Truly the latter. He was not a well-adjusted, grounded individual.

Also, what benefit is there to the US to kill him? They already won. Being able to kill people you have custody of is a weak message compared to "nowhere is safe from us".

They don't want him in the press talking about what exactly? He didn't exactly come across as a guy that would flee to central america to keep decades-long secrets.

They don't want him in the press talking. And it sends a message.

He was literally tweeting up until a few days ago. What makes you think he'd need the press to "unveil" anything "they" "don't want him talking about"?

No one was paying attention to his tweets. He'd get a lot of attention in an extradition.

The message was already sent: you can't flee from the IRS once you are a target. Showing you're not afraid to kill enemies isn't nearly as chilling.

Prisoners dont get to talk to press all that much. You are 100% of time under controll. And having him in prison for long sends even better message then maybe-murder-maybe-not.

What high-level conspiracies was he supposed to have been a party to, that he could have leaked?

He didn't kill himself to troll people, really.

He killed himself to damage the reputation of the US government.

He couldn't escape from imprisonment, and he couldn't do much to harm the government. But he could do this.

It was the most he could do, so (I think) it's what he did.

How would the reputation of the US government be affected? McAfee is not a popular international figure, and he's not a martyr for any kind of cause that people will rally around.

The reputation of the US government will not be affected. But I can imagine that in McAfee's confused mind, it would be.

Everyone here seems to have some inside track on McAffe's mental state. It's so ridiculous presumptuous, when we barely have an understanding of the mental state of those close to us.

So how do you know he wouldn't have killed himself...?

I'm not stating anything with certainty, but he said multiple times over the years that authorities were threatening him with exactly this, a staged suicide, to the point that he even got it tattooed on himself, because he knew the media would push a narrative claiming he was crazy and suicidal. People are going so far as to say that he killed himself to troll people. The lengths people will go to avoid facing the truth that their leaders are sociopathic gangsters is extreme.

Yeah, well... From where I sit it looks more like this: The lengths people will go to, to avoid facing the overwhelmingly probable truth that the old tax-evading murderers on the lam they still for some reason admire are sociopathic gangsters, is extreme.

Really, honestly, seriously. Have you even tried to consider it could be that way around? Occam's razor suggests -- no, it screams! -- that he killed himself:

* People get desperate and kill themselves in some situations. McAfee was in a typical such situation.

* Having killed himself -- or not, as some would have it -- at the moment McAfee is big news. People (such as yourself) are (literally) screeching bloody murder. If there is anything to find, investigative journalists now have lots of incentive to look for it. If he'd just been extradited, probably no one would have cared; there might have been a few short articles noting the fact, and that would be that. Wouldn't it be stupid, then, to kill him since that would only attract all this attention (that you and I are lavishing on it)? How plausible is it that any actor that has the resources to have someone "whacked" is that stupid?

* Lots of people (you possibly among them?) have suggested that he was killed because "they wanted him silenced". I have asked a few what, exactly he is supposed to have had on anyone that would warrant "silencing" him. So far nobody has had any suggestions. Do you?

So, yeah, it does indeed look like some are doing their best to avoid facing the truth: You all who see a conspiracy here.