John McAfee’s ex-girlfriend claims he faked his own death

New Netflix documentary adds to conspiracy surrounding tech mogul’s death

John McAfee was found dead in a Spanish prison cell on 23 June, 2021 (Netflix/ Screengrab)

An ex-girlfriend of John McAfee has claimed that the cyber security pioneer faked his own death in a Spanish prison last year and is secretly living in Texas.

Samantha Herrera, who was McAfee’s partner while living in Belize in 2012, made the claims in a new documentary on the final years of McAfee’s life.

Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, released on Netflix this week, follows the controversial antivirus mogul as he flees Belize after being named a person of interest in the death of his neighbour Gregory Faull.

It then follows him on the run again in 2019 from US authorities, crossing the Caribbean and eventually to Europe where he was arrested at a Spanish airport. He died less than eight months later after allegedly killing himself in his cell.

“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,” Ms Herrera said, claiming that McAfee asked her to run away with him.

At the time of his death, McAfee was facing charges of tax evasion and fraud and was fighting extradition to the US.

In the final interview before his death, McAfee told The Independent that he never wanted to return to the US and believed there was “zero chance” that Spain would extradite him.

McAfee’s widow, Janice McAfee, reiterated on Wednesday why Texas would be an unlikely hiding place.

“Oh how I wish this were true,” she wrote on Twitter. “If John were alive I’m pretty sure he would not be hiding out in Texas.

“Texas is awesome, for sure, but John was being held in a Spanish prison because of trumped up charges against him from the IRS so I doubt he would choose to hide out in America. That would be silly.”

Ms McAfee disputes the verdict of suicide, claiming that the note found on his body was a draft of a tweet.

“There’s just too many things that have happened that just don’t add up,” she said in May. “They were so quick to rush the story of a suicide but yet they won’t give us the autopsy report, they won’t release his body... it doesn’t make any sense unless they have something to hide.”

Ms McAfee has launched an online petition calling for the release of his body, which remains in a Spanish morgue.