Kaczynski named in 1985 Ann Arbor bombing

Connections between the infamous Unabomber and former University mathematician Theodore Kaczynski have risen beyond speculation in the past few months. The most recent indictments against Kaczynski include the 1985 bomb sent to University psychology professor James McConnell.

Like the other three cases officially unsealed last Friday, the Ann Arbor indictment was a "John Doe" indictment, a sealed indictment that describes the crime, but does not name a suspect.

Ann Arbor FBI Director Greg Stejeskal said this indictment, sealed on August 15, 1990, may not meet the statute of limitations, which requires the charges be attributed to a suspect within a certain amount of time.

Stejeskal said unsealing the indictment means "we believe that Kaczynski is in fact the individual who's named in this indictment."

If the statute of limitations is met and the courts rule that the prosectution presents sufficient evidence to prove Kaczynski is the suspect named in the John Doe indictment, he could be brought back to Ann Arbor and tried for the bombing that injured McConnell's lab assistant, Nicklaus Suino, Stejeskal said.

Experts have previously speculated McConnell's behavior modification theories may have prompted the Unabomber, whose manifesto denounced much social theory and conformity, to mail a pipe bomb to McConnell.

But that couldn't have been the sole trigger in the bombing, said Susan Ayre, who worked with McConnell in the early 70s. "It had to be something more," she said.

Ayre said McConnell was an unusual professor who earned national acclaim for his research and radical experiments and social theories. Ayre said McConnell regularly invited his students to his house for gatherings. It is unknown whether Kaczynski was ever enrolled in one of McConnell's psychology classes.

However, with the other indictments mounting, and 18 years of Unabomber activity to scrutinize, it is unlikely that Kaczynski will be tried here for the Ann Arbor bombing, he said.

"I doubt that the prosecution would go to the trouble and expense of bringing him back here for trial," he said.

Despite the passage of time and the other indictments, Kaczynski should be tried, Ayre asserted.

"I think he should be tried for the crime," she said.

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