Chances are you've heard of McAfee - it's the antivirus software of choice for many, but thanks to a new Netflix documentary, people are finding out all about how the founder of the company went into hiding after his neighbour was murdered, and ended up changing the course of his life forever.
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Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee tells the weird and wacky story of how the millionaire went on the run after being named a murder suspect - and invited a film crew with him. But where is John now? Is he really dead, or was it a hoax? Find out everything we know about the mystery below…
WATCH: Have you checked out the Netflix documentary?
While John McAfee was a well-known name in Silicon Valley thanks to his multi-millionaire cyber security business, it wasn't until November 2012 that he hit headlines when he fled his home in Belize in Central America after being named a person of interest in the suspicious death of his neighbour Gregory Faull.
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Instead of submitting to police questioning, the 67-year-old British-born billionaire decided to go on the run with his then 20-year-old girlfriend Samantha Herrera and VICE journalists Rocco Castoro and Robert King, who documented the whole crazy trip with videos.
© Photo: NetflixJohn McAfee created cyber security software McAfee
They managed to make their way to Guatemala but got into legal trouble when their passports were flagged as not being stamped on their exit from Belize, resulting in John being arrested. While awaiting deportation, he appeared to suffer two minor heart attacks, but he later told CNN that he faked the condition to buy his lawyer time to file appeals preventing his deportation.
© Photo: NetflixJohn went on the run in 2012 and again in 2019
In December 2012, he was deported but not to Belize, but the United States, where he was able to live a relatively normal life until 2019, when he found himself on the run again to avoid tax evasion charges.
He and his then-wife Janice Dyson crossed the Caribbean in his boat and eventually managed to reach Europe by October 2020 when he was arrested at a Spanish airport. Nearly a year later, the Spanish National Court authorised his extradition to Tennessee and shortly after that, John was found dead in his prison cell, having seemingly killed himself at the age of 75.
© Photo: NetflixJohn's ex-girlfriend Samantha claims he is still alive
As his wife Janice says in the documentary, she is convinced that John did not die by suicide and was killed, but this conspiracy theory has not been proven. Meanwhile, ex-girlfriend Samantha maintains that he got in touch with her after his alleged death and revealed that he faked his death in order to escape persecution.
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"Two weeks 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. There are only three persons in this world that knows that I'm still alive.' And then he asked me to run away with him," she recalled.
While questions still remain about the circumstances around John's death, it is interesting that his body hasn't been released by the authorities to prove once and for all what really happened to him, meaning we may never know.
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