Anti-Virus Pioneer John McAfee Reportedly Wanted for Murder
|
|
A dockside view of San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye, Belize.
CREDIT: Adam Reeder/Creative Commons |
This story was updated at 2:25 p.m. Monday with additional developments. Scroll to the end of the text for updates.
John McAfee, who founded an anti-virus company that's now the second largest in the United States, is reportedly wanted for murder in the Central American nation of Belize.
The tech blog Gizmodo reported today (Nov. 12) that McAfee, 67, is a suspect in the death of fellow American Gregory Paul, who Gizmodo says "was gunned down Saturday night at his home in San Pedro Town on the island of Ambergris Caye."
There was no mention of the murder on Belizean news websites at midday Monday, and the only recent story about McAfee concerned a large donation of weapons he made on Oct. 30 to the San Pedro Town Police Department.
Last week, Gizmodo freelancer Jeff Wise posted a long investigative piece on McAfee, who moved to Belize a few years ago after losing much of his $100 million fortune during the 2008 stock market and real estate crashes.
Wise painted a portrait of McAfee as a crazed white man on the loose in Belize, throwing cash around to obtain women, guns and exotic drugs.
The piece filled out some of the mystery surrounding a raid in April on McAfee's home by Belizean police, but also explains that McAfee was charged with nothing after it was determined that the cash, weapons and chemicals found on the premises were legal.
"I was stupid enough to build right next to the highway, where people could see that I have stuff," McAfee told Wise. "So there have been, in the last year alone, eleven attempts to kidnap or kill me."
McAfee founded the anti-virus firm that bears his name in 1987. He was forced out of his management role five years later, but walked away with a substantial amount of stock.
The McAfee company is now a division of Intel Corp.
UPDATE: The local San Pedro Sun has posted a story about the case.
The story corrects the victim's name to Gregory Viant Faull, 52, formerly of Miami, whom it says was apparently killed by a single gunshot to the back of the head Saturday night or Sunday morning. A laptop computer and iPhone were said to be missing from Faull's residence.
McAfee is not named as a suspect, but rather as someone whom police believe "may be able to assist them in their investigation."
The story also says Faull "had a misunderstanding with a neighbor in the area" relating to "armed security intimidating residents along the beach."
McAfee apparently lived close to Faull and was not home when police arrived to question him.
