A judge has found that cybersecurity tycoon John McAfee committed suicide in a Spanish detention cell.
McAfee, 75, was discovered hanging in his cell at Barcelona’s Centre Penitenciari Brians 2 on June 23, just hours after his extradition to the United States was accepted.
According to MarketWatch, a court verdict last week confirmed the conclusions of the original autopsy that McAfee’s death was a suicide.
Authorities in Spain earlier stated that everything found in the tech mogul’s cell indicated that he killed himself, but his ex-wife Janice disagrees and has already filed an appeal, claiming the death was murder.
A suicide note was also discovered in McAfee’s pocket, according to an official source involved with the investigation.
‘I am a phantom parasite,’ claimed the tech entrepreneur, who founded the eponymous anti-virus software but was only worth $4 million at the time of his death. ‘I want to be in charge of my future, which doesn’t exist.’ Janice, on the other hand, said she doesn’t believe the note was written by her late ex.
Since his death, McAfee’s body has been kept in the jail morgue’s freezer for seven months.
Janice McAfee, McAfee’s ex-wife, wanted a “thorough investigation” into his death last year, claiming that her husband did not appear suicidal when they last spoke.
‘His final words to me were, ‘I love you, and I’ll call you.’
During the ongoing cause-of-death investigation, McAfee’s body stayed at the jail mortuary for seven months, as his ex-wife and daughter, who has been identified only as ‘Jen’ for her privacy, have been in a court struggle over his remains.
It’s unknown when McAfee’s remains will be transported from the jail morgue, where it has been since his death, after the cause of death ruling last week.
Joy Athanasiou, Jen’s lawyer, told MarketWatch that she intends to meet with Janice McAfee’s lawyer, Javier Villalba, on Monday to discuss the matter.
‘Aside from the verdict, we don’t know much at this stage,’ Athanasiou told MarketWatch. ‘It’s been a lengthy, odd process,’ says the author.
In October 2020, McAfee was arrested at the Barcelona airport on a warrant filed by Tennessee prosecutors who sought up to three decades in prison for allegedly evading more than $4 million in taxes.