April 3, 1996: The Day The Unabomber's Reign Of Terror Ended

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It's been 20 years since the Unabomber's reign of terror came to an end, leaving two Sacramento residents among his victims.

Theodore Kaczynski injured 24 people and killed three people, including two in Sacramento. For decades he was one of the most wanted criminals in the United States.

April 3, 1996 was the day he was finally sniffed out from the backwoods of Montana. The former Harvard graduate and one-time UC Berkeley math professor had been in hiding after orchestrating a 17-year campaign of terror.

He would send homemade bombs to victims, targeting in part anyone having to do with the advancement of technology.

That included Sacramento computer store owner Hugh Scrutton who was killed while attempting to pick up a package left outside the back door of his business on Howe Avenue.

Retired ATF agent Nina Delgadillo remembers it well.

"It was nevertheless impactful because someone had died, and little did I know what was to lay ahead," she said.

The unabomber would kill another Sacramento man a decade later. Gilbert Murray was president of the California Forestry Association.

A year earlier, New York ad executive Thomas Mozier was killed picking up a package outside his New Jersey home.

Kaczynski eluded capture for nearly two decades until his desire to seek the spotlight shine a light on where he might be.

After reading a 56-page manifesto Kaczynski sent to well-known newspapers, his younger brother told the feds where they might want to look—a 10-foot by 12-foot cabin in Montana.

Under his bed, they found another device they say he was getting ready to send.

He pleaded guilty to sending 16 mail bombs. The 73-year-old is serving a life sentence in Colorado.