John McAfee Plays Hide-and-Seek in Belize

DANIEL GUERRERO promised during his campaign for mayor here to clean up San Pedro, the only town on this island, a 20-minute puddle jump from the mainland. But if he ever runs for re-election, don’t expect him to mention that vow.

“I meant clean up the trash, the traffic, that sort of thing,” he says. “I didn’t mean this.”

“This” is a full-blown international media frenzy and the kind of mess that no politician could have seen coming. It started on Nov. 11, the morning that Gregory Faull, a 52-year-old American, was found dead, lying face up in a pool of blood in his home. He had been shot in the head. His laptop and iPhone were missing. A 9-millimeter shell was found nearby.

What happened next turned this from a local crime story to worldwide news: The police announced that a “person of interest” in the investigation was a neighbor, John McAfee, a Silicon Valley legend who years ago earned millions from the computer virus-fighting software company that still bears his name.

A priapic 67-year-old, with an improbable mop of blond-highlighted hair and a rotating group of young girlfriends, Mr. McAfee quickly melted into the island’s lush green forest. Then, for Belizean authorities, the real embarrassment began.

Asserting his innocence, Mr. McAfee became a multiplatform cyberdissident, with a Twitter account, and a blog at whoismcafee.com with audio links, a comments section, photographs and a stream of invective against the government and the police of Belize. He has done interviews on podcasts, like the “Joe Rogan Experience,” and offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of “the person or persons” who killed Mr. Faull. He has turned lamming it into a kind of high-tech performance art.

“I am asking all people of conscience to read this blog, especially the links in the ‘Background’ section,’ and see the ugly truth unfolding here,” he posted on Nov. 18. “Speak out. Write your congressmen. Write the prime minister. Do what you can.”

Before he went underground, Mr. McAfee led a noisy, opulent and increasingly stressful life here. He was known for the retinue of prostitutes who he says moved in and out of his house, and for employing armed guards, some of whom stood watch on the beach abutting his house. He also kept a pack of untethered dogs on his property who barked at and sometimes bit passers-by.

Two days before the murder, someone had poisoned a handful of those dogs. As it happens, Mr. Faull had complained about the animals, as well as the guards and the constant late-night inflow and outflow of taxis on the dirt path that runs behind his and Mr. McAfee’s homes — a path so tiny that it’s supposed to be off-limits to cars.

Mr. Faull had shown up at the town council office a few weeks ago with a letter decrying the din and the dogs, as well as Mr. McAfee’s guns and behavior. Nothing came of it.

“We were planning to meet with John McAfee and hand him the letter,” Mr. Guerrero said. “But it never happened. We were busy doing other work.”

In hindsight, that looks like a blunder. Mr. McAfee has since said on his blog that he had no choice but to flee because police and politicians in Belize are corrupt and eager to kill him. As proof, he has written at length about a late April raid that the country’s Gang Suppression Unit conducted at a property of his on the mainland, in a district called Orange Walk.

Some McAfee watchers have a different theory — namely, that he grew paranoid and perhaps psychotic after months of experimenting with and consuming MDPV, a psychoactive drug. These experiments were described in detail by Mr. McAfee himself, under the pseudonym “Stuffmonger” in a forum on Bluelight, a Web site popular with drug hobbyists.

So, here’s one hypothesis: Rich man doses himself to madness while seeking sexual bliss through pharmacology. Then shoots neighbor in a rage. Case closed, right? Ah, but those Bluelight posts were a ruse, Mr. McAfee would later blog, just one of the many pranks he has perpetrated over the years — part of a bet with a friend to see if he could create Bluelight’s largest-ever thread.

The Lede Blog: Software Entrepreneur in Hiding From Police Investigating Murder in Belize

John McAfee speaks with the editor of The San Pedro Sun, a newspaper in Belize, about the homicide investigation of his neighbor and why he is in hiding from the police.

John McAfee, founder of the antivirus software company that bears his name, told reporters Wednesday he had been in hiding for the last three days to avoid police questioning about the murder of his 52-year-old neighbor in Belize. The neighbor had recently complained to the authorities about Mr. McAfee’s dogs.

Belize police officials told The San Pedro Sun in Belize that they just want to talk to Mr. McAfee about the killing. Mr. McAfee has lived in Belize since 2008.

On Wednesday, the police arrested Mr. McAfee’s bodyguard and the bodyguard’s wife on firearms charges, a move Mr. McAfee said was intended to pressure him to come out of hiding. Mr. McAfee expressed concern to Joshua Davis, a reporter from Wired magazine writing about the case, and Tamara Sniffin, the editor of The San Pedro Sun, that, if he is found, the police will wrongfully accuse him in the killing of his neighbor Gregory Faull. Mr. Faull was found by his housekeeper on Sunday morning, lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to his head.

From his hiding place, Mr. McAfee called Ms. Sniffin, who posted a video of their conversation on YouTube.

Mr. McAfee has also been providing regular updates from Belize to Mr. Davis, who has been posting them on Twitter.

Police have charged McAfee’s British bodyguard and his Belizean wife of possessing a firearm and ammunition without a license.

— Joshua Davis (@JoshuaDavisNow) 14 Nov 12

McAfee just now: I don’t need a lawyer. I’m innocent.

— Joshua Davis (@JoshuaDavisNow) 14 Nov 12

Either way, McAfee says he has no intention of turning himself in for questioning as he believes he will not survive police custody.

— Joshua Davis (@JoshuaDavisNow) 13 Nov 12

McAfee says the police raided the house next door to where he was and he evaded them.

— Joshua Davis (@JoshuaDavisNow) 13 Nov 12

McAfee just called: He has changed locations. The police have not caught him yet.

— Joshua Davis (@JoshuaDavisNow) 13 Nov 12

“John McAfee is wanted for questioning only,” Assistant Police Superintendent Vienne Robinson told Jorge Aldana of The San Pedro Sun. “Information gathered strongly suggests that he may be able to shine some light into this investigation.”

According to a police report, Mr. Faull was found dead in the hallway of his home. His phone and laptop were missing. The report said that the police had not established a motive but were following “several leads.”

Mr. Aldana reported last May that the police raided Mr. McAfee’s home looking for drugs and illegal firearms. No illegal drugs were found, but the police did find illegal weapons.

Mr. McAfee said that the raid was part of an effort to get him to leave the country because he does not follow “the rules.”

Mr. McAfee sent an essay to Mr. Davis, describing Belize as a “pirate haven.”

“Belize is, today, still a pirate haven and is run more or less along the lines established centuries ago by the likes of Captain Morgan, Blackbeard and Captain Barrow: Plunder is the preferred means of wealth acquisition; Exploitation is the preferred formula for success; Brutality creates respect; Fear is the means of governance; Extortion is the method of collecting what is due. It’s a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules.

I am not fond of these rules however and I openly oppose them. This is the root of my struggle here in Belize.”