Software engineer John McAfee faked his death last summer and is living in the United States, his ex-girlfriend claims without evidence in a new Netflix documentary that is set to air tomorrow.
“I don’t know if I should say, but two weeks ago, after his death, I got a call from Texas: ‘It’s me, John. I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead,’” ex-girlfriend Samantha Herrera claims in the documentary “Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee.”
McAfee was awaiting extradition to the U.S. on tax evasion charges when he was found dead in a Barcelona prison cell, The Daily Wire reported. The 75-year-old developer created the first commercial anti-virus software, which bore his name, but led a bizarre life fueled by drugs and conspiracies, and was widely suspected of killing a neighbor on the tropical island where they lived.
Herrera claims without evidence that McAfee told her that “there are only three persons in this world that know I’m still alive.”
Charlie Russell, who directed the documentary, was stunned by Herrera’s claim and did not know what to make of it.
“I don’t know what I think and I don’t think she does,” Russell said. “She says it, then she looks at the camera, and I can’t work out whether she thinks it’s real or not. She’s someone who was very angry at John.”
McAfee had been jailed for eight months after being arrested in Spain following years on the run from U.S. law enforcement. His death was deemed a suicide, but McAfee’s widow, Janice McAfee, said he was not suicidal. She circulated a petition to prompt Spanish authorities to release his body.
McAfee’s survivors believe the autopsy that determined the mercurial mogul had killed himself was flawed, and sought more study of his body. A judge denied the request, and the family has appealed that ruling. Meanwhile, McAfee’s body remains in the morgue pending the resolution of the case.
McAfee, who ran for president on a third-party ticket in 2016 and 2020, sold his software company in 1994 for a reported $100 million. He reportedly lost nearly all of his fortune in the financial crisis of 2008, but kept enough to live a lavish lifestyle on the Belize island of Ambergris Caye. In 2012, Belize police announced he was a person of interest in the killing of American Gregory Faull, 52, who was shot to death in his home near McAfee’s. Faull had allegedly complained about McAfee’s dogs.
Greg Wilson contributed to this report.