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John McAfee Launches Blog, Offers $25K Reward For "Real Killers" 377

An anonymous reader writes "The IT security pioneer John McAfee has launched a blog to document his life on the lam, as Belize police chase him down for suspicion of killing a neighbor. McAfee is using the blog to state his case, raise suspicions about Belize authorities and to offer a $25K reward to find the real killer or killers. From the article: 'McAfee writes that he is on run with a 20-year-old female named Sam, photos of whom are in the blog, along with a post from her. McAfee says a handful of friends and associates have been rounded up by police over the past week or so. His posts are filled with dramatic descriptions of his actions (including returning to his home in disguise to find police digging up his dead dogs and cutting off their heads) and lay bare his suspicions about Belize authorities. '"
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John McAfee Launches Blog, Offers $25K Reward For "Real Killers"

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  • limkerickz (Score:5, Funny)

    by alphatel ( 1450715 ) * on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:05AM (#42027571)
    There once was a man from Belize
    Who neglected his bribery fees
    Accused of a murder
    He became a sheepherder
    Fighting for refugees!
  • by pr0nbot ( 313417 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:06AM (#42027593)

    Hans Reiser?

  • Danger Signs (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sponge Bath ( 413667 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:08AM (#42027619)

    When you start defending yourself with the same phrases as OJ Simpson, you might be on the wrong side of the law. Looking for the real killer...

    • Re:Danger Signs (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:24AM (#42027839) Journal

      I thought OJ was acquitted.

    • I think he probably knows if he is innocent or not. And using similar language to (likely) killers is not a really good reason to be suspicious that someone is a killer. The fact that the police are looking for him and he's on the run is about a million times more suspicious than the fact that he says he's looking for the real killers.
    • . . . and the slow speed police car chase is unfolding on the Internet, and not on the road.

      What amusing times we live in . . . how can CNN cover this live . . . ?

    • When you start defending yourself with the same phrases as OJ Simpson, you might be on the wrong side of the law. Looking for the real killer...

      You know the old saying: If the glove fits, wear it.

  • Bath salts (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jtownatpunk.net ( 245670 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:08AM (#42027621)

    That is all.

  • He should defend himself in court.

    • by wonkey_monkey ( 2592601 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:15AM (#42027721) Homepage

      He should defend himself in court.

      I'm guessing things look a little different when it's oneself being falsely accused, even without taking into account whatever level of corruption is perceived in the local judiciary.

      • I'm guessing things look a little different when it's oneself being falsely accused, even without taking into account whatever level of corruption is perceived in the local judiciary.

        That, of course, presumes he's actually being falsely accused.

        I honestly haven't seen enough evidence to sway me either way -- and it's not like people haven't gone to elaborate lengths to deny criminal charges.

        So far we have the official version, and his version. I don't doubt the possibility of corrupt police and false charg

      • You are taking his story at face value? Listen to his blog:

        "She has also helped me evade detection by grabbing me and kissing me, in public, in a fashion that causes passerby's to feel embarrassment at the thought of staring and by creating emotional scenes that cause the curious to momentarily forget what they were looking for," he wrote. "She is acutely aware of her surroundings and is as street smart as a sober hobo."

        I think he is delusional. That's not to say he can't evade the authorities in Belize

    • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:17AM (#42027749)

      The trial would only last 30 days.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You seem quite confident in Belize's court system.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Have you ever been detained pre-trial in a third-world prison?

    • Obviously, it was the one armed man.
  • by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt AT nerdflat DOT com> on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:14AM (#42027711) Journal

    Unless a person is being framed, an innocent person has no reason to flee law enforcement because they are suspected of a crime.

    All running does is increase the perception that the person is guilty.

    • This is Belize.
      • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

        That does not mean this burned out fool did not commit this crime. Read his blog, he is off his nut.

    • by coolsnowmen ( 695297 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:33AM (#42027977)

      I used to believe this, until, in the US, Guantanamo bay was setup, and people were rounded up and jailed with out charges for years.

    • Or unless their have a fear that they wont get a fair trial as the government is corrupt.

    • That depends if they trust in the law enforcement to accurately determine the events and honestly uphold the law. If the suspect believes the police are either incomperent, corrupt or vindictive then they do have a very strong reason to flee. If only to get out of the country and into one where they have enough trust in law enforcement to turn themselves in.

    • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

      Unless a person is being framed, an innocent person has no reason to flee law enforcement because they are suspected of a crime.

      All running does is increase the perception that the person is guilty.

      well, he is claiming that belize police is framing him, due to not being bribed properly(and due to things between him and the police escalating). the police may very well originally thought that he was doing something mildly illegal, everyone is if you look at things the "right" way, so he should have paid up.
      as a consequence he was busted in a fashion that would lead the local police into very bad light if it was done without reason - and he didn't get charged. this left the local police with a serious pr

      • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

        Why exactly are you taking his claims at face value?

        I think the real lesson here is to not spend your life jamming bath salts in your ass. Then you can avoid ending up a burn out wanted for murder.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Not committing a crime != not guilty in the eyes of the law. If one is able to get the heck out, there are plenty reasons to do so:

      1: Things happen in jails. Stuff that doesn't get caught on cameras, and word against word does not hold up.

      2: Bail may not be possible for a lot of people. So, they get to rot in jail with no chance of researching a defense, compared to being on the outside and being able to get a suitable defense together.

      3: Just an arrest is a career killer. Google "arrest electronic p

    • by mcgrew ( 92797 ) * on Monday November 19, 2012 @01:21PM (#42029429) Homepage Journal

      Unless a person is being framed, an innocent person has no reason to flee law enforcement because they are suspected of a crime.

      On the contrary, son, there are innocents in prison right now. [wikipedia.org] Innocent men have been executed for murder.

      Or should I be wooshed away from here?

    • Unless a person is being framed, an innocent person has no reason to flee law enforcement because they are suspected of a crime.

      False [innocenceproject.org].

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:19AM (#42027781)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Reading the blog is sounds like he is on the lam with his 20 year old girlfriend and has left the 17 year old one at the house.
      • Actually the 17 year old girlfriend has been taking the bath salts, so she both thinks and looks as if she's aged 3 years in the last month.

    • Although it's certainly possible to be an ex-patriot, I think you mean expatriate [wikipedia.org].

    • by smugfunt ( 8972 )

      chased around town by the cops for unlicensed drug manufacture, posession of an unlicensed firearm and suspicion of making crystal meth.

      I live in Belize so have been taking an interest in this story. The facts seem to be that the police raided his mainland compound on an 'anonymous tipoff' of a meth lab. They found no meth or any other illegal drugs. There was a lab where McAfee says he was making an anti-bacterial cream from local plants. There was talk of charging him with making antibiotics without a license but it seems that has been dropped.
      A number of guns plus ammo was found on the compound but valid licenses for them were produced.

  • So do we still get the $25,000 if it turns out he was the real killer?

  • thrill junkie (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:26AM (#42027867)

    His blog is www.whoismcafee.com and it's just bizarre. Here's a sample:

    I watched the police search my residence 7 times. At one point I got too close and was angrily ordered to go away. I did so while muttering “Pendejos!” loud enough for the officers to hear. Every search was allegedly performed in order to find me. On two occasions, however, the police carried large duffle type bags into the premises and left with the bags appearing nearly empty. Perhaps the bags contained their lunch and they ate while searching. Perhaps not.

    On subsequent days using different disguises, I did the same general thing, one day selling tamales and burritos that I had purchased wholesale from a real vendor, on another pretending to be a drunk German tourist with a partially bandaged face and wearing speedo swimming trunks and a distasteful, oversized Hawaiian shirt and yelling loudly at anyone who would listen – “Leck mich um ausch!”. At 67 years of age it was quite a spectacle.

    For a guy that thinks he's going to be falsely arrested by the Belize's prime minister's police minions, you'd think he'd want to just get out of the country. I can't imagine that it would be all that difficult. Yet, he keeps going back to his residence where he's most likely to arrested (Belize police must be idiots if this is all true) in these ludicrous disguises that just makes this whole story seem like a farce.

    • Perhaps he really is fleeing the country, and is just posting those stories on the blog to misdirect the police into keeping their search local and divert their attention from his real location.

  • "If it doesnt fit...... you MUST acquit!"

  • by wernst ( 536414 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:37AM (#42028015) Homepage

    I think it is a delicious irony that McAfee claims he may be the victim of a false-positive identification.

  • by the Dragonweaver ( 460267 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:43AM (#42028089) Homepage

    I'm assuming that the vast majority of commenters are from the US, Canada, and western European countries where the rule of law is well understood and (mostly) enforced in a non-arbitrary manner. That's apt to color your reaction to a story such as this.

    While I don't know the facts in this particular case, it is often true in many Central and South American countries (and Caribbean islands) that the rule of law can be enforced arbitrarily, and sometimes in response to the desire to acquire the wealth of an accused person. Presumption of innocence or even actual innocence does not matter in such cases; individuals have been known to disappear for years into Byzantine court systems, or found guilty without what we would consider to be sufficient evidence of guilt. I have a friend whose college roommate has been held as a political prisoner for well over a decade in a South American country; my sisters have both had to "pay tickets" to Mexican police to keep their passports from being impounded. So I don't take flight from authorities as an admission of guilt; if McAfee knows or suspects he's being railroaded, that's probably the wise choice.

    For all I know, he may be guilty, but don't take his actions as an admission.

  • by jemenake ( 595948 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @11:43AM (#42028091)
    Former anti-virus mogul... running from corrupt 3rd-world foot-soldiers through the jungle with a girl half his age?

    I think Dos-Equis just found their new pitch-man. "I don't always run from corrupt Central-American governments, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis..."
  • Was Kaeto Kaelin living in his guest house at the time?

    Has he hired Johnnie Cochran yet?

  • or OJ for short

  • by Ukab the Great ( 87152 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @01:05PM (#42029237)

    It sounded well rehearsed
    Four days on the run and he was dying of thirst
    The brew was in my hand and he was on my tip
    His voice was hoarse, his throat was dry, he asked me for a sip

    "My name is McAfee, I got a license to kill
    I think you know what time it is, it's time to get ill
    Now what do we have here? An outlaw and his beer?
    I run this land, you understand? I made myself clear"

  • by Aryeh Goretsky ( 129230 ) on Monday November 19, 2012 @10:15PM (#42036051) Homepage
    Hello,

    I am a former employee of Dr. John McAfee here, and would like to see if I can clear up some of the misperceptions about him that have arisen in this thread.

    John took a leave of absence from McAfee Associates in 1993 for health reasons, which became permanent in 1994, and he divested himself of interest in the company as quickly as he could (i.e., subject to stock lockouts and the like). At the time he left, McAfee Associates had DOS, Novell, OS/2 and Windows 3.1 products. He certainly had nothing to do with the design or development of McAfee Associates' products after that. As a matter of fact, if it just says "McAfee" on it (sans "Associates"), it's pretty much a given that he was not involved with it.

    I first met John when I was in high school, and started working for him after I graduated. One of the first things he did after employing me was read me the riot act regarding drugs and alcohol. At the time, he had been sober for just under a decade (eight or nine years, I think), but prior to that told me about how he had abused all sorts of substances, and as a result he had never done a single thing in his life that was worthwhile before quitting. I took John's advice to heart and have avoided these all my life.

    While John was running McAfee Associates, we had a strict no alcohol/no drugs policy, and there was no drinking allowed at the company, at company events or even just going out for a meal. Showing up drunk, stoned or otherwise impaired would be a great way to get yourself fired.

    In Belize, John started up several business ventures, one of which was looking at bacterial quorum sensing as an antibiotic. That fell through, and he changed focus to topical antiseptic compounds. He had reporters coming through all the time, as well as people, I believe, from the national hospital and university, so it should have been readily apparent to those who were knowledgeable in such matters that he was doing bio-pharmaceutical prospecting and not running a meth lab.

    That said, it is particularly understandable how law enforcement would feel about a rich expat coming to their company and setting up a research lab. It probably looked like a cleaner, better-equipped version of the drug labs they were used to raiding. If the police had talked to the health officials, they could probably have arranged for regular inspections.

    John has had continuous run-in's with politicians in Belize over the years, which you can read about over in his blog [whoismcafee.com] or elsewhere in the news. Without getting into the details of how Belize operates, it is apparent he believes that country's politicians are corrupt and is fearful for his life as a consequence. Just looking at the responses from the police and politicians there, it seems they are doing little to allay his fears. Calling him names is not going to help, nor is not addressing his claims of corruption or claims that they are holding his former employees hostage.

    A lot of the conversations I have seen revolve around calling John McAfee crazy, paranoid, bonkers and so forth. But consider this: Each time he says something outlandish about where he his hiding, how he is monitoring things, et cetera, he causes law enforcement to expend efforts to find him. In a sense, it is kind of a war of attrition against them. In that context, this is not crazy at all, but rather very sensible and practical behavior in light of current circumstances.

    Anyhow, I hope that puts things into context about the man behind the name.

    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky

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