Janice McAfee, the widow of technology executive John McAfee, is still grieving. She’s working “odd jobs to make a living,” her funds are tight, and she still doesn’t know what really happened to her husband.
After her husband, cryptocurrency expert and anti-virus pioneer John McAfee, died in a Barcelona prison more than two years ago, she stayed in an undisclosed location in Spain and was rescued from homelessness by the kindness of her friends.
Despite a Catalan court ruling in September this year that John McAfee committed suicide and the case is effectively closed, she can’t go any further because she still doesn’t know what happened to her husband.
In an exclusive Zoom interview with the magazine, she explained her current situation.
“Not only have we had to deal with the tragedy of John’s death for over two years, but the authorities have refused to release the autopsy of his death, making it so difficult to move forward. I tried and tried but they wouldn’t let me see it.
“There is an opportunity for an independent autopsy, but it would cost €30,000 and I do not have the money to pay for it. All I want is to see his body for myself and know if it really happened.”
“It’s difficult because we don’t have the money to make decisions to find out what actually happened. But I hope this interview gives people a chance to find out what’s really going on. “I still have people contacting me who don’t believe he is dead,” she says.
This video was filmed at John’s 75th birthday party in Spain. I was behind the camera but was happy to put it down to dance!
He looked amazing that night. That smile, how I miss that smile.
Congratulations to John David today❤🕊 pic.twitter.com/MDgvbd4tgY
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) September 18, 2023
What happened to John McAfee’s $100 million fortune?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, John was worth more than $100 million after resigning from antivirus company McAfee and selling his stock in 1994, but his official fortune was down to about $4 million at the time of his death.
He claimed in 2019 that he had no money and could not pay a $25 million court order in a wrongful death lawsuit. However, he was arrested for US tax evasion the following year, with authorities claiming he and his team made $11 million by promoting cryptocurrencies. From prison, he told his one million Twitter followers that he had no hidden cryptocurrencies. “I have nothing. But I have no regrets.”
According to Janice, her husband has no money because he has no will or inheritance, and there is little chance that a judgment against him in the United States will leave her with any financial inheritance.
There are also stories of secret caches and documents, but Janice was deliberately kept in the dark (allegedly “secret treasure”) by her husband to keep them out of harm’s way. She also has many unanswered questions about John’s untimely death.
“He didn’t think things would end the way they did and neither did I. I don’t know if he committed suicide. We have talked every day since he was imprisoned near Barcelona. “I don’t know how he was tied up.”
“I don’t know if they tied it with laces or shoe laces. Jail reports say he was still alive when they found him. When they found him, he had a pulse and was breathing. He has a faint pulse, but a pulse is a pulse.”
Janice can’t believe that when he was found in his cell with a string or shoelace tied around his neck, the medical staff there appeared to have attempted CPR on him without first removing it.
“I went to school to become a nursing assistant and I know how to do CPR. Even in movies, the first thing we do is clear our airways.”
“If you have something tight around someone’s neck, that’s the last thing you can do. The first thing to do is to remove the obstruction, but if you look at the prison footage you will see that this is not the case. I don’t know if it was negligence or foolishness. It just feels ominous. But now I’m guessing and I don’t want to do that.”
Janice McAfee was horrified after John’s death.
After her husband’s death, Janice feared for her safety. Although John told her authorities were after him and not her, she still worried that she would be a target for others.
“John always assured me that he would never say anything that could put me in danger. That was comforting. He has been open about 31 terabytes of information he appears to have in his possession, but he has never shared it with me and I have no idea where it is or whether it actually existed.”
I collected files on government corruption. For the first time, I am mentioning names and specifics. Let’s start with a corrupt CIA agent and two Bahamian officials. It’s coming today. If I were arrested or disappeared, over 31 terabytes of incriminating data would be released to the media.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 9, 2019
“But I feel safe now. I have nothing to hide, and I don’t even know how he actually died, let alone what he owned. Having an independent autopsy would have given me peace of mind. “There is an opportunity to do that, but it is expensive.”
I first met Janice and John at a blockchain conference in Malta in 2018. Like the cryptocurrency world at the time, it was chaos, but good chaos.
I interviewed him on stage, which may or may not have been my finest hour. There was something about him that affected me and made me behave more carefree on stage. Maybe that was something he could do. It seems to be some kind of Svengali.
John was drinking whiskey at the side of the stage, but he was cool and clear. Janice was with him and she protected him from the thousands of people who wanted to talk to him.
She reminded me of Kim Kardashian when I interviewed her in Armenia. She had a calm, composed, almost Zen-like appearance in front of her. I immediately liked Janice and trusted her.
Later, after the on-stage interview, I was approached by a husband-and-wife camera crew who were making a nearly-complete documentary about cryptocurrency, but they wanted to talk to John. May I help you?
I’m not sure, but I texted Janice and she said it was okay. John clearly liked me. I was invited to a penthouse suite and convinced the armed guard outside the room that he could vouch for the people I was with. Again, this is not something I do every day.
John smiled at me. “It’s you again, to fuck you!” But he was polite to his husband and wife team and invited me to join him on his private yacht in Valletta harbor that evening.
What happens on a private yacht stays there, but we became friends there. Mainly because, according to John, he was the only one who “didn’t blow smoke up my ass.” Additional invitations followed. Especially when he was still on the run incognito when he was invited to an island off North Carolina.
We stayed in touch, and I conducted a few interviews with him while working on the podcast during the pandemic. When I contacted Janet on Twitter /
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Janice McAfee still wants to recover John McAfee’s body.
This is the story behind this interview, but more importantly, the journey from now on. Janice decides that if she dies, she will follow John’s wishes for her body to be cremated.
“His body is still stored in the morgue of the prison where he died. I don’t know why they decided to hold on to his body. They don’t need it. Two years ago, I had the money for an independent autopsy. “I had money a year ago, but now I don’t.”
Also read: ‘Oh my God, I saw that too!’ — Coldie’s Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs: NFT Creators
“I make a living by doing small jobs here and there. That’s not the point. What matters is what I can do for John. I am not a victim. John was the victim. He needs the autopsy report, not to continue fighting against the Spanish authorities, but to find out what really happened to him.”
I wanted to share my thoughts on the judge’s denial of my appeal filed last year for the release of John’s autopsy report.
20 months is a long time to wait, but at least a decision has been made and we can finally begin the long journey forward. pic.twitter.com/24kikiU9pV
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) October 5, 2023
I shared with Janice my perception that John was running out of time and had reached the end of the road. An extradition order to the United States was issued just hours before his death, and it was sure to be a difficult time for him in an American prison.
American authorities don’t like people who stick their noses, and an example would have been made. In some ways, his apparent suicide didn’t make complete sense to the proud man?
“We never talked about it. always. He said he wanted to be cremated, but he knew there were people who wanted him dead, so he did, but that wasn’t the point.”
“I don’t want to be on either side. Tell me what your body is saying. I am not seeking justice. There is nothing like that on this planet anymore. “I just hope John’s wish comes true.”
Janice is a U.S. citizen, but she doesn’t know what her status is, so she’s naturally in no rush to return to the United States.
John McAfee Netflix Documentary
Netflix documentaries Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee It was released last year and depicts her and John as fugitives, which is not what Janice believes is representative of the real story.
It’s more of a story about journalists themselves who tried to sensationalize public figures but fell short. They took center stage when they should have focused on the real story of why McAfee wanted to become a so-called fugitive, or why Janice was staying with him.
I composed this piece 5 years ago.
Now, after nearly five months in prison, that note reflects my isolation from the people I love and the society I’m trying to change.
If you want to hear my heart through music, listen. pic.twitter.com/IJc6gMyciX
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) February 17, 2021
“People forget very quickly. I understand why, because the world moves so fast these days. “I just want him to be remembered properly, that’s the least he deserves.”
Janice wants closure. She wants to cremate her husband, remember him with love, and wonder what to do next.
I hope she gets her wish. Everyone deserves the opportunity to move forward, and Janice McAfee does so more so than many others.
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Monty Munford
Monty Munford writes regularly for the BBC, The Economist and City AM, and is a technology columnist for Forbes and The Telegraph. He also runs a growth and visibility consulting firm and has appeared at more than 200 events and conferences, interviewing figures including Tim Draper, the late John McAfee, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak, Kim Kardashian and Guns N’ Roses. .
Follow the author @MontyMonford