New Netflix Documentary, Running with the Devil: John McAfee’s Wild World, must be seen to be believed. And even after you see it, you may not believe it.
The documentary, which began airing on Wednesday, tells the story of programmer John McAfee, whose name you may recognize from McAfee’s antivirus software. But as you’ll see in the movie, McAfee’s life after he sold his tech company was far wilder than that of the average retired eccentric millionaire.
From being wanted for interrogation in the murder of his neighbor in Belize, to McAfee’s own allegations that the Mexican cartel wanted to kill him, this is a car accident you won’t be able to look away from. It’s also a car accident that was almost entirely caught on film thanks to McAfee’s own obsession with documenting himself. Read on to learn more about John McAfee and Running with the devil true story.
Who is John McAfee?
John McAfee was a computer programmer and eccentric businessman who was once best known for his antivirus software developed at his company McAfee Corp. However, in 2012, McAfee became better known for hiding from the Belizean authorities.
In November 2012, McAfee was named by the Belize Police as a person of interest in the murder of Gregory Wyant Faull, who was McAfee’s neighbor on the big island in Belize where they both resided. McAfee did not cooperate with the interrogation and instead fled the police, stating that the Belizean government was corrupt, wanted to catch him, and that he feared the police would kill him.
McAfee was eventually deported to the United States and was able to live free for several years. Then, in January 2019, he claimed he was on the run from US authorities living on a boat in international waters because he was wanted for tax evasion. In October 2020, he was arrested in Spain on US charges of tax evasion, fraud and insider trading. He was held in a prison in Spain, and before he could be extradited to the US, he was found dead in a prison cell. His autopsy ruled his death a suicide.
What is the true story behind Netflix? Running with the Devil: John McAfee’s Wild World?
Directed by Charlie Russell Running with the Devil: John McAfee’s Wild World is a Netflix documentary chronicling McAfee’s years on the run, based on footage shot by cinematographer Robert King. King and deputy editor Rocco Castoro were brought in by McAfee himself to document the former businessman when he first fled Belize because, as McAfee himself says in the documentary, “it’s dramatic” and “people love it.” shit.”
It’s clear that while McAfee does fear for his life, he also puts his narcissistic tendency to be the star of his own crazy story ahead of his own safety. While on the run, both in Central America evading Belize authorities and later off the US coast evading US authorities, McAfee tells anyone and everyone they meet who he is, adding: “Maybe you’ve heard of me “.
The longer the movie runs, the clearer it becomes that McAfee is manic, paranoid, and unstable. By the time he lived on the boat, he was drinking heavily, taking drugs (including bath salts), and pointing guns at King, threatening to shoot him. He has many stories of people trying to get his hands on it, from the Belize government to the Mexican drug cartel. (The cartel’s claim is corroborated by his wife, Janice, though her testimony is no more credible than his.) But he never shirks the spotlight.
After McAfee’s death, rumors spread widely that his death was not a suicide – that McAfee was murdered or may have faked his own death. Running with the devil Adds huge buzz to the pot with a claim from McAfee’s ex-girlfriend, Samantha Herrera, who traveled with McAfee when he was first on the run in Central America, and who says in an interview for the film that McAfee faked his death.
When asked when she last saw McAfee, Herrera replies: “I don’t know if I should say, but two weeks ago, after his death, I got a call from Texas. It’s me, John. I paid people to play dead, but I’m not dead. There are only three people in this world who know that I am still alive. And then he asked me to run away with him.”
The documentary leaves viewers on that cryptic note, with no attempt to corroborate or corroborate Herrera’s claim. In an interview with Esquire, documentary filmmaker Charlie Russell said he didn’t know what to do with Herrera’s claim that McAfee was still alive.
“I don’t know what I’m thinking and I don’t think she’s thinking,” Russell said. “She says this, then looks at the camera, and I can’t understand if she thinks it’s true or not. She is one of those who was very angry with John. He promised them a life together and I think they were genuinely in love, despite the huge age difference, I think he offered her a really different future, then he literally left her at the border and I think it hurts a lot for her and it’s taken years to overcome it.”