Software pioneer John McAfee deported from Guatemala, lands in Miami
After being deported from Guatemala, John McAfee returned to the US Wednesday evening. For now, Belize officials must wait to question McAfee about the death of his neighbor.
Software company founder John McAfee leaves an migration detention center for the La Aurora international airport in Guatemala City, Wednesday. McAfee was released from detention in Guatemala and was deported to the U.S.
Moises Castillo/AP
Miami
Computer software pioneer John McAfee, who is wanted for questioning in聽聽over the murder of a fellow American, arrived in Miami on Wednesday evening after he was deported by聽, according to fellow passengers on an American Airlines flight.
After landing, McAfee, 67, was escorted from the plane by airport security officers, passengers said. Shortly afterward, he tweeted, "I am in South Beach," referring to the popular tourist area on Miami Beach.
"Some people felt uncomfortable that he was on our flight. ... We all knew the story," said聽, 36, a South聽聽photographer who was on the Silicon Valley entrepreneur's flight to Miami.
McAfee, who was seated in the coach section and had a whole row to himself, was wearing a suit and was "very calm" during the flight, she added.
"He looked very tired, he looked like a man who hadn't slept in days. I'd say he even looked depressed," said another passenger,聽, a Guatemalan who lives in Miami.
McAfee had been held for a week in聽, where he surfaced after evading police in聽聽for nearly a month following the killing of American聽, his neighbor on the聽聽island of Ambergris Caye.
Police in聽聽want to quiz McAfee as a "person of interest" in Faull's death, although the technology guru's lawyers blocked an attempt by聽聽to send him back there.
Authorities in聽聽say he is not a prime suspect in the investigation. McAfee has denied any role in Faull's killing.
The goateed McAfee has led the world's media on a game of online hide-and-seek in聽听补苍诲听聽since he fled after Faull's death, peppering the Internet with pithy quotes and colorful revelations about his unpredictable life.
"I'm happy to be going home," McAfee, dressed in a black suit, told reporters shortly before his departure from聽City airport on Wednesday afternoon. "I've been running through jungles and rivers and oceans and I think I need to rest for a while. And I've been in jail for seven days."
's immigration authorities had been holding McAfee since he was arrested last Wednesday for illegally entering the country with his 20-year-old Belizean girlfriend.
The eccentric tech pioneer, who made his fortune from the聽聽bearing his name, has been chronicling life on the run in a blog, www.whoismcafee.com.
He said he had no immediate plans after reaching聽.
"I'm just going to hang in Miami for a while. I like Miami," he told Reuters by telephone just before his plane left. "There is a great sushi place there and I really like sushi."
聽STILL WAITING
Residents of the Belizean island of Ambergris Caye, where McAfee has lived for about four years, said McAfee and Faull, 52, had quarreled at times, including over McAfee's unruly dogs.
McAfee says聽聽authorities will kill him if he turns himself in for questioning. He has said he was being persecuted by聽's ruling party for refusing to pay some $2 million in bribes.
's prime minister has rejected the allegations, calling McAfee paranoid and "bonkers."
听蝉辫辞办别蝉尘补苍听聽said the country still wanted to question McAfee about the Faull case.
"He will be just under the goodwill of the聽聽of America. He is still a person of interest, but a U.S. national has been killed and he has been somewhat implicated in that murder. People want him to answer some questions," he said.
Martinez noted that聽's extradition treaty with the聽聽extended only to suspected criminals, a designation that did not currently apply to McAfee.
"Right now, we don't have enough information to change his status from person of interest to suspect," he said.
Residents and neighbors on Ambergris Caye said McAfee was unusual and at times unstable. He was seen to travel with armed bodyguards, sporting a pistol tucked into his belt.
The predicament of McAfee, a former Lockheed systems consultant, is a far cry from his heyday in the late 1980s, when he started聽. McAfee has no relationship now with the company, which was sold to聽
McAfee was previously charged in聽聽with possession of illegal firearms, and police had raided his property on suspicions that he was running a lab to produce illegal synthetic narcotics. He said he had not taken drugs since 1983.
"I took drugs constantly, 24 hours of the day. I took them for years and years. I was the worst drug abuser on the planet," he told Reuters before his arrest in聽. "Then I finally went to聽, and that was the end of it."