Death of antivirus pioneer McAfee came as surprise to family, says lawyer

The judicial investigation is being handled by a court in Martorell, a town north west of Barcelona with jurisdiction over the prison where McAfee died.

John McAfee is believed to have taken his own life in a Spanish jail (Chema Moya, Pool photo via AP)

Authorities in Spain say that a judge has ordered a post-mortem examination on the body of John McAfee, the gun-loving antivirus pioneer, cryptocurrency promoter and occasional politician who died in a cell pending extradition to the United States for allegedly evading millions in unpaid taxes.

A court spokeswoman for the Catalonia region said on Thursday that a forensic team would need to perform toxicology tests on McAfee’s body to determine the cause of death and that results could take “days or weeks”.