Software tycoon John McAfee willing to testify over murder – but not in Belize

Software tycoon John McAfee says he is willing to testify about the alleged murder of his neighbour in the Central American country of Belize last year.

As SmartCompany reported last year, John McAfee is accused of the murder of 52-year-old former Florida resident Gregory Faull.

McAfee told Reuters that while he is willing to testify in the US or any neutral third country, he refuses to return to Belize to testify.

“Of course not, because the deposition will be here in America. I’ve told the police in Belize that I will sit for questioning in any neutral country in the world … I just will not go to Belize,” McAfee says.

After making a fortune as an anti-virus developer during the 1980s, McAfee reportedly spent millions on building a 113-hectare yoga retreat in Colorado and invented a new pastime called “aerotrekking,” which involves flying light aircraft at very low altitudes over remote stretches of desert.

McAfee later moved from the US to a compound in Belize, reportedly hiring security guards and owning a wide array of weapons, with Faull living next door to the compound.

Following the move, McAfee reportedly spent time on chat rooms and message boards posting about his plans to purify certain types of hallucinogenic drugs. He is said to have become increasingly paranoid in the period leading up to the alleged murder, registering his computers under different names and changing IP addresses several times.

Faull reportedly died after filing a complaint with the local mayor about the “roguish behaviour” of McAfee, claiming the millionaire and his dogs were scaring local tourists. McAfee later shot the four dogs, claiming the animals had been poisoned by Faull.

Following the death, McAfee organised to have a body double arrested on the border of Mexico and Belize. Soon after, the colourful businessman revealed he was in the company of two journalists from Vice Magazine outside Belize, having left the country to place his 20-year-old partner, Sam, in a safe position after fearing she was “in danger of capture”.

McAfee was soon captured by authorities in the Central American republic of Guatemala for immigration law violations after fleeing across the disputed border between Belize and Guatemala, and was believed to be in a Guatemalan immigration detention centre.

However, a lawyer for McAfee revealed to the Associated Press on Tuesday that Guatemalan Judge Judith Secaida ruled the former anti-virus king’s detention was illegal, ordered him to be released, and gave him 10 days to put his immigration situation in order.

Soon after, McAfee returned to the United States.

For its part, Faull’s family says in a statement it is continuing to pursue justice in the matter.

“While continuing to grieve, the Faull family intends to pursue all possible avenues to ensure the individual or individuals responsible for the death of Gregory Faull are brought to justice.

“They are confident that with the tools available in civil discovery cases in the U.S. federal courts and with the information obtained in the criminal investigation in Belize, the true facts will come to light as to how and by whom Gregory Faull met his end.”