Family members of computer magnate John McAfee said they were taken by surprise by a recent Netflix documentary that alleges McAfee staged his own death.
On June 23, 2021, only hours after his extradition to the US was authorised, McAfee, who was 75 at the time, was allegedly discovered hanging in his cell at Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 in Barcelona.
I am a phantom parasite, wrote the computer entrepreneur who created the eponymous anti-virus software but had just $4 million in wealth at the time of his death.
I want to be in charge of an imaginary future. Janice McAfee, the ex-wife, said she doesn’t think the message was written in her late ex’s handwriting.
Additionally, he compared himself in Twitter to Jeffrey Epstein, a prisoner whose suicide in 2019 sparked conspiracy theories, which created more questions about the cause of his death.
According to charges made by his estranged ex-girlfriend Samantha Herrera, John McAfee faked his death, according to a new Netflix documentary titled “Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee” that was published on Wednesday.
I’m not sure whether I should mention this, but two weeks ago, after his passing, I received a call from Texas saying, “It’s me, John.” I bought individuals to lie about my death, but I am not dead.
The documentary’s director, Charlie Russell, expressed scepticism to Esquire, saying, “I don’t know what I believe and I don’t think she does.”
She says that, then she turns to face the camera, and I’m unsure whether she believes it to be true or not. She was one of the people that was furious with John.
Family members of John McAfee said they weren’t in touch with him before he passed away and were taken aback by the documentary.
The Sun quoted Shelley Uden, McAfee’s Welsh cousin, as saying, “We had no knowledge a TV documentary on John was being created.”
It surprised us since the producing business hasn’t contacted us. However, I’m eager to watch it. I’ll find a method to see it despite the fact that I’m a pensioner without Netflix.
John McAfee had a “very colourful” life, according to Uden, who also expressed her sadness upon learning of his passing by saying, “If he did take his own life, we may never know why.”
Since his passing, McAfee’s corpse has been kept in the freezer of the jail mortuary for seven months.
Janice McAfee, McAfee’s ex-wife, called for a “thorough inquiry” into his death last year, claiming that her ex-husband did not seem suicidal during their final conversation.
After retrieving her husband’s possessions in June, she told reporters outside the jail in Barcelona, “His final words to me were “I love you and I will contact you in the evening.”
Because of a legal dispute between his ex-wife and daughter, Jen, who is only identified as “Jen” for her privacy, and his ex-wife, McAfee’s corpse was kept in the prison mortuary for seven months throughout the ongoing cause-of-death investigation.
It is unknown when McAfee’s corpse will be removed from the jail mortuary, where it has remained since his death, after the past week’s determination of his cause of death.
Joy Athanasiou, the attorney for Jen, told MarketWatch that she hoped to speak with Janice McAfee’s attorney, Javier Villalba, on Monday to go through the matter.
Athanasiou told MarketWatch, “At this moment, we don’t really know anything other from the verdict.” It’s been a protracted, odd process,
In October 2020, McAfee was detained at the Barcelona airport after the issuance of a warrant by Tennessee prosecutors who sought up to three decades in jail for the suspected evasion of more than $4 million in taxes.
Other well-known detainees, including the architect of one of Catalonia’s worst corruption schemes and a former Barcelona politician, have resided in the jail where he was discovered dead.
When contrasting it with American jails, McAfee had suggested it was similar to “the Hilton.”
While coroners in other nations conduct and decide on cause of death investigations, in Spain, death reports are produced as part of a judicial system that is presided over by a judge.
McAfee’s ex-wife and daughter are still fighting over who will get custody of his remains.
According to reports, Jen wanted her father’s remains to be burned and sent to the United States, but she has now renounced her claim to avoid additional delays in her father’s burial.
The specific reason Janice wants to claim the mogul’s corpse is unknown, although a report from Money Trading Club in July 2021 suggested the conflict was tied to inheritance.
Along with the authorities, McAfee’s family, notably Janice, is also interested in the issue of his inheritance. Janice maintains that McAfee may not have committed suicide as Spanish officials discovered.
According to the report, Janice McAfee initially claimed to be his wife despite the fact that they were divorced, and his daughter, who is reportedly from his first marriage and is now in her 50s, claims to be his only biological child despite the fact that McAfee had previously asserted that he had at least 47 descendants.
The world’s first commercial anti-virus software was created by British-born McAfee, who was once known as “the craziest guy in IT.”
More simply, the prime minister of Belize, where McAfee established a fortress residence and became a worldwide wanted man, referred to him as “bonkers.”
In conversations with author Mark Eglinton, who authored a book about the eccentric millionaire’s effort to elude capture by U.S. federal officials, he disclosed the degree to which he squandered his riches.
In Eglinton’s book, John McAfee claims that he spent all of his $100 million money on “bizarre” houses and was in fact bankrupt when he passed away in a Spanish jail.
In October 2020, McAfee was detained at the Barcelona airport after the issuance of a warrant by Tennessee prosecutors who sought up to three decades in jail for the suspected evasion of more than $4 million in taxes.
His extradition to the United States had been approved by Spain’s National Court the day before he was discovered dead, albeit the decision had not yet been made.
At the time, Janice McAfee told reporters, “We already had a strategy in place to challenge that ruling.” ‘I blame the U.S. government for this tragedy: My spouse is now dead because of these politically driven allegations against him.
I don’t think he did this, and I’ll find out, she said.
The pair wed the next year after meeting in Miami in 2012. Janice McAfee claimed that John McAfee had multiple children from prior unions.
The businessman had no connections to the organisations who purchased the antiviral software he developed after selling his shares in the 1990s. McAfee became wealthy as a result of his early success, which continued throughout his rocky career.
Despite the Spanish government’s insistence that there was no sign of foul play, conspiracy theories have been stoked by McAfee’s prior tweets declaring that he would never commit himself “a la Epstein.”
“I’m happy here,” I said. I’ve got buddies. Good meal is served. It’s all good. Know that it will not be my responsibility if I hang myself, like Epstein did,’ McAfee tweeted on October 15, 2020.
Additionally, his official Instagram account shared a picture of the letter “Q” minutes after his death was confirmed, perhaps making a reference to QAnon.
Since then, several bizarre conspiracy theories have surfaced, one of which holds that the IT expert turned on a so-called “dead man’s switch” to reveal the government.
Theorists speculate that the enigmatic “Q” image sent to McAfee’s Instagram account shortly after his death may be a sign of a covert encryption.
When the owner of the gadget passes away, a “dead man’s switch” is triggered.