John McAfee

Ghostwriter Alex Cody Foster reveals what Running With The Devil left out of Netflix true crime documentary, and his own experience with tech mogul John ...

It's also somewhat teamed with unreliable narrators – the women who loved McAfee, those who downplayed their involvement, those who want to draw a line underneath it and move on and, for conspiracy theorists, those in power who are hiding what happened. But McAfee himself is another said narrator, considering he refused to acknowledge his children to Foster, even though he was tasked with telling his life story. He was found dead in his cell on June 23, 2021 in an apparent suicide, hours after an extradition order back to the US was put through for more tax evasion charges. Despite the adrenaline rush of being a guest witness to this life and lifestyle, everyone has a line that they draw. He never responded to me, and I think because he knew it was true. Despite being aware of previous accusations, this time felt different – with a direct line to those involved, forcing it from the periphery of 'something that might have happened' to something that, in Foster's opinion at least, almost certainly did. As a ghostwriter, Foster's work involved him writing as McAfee – and as a man who takes his work seriously, this involved months of interviews and time with him to write his point of view. He was so kind – he gave one of his security guys a house, a half-million dollar home. "I just could not have ever imagined that I would be living with him, going on the run with him, having a gun in a holster at my side because the Sinaloa Cartel is tailing us and might want to pick us up," Foster tells us. One of those who joined him was his ghost writer, Alex Cody Foster, who across a period of six months in 2018, came to know McAfee on an intimate level as he was tasked with writing his biography. Foster spent an estimated 35 days with McAfee over the course of six months, joining him for weeks at a time before returning to reality to write up what he'd learned. However, he adds McAfee never confirmed it in his presence, instead making numerous alternate accounts of the events of that evening.

John McAfee was a strange, eccentric figure, who helpfully allowed cameras to chronicle almost every beat of his frenzied, paranoia-filled flight from the ...

McAfee was clearly many things, and yes, a murderer might have been one of them. Russell clearly wants to use the grainy footage and up-close-and-personal exposure to McAfee's ramblings to replicate a sense of the man himself, but there's only so far that can go without weaving more useful context into the mix. In between, he somehow found time to mount a

Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, which was released on Netflix this week, chronicles the controversial antivirus mogul as he fled Belize ...

‘It’s me, John, I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead." "After his death, I got a call from Texas. “After his death, I got a call from Texas. [Sign up](https://www.independent.co.uk/newsletters?itm_channel=native&itm_campaign=footer&itm_audience=prospecting&itm_content=newsletters)for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter [ Change.org petition ](https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/john-mcafee-body-remains-spain-suicide-b2087383.html)calling for the release of his body, which is in a Spanish morgue. [ Spanish](https://www.indy100.com/search/?q=+Spanish) prison and is discretely living in [Texas.](https://www.indy100.com/search/?q=Texas)

A new Netflix documentary, Running With The Devil: The Wild World Of John McAfee, dives headfirst into a very strange story.

The events surrounding John's death have been shrouded in secrecy and I do not accept the suicide story that has been widely reported.” John McAfee's funeral plans have now had to be delayed for almost an entire year because of the lethargic behavior and attitude of Spanish officials.” lawyer told USA Today the claim was untrue, while his other legal counsel and family members have said his body remains in Spain." He was caught and held in prison in Barcelona until 23 June, 2021, when the Spanish National Court agreed to extradite him to face charges in Tennessee. Regardless, Janice is fighting for a second independent autopsy in the hope that it will reveal more about his death. While in prison, McAfee tweeted regularly (by writing down then reading out tweets he wanted written to Janice on the phone, including one that read: “I am content in here. The playboy millionaire inventor made a name for himself with his McAfee Antivirus computer software in the ‘80s, took the money he made and spent a fair deal of it on drugs and women, and then moved out to Belize. However, McAfee’s third wife, Janice McAfee, who features prominently in the documentary, believes it was not suicide. Rather than go in for questioning, McAfee went on the run to Guatemala. In 2019, he was on the run again, this time from the US government, for tax evasion. All the time, he kept making reference to information that he had on the Belizean government and a drug cartel, and how being privy to this information meant that they were trying to kill him. His ex-girlfriend, Sam, then reveals that she got a call from someone purporting to be John two weeks afterwards, who told her: “I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead”.

The entrepreneur, who was best known for founding anti-virus software McAfee, was living in Belize at the time before fleeing to Guatemala and returning to the ...

[subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article) and get the next 12 issues for only £1. Netflix is also available on [Sky Glass](https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?id=489797&clickref=radiotimes-1697726&awinmid=11005&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sky.com%2Fglass) and [Virgin Media Stream](https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?id=489797&clickref=radiotimes-1697726&awinmid=6399&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.virginmedia.com%2Ftv%2Fstreaming). [Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month](https://www.netflix.com/gb/). This is weird.' So, I texted the number and I was like, 'Hey, you're using a dead man's phone? John McAfee first went on the run in 2012 after his neighbour Gregory Faull was found dead from a gunshot wound on 11th November. He was subsequently deported to the United States in December 2012. I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead. I don't think I'll ever know." After Vice revealed McAfee's location by posting a photo which included the EXIF geolocation metadata, they moved bases once again before being arrested for illegally entering Guatemala. 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 said. "I'm constantly under attack, yet I use no software protection," he said. Here's everything you need to know.

John McAfee died by suicide inside a Spanish prison cell, an official autopsy confirmed, but the man who went on the run with him isn't so sure.

[McAfee’s death remains a mystery](https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/27/netflixs-new-true-crime-doc-literally-follows-man-on-the-run-from-murder-17077691/?ico=tag-post-strip_item_3_entertainment), and police are continuing to investigate the circumstances around his suicide, after he was found hanging in a Spanish jail cell in 2021. the Americans aren’t the most welcomed in European prisons.’ I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead. [Who was John McAfee and what happened to him?](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/23/who-was-john-mcafee-and-what-happened-to-him-17230417/?ico=more_text_links) Department of Justice for tax evasion, and had been on the run from authorities. [John McAfee’s ex-girlfriend claims he faked his own death with ‘pretend’ suicide after receiving mysterious call](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/24/john-mcafees-ex-girlfriend-claims-he-faked-his-death-with-pretend-suicide-17234526/?ico=more_text_links) [McAfee’s ex-girlfriend Samantha Herrera claims he faked his own death.](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/24/john-mcafees-ex-girlfriend-claims-he-faked-his-death-with-pretend-suicide-17234526/) [running for President as a representative for the Libertarian party in 2016 and 2020,](https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/24/john-mcafee-wild-life-of-the-gun-toting-drug-munching-tech-mogul-14821866/) and achieving the party’s best ever result. [arrested in Spain in 2020 ](https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/24/john-mcafee-wild-life-of-the-gun-toting-drug-munching-tech-mogul-14821866/)at the request of the U.S. [Netflix documentary, Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/23/what-is-running-with-the-devil-on-netflix-about-and-when-is-it-released-17230028/), cameraman Robert King joins McAfee on the run, first from the police in Belize after the murder of McAfee’s neighbour Gregory Faull, and later when McAfee fled the authorities again, and hid on a boat in Europe. [claiming to know the identity of the creator of Bitcoin, ](https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/18/gun-toting-drug-munching-tech-legend-john-mcafee-claims-knows-invented-bitcoin-9253024/)Satoshi Nakamoto, of which little is known. [Everything points to suicide](https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/29/john-mcafee-died-by-suicide-in-spanish-prison-cell-autopsy-shows-14844220/?ico=related-posts),’ reported El Pais when McAfee Antivirus Protection founder [John McAfee](https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/23/who-was-john-mcafee-and-what-happened-to-him-17230417/) was found dead in a jail cell.

Running With the Devil follows the confusing and chaotic final years of the creator of the eponymous antivirus software.

‘It’s me John, I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead.” In the final words of the documentary, ex girlfriend Samantha Herrera questions not just how he died, but Janice McAfee, who features throughout but is never directly interviewed by the filmmaker, claims that McAfee was not suicidal and has questioned the official narrative put forward by Spanish authorities. [Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) Where the actual truth lies is left up to the viewer to decide. “That’s when I realised, maybe John is capable of murder,” King says. “I will fabricate whatever reality I see fit to keep eyeballs on us,” he says. She recounts: “After his death, I got a call from Texas. Like many other contextual keystones, the film skims over the founding of his company, which he left in 1994 but is now worth more than $4 billion. Also onboard are drugs, bath salts, and “more alcohol than water”. this was our host that had gone mad.” To anyone not already familiar with McAfee, it soon becomes clear that he was far from “any average human”.

Netflix's John McAfee documentary, Running with the Devil, tells the true story of a computer programmer turned fugitive.

McAfee did not cooperate with questioning and instead went on the run from the police, claiming the Belize government was corrupt, out to get him, and that he feared police would kill him. Directed by Charlie Russell, Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee is a Netflix documentary that recounts McAfee’s years on the run, relying on footage shot by cameraman Robert King. After McAfee’s death, there was rampant speculation that his death was not a suicide—that McAfee had been murdered, or, perhaps, faked his own death. He has many stories of the people who are out to get him, from the Belize government to the Mexican drug cartel. The longer the film goes on, the more clear it becomes that McAfee is manic, paranoid, and unstable. I paid off people to pretend that I am dead, but I am not dead. From being wanted for questioning for the murder of his neighbor in Belize to McAfee’s own claims that the Mexican cartel was out to kill him, it’s a car crash you won’t be able to look away from. However, in 2012, McAfee became more famous for being a fugitive on the run from the Belize authorities. In October 2020, he was arrested in Spain on U.S. Then in January 2019 claimed he was on the run from U.S. evading American authorities, McAfee tells anyone and everyone they meet exactly who he is, complete with a, “Maybe you’ve heard of me.” But, as you’ll see from the film, McAfee’s life after he sold his tech company was far wilder than your average eccentric retired millionaire.

John McAfee may have murdered his own father, Netflix documentary Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee claims.

He was like, ‘How the f**k did you know that?’ He’d killed him and made it looked like a suicide. McAfee can be heard saying in one of Foster’s voice recordings: “I do want to change the world. until the point that I did something about it.” I didn’t know he said that. Watch the trailer here:

A new Netflix documentary, Running With The Devil: The Wild World Of John McAfee, tracks the late Silicon Valley entrepreneur's downfall.

Once in Guatemala, it turned out Sam’s uncle was not only a lawyer, but worked for the president of the country, so McAfee immediately hired him to take on his case, as he claimed the Belizan authorities were politically persecuting him. McAfee is shown being extremely jumpy and agitated, making the whole group leave hotels within seconds when he reveals he’s had a “tip off” that the authorities were on his tail. [ABC News](https://abcnews.go.com/International/john-mcafee-returns-us-admits-playing-crazy-card/story?id=17956463#.UMnVSKpfr48) that he had 'played the crazy card’: “It was a deception but who did it hurt? “I thought, ‘Oh, this will be fun’”, says Castoro in the film, “So I literally got on a plane with Robert... While on the run, McAfee did pretty much everything a fugitive shouldn’t do: wandered about freely, told locals who he was, and even more strangely, courted the press and conducted interviews with magazines like Wired. In 2012, McAfee was living on Ambergris Caye island, Belize, and had a falling out with his neighbour, Greg Faull, about McAfee’s dogs.

Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, released on the streaming platform this week, follows the controversial businessman as he flees Belize ...

[Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) It’s a weird, wild and mostly wacked-out story. [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. He died less than eight months later after allegedly killing himself in his cell. I love that s***.” [final interview before his death](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/john-mcafee-prison-interview-tax-arrest-spain-b1719716.html), McAfee told The Independent that he never wanted to return to the US and believed there was “zero chance” that Spain would extradite him. [claims that the cyber security pioneer faked his own death](https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/john-mcafee-fake-death-conspiracy-netflix-b2151425.html) and is secretly living in Texas.

Remember when John McAfee died last summer? According to one of his exes, that didn't really happen, and he's still alive today.

"His side of the story is that they’re after him because he didn’t pay off the government," Herrara said in the documentary. "She says it, then she looks at the camera, and I can’t work out whether she thinks it’s real or not." "I don’t know if I should say," Herrera told the cameras, "but two weeks ago, after his death, I got a call from Texas: 'It’s me, John. But it's very, very unlikely that McAfee is still alive. According to a dubious claim by one of his exes, it was all an elaborate hoax. [Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee](https://www.netflix.com/title/81327515)," McAfee's Belizean ex Samantha Herrera claims that the fugitive tech entrepreneur called her after his reports of his death by suicide in June 2021 and asked her to run away with him.

'Weird, wild and whacked-out': Netflix viewers react to shocking new John McAfee documentary · Register for free to continue reading.

[Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) It’s a weird, wild and mostly wacked-out story. [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. He died less than eight months later after allegedly killing himself in his cell. I love that s***.” [final interview before his death](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/john-mcafee-prison-interview-tax-arrest-spain-b1719716.html), McAfee told The Independent that he never wanted to return to the US and believed there was “zero chance” that Spain would extradite him. [claims that the cyber security pioneer faked his own death](https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/john-mcafee-fake-death-conspiracy-netflix-b2151425.html) and is secretly living in Texas.

What happened to John McAfee? A new Netflix documentary explores the life and death of antivirus genius turned criminal John McAfee.

GQ speaks to the director of a new documentary, Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, about the notorious anti-virus mogul: “Every time I ...