Who was John McAfee? True story behind Running with the Devil

The film explores McAfee's downfall through never-before-seen footage of the billionaire on the lam and, while he died in June last year, the final scene of Running with the Devil implies otherwise.

But who was John McAfee and why was he trying to hide from the authorities? Here's everything you need to know.

Who was John McAfee?

John McAfee was a computer programmer and businessman, best known for founding anti-virus software McAfee.

Born in Gloucestershire, McAfee was raised in Salem, Virginia by his British mother and American father, who was an "abusive alcoholic" and shot himself dead when McAfee was 15-years-old, according to BBC News.

McAfee went on to study for a PhD in mathematics at Northeast Louisiana State College, however he was expelled from the programme in 1968 after entering into a relationship with an undergraduate student, who later became his first wife.

He began his career working as a programmer for NASA's Institute for Space Studies, then moved on to become a software designer at Univac, then to Xerox as an operating system architect, and later he worked for Lockheed.

In 1987, he created McAfee Associates after learning about the Brain computer virus made for the PC and created an antivirus software – VirusScan – that would detect and remove it.

He later sold McAfee to Intel for over $7.6 billion, however the billionaire later told BBC News that he never used any of the McAfee products.

"I'm constantly under attack, yet I use no software protection," he said. "I protect myself by constantly changing my IP [Internet Protocol] address, by not attaching my name to any device I use, and by not going on to sites where you might pick up a virus."

Outside of McAfee software, the entrepreneur founded other ventures including instant messaging programme Tribal Voice and invested in firewall software company Zone Labs.

By 2009, he was living in Belize where he started herbal antibiotics company QuroumEx and believed that plants in the country contained ingredients that would stop bacteria from sending chemical signals to one another.

However, after the venture was poorly received by the press, microbiologist Allison Adonizio left the project and in April 2012, Belize's Gang Suppression Unit raided the research facility.

What happened to John McAfee?

John McAfee first went on the run in 2012 after his neighbour Gregory Faull was found dead from a gunshot wound on 11th November. The police began searching for McAfee, who was a person of interest in the case.

According to The Times, Faull had disliked McAfee's dogs who were constantly barking, with McAfee revealing that he was afraid the police would think he was responsible for the killing and subsequently buried himself in a shallow trench of sand with a cardboard box over his head for several hours.

He went on the run with his 20-year-old girlfriend Samantha Venegas, as well as Vice reporters Rocco Castoro and Robert King, fleeing to Guatemala. 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.

After being arrested and taken to await deportation to Belize, McAfee appeared to suffer two minor heart attacks – however, he later told CNN that he faked the heart attacks to buy his lawyer time to file appeals preventing his deportation to Belize. He was subsequently deported to the United States in December 2012.

Whilst in the States, McAfee hit the headlines after posting a YouTube video titled How to Uninstall McAfee Antivirus, in which he made fun of the company's software while snorting white powder around women.

In 2015, he announced his presidential bid as a candidate of the Cyber Party before changing to the Libertarian Party, coming second in the primaries and third at the 2016 Libertarian National Convention.

However, in 2019, McAfee went on the run once again to avoid tax evasion charges, with the entrepreneur going to live on a boat with his latest wife Janice Dyson – and in October 2020, he was arrested in Spain and formally indicted the following year.

On 23rd June 2021, the Spanish National Court authorised his extradition to Tennessee and shortly afterwards, McAfee was found dead in his prison cell, having seemingly killed himself at the age of 75.

What is John McAfee's net worth?

While John McAfee had sold his company to Intel for over $7.6 billion, The New York Times reported that his personal fortune had fallen from $100 million to $4 million in 2009, after the financial crisis of 2007-2008 affected his investments.

Meanwhile, Celebrity Net Worth reported that at the time of McAfee's death, his net worth was still $4 million.

Is John McAfee dead?

While John McAfee was officially declared dead on 23rd June 2021, with an official autopsy confirming that he died by suicide, there are some who believe he could still be alive.

In Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, his ex-girlfriend Samantha Venegas claims that he got in touch with her 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 said.

Meanwhile, McAfee's ghost writer Alex Cody Foster told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview that he received a notification on the Telegram app a month after McAfee's death, alerting him that his number had joined the app.

"I was like, 'What in the world? This is weird.' So, I texted the number and I was like, 'Hey, you're using a dead man's phone? Who are you?' And they read the message and didn't respond."

He added: "Soon after, that number just got wiped, so I thought a number of things could have happened – like someone has John's phone, Janice [John’s wife] has John's phone, or maybe John has John's phone. I don't think I'll ever know."

Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee arrives on Netflix on Wednesday 24th August. Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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