Janice Dyson, now known as Janice McAfee, was the third wife of John McAfee, the British-American programmer who created the first commercial antivirus software.
She married him in 2013. Their marriage lasted until his death on 23 June 2021, when he was 75.
This article sticks to facts that can be checked. Where accounts differ, or where no reliable source confirms a claim, that is stated plainly rather than filled in with guesswork.
At a Glance
- Full name: Janice Dyson McAfee
- Known for: Wife, and later widow, of John McAfee
- Met John McAfee: December 2012, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida
- Married: 2013
- Marriage ended: 23 June 2021, on John McAfee’s death
- John McAfee’s age at death: 75
Who Is Janice Dyson?
Janice Dyson came to public attention only through her marriage to John McAfee. She has not built a separate public career in the same way, and reliable biographical sources give very little verified detail about her early life.
For that reason, this article does not give a birth date, birthplace, or family background for her as fact. Several low-quality biography sites publish conflicting versions, but none of them is backed by a primary or reputable source that could be checked.
What she has spoken about herself, in interviews and in public statements after her husband’s death, is a difficult period in her life before she met him. She has spoken publicly about sex work and drug use during that period, and has said that meeting McAfee changed the course of her life.
No graphic detail is needed to understand that part of her story, and none is included here.
Who Was John McAfee?
John David McAfee was born on 18 September 1945 in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England, to an American father and a British mother. He was raised in Salem, Virginia, in the United States.
In 1987, he founded McAfee Associates to sell VirusScan, the first commercial antivirus software to reach the market. He resigned from the company in 1994 and later became known for cryptocurrency promotion, outspoken views on privacy and taxation, and two unsuccessful bids for the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States, in 2016 and 2020.
He had been married twice before Janice Dyson. His first wife was Fran, whom he met around 1968. His second wife was Judy Chambliss, a former flight attendant, whom he married around 1987. That marriage ended in divorce in 2002.
How Janice Dyson and John McAfee Met
John McAfee and Janice Dyson met in December 2012 in South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida.
The timing matters, because it clears up one of the errors in the old version of this article. They did not meet in England, and they had not known each other for decades.
McAfee had just arrived in the United States after being deported from Guatemala. On the night after his arrival, he met Dyson, who was then working as a sex worker in South Beach. They began a relationship, and they married in 2013.
Dyson has said that McAfee helped her leave that life, and has described him as having saved her from human traffickers. That is her account, reported in her own words, rather than a court finding.
After marrying, the couple moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2013. They later lived in other places, including Tennessee, as McAfee’s legal troubles and public profile continued to change.
Their Marriage
Janice and John McAfee were married from 2013 until his death in 2021, a period of about eight years.
They were often in the news together during that time. McAfee’s presidential campaigns, his social media posts, and his legal problems kept the couple in public view, even when they were living away from the spotlight.
Janice McAfee also appeared in the 2022 Netflix documentary Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, which covered his later years. She has since said publicly that she did not feel the film told their story fairly. Readers should therefore treat the documentary as one version of events, not as a settled record.
John McAfee’s Death on 23 June 2021
John McAfee was arrested in October 2020 at Barcelona’s El Prat airport. He was held at the Brians 2 prison near Barcelona while Spain considered a United States request to extradite him to face tax charges in Tennessee.
On 23 June 2021, a Spanish court approved his extradition. Hours later, he was found dead in his prison cell. Catalan authorities said that everything pointed to death by suicide by hanging, and an official autopsy later confirmed suicide as the cause of death.
Janice McAfee has consistently said that she does not believe her husband died by suicide. She has also said that she does not believe he is alive, rejecting separate online claims that he faked his death.
Both positions are recorded here because both are part of the public record: the official finding, and his widow’s disagreement with it. Neither side’s view is presented as proven beyond what its own source states.
Janice McAfee’s Life Since His Death
After June 2021, Janice McAfee’s main public effort has been to seek the release of her husband’s body and an independent autopsy.
One year after his death, in June 2022, his remains were still in a Spanish morgue, and she was campaigning publicly, including through a petition, for their release so that he could be laid to rest.
In an interview in 2023, she said she was still living in Spain, was surviving on small jobs with help from friends, and still did not have the answers she wanted about his death. She said she wanted to see the autopsy findings for herself and to have his body released, in line with his wish, as she described it, to be cremated.
That same reporting noted that a Catalan court had ruled in September 2023 that McAfee died by suicide and had effectively closed the case. That ruling did not, at that time, settle her request for the body and an independent examination.
No reliable later update on the release of his remains, or on her current home, was found when this article was checked. This article therefore does not claim a current address for her, and does not repeat older claims that she lives in San Francisco or elsewhere, because those claims could not be verified.
What the Old Article Got Wrong
The previous version of this article mixed together several incompatible stories. The corrections below are the most important ones for readers:
- They were not married for three decades. They met in 2012 and married in 2013. The marriage lasted about eight years.
- They did not meet in England. They met in South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, in December 2012.
- There was no single meeting story involving a bar, a supermarket, and a high school reunion. Those versions contradict each other, and none of them matches the documented account of their first meeting in Miami Beach.
- John McAfee was not shot in 1980, and he did not both live and die in contradictory ways in this story. He died on 23 June 2021 in a Spanish prison, at the age of 75.
- No bank-robbery sentence is included here. The old claim of a 63-year sentence was not found in any reliable primary source about Janice Dyson, and it has been left out rather than repeated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Janice Dyson John McAfee’s only wife?
No. She was his third wife. He had previously been married to Fran and to Judy Chambliss.
When did Janice Dyson marry John McAfee?
In 2013, after meeting him in Miami Beach in December 2012.
How old was John McAfee when he died?
He was 75. He was born on 18 September 1945 and died on 23 June 2021.
Does Janice McAfee believe John McAfee died by suicide?
No. She has said publicly that she does not believe he died by suicide, even though Spanish authorities ruled his death a suicide. She has also said she does not believe claims that he faked his death.
What is Janice Dyson’s net worth?
No reliable figure is published. This article does not give a net worth total for her, because the figures circulating online are unsourced estimates, not verified reporting.
