The corpse of pioneering software developer and suspected killer John McAfee remains unclaimed in a Spanish morgue a year after his passing while his family presses for answers in his mysterious death.
McAfee was awaiting extradition to the U.S. on tax evasion charges when he was found dead in a Barcelona prison cell. 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.
“It’s difficult to put into words what life has been like this past year,” McAfee’s widow, Janice, tweeted Thursday.
John McAfee's corpse still in Spanish morgue a year after his death https://t.co/AY6xY3yNsI pic.twitter.com/A06Ee84VfE
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 23, 2022
McAfee had been jailed for eight months after being arrested in Spain following years on the lam from U.S. law enforcement. His death was deemed a suicide, but McAfee’s widow said he was not suicidal. She is circulating a petition to prompt Spanish authorities to release his body, according to Reuters.
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.
McAfee later told Wired he fled the island home out of fear for his own life – from whoever killed Faull, as well as local police.
“I thought maybe [whoever it was who shot Faull] were coming for me,” he told the magazine. “They mistook him for me. They got the wrong house. He’s dead. They killed him. It spooked me out.”
“Under no circumstances am I going to willingly talk to the police in this country. You can say I’m paranoid about it but they will kill me, there is no question.”
In 2015, Vienne Robinson, assistant superintendent of the San Pedro police department in Belize, told FoxNews.com that law enforcement was actively searching for McAfee.
“We are looking for him in connection with the murder,” Robinson told FoxNews.com.
McAfee, who was never criminally charged in Faull’s death, fled Belize, but was later arrested in Guatemala and deported to the U.S. Faull’s family sued him for wrongful death in a Florida civil court. McAfee was ordered to pay his survivors $25 million.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free hotline for individuals in crisis or distress or for those looking to help someone else. It is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.