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There is no verified evidence that John McAfee faked his death or is living in Texas. In Netflix’s 2022 documentary Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, his former girlfriend Samantha Herrera recalled an alleged call from someone she said was McAfee. The official account is that McAfee died in a Spanish prison in 2021; reporting on the claim has identified no independent proof that he survived.
What did Samantha Herrera claim?
Herrera said that roughly two weeks after McAfee’s reported death, she received a call from Texas. According to her recollection, the caller identified himself as John and said he had paid people to stage his death. She also said he told her that only three people knew he was alive and asked her to run away with him. Futurism’s account of the documentary reports the allegation.
This is Herrera’s account of a call, not independent confirmation that the caller was McAfee. The coverage reviewed does not identify a recording, phone metadata, a corroborating witness, or authenticated communication proving the call happened as described.
Who was Herrera, and where did the story appear?
Coverage describes Herrera as McAfee’s former Belizean girlfriend. She was reportedly about 18 when their relationship began, and she accompanied him while he fled Belize after authorities sought him for questioning in connection with the 2012 killing of his neighbor Gregory Faull. McAfee was not convicted of Faull’s killing in the coverage reviewed. Herrera reportedly helped connect McAfee with her relative, attorney Telésforo Guerra, during McAfee’s efforts to leave Belize and return to the United States. These details explain their history; they do not verify a later call. Distractify’s coverage also describes their relationship and flight from Belize.
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The allegation appeared in Netflix’s Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, released in August 2022. The film covers McAfee’s flight from Belize, relationships, legal troubles, and later life. A claim appearing in a documentary is not the same as the filmmakers establishing it as fact. Hello! Magazine’s coverage discusses the film and the claim.
What does the official account say happened?
McAfee was arrested in Spain in 2020 and held while facing extradition to the United States on tax-related and other federal allegations. He was found dead in his prison cell on June 23, 2021, while awaiting extradition. Contemporary reporting said Spanish authorities initially treated his death as suicide and that a Spanish judge later confirmed that conclusion. Because the available account here is secondary reporting rather than the underlying forensic or court record, the judicial outcome should be described as reported, not as a newly verified finding. Gizchina’s report recounts the timeline and ruling.
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Why did people question the death?
Before his death, McAfee had publicly said that if he died in custody, it would not be suicide. Those statements help explain why some people questioned the initial account, but they do not show that he survived or establish that he was murdered.
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His wife, Janice Dyson, reportedly believed McAfee was murdered. That is a separate allegation from Herrera’s claim that he staged his death and moved to Texas; neither should be treated as proof of the other. Hello! Magazine reported Dyson’s view.
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What evidence would establish that he was alive?
A credible case would need evidence that verifies the caller’s identity and the timing of the contact, or independently demonstrates that McAfee was alive after June 23, 2021. The reporting reviewed identifies no such corroboration: no authenticated recording or call records, verified post-death sighting, proven post-death photo or video, financial or travel trail, independent witness, or forensic evidence that the body found in Spain was not McAfee’s. One report described Herrera’s account as the only evidence offered that he remained alive. Distractify’s report addresses the limited basis for the survival claim.
A hoax or impersonation is one possible explanation for a call of this kind; the story itself cannot establish who was on the other end. Likewise, the absence of public corroboration does not prove that every conceivable scenario is impossible. It does mean the Texas claim remains unsupported by independent evidence and conflicts with the official account that McAfee died in Spain.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did the documentary’s director say?
Director Charlie Russell said he was unsure whether Herrera believed the story herself, was repeating something McAfee had told her, or had another reason for making the claim. He also suggested she may have been angry and emotionally affected by McAfee’s treatment of her. That is Russell’s interpretation, not proof that Herrera fabricated the account. His uncertainty is another reason not to read the film’s inclusion of the allegation as authentication. Futurism reported Russell’s comments.
Verdict: the “alive in Texas” claim is unverified
Herrera said a caller claiming to be McAfee told her he had faked his death and was living in Texas. No independent corroboration of that alleged call or of a post-death appearance has been identified in the reporting reviewed. The available official account treats McAfee as deceased; the survival claim remains an allegation, not an established fact.
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