John McAfee's autopsy concluded that his death in prison was by suicide, Spanish newspaper reports

June 29, 2021

John McAfee's autopsy concluded that his death in prison was by suicide, Spanish newspaper reports

John McAfee's autopsy concludes he died by suicide, Spain's El País newspaper reported.
The outlet cited sources rather than a public autopsy report. It also said he left a suicide note.
McAfee's family had already requested a second autopsy, El País reported.
See more stories on Insider's business page.

A preliminary autopsy on John McAfee concluded that he died by suicide, El País reported Monday, citing unnamed sources close to the case.

The same unnamed sources also told the Spanish newspaper that McAfee had a suicide note in his pocket.

The paper had earlier said, again citing unnamed sources, that he had locked himself in his cell around two hours before his body was found.

El País reported the death on Thursday, saying police sources were treating it as a suicide. His lawyer, Javier Villalba told Reuters that day that McAfee had been driven to despair at the news that he was to be extradited to the US, where he was to face tax evasion charges.

However, Villalba also told the agency there was no sign that he would kill himself.

El País reported Monday that his wife Janice told media he had no intention of suicide, and said that she took a call from him on the day of his death promising to speak to her later that night.

Prior to the reported autopsy finding, McAfee's family had already requested a second autopsy, El País reported Monday.

There has been considerable speculation - particularly among QAnon supporters - about the cause of McAfee's death, fueled by earlier tweets in which he said he would never kill himself.

"If I suicide myself, I didn't. I was whackd," he wrote in a 2019 tweet, displaying a tattoo that read: "$WHACKD"

Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia also reported, citing sources familiar with the incident, that McAfee had been hospitalized in February after self-harming in his cell. The region's Ministry of Justice did not confirm this to the newspaper, citing patient confidentiality.

McAfee had been in pre-trial detention in Catalan prisons for more than eight months at the time of his death. He appears to have had access to social media, and his Twitter feed in that time often changed in tone between hardship, philosophy, and humor.

The 75-year-old had earlier said that he feared spending the rest of his life in prison if he were extradited, although the US was seeking a maximum sentence of five years, according to El País.

Read the original article on Business Insider