Compare And Contrast Beltway Snipers

Beltway Sniper vs Unabomber
The heinous crimes that were committed by the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and the Beltway Snipers John Muhammad and Lee Malvo will be remembered for ages to come. Today, I am going to explain who the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski is and what actions placed him where he is today. Then, I will explain who the Beltway Snipers John Muhammad and Lee Malvo were and what actions got them to where they are today. Then I will explain how they differ, how their motivations differ, and if these factors determined how they selected their targets. Lastly, I will explain who committed some of their acts in the great state of Arizona. All too often in the modern world there are acts of terror and hate. Together we can learn and dissect the motivations that bring these actions upon us all, and together we can combat them to prevent loss of life.
The Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski didn’t start life as a bomber. He was a graduate of Harvard with close to genius level ability in mathematics (Johnston, 1998). He was also a former professor at University of California at Berkeley (The Unabomber, 2008). These are not qualities that most people would associate with someone who

commits the type of acts that we are speaking of today. The actions that landed Mr. Kaczynski in prison were a string of mail bombings that lasted 18 years and spanned the better part of the whole United States (The Unabomber, 2008). This string of bombings resulted in three fatalities and 24 more wounded (The Unabomber, 2008). The Federal Bureau of Investigations and multiple other law enforcement agencies were working tirelessly throughout this time to gather evidence and uncover leads to find out who the bomber was (The Unabomber, 2008). The big break in the case that ultimately got Mr. Kaczynski caught was when he sent the FBI a 35,000 word essay explaining some of his motives and what he believed was wrong with modern day society (The Unabomber, 2008). When the FBI received this manifesto from the bomber they took a chance by allowing the Washington Post and New York Times to publish it in hopes someone would be able to make the connection to who the bomber may be (The Unabomber, 2008). Ultimately the connection was made by these actions and David Kaczynski; Theodore Kaczynski’s brother suggested that it could be him (The Unabomber, 2008). His bombing campaign would come to an end on April 3rd, 1996 when he was arrested in his home that was a small log cabin in the mountains of Montana near Lincoln (The Unabomber, 2008). Within this small log cabin the investigators found one bomb assembled and ready to be mailed, numerous bomb making materials, and 40,000 hand written pages outlining some of his experiments and bombings (The Unabomber, 2008). Without the hard work of investigators and the bold call of allowing the media to publish the received document Mr. Kaczynski may never have been found in his remote location. Thanks to these efforts his 18 year bombing spree came to an end and the United States could rest easy, at least for a little while.
The Beltway Snipers were John Muhammad and Lee Malvo and once again they did not start their lives wanting to be murderers. John Muhammad served time in the Louisiana Army National Guard where he had some discipline issues (John Allen Muhammad Biography, n.d.). He later converted to Islam then joined the U.S. Army in 1985 and was stationed in Washington State and remarried after a previous divorce (John Allen Muhammad Biography, n.d.). After Muhammad left the military he had a rough few years with failed businesses and his wife filing for divorce, which subsequently turned into a restraining order and she took their 3 children with her (John Allen Muhammad Biography, n.d.). This began Muhammad’s downward spiral with countless negative interactions with law enforcement and immigration (John Allen Muhammad Biography, n.d.). Lee Malvo was from Jamaica, but the relationship between him and Muhammad didn’t start until Malvo moved with his mother to Antigua (Lee Boyd Malvo Biography, n.d.). Shortly after this he made his way to the United States and lived with his mother in Florida, but later moved to Bellingham Washington where his and Muhammad’s relationship began to really blossom (Lee Boyd Malvo Biography, n.d.). They spent much time together and Muhammad even trained Malvo how to shoot and put him on a strict diet and exercise plan (Lee Boyd Malvo Biography, n.d.). In late 2002 Muhammad and Malvo began their trip around the country killing people (Lee Boyd Malvo Biography, n.d.). Their major killing spree was around the Washington DC area with 10 victims killed and three critically injured and lasted from October 2nd, 2002 till October 24th, 2002 when they were captured (Deranged, 2012). What ultimately led to their capture was a phone call tip believed to be one of the men that explained they were responsible for a robbery and killing in Montgomery, Alabama a month prior (The Beltway Snipers, 2007). Their killing spree may have never come to an end without the phone call that led to the capture and the hard work afterwards.
Both of these instances of ruthless killing with no concern for human life had their own reasons. To begin, Theodore Kaczynski seemingly chose his victims at random but later we found that most of the victims were chosen through a library search (The Unabomber, 2008). In the 35,000 word essay that Kaczynski provided he stated that his motivations were personal revenge (Johnston, 1998). He also stated in that very same essay that he wanted to specifically kill a scientist, a big businessman, a government official, and a Communist (Johnston, 1998). The Beltway Snipers seemingly chose their victims at random just like the Unabomber. According to Malvo there is no explanation as to why they killed so many people and the only real indicator was that Muhammad had snapped when he lost custody of his children (Mataconis, 2012). It is believed though that the killings may have been a piece of a grand plan to get back at Muhammad’s ex-wife (Mataconis, 2012). Based on this information the attacks by both Theodore Kaczynski and the Beltway Snipers were similar in that there were no clear cut targeted people, they in fact were mostly random. Kaczynski had a type of people he wanted to target but they were not specific. The Beltway Snipers had a believed target, but none of my information can confirm that. They also differed in styles obviously Kaczynski made the bombs in his cabin and then mailed them, while the Beltway Snipers went somewhere and chose targets from that location. In both cases though the unreasonable disregard for human life is unacceptable and it joys me that they were all brought to justice.
The Beltway Snipers possibly committed one of their murders in Tucson, Arizona.

Jerry Taylor was playing golf on the Fred Enke Golf Course when he was shot possibly by Muhammad and Malvo (Manning, 2006). Malvo told authorities that he and Muhammad had shot a senator on a golf course in Arizona but obviously Taylor was not a senator (Manning, 2006). This incident happened in March of 2002 and it just so happened that Muhammad and Malvo were visiting Muhammad’s sister just around the time of the murder (Manning, 2006). With the information I have I can’t confirm if they in fact killed the Arizona man but with Malvo’s statement I feel like it can be inferred for now until it’s proven. In any case it is tragic that a man would be gunned down while practicing his golf game out in

public.
In the case of the Unabomber and the Beltway snipers any loss of life is unacceptable and of course the culprits should be held accountable. Today, we spoke about who the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski is and the actions that landed him in prison. Then, we spoke about who the Beltway Snipers John Muhammad and Lee Malvo are and what actions landed them in prison. We also spoke about how the two are similar and different. Lastly, we spoke of the Beltway Snipers connection to Arizona. To conclude, both were tragic situations in which bad people took the initiative to hurt innocent people. With the way technology and law enforcement are constantly evolving we can all hope that situations like this are things of the past, but as we all know too well crime is evolving right along with it so there will be new situations that must be adapted to as time moves forward.