his r -- his family. he had so much potential. he had gone so far. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. ng i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i remember the night was very dark. we pulled in to his home. it did have the feel of almost being an n a bond movie. he had a lot going on. >> a millionaire computer genius living in paradise and on the edge. >> cut his throat, he said "do it." >> he takes the gun out, and he puts it to his head. the jungle started to infect him almost like a virus.

>> then came the mystery. his neighbor suddenly found dead. >> there was blood all over the floor. everyone was crying. >> i said, no, it can't possibly happen. >> and the millionaire was suddenly on the run taunting authorities, launching a chase, an international hide-and-seek hunt. >> seems like it's fiction. it doesn't seem real. >> he may have eluded the police, but he did not elude us. >> neither you nor anybody representing you shod him through the head? >> no, sir. >> can you possibly get any inkling of the truth? you will not believe the things that happened. [ siren ] >> get ready for some serious heart of darkness [ bleep ] here. >> hello, and welcome to "dateline."

silicon valley pioneer john mcafee launched a hugely successful software firm only to resign, eventually moving to an island off the coast of belize saying he wanted to get away from the rigid business rules in the states. but when his neighbor turned up dead, authorities wondered if mcafee was trying to get away with murder. detectives wanted to question the tech giant, but first they would have to find him. here's keith morrison with "the fugitive millionaire." >> an american murdered in a tropical paradise while a fake us on and wealthy man went on the run. >> i was trying to delay my iminent capture. >> why was he hiding? >> he is bond in my view, without a doubt. >> the story is a strange brew

of dogs and guns and girls -- teenage girls. >> i was ready to shoot him and for some reason i missed. >> an interconnected web with one man at its center. >> john was smart. he knows what he's doing. >> reporter: the case will take us from the high-tech world of silicon valley to the jiang else of central america and finally back stateside into the deep south. >> all right. get ready for some serious heart of darkness [ bleep ] here. >> reporter: heart of darkness? oh, yes. and a wildly strange tale about a high-flying business tie con named john mcafee and the bizarre chain of events that would make him the focus of an international manhunt. there's little doubt you know

the name mcfee-- mcafee because you've probably had anti-virus software on your computer. >> we've sign five new viruses. >> reporter: in the '80s it was the visionary who recognized the threat posed by computer viruses and made a fortune by devising ways to stop them. david facebooker is a business reporter for cnbc. >> it was something to make $150 million. >> reporter: he knew mcfee lost it in the real estate bust. >> this is called snake alley for obvious reasons anyway that i hope we don't find out about. >> reporter: it was 2009, faber was make a documentary about boom and bust. he found mcafee at his new adopted home in belize. and the buff and charismatic then-64-year-old made a fascinating case study.

>> my life has turned around 180 degrees down here. i mentioned the freedom here. they're virtually -- there are sitterly no regulations on business. >> a lot of it was belize is a paradise for people like me because i can do anything i want. there are no laws, intellectual property, nobody cares. i can start anything. >> reporter: and he did. whenever he perceived an opportunity to make a buck. water taxis, ultralights, but his pride and joy, mcafee told fair, was the creation of a special fllab in which he plann to make medicine was jungle plants. >> hopefully will be production of some fairly unique pharmaceuticals. >> reporter: with a beach home on an island you the coast called ambigris key and a jungle compound on the main land near carmaker lita, john mcafee could still afford to live large and make an impression. >> he had invited me to his

home. i walked in, and he was playing the piano. ♪ and it did have the feel of almost being in a bond movie. and this is your villain in some ways. he didn't turn and say, "hello, mr. faber," but it almost that feel to it. >> i think he likes drama. i think he likes intense experiences. >> reporter: joshua davis is contributing editor of "wired" magazine and one-time nbc news consultant. he got to know mcafee after learning the police raided the millionaire's compound looking for illegal drugs. >> i heard about in raid on april 30th when the belizeian police force burst into his compound in the jungle, and that struck me as extraordinary. >> reporter: as it turned out, the police did not find any

illegal drugs at mcafee's compound in that raid, though mcafee was chargeded with having an unlicensed gun. the fact that police even suspected mcafee of making drugs was intriguing. mcafee had been an outspoken teetotaler since kicking a drug habit in the 1980s, so davis went to belize to investigate. it was there, said davis, mcafee told him the government was seriously corrupt, and the government's paramilitary gang suppression unit or gsu was out to get him. >> one of his initial explanations for why the april 30th raid happened was that one of the local politicians had come to him and asked for a donation. he had refused. as a result, they sicked the gsu on him. >> reporter: to which the belize government replied nonsense. >> they raided him because they don didn't know what was going on. he had a laboratory that was heavily guarded. he had more bodyguards than the prime minister. he had essentially a private

army and a laboratory making god knows what because he won't tell anybody. >> reporter: davis went to carmelito, the tiny town near the compound, where townspeople told him, he said, that mcafee had gone native. >> as he got more involved in this small, little village of carl em-- carmelita, his dress devolved. i think that the jungle and that environment started to infect him almost like a virus. that's what he said to his friends was, my fragile connection with polite seat has been severed -- society has been severed. >> reporter: after the raid he moved to his island house where davis reported he surrounded himself with guarddogs, armed men, and several teenage girls. in a country where the age of consent is 16, mcafee told davis he liked to keep those girls busy in bed. >> he told me for him, five showers a quickie. and then he brought one of his

girls out to confirm the plan. she said, yep, that's true. >> reporter: mcafee was 67, living a school boy's dream, albeit a heavily armed school boy. davis was convinced the man who once billed himself as the world's greatest security expert was a risk to himself and others. >> we were in his bungalow, and he had a smith & wesson 38 special strapped to his chest in a holster. he takes the gun out, opens the chamber, there's six bullets in. he drops them out, takes one, chambers it, closes it, spins the cylinder and puts it to his head. i'm like, john, we don't have to do this. he goes, i know we don't. he says, "your perception of reality may not be correct." and he starts pulling the trigger, click, click, click, click, click, five times. and there's only six chambers. and then he pulls a sixth time,

and nothing happens. he says, "you have missing something about reality." i said, "oh, it's a trick." he says, "no, it's not a trick." he aims at the sand and pum pul the trigger and aims at the ground and the gun goes off. >> it rarely makes good neighbors. the armed guards and snarling dogs were aggravation to the tourists and others who had to walk past the house. by november, 2012, one of ojohn mcafee's neighbors may have decided he'd had enough. coming up -- a murder mystery. >> his body was there motionless. >> there was blood all over the floor. blood all over the floor. ♪ here? nah. ♪ introducing the all new chevy trailblazer. here? nope. ♪ here.

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it was american ex-pats who live along this stretch of beach who told us that the murder case that began in 2012 and made headlines around the world began as a mundane neighborhood dispute about dogs. snarling, snapping who roamed the beach on ambigris key. the barking kept neighbors up nights. the biting -- that was bad for business. >> the dogs did bite a few people. we got one group of tourists leave early because of the dog situation. >> reporter: john boehner and

brittany mccann are property owners. and like a number of ex-pats on the island, they knew one wejoh mcafee carefully. >> there were gauds at his house. we didn't know that was going on. >> reporter: jeff and his wife vivian said that customers walking to their restaurant down the beach from mcafee's house had to first get past the dogs and guards. >> and if you're a tourist walking up and down the beach at night and somebody shines a mag light flashlights in your face while shouldering a shotgun, it -- it can be disconcerting. >> reporter: such a harsh vibe for such a peaceful place. not at all what greg fall expected when he moved there in may of 2012. >> we got to know greg because after working for 12 hours a day, he would come up to our bar and hang out and talk and close it down. >> reporter: and greg fall, said

jeff, was right out of central casting. he'd made his money in the construction business in florida, and here in belize, he was living out a fantasy. >> greg had three birds. the first time he walked up to the bar with mo, you know, beach bar, caribbean, guy with like a tommy bahama shirt and i turned and said, you realize that you've become that guy. >> reporter: the happy-go-lucky guy. but oh, those dogs. [ bark ] greg fall himself had been bitten, and had a profound dislike for john mcafee followed. >> a couple times and john was out there and greg was yelling at him. keep your dogs inside the fence. and just, you know, like -- we have tourists here. they're biting people. >> reporter: it came to a head on the night of november 9th, 2012. a friday. that's when four of john

mcafee's dogs were poisoned. many on the island immediately suspected that greg did it. >> he told everybody that he was going to poison those dogs, you know. everybody knew he was going to poison the dogs. >> reporter: and 36 hours later, early on a sunday morning, shane mccann woke up to a ringing phone. it was greg fall's caretaker, greg, he said, was dead. >> we thought heart attack -- >> i was thinking heart attack. thinking could have slipped and fell on the tile. >> reporter: but no. when the mccanns and the other ex-par ex-pats got to the house, it was clear this was no slip and fall. >> his body was there motionless. >> there was blood all over the floor. >> there was blood everywhere. >> reporter: police soon determined this greg fall had been killed execution style. and there was one oddly

horrifying detail -- the position of greg fall's t-shirt. >> it was pulled over like a hockey move or something, pulled the center up over your head like that. it was all the way behind his neck. but his shirt was on, it was the center was pulled over. >> reporter: he as he stood there looking at his friend's corpse, he said struck that in spite of the obvious violence there seemed to be no sign of a robbery or even any struggle anywhere in the house. >> found it very odd that someone could subdue somebody like greg, a guy that can free diver 50 feet for a conk, 52 areas old, ex-military, how could you subdue somebothat? >> reporter: that was what art fall, greg's father, when he got the news in jacksonville, florida. >> i said, no, it can't possibly happen. not greg. you know, because i don't think

anyone could have overpowered greg with -- if he'd of had a chance. i suspect he never had a chance. >> reporter: given the bad blood between greg fall and john mcafee then, the police thought it would be a good idea to walk down the beach and have a word with the reclusive millionaire. the trouble was, they couldn't find him. he'd up and disappeared. in short order, the police declared mcafee the primary suspect, and the news flashed around the world. >> the tech millionaire is a fugitive. >> reporter: a celebrity manhunt in the tropics -- that was like catnip. i packed my bags and booked a flight to belize. coming up -- a onetime member of mcafee's harem lets us into his lair. you tried to shoot him? >> uh-huh. uh-huh. today's ways of working may work differently tomorrow.

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when we arrived on the strip of island that was john mcafee's paradise in november, 2012, the american ex-pats we met seemed to be waiting for something to happen. everybody knew the police were scouring the place, searching for the man who they believed knew something about the murder of greg fall. but john mcafee truly seemed to have vanished. though it didn't mean reporters

weren't hearing from him. >> right now, sir, i am -- i am holed up in a place where the -- have lice. i've never experienced that before. >> reporter: joshua davis, who was writing an article about mcafee at the time was among the first to get a call. >> i can't sleep at nights because i'm allergic to every noise. >> reporter: mcafee told davis he had a young woman who him. >> sam is quite the soldier, samantha. she has been with me loyally for the past couple of months. >> reporter: he insisted he knew nothing whatever about his neighbor's murder. >> let me ask you for the roar pointblank because i don't think i did before, did you kill him -- >> yeah -- no, sir. no, sir. it's not even funny. >> okay. >> reporter: not only did he deny committing the murder, he said the bullet that killed fall had really been meant for him. >> the first thing i thought about was, oh, my god, he's a

white man, i'm a white man. someone's -- the government's finally decided to off me. they got the wrong white man. >> he says, the last thing i'm going do it turn myself in to the police because they'll kill me. >> reporter: kill him? yes. he truly believed the police wanted to get rid of him, run him out, do him in. >> i'm trying to delay my -- my imminent capture. >> reporter: armed with a laptop and a cell phone and a flair for the dramatic, mcafee tantalized the press and taunted the police with clues that he was still on ambrigis key. a regular occurrence apparently. there are police in there, armed police with a rifle, and they're looking through the house as these do on a regular basis or have been since the beginning of this. i don't think there's any explanation really that he's going to be here. but they're looking. can you speak about this?

>> no, sir. >> reporter: though police admitted they had no other suspects. john mcafee's classification was downgraded to the less ominous sounding person of interest. >> we still think he's in belize. >> reporter: rafael martinez was the police spokesman. >> we believe that he will come in. >> reporter: if you find hip, you'll arrest him? >> we will detain him, and we will ask him some questions. >> reporter: but undermanned and underfunded, the police force seemed ill equipped to actually hunt him down. a man of means like mcafee, a man who clearly did not want to be found. what's your message for john mcafee? >> i would want to appeal to him and tell him, please come in, let's bring a closure to this case, and let's all carry on with our lives. >> reporter: but john mcafee seemed to be toying with the police, leaving clues in his blog, hinting he might be hiding right under their noses, cleverly disguised as a tourist or a street vendor. >> been in public many, many times.

i went shopping in public the other day. went to buy some strawberries. >> reporter: our research was quite unlike that of the police. we made arrangements with middlemen for a secret rendezvous. but mcafee never showed. 40s, john might not be -- of course, john might not be on the island at all. the only person who seemed to always know how to reach him, one of his former lovers, amy. he sells girls like -- >> girls -- >> not much company. no. amy had john mcafee's trust it seemed. >> you want to go from the front -- >> reporter: doesn't matter. it was with his permission, she said, that amy showed us around the beach estate. >> here's the house. >> reporter: nice. >> we would almost snorkel almost every weekend. and he would get his tan. >> reporter: but said amy, after that police raid, everything changed.

>> he started being paranoid and kept inside. >> reporter: given mcafee's bizarre behavior, some wondered if he was using drugs again. did you guys ever do drugs in here or anywhere? >> no. he never accepted any type of drougs this property. >> reporter: later, amy told us she had often seen mcafee doing some kind of chemical experiments. >> i'm like, what are you doing? he said, i'm just working on some chemicals and stuff. he said it's for research. he says never to touch these, taste it, eat it, it's pesticideso o-- poison. he would not tell me anything about it. >> reporter: it was around then, said amy, that her strange relationship with john mcafee had its strangest moment. >> i was angry, whatever, and i was ready to shoot him. and for some reason, i missed. >> reporter: you tried to shoot him? >> uh-huh. i also tried to cut his throat, but he just said -- he just leaned against a wall and said,

"do it." i couldn't do it. >> reporter: you stayed together after that? >> oh, yeah. he loved me more, i guess. he slept with one eye open. >> reporter: though the romance eventually ended, amy remained close enough to mcafee to get him on the phone for us. how are you doing? >> well, i'm underground due to circumstances. >> reporter: mcafee wouldn't say he was hiding but hinted he was close down. >> i notice that you used one of might have boats bringing me business -- >> reporter: we were in one of your boats. was he watching us? were the police watching us, too, hoping we might lead them to him? listen, can you tell us anything that will clear up some questions about what happened over that course of that weekend? when your neighbor was killed? >> you know, i have no "what happened to my neighbor. none.

>> reporter: we traveled a long way for that phone call and were still no closer to laying eyes on him than were the police. and then days after the call, mcafee's blog reported he'd been captured in mexico. but no, that turned out to be false. and then on december 4th, 2012, nearly a month after greg fall was murdered, mcafee announced on his blog that he and his young female companion had crossed the border to guatemala. why here? well, a couple of very practical reasons -- some of them about family, and some international politics. and because of that, the story got even stranger. after weeks on the run, there he was in the flesh. according to mcafee, he was not running from a homicide investigation. oh, no, he said he was in guatemala to ask for political

asylum and protection from the government of belize. >> seven months ago the government sent 42 armed soldiers into my property. i had to leave, but the story has to get out. >> reporter: according to mcafee's 20-year-old companion, samantha venegas, the couple came to guatemala in part because she had a relative here who could be helpful. >> i told him, i have an uncle who's a lawyer, and he's a pretty good lawyer. you could ask anyone here in guatemala. >> reporter: he certainly could. sam's uncle had represented some of the biggest names in central america like former panamanian strongman manuel noriega. but convincing a judge that mcafee was a political refugee was setting up to be mcafee's biggest challenge yet. coming up -- inside his life on the run. a master of disguise. >> reporter: nobody recognized him. >> no one ever recognized him. os and are experiencing a flare,

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hello, i'm dara brown. here's what's happening -- we are nearly eight months into this pandemic, but there is good news. phaser and moderna say their candidate vaccines are 95% effective. pfizer is asking the fda for emergency use authorization to begin distribution. if approved it could start reaching frontline workers by the end of this year. meanwhile, covid cases are rising in every state as the holiday season approaches. the cdc issued an advisory this week recommending americans avoid travel for thanksgiving. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: welcome back to "dateline." i'm craig melvin. one's life on the lam ended when he suddenly popped up with his young lover in guatemala. wanted by authorities in belize for questioning in the murder of greg fall, mcafee told reporters he was now seeking political asylum from the persecution he

suffered there. the announcement created an international media frenzy, while back in the states fall's family believed the press was chasing the wrong story. back to keith morrison with "the fugitive millionaire." >> reporter: for weeks after the murder of greg fall, we and much of the rest of the world press tried to find the elusive john mcafee. a spectacle which for greg fall's father art and stepmom roseanne was pretty hard to take. >> i had phone calls from cbs, nbc, abc, fox, cnn, "the new york times," and the "wall street journal" in two days. >> it was questions about this other fella. like, excuse me, you're asking me the wrong question. ask me about our loss. >> reporter: that seemed to be aekdary. it was lost in the shuffle. >> it was lost in the shuffle. greg was pushed to one side

because it was the mcafee circus. >> reporter: no doubt he was good copping, but with police not talking and john mcafee not talking to police, rumor and speculation was about all there was. that is until the world's most-wanted person of interest surfaced in guatemala, seeking sanctuary. according to mcafee's traveling companion, samantha, the couple had used their wits to elude capture. for weeks, she said, mcafee made the police think he was on ambrigis key when in fact he and she were hiding out on the mainland, she said, in belize city. >> he was in the city. i mean, john is smart. he knows what he's doing. and he turned his phone on and said, you know, they're going to track us. leave the phone there. we took all -- we left the island, and people thought he was there. >> reporter: because his cell phone was there -- >> they were tracking it. what made them think he was

there? when he was bald he would say i'm standing like 20 to 40 feet from my yard and they could see the police are waiting. >> reporter: that was a lie? >> that was a lie. when your life is in danger, you have to lie, and he did. >> reporter: but it certainly wasn't easy, said samantha. very uncomfortable in those early days on the lam. >> we in bushes, everywhere, we crossed rivers by boat. john was at one point looked horrible -- had a lot of bites on it. i told him, dude, you look really sick. you don't even look like john. he was skinny because he didn't eat. he didn't drink water. >> reporter: true, impossible to know, but that was her story. eventually, said samantha, they found a place to hole up, and mcafee dyed his hair. whenever he needed to venture out into the open he donned a disguise. >> he'd pretend that he was a krcrippled guy, painted his hai white. whatever it would take for safety he would do it.

no one ever recognized him. >> reporter: according to the natives, it was her uncle, the lawyer, who, a ranged to have her and mcafee smuggled out and then by boat to guatemala. >> it has been an adventure for me, yet disturbing because i don't like to leave my house. it makes my sick. >> reporter: you don't feel well? >> i don't. >> reporter: john mcafee wasn't exactly feeling on top of the world either it seemed. first, a guatemalan judge sum airline dismissed his petition for political asylum. then the guatemalan police took him into custody. not as a murder suspect but on the grounds he had entered the country illegally. and then, the next day at the local immigration detention center, as a gaggle of media waited to find out if guatemalan authorities will send mcafee back to belize, this story took a heart-stopping turn. within sight of the assembled cameras, john mcafee suddenly

swooned and appeared to lose consciousness. within minutes he was rushed to the hospital. when doctors could find nothing wrong with him, he was returned to the detention center. and it was there that john mcafee finally agreed to sit for his only extended tv interview since the murder with us, and what an interview it was. >> a crazy man on the run is far more sensational than a political problem. >> reporter: right. and you were an insane man on the run. coming up -- >> may i stand up for a moment? >> expect the unexpected. >> how can that be menacing? (announcer) carvana's had a lot of firsts. 100% online car buying. car vending machines. and now, putting you in control of your financing. at carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking.

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>> reporter: for nearly a month, john mcafee, one of silicon valley's original princes of high tech, had been hiding in police. they wanted to talk about the murder of his neighbor, greg fall. now detained in guatemala with nowhere to hide, john mcafee decided to talk to us. it must be said, he didn't seem to relish the prospect. >> here's the problem -- you have a deadline, right. and your deadline is always now because the news has become immediacy, immediacy. your job is to get the news out before your competition. well, that makes your deadline infinitesimally small. can you get any inkling of the truthsways -- space? all the folks is research everybody else. "new york times" said this, cnn said this -- >> reporter: this is a question -- the whole point is this a

story about a murder. you would not be -- >> for the murder -- for me it is not. >> reporter: it was interesting. for a man who one used the media to set personal advantage, john mcafee seemed to vent the press now that he was in custody. >> what sells in the news? sensationalism. a crazy man on the run is far more sensational than a political problem. >> reporter: right. and are you an insane man on the run. >> in you say so -- >> reporter: that's the image. you have a blog. you know what the comments on your blog are. half think you're nuts. >> and half think they love me. both of them are nuts. ones who they think love me, they never met me. >> reporter: the sense is that you enjoy it that's the perception. >> was i not in the press for ten years? i don't trust you guys. >> reporter: can't imagine why. >> whatever i say to you people -- because i live a lifestyle which might be a little over the line or -- over the line of

normal behavior, instead of looking at the latest thing i'm trying to develop, we're -- that's great about the antivirus, but tell me about your lifestyle. >> reporter: on the subject of greg fall, john mcafee conceded there was bad blood between the two. >> i did not particularly care for the man. he drank a lot. i'm sorry. i don't hang with people who drink. i don't want to talk to people wh who detroit red wing whi-- who drink. >> reporter: in the weeks leading up to the murder, how much did you see him? >> maybe one time, maybe twice. he said, i'm sorry about the dogs, i can't sleep. i'm angry about my dogs. i sympathiesed. >> reporter: and did you say you would do something? >> i built another fence. they were jumping out. that was annoying the neighbors. >> reporter: was he complaining about the security guards and guns -- >> he was an exception. >> reporter: you would allow security guards to wander in

front of a public beach with guns menacing, at least in the perception of tourists walking by, these people and not prevent them from doing so? >> may i stand up -- are you fly enough to do this? i think you are. now if someone is carrying a gun, a shotgun, holding like this, how can that be menacing, sir? someone sees a gun -- the world is full of guns. america has 280 million of them. >> reporter: the neighbors said they weren't holding the guns, they were pointing at people. >> do you think i would tolerate that? get real. >> reporter: as from the beginning, mcafee insisted he had no motive for killing fall. he never believed fall was responsible for poisoning his dogs, he said. >> i knew who killed the dogs. >> reporter: who? >> the government. >> reporter: the witness who has no reason to lie claims that greg fall told him he was going kill the dogs the night before. >> he told everybody he was

going to kill the dogs. he drank a lot, sir. blew it off -- i know for a fact he is not the person to kill a dog. he was a dog lover. >> reporter: i'm told he didn't love dogs at all. >> that's fine. all i can tell you is i believed he loved dogs. >> reporter: there's lots of evidence to suggest greg fall killed your dogs. >> well, no. i say there's a lot of evidence where greg fall could have killed my dogs, anybody could have killed my dogs. i know who poisoned my dogs. my paranoia tells me -- okay. agreed. >> reporter: neither you nor anybody representing you went over to greg fall's how to on that occasion and pulled his t-shirt up over his head and shot him through the head? >> no, sir. the government poisoned my dogs. >> reporter: and the government killed greg fall? >> how would i know who killed greg fall? i don't believe the government killed him. that was the first thought through my mind. >> reporter: at the time we spoke, mcafee seemed to face a probability of deportation back

to bell's. he seemed -- belize. he seemed remarkably unconcerned. in fact, told us that after five years in what he once called an entrepreneurial paradise, he was looking forward to going home, back to the good-old usa. how do you see this whole saga ending? >> happy for everybody. happy for everybody. what i will do is i will stop bashing belize in my blog. my neighbors can have peace and quiet. the guatemalan government gets to go whew, they god he didn't want to stay here. everybody's happy. america's happy. more tax dollars. it's the perfect solution. that will be the solution. >> reporter: you're convinced of it? >> you know, i haven't been wrong much about my life. you know, people -- people who know it me will say one thing -- don't ever bet with this man. i don't like to lose money. i don't. and i'll bet you on this one. >> reporter: spoken like a gambler who might have known the fix was in. the real question was when john

mcafee would be forced to sit face to face with homicide detectives. coming up -- mr. mcafee in danger again? >> hid under a car for 4.5 hours while they searched everywhere for us. pampers, the #1 pediatrician recommended brand, helps keep baby's skin dry and healthy. so every touch is as comforting as the first. pampers. the #1 pediatrician recommended brand . intronew advil dual action. the world of pain relief: advil targets pain at the source. acetaminophen blocks pain signals. new advil dual action with acetaminophen. i'm a talking dog. the other issue. oh...i'm scratching like crazy. you've got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether it's a new or chronic problem. and apoquel's treated over 8 million dogs.

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a week of the john mcavee media circus was all that

guatemala could take. the millionaire was abruptly deported, not because he was of interest in a murder case, but back to the united states, where he was considered a celebrity. >> john, thank you for joining us. you are in miami, aren't you? >> i was just playing around. i am in miami. >> reporter: every stop, he would answer questions about the murder of greg. but not in belize. >> what if the u.s. forces you to go back to belize? will you disappear? >> i will answer them in a neutral country. if i am, i will answer them. it will not happen, sir. >> reporter: back in belize, american expats like vivian and jeff, were left to wonder if the investigation into the murder is active. >> nobody said anything. they're not looking for anybody else, as far as we know.

why? we only know as much as you know. >> and to single a one-sentence answer of i have nothing to do with the murder, doesn't really cut it. >> reporter: could detectives have made some sense of it all? that time seemed to have passed. as for john mcafee, after brief stints in oregon and colorado springs, he told us he found a determine innocent home in lexington, tennessee. and he started a company to develop internet security and privacy products. and mcafee became a backer of crypto currency and ran for president in 2016. >> i'm quick-witted and fast on my feet. i think i would make an excellent president.

>> reporter: as for the women that mcafee spent time with in belize, they were left behind. he is, as he says, a happily married man. the last time we spoke, he still believed the belizean police were out to get him. >> at 2:15 from the morning, two police motorcycles, followed by a black sedan, followed by a garbage truck, parked in front of our condominium. they searched everywhere were us. the security cameras were removed on that day. >> reporter: inspite of that, says mcafee, he is tired of running. >> it is exhausting to live in fear. it is exhausting to be looking over your shoulder constantly. and at some point, you say, this is no way to live.

>> reporter: if you're wondering what happened to the guns he liked to brandish for the cameras? he said that was for show. >> newspapers like drama. how do you want me to hold them? if you want to see a gun, my security guard has one. so, no. that's not me. that's what the press wants to make of me. >> reporter: perhaps. but john mcafee keeps adding fuel to the fire. a few months after, the self-professed teetotaler was arrested for dradrunk driving. he pleaded guilty to dui, forfeited his weapon, paid a fine and spent 48 hours in jail. all of which begs the question,

can anyone take seriously anything john mcafee says? as you might imagine, for greg's family, the answer is no. >> does it make sense at all, if mcafee claims his seninnocence,y did he disappear? i don't understand it. i wish someone would investigate it or find someone that can talk about it and bring some justice somewhere. >> reporter: the belizeans say the murder is still an open case and john mcafee is still a person of interest. his family isn't holding their breath waiting for justice. >> it feels hopeless. you know, it's a foreign country. i don't know how to handle it. >> reporter: are you getting answers or contact from them? >> not anything from them at

all. >> reporter: in 2013, the family filed a wrongful death suit against john mcafee. a federal judge deemed him to be in default and ordered him to pay the estate $25 million. in response, mcafee released a statement saying he was never charged with fall's murder. and he had no assets and couldn't pay a penny against him. and he wouldn't be paying another nemesis, either. the irs. mcafee taunted the tax man on twitter. >> i haven't payed taxes for several years. come on find me. >> reporter: in the fall of 2020, the justice department did just that, arresting mcafee for income tax evasion. once again, on twitter, mcafee admitted, he has not filed tax

returns in years. but said he has not lied. if convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ne." i'm craig melvin thank you for watching first up, on msnbc, president trump ramping up dubious attempts to overturn the election on a number of fronts. his campaign is now requesting a second recount in georgia. republican allies are also turning to michigan, asking the state election board to delay its certification for two weeks. and in pennsylvania, trump's legal team trying to appeal a ruling. >> the president airing his grievances in a tweet storm overnight. and singing a familiar tune of voter