Antivirus pioneer McAfee found dead in Spain; Wife's recent post hinted at his worsening mental health

On Wednesday, after the Spanish High Court authorized the extradition of Antivirus Software Pioneer John David McAfee to the United States where he was to face tax fraud charges, as per a Reuters report, 75-year-old McAfee was confirmed dead by suicide in a Spanish prison.

According to CBS News, a statement from the regional Catalan government that didn't identify the tycoon by his name, said that a 75-year-old American citizen awaiting extradition to the U.S. was found dead at the Brians 2 penitentiary near Barcelona.

The statement further added that the security personnel at the prison tried to revive him but the jail's medical team finally declared him dead and certified accordingly. A Catalan government source familiar with the incident who was not authorized to be named in media reports confirmed to the Associated Press news agency that the dead man is McAfee, wrote CBS News.

MacAfee was arrested in Spain on tax evasion charges in October 2020. According to a New York Times report, he had fled from his home in Belize, a Central American country in 2012 to avoid a murder investigation. He resurfaced in Guatemala City a few weeks later, then largely dropped out of the public eye for years until 2016, when he tried to run as a Libertarian candidate for president of the United States, the NYT report added.

McAfee spoke openly of prison hostility, misuse of power

McAfee who was always active and reachable on social media described himself as an iconoclast, lover of women, adventure, and mystery, and founder of the famous McAfee anti-virus software. His thoughts on the micro-blogging site mainly revolved around software, coding, cryptocurrency, old age, government spying, and misuse of powers. He even wrote a "brutally honest advice" column for Loggia on Fire, an online magazine, and revealed many of his life's stories there.

The software genius often tweeted about the hostile life in prison. One of his late May tweets hinted at how prisoners often thought of easy means to take their life. "Today a man facing a difficult situation asked if I knew of painless ways to kill himself. Having little experience in such, I was of not much help. The amazing thing is that the tone of the discussion was like discussing the weather. Prison is a strange environment."

Post his death, one of his tweets from 2019 has resurfaced, attracting much attention in the online world. The tweet that pointed out his new tattoo, stated, "We're coming for you McAfee! We're going to kill yourself". I got a tattoo today just in case. If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd."

Mrs McAfee's recent post on Father's Day talks about his health in prison

Janice McAfee who identified herself as @theemrsmcafee on Twitter shared a Father's Day note on June 20 that spoke of how prison life had taken a toll on McAfee's physical and mental health but "he is undeterred from continuing to speak truth to power". The two-page note concluded with "Happy Father's Day John David, Father to many, loved by few".

In a Twitter thread in 2020, McAfee estimated that he had about 47 children, but said that this number would likely have been lower if DNA testing had been available when he was younger highlighted Heavy.com.

Dramatic attempt to capture McAfee?

Late in 2012, VICE editor-in-chief Rocco Castoro and photographer/videographer Robert King followed McAfee for about four days, documenting his life on the run. According to Vice's report from December 2012 'We Are with John McAfee Right Now, Suckers', Rocco and Robert followed John and released an exclusive preview footage of a forthcoming long-form documentary about his ordeal that would provide answers to many open questions and set the record straight.

His blog post around the same time on Whoismcafee.com assured his followers that he had faith in the upcoming Vice story and his perception of a "drug-crazed madman" is likely to change after his side of the story is out.

According to Wired, the photo captured by Rocco Castoro on iPhone 4s and published on the Vice page gave away McAfee's location through EXIF data. The Wired report further added that after this news became viral on Twitter, McAfee blogged that he had manipulated the Exif data on the image taken from his cell phone, and created a fake emergency so that the urgency of movement followed. At about the same time, Vice posted a new version of the photo with the GPS coordinates removed.