Janice McAfee, the widow of tech impresario John McAfee, is still in mourning. “She's doing odd jobs to feed herself,” she's out of money, and she still doesn't know what happened to her husband.
Since the death of crypto guru and anti-virus pioneer John McPhee in a Barcelona prison two years ago, she has been living in an undisclosed location in Spain, saved from homelessness only by the kindness of her friends.
In September, a Catalan court ruled that John McAfee had died by suicide and that the case had been successfully closed, because she did not know what had happened to her husband.
In an exclusive interview with Zoom magazine, she explained her current situation.
“For more than two years, not only have I had to deal with the tragedy of John's death, but it is very difficult to continue with the authorities' refusal to examine his body. I tried and tried, but they won't let me see it.
“There is the possibility of an independent autopsy, but it would cost €30,000, and I don't have the money to pay for it. What I want is to see the body for myself and know that it really happened.
“It's hard not having the money myself to make the decision to find out what really happened, but I hope that giving this interview will give people a chance to find out what's really going on. “There are still people who can't believe that he died,” she said.
This video was taken at John's 75th birthday party in Spain. I've been behind the camera filming but I'm happy to put the camera down to dance!
It looked so beautiful that night. That smile, how I miss that smile.
Today we celebrate you John David❤🕊 pic.twitter.com/MDgvbd4tgY
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) September 18, 2023
Table of Contents
ToggleWhat happened to John McPhee's $100 million fortune?
Although John Although McAfee was worth more than $100 million after he left his antivirus company in 1994 and sold his stock, his official net worth was down to $4 million at the time of his death, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
In the year He filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2019 saying he has no money and can't pay a $25 million court order. But the following year, he was arrested in the US for tax evasion, where authorities found he and his team had earned $11 million from promoting cryptocurrencies. From prison, he told his 1 million Twitter followers that he has no hidden crypto. “I don't have any. But I don't regret anything.
According to Janice, her husband had no will or estate, so there is no money, and it is highly doubtful that any financial inheritance will be passed on to her because of the judgments against him in America.
There are stories of secret caches and documents, but Janice was deliberately kept in the dark by her husband (about the “secret treasure”) so she wouldn't be in danger. She has many unanswered questions about John's current end.
“I don't think things would have ended the way they did, and I didn't. I don't know if he killed himself. After he was arrested near Barcelona, we talked every day. I don't know how it was arranged.”
“I don't know if it was a rope or a shoelace. that he was alive when they found him in the prison report; He had a pulse and was breathing when they found him. A weak heartbeat, but a heartbeat is a heartbeat.”
When Janice was found in his cell with a noose or a shoelace around his neck, he couldn't believe that the paramedics there had tried CPR without first removing him.
“I went to school to be a nurse's aide, and I know how to do CPR. Even in movies, it's the first thing you do. Clearing the airways.”
“If someone has something tight around their neck, that's the last thing you can do. The first thing is to remove the obstacle, but you can see the video from the prison that did not happen. I don't know if it's negligence or stupidity; It just feels bad. But now I'm just guessing, and I don't want to do that.
Janice McAfee is scared after John's death.
After her husband died, Janice feared for her safety. Although John tells her that the authorities are only after him, not her, she still worries that she will be a target for others.
“John always assured me that he wouldn't tell me anything that would put me at risk. That was a consolation. He was public about the 31 terabytes of data he apparently had, but he never shared that with me, and I don't know where it is or if it even exists.
I have collected files on corruption in governments. I am calling out names and details for the first time. Let me start with a corrupt CIA agent and two Bahamian officials. He will come today. If I'm caught or lost, 31+ terabytes of painful data will be released to the press.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 9, 2019
But now I feel safe. I have nothing to hide, and I don't even know how he died, let alone what he was. I can have some peace if an autopsy is done by an independent body. There is an opportunity to do this, but it is very expensive.
I first met Janice and John at the 2018 Blockchain Conference in Malta. As in the crypto world at the time, it was chaos – but good chaos.
I interviewed him on stage, and it wasn't my finest hour, or maybe it was. There was something about being next to him that touched me and made me walk more casually on stage. Maybe that's what he can do, kind of Svengali.
John was drinking whiskey on the side of the stage but he was polite and polite. Janice was with him, waiting for him from thousands of people who wanted to talk to him.
When I interviewed her in Armenia, she reminded me of Kim Kardashian – calm, collected and zen-like about her face. I immediately liked and trusted Janice.
Later, after the on-stage interview, I was approached by a husband and wife camera crew who were working on a documentary on crypto that was nearing completion but would love a word with John. can i help
I wasn't sure, but I texted Janice, and she said it was okay; John seemed to like me. I was invited to the Ben House suite and convinced the armed guards outside their room that I could vouch for my companions. Again, not something I do every day.
John laughed when he saw me. “You again, for f–k sake!” But he was polite to a husband and wife team and invited me to join him on a private boat in Valletta harbor that evening.
That's what happens on private yachts, but we became friends there and then, mainly because I was the only one, as John said, “not blowing smoke.” More invitations follow – especially when he's on the run from an island off North Carolina.
We stayed in touch, and I did a couple of interviews with him during the outbreak while I was doing the podcast. When I reached out to Janet on Twitter/X to see if she would be interested in doing her first interview, she said that John considers me a friend and would be happy to do so.
Read more
Main characteristics
Cryptocurrency trading addiction: what to look for and how to treat it
Main characteristics
What happened to EOS? Community shots for an unlikely return
Janice McAfee still wants to recover the body of John McAfee
So that's the background to this interview, but more importantly the journey since then. Janice is determined to follow John's wishes, that if he dies, he wants his body to be cremated.
“The body is in the mortuary of the prison where he died. I don't know why they decided to take his body. They don't need it. Two years ago, I had money for an independent autopsy; “I had the money a year ago, but now I don't.”
Also Read: ‘Holy shit, I saw that!' – Coldie's Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs: NFT creator
“I survive doing small jobs here and there to feed myself. That's not what's important. The main thing is what can I do for John? I'm not a victim – John was a victim – and I need the autopsy report, not to continue the fight with the Spanish authorities, but to find out what happened to him.”
I wanted to share my thoughts on the judge's denial of my appeal to release John's autopsy last year.
20 months is a long time to wait but at least the decision has been made and I can finally start the long journey to move forward. pic.twitter.com/24kikiU9pV
— Janice McAfee (@theemrsmcafee) October 5, 2023
I explained to Janice that his understanding was that John had run out of time and had come to the end of the road. An extradition order was issued to the US just hours before his death, and it will no doubt be difficult for him in an American prison.
American officials don't like people who poke their noses, and he could be an example. Wouldn't it make perfect sense for a proud man to destroy himself in some ways?
“We have never talked about this. hardly ever. When he tells me he wants to be burned, it's because he knows there are people who want him killed, but that's not the case.
“I don't want to be on one side or the other. Just tell me what the body says. I'm not trying to find justice – there's no such thing on this earth anymore. I just want John's wish to come true.
Janice is an American citizen, but it is clear that she is in no rush to return to the United States without knowing what her status is.
John McAfee Netflix Documentary
A Netflix documentary called Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McPhee was released last year and showed her and John on the run, which Janice doesn't think represents the real story.
It was more of a tale of the journalists themselves who tried to evoke the public's emotions and failed. When their focus should be on the true story of why McPhee is being called a fugitive…or why Janice stayed with him.
I made this piece about 5 years ago.
Now after nearly 5 months of imprisonment I am trying to change my isolation from my loved ones and society.
If you want to hear my heart in music, listen. pic.twitter.com/IJc6gMyciX
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) February 17, 2021
“People forget quickly, and I understand why because the world moves so fast these days. I just want him to be remembered right, and that's the least he deserves.”
Janice wants closure. She wants to burn her husband, remember him fondly, and work out what to do next.
I hope she gets her wish. Everyone deserves a chance to move on, and Janice McAfee more than most.
Subscribe
A very engaging read in Blockchain. It is given once a week.
Monty Munford
Monty Munford writes regularly for the BBC, The Economist and CT AM and was a technology columnist for Forbes and the Telegraph. He also runs a growth and visibility consultancy and has appeared at over 200 events and conferences, interviewing the likes of Tim Draper, the late John McPhee, Sir Tim Berner-Lee, Steve Wozniak, Kim Kardashian, Guns N' Roses and many others. .
Follow the author @montymunford
