have a car.
Took a bus.
Took a bus.
It could explain why all his letters came in batches.
That's always confused me.
He'd send a bunch of letters and two mail bombs all together at the same time, and then he'd disappear for months until the next burst.
We have to be very, very careful about this.
Unabomber or not, this guy's got guns, knows how to live off the land.
So best case, he's a flight risk.
Worst case, we're talking "Ruby Ridge" Montana edition.
Stan, set up a stakeout in Lincoln, Montana, and get eyes on the cabin.
Let's see if we can find his bank records, set up a mail cover.
If he is taking a bus, there's got to be a record of it.
- Yeah, I'm on it.
- Fitz, what are your next moves? Oh, I would love to mine these letters for linguistic evidence to prove that Ted wrote the manifesto.
Good.
Andy, I want you to sit down with Steve Freccero.
He's our D.
O.
J.
Liaison.
Start figuring out what we need to feed a federal judge to get inside of that cabin.
From now on Ted Kaczynski is Unabom suspect number one.
Ted Kaczynski.
That's it.
Fitz.
Now, uh, if I remember correctly, this letter came here with a "do not distribute" cover.
Now, you were at the B.
A.
U.
When it did.
Care to shed some light on that little mystery? Did you just screw me? All right.
Got some work to do.
Come on, Fitz.
I told you you had to run - everything by me.
- I tried to find you.
I stuck my neck out for you.
Look, I can fix this.
Tabby, I can fix it.
I looked up to you.
I wanted to be you.
[CHUCKLES.]
When you came, it was like someone finally saw me, you know? Saw my potential.
I wasn't just "Tabby the street agent," - who stumbled behind a desk.
- Hey.
You know, I thought I could do something cool, be something more.
But you used me and you screwed me over.
[SIGHS.]
Well, you did break protocol.
You did send the document.
You know, when you sent the address, what'd you think was gonna happen? You're leaving a trail of burnt-out corpses in your wake, man.
It's gonna catch up with you.
You know, at the end of the road, you're gonna have nobody by your side.
Right.
[SCOFFS.]
Thank you.
We have to save Ted.
Whatever it takes, no matter what we have to do or say, we have to save his life.
MAN: There it is.
TED: Dear David, I find myself at a strange crossroads in my life, and I am in need of some fraternal advice.
A certain activity, which has been very time-consuming for nearly the entirety of my adult life, now seems to have become no longer necessary.
I've been living on anger my whole life.
It is all that has sustained me.
David, I need to know How do you know if it's too late to change? How can you tell if it's still possible to begin again?