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Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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The John McAfee compound on the outskirts of Orange Walk Town at the Tower Hill Bridge, burnt down this afternoon. As these pictures show, the two main structures were destroyed. The fire started at 1:00 this afternoon when a bush fire enveloped the compound. Property Manager Noel Codd is reported to have said that he was informed of the encroaching bush fire and called the Fire Department, but by the time they got there, the bush fire had overtaken the wooden buildings and flattened them. Codd estimates the value of the buildings at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each.

The buildings are of some significance in terms of the trajectory of the Mcafee's demise in Belize - because that's where the GSU led an intensive search almost exactly two years ago in May of 2012. They found a bunch of guns and enough ammunition for a small army. They briefly detained McAfee and set him off on a paranoid excursion which saw him re-locate to San Pedro, and ultimately disappear after his neighbor, American Greg Faull was murdered.

Since then, McAfee has systematically sold off his san Pedro assets and the Orange Walk Property at the southern foot of the tower hill bridge also had a "for sale" sign on it.

Channel 7


John McAfee's Structures Go Up In Flames In Northern Belize

The two main buildings in the John McAfee estate in Orange Walk is now ashes after a fire gutted the two buildings. Love News understands that the two structures with thatch roofing, one measuring forty by fifty and the other measuring fifty by sixty, went up in flames due to a nearby bushfire. Up until the time of the fire, Natalie Wade was staying in the estate and she told Love News that in the adjoining property some individuals had chopped the grass and lit it. Wade believes that the wind may have caused the fire to spread to the McAfee Estate. Manager of the estate, Noel Codd, says that a few investors who seemed interested in buying the property had just recently visited the Estate. Here is what Codd told Love News.

NOEL CODD

"They called me and told me that the fire was coming close to the building and that one of the buildings was already on fire. I went straight to the Fire Department; I was in Orange Walk Town so I went to the fire station and they came but by the time they reached the other building had already caught fire. I have no idea what started this fire; I was with investors for the entire week, I don't know if people were seeing that, but they had come to purchase the property; they said they would have purchased the property by next week. I don't know, I am a lost; all I know is that by the time I came to the compound both of them were already engulfed in flames."

Codd says that the estimate loss of the building is over half a million dollars.

LOVEFM


Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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Buildings on John McAfee's compound burn to ground

John McAfee - now there's a name you probably never wanted to hear again�but you will, because early this afternoon two large wooden houses on his gated compound in Carmelita in the Orange Walk district went up in flames. Reports are that the blaze was fast and furious, and by the time the Fire Department responded there was nothing they could do to save the structures or anything inside. The large compound is located at the foot of the toll bridge overlooking the river, and this afternoon Mike Rudon was there and has the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

The charred skeletons of two large wooden houses joined by a verandah are all that is left of spacious main home once occupied by eccentric millionaire John McAfee, who departed Belize in less than favourable circumstances after he was sought for questioning in a murder on San Pedro.

And across the way are the remains of a palapa hut, which caught fire after cinders from the thatched roofs of those homes struck it.

The compound was deserted, except for Natalie Wade, who lived in this home at the front of the compound. She wasn't home when it happened, but received a call from a friend who passed at a little after one and saw the fire. She told us off camera what she saw when she got to the scene.

Voice of: Natalie Wade, Lives on Compound

"The two house mi doen deh pan fire, after that the palapa ketch. Ih almost mi done burn. I just run upstairs and try get what I coulda mi get out and just watch the fire making sure it noh burn my stuff them."

Mike Rudon

"The fire jump straight from the house to the palapa?"

Voice of: Natalie Wade

"From the house straight to the palapa; the leaves weh mi di fly off fly to the palapa and soh ih ketch too."

Noel Codd

Noel Codd is the caretaker of the property, and was called by Natalie Wade, and that's when he called the Fire Department and rushed to the scene. But by then it was too late.

Noel Codd, Caretaker

"After one Natalie was at work, but they called her and told her that the place was on fire. So I call straight dah fire station. And the guys responded; right away they call the person in charge called someone else and they come up. But by that time deh, I done gone pick up two young lady weh di work with we, and they said well the thatch engulf now and I rush and open the gate. But by the time we rush, it mi done ketch the thatch and it was like gas line just like voop quickly."

Mike Rudon

"What all was inside the house; they had two sizeable houses?"

Noel Codd

"Yes ih mi fully furnished. Refrigerator, stove, beds, Jacuzzi; fully furnished lockers; everything."

According to Codd, the timing couldn't be worse, as the property was for sale and prospective buyers had indicated that they would sign the contract in a week. And of course, it seems that McAfee's curse is alive and well, even in his absence.

Noel Codd

"When I called Mister McAfee when it was happening, he was the one who had to cool me done instead of me saying it's gonna be good. He said we are going to get through it. But it's a loss mien�like really bad luck. We had a contract. I mean the property would have been sold; I would make, you would make and we would have moved on instead of all of this. The man would have gotten back something because the price it was selling wasn't the real value of the property. He just wanted to get rid of this property because he is not welcomed in Belize anymore. I called him again and he is not happy about it; lost a lot of money here. He is not even here and he is losing stuff. I still can’t believe this happened. I am at a loss for words. Can’t believe this thing happen when I just mi deh pan the property yesterday with the guys."

Preliminary indications are that the fire started here, in this open area next to McAfee's compound, where posts planted in the ground were still smoldering. But of course, the fact that the compound belongs to John McAfee always leaves room for speculation that it was arson.

Noel Codd

"If it's bushfire or dehn set it, I'm not sure because they always have bushfire, but it is the first time it happen in this area-well for a long time we neva hear bout arson. I guess over the weekend they had an arson in Carmelita Village, a small little house, but it's just. I don't know what to say, what to think about it because it happened so quickly. If it was a bushfire, across the street or across the road, they had bushfire and stuff-big fir-and nothing. But this one yah was like� I don't know. It makes you wonder."

The total loss, including the houses, the palapa hut and all the items inside, have been estimated in the region of more than half a million Belize dollars. Mike Rudon for News Five.

Codd told us today that none of the buildings which burned down were insured, so it is a total loss.

Channel 5


Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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John McAfee Belize Property Up in Flames

Worth over half a million dollars, the main structures on the John McAfee estate in Carmelita, Orange Walk are now ashes as a result of a nearby bushfire lit on the adjoining property. Uninsured, the fire started at 1:00 this afternoon rapidly spreading throughout the compound. Two years ago, the GSU found an arsenal of guns and ammunition for a small army on the compound.

Pictures by Capital NewsPost

According to an eyewitness the fire started in the Toll-Bridge area and eventually made it to the property at about mid afternoon. "The buildings were totaled, everything was destroyed," said a witness to The San Pedro Sun. According to the witness, her sister and other family members were living on the premises at the time of the fire but no one was injured. Fire officials are still battling the wild fire after which they will be assessing the damages.


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Imagine that !

Joined: Oct 2007
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Very Strange!

Joined: Feb 2004
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Just to give you an idea of how bad the fire situation is in Belize right now (my friends on the mainland are wearing masks as the smoke is choking now). Bush Fires


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Accidental Or Intentional???

Joined: Oct 2003
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Probably accidental, but if it was arson and directed at macafee, the list of suspects is long:
-Greg Faul-macafees murdered neighbor, who many people feel john is responsible for
-Associates of any of the young girls he collected
-People he threatened with his gang and goon squad
-Neighbors whose sanctity he trampled on
-Associates of macafees employees locked up in police custody while he trapsed off on his pyschotic episodes
-Gangs and thugs he hired as accesories to look tough and intimidate
-People he stiffed
-The two deaths in the states he is being sued for

List of suspects worthy of Agatha Christie, but it doesn't matter. The buildings were not insured, so its only John's loss, and really, who cares.


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I vote for John Malkovitch to play him in the movie version.

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'Up In Flames, I'm sure it 'Up' and not 'Down In flames'.
The Red Baron went Down In Flames.
Miss O'Leary's barn went up in flames.


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