Jamie Gehring - Madman in the Woods

Praise for Madman in the Woods

I imagine that at every dinner party, when the subject of strange neighbors comes up, Jamie Gehring wins every single time. Thats a good thing for readers. Not only does Ms. Gehring have a story to tellin this case about growing up within a stones throw of Unabomber Ted Kaczynskishe finds a way to use his reign of terror as a pathway to her own self-discovery. No easy task. Madman in the Woods is the kind of book I live for... one that drives me through the drama of a story but gives me the unvarnished heart and soul of the storyteller. This one is a winner.

Gregg Olsen , bestselling author of If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

Combining the observations of a one-time close neighbor with extensive research and empathy for the many lives affected , Jamie Gehrings book might well be the best attempt yet to understand the strange life and mind of my brother, Theodore J. Kaczynski.

David Kaczynski , author of Every Last Tie: The Story of the Unabomber and His Family

Jamie Gehring has written a fascinating account of unknowingly growing up in an isolated rural area near the nations most wanted serial bomber and domestic terrorist. Her exhaustive research and numerous interviews of Kaczynskis neighbors and Lincoln, Montana, townspeople give her account a unique perspective. I believe Madman in the Woods is a must-read for true crime aficionados.

Max Noel , retired Unabom investigative supervisor and arresting agent, and coauthor of Capturing the UNABOMBER: The FBI Insiders Story

Every time a madman commits a ghastly crime, TV reporters find that dumbfounded neighbor who swears, He was such a nice boy. It only proves that we cannot see through the darkest windows, no matter how close we get. But Jamie Gehrings compelling, smartly written memoir peers through the smoky glass of memory to glimpse a complex lunaticand her own reflection. This is a worthy addition to our canon of intimate crime stories.

Ron Franscell , USA Today bestselling author of The Darkest Night and ShadowMan

I was captivated by Gehrings memoir of a rural Montana childhood abruptly divided into before and after the arrest of the hermit next doorTed Kaczynski. Her search for the truth about her family, Kaczynski, and the evil within that familiar cabin in the woods is riveting.

Liza Rodman , author of The Babysitter: My Summers with a Serial Killer

Jamie Gehring sets off on an epic quest across the Big Sky landscape of Montana into the heart of a murderer and her own soul. In doing so, she gives voice to those who live behind the headlines. And what an extraordinary voice it iscompassionate, challenging, unerringly honest, and always poetic. Both universal and deeply personal, this is not just true crime, its true life. It will linger in the imagination long after the final page has been turned.

Mick Grogan , writer and director of the Netflix documentary Unabomber: In His Own Words

Gehrings Madman in the Woods is a captivating look at Ted Kaczynskithe Unabomberfrom a perspective that no one else on the planet has. It is insightful, unique, and fascinating! A must-read for all true crime fans and anyone who loves to know the real story behind the story.

Jim Clemente , retired FBI supervisory special agent/profiler and writer/producer of the Audible Original Series Where the Devil Belongs

Copyright 2022 by Jamie Gehring

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For more information, email

Diversion Books

A division of Diversion Publishing Corp.

www.diversionbooks.com

First Diversion Books edition, April 2022

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-635768-16-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-635768-18-3

Printed in The United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress cataloging-in-publication data is available on file

To my angelsmy father for your light, my sister for shining it.

Contents

Preface

Got up at dawn. Heard coyotes howling in the distance.
The woods seemed so entrancing in the early grey light.

Kaczynski Journal, FBI Public Documents

N ature encourages us to be exactly as we are. Bring your darkness or your light, you have a place under the tall pines. The skills we learn in the wild can promote resilience, purpose, character, and appreciation for self and for the natural system as a whole. In my innocence, I was nurtured and inspired by lessons from the natural world.

At no time during my childhood did I lack adventure. There was always a towering pile of sawdust from the mill to climb, a trail to explore, a horse to ride, or time to sit and marvel at the cooperation of ants. I was able to turn a puddle into a mysterious swamp or a fallen tree into a mossy, yet magical, kingdom. My father embraced the art of free-range parenting before it became a hashtag. I would be set free with a raft and an oar, to lose myself in the wonder of a beaver dam or an isolated mountain lake. The inherent comfort of solitude in nature was in my culture, my blood, and my family history.

What I didnt realize as I grew up in the woods surrounding our home was that we shared them with the longest-running domestic terrorist in United States history.

Approximately a quarter mile as the crow flies from our log cabin, through the pristine woods in Lincoln, Montana, lived my neighborTheodore J. Kaczynski. My entire childhood was spent in endless exploration of a backyard held in common with the Unabomber. During the time in which he was our neighbor, Ted killed three and injured twenty-three innocent people over a span of seventeen years. Those seventeen years in which he was hunted by law enforcement would prove to be the most expensive criminal investigation in the history of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.

To me, he was just Ted or sometimes Teddy. I had fond memories of early interactions with him. However, after I became a parent myself, I felt compelled to examine those memories and make sense of a childhood that was layered with truths much different from what appeared on the surface. What was he doing and thinking during that time when we were neighbors?

I viewed a serial killer through the eyes of a child. There was kindness in Ted in those early years; I saw it firsthand. How did Ted extinguish that compassion in order to kill? Did others see the softer side of Ted, that vulnerability of being human, which I witnessed as a little girl? How did these beautiful woods nurture and inspire me while cocooning and darkening my neighbor? Why was I fond of Ted as a little girl but feared him as a teen? Was I ever in danger?

I needed answers to these lingering questions.

As an adult, I couldnt help but wonder if my neighbor was misunderstood. Would I find that he was a champion for the environment, albeit a mentally ill one? Did he believe he was sent here to save us from ourselves? Possibly a brilliant mind that, once dissected, would provide solutions for the same technologically obsessed society that he despised? I wanted to find some kernel of good in all of this tragedy.

My first stop on this journey of exploration was my local library in Denver, Colorado. I approached the librarian, whom I had known from Baby Storytime. She had seen me holding my infant, singing, and quieting his cries.

Hello. Nice to see you. I really enjoyed class yesterday. May I please have every book that has been written about Theodore J. Kaczynski... otherwise known as