Widow of John McAfee, the antivirus software magnate who was reported last week to have committed suicide in his prison cell in Barcelona, said that her husband was not suicidal.
Janice McAfee, while speaking to reporters outside the prison, blamed the United States for her husband’s death, demanding answers on how it was able to happen.
While McAfee’s death is under investigation, his wife’s lawyer Javier Villalba says they are awaiting an official autopsy to be carried, after which the family still demands an independent one.
“I blame the US authorities for this tragedy. Because of these politically motivated charges against him. My husband is now dead,” Janice said in a statement.
“His last words to me were: I love you and I will call you in the evening,” Janice said. “He would have never quit this way, he would never take his life in this way, ever.”
Asides his last words to Janice, the news of McAfee’s reported suicide raises dust for questioning after a prison official who preferred to be anonymous told CNN that McAfee had a cellmate but was suddenly not in the cell around the time of his death. When asked if authorities had imposed special monitoring measures on McAfee in his cell, the official said, “I’m not aware of that.”
McAfee was arrested in October 2020 on tax evasion charges for hearing at the Federal court in Tennessee. If found guilty, he would have faced 30 years jail term. Pending the hearing, he had been jailed in Spain and by all means, hinted he didn’t want to be extradited to the United States for fear of political bias because of his open criticism of the IRS.
The Spanish judges approved his extradition to face charges for 2016, 2017 and 2018 tax years.
