John McAfee and Champlain Towers South: who did what, and when (2019 to 2026)
As of 2026-10-02. Times are UTC. Miami was on daylight time (UTC-4) in June 2021 and Spain on summer time (UTC+2). Where only a date is reported the event is drawn hollow. NIST's "early June" is a range, drawn as a bar and marked as an inference for its edges. The collapse time is given as about 1:30 a.m. by NIST and 1:22 a.m. by other sources; both are shown. Quoted facts were read in the cited sources, as marked. No claim is made about any person beyond what those sources say.
Shape = kind of source: machine-recorded data a primary document an official statement a person's account a scholar's account a news report Style = status: 2+ sources agree one source sources differ our inference / time not reported the same event at another source's time Every dot is a link to its main source; the table lists all sources.
Panel A: 2019 to 2026 (one tick per year)
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Panel B: June and early July 2021 (UTC, one tick per two days)
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Panel C: the night of 23 to 24 June 2021 (UTC, Miami and Spain clocks)
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Events (numbers match the diagram)
| # | When (UTC) | What | Status | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 09 Jun 2019 (date only) | 9 Jun 2019: McAfee tweets he has 31+ TB of incriminating data; will release it if arrested Tweeted from Cuba (TheCount). He did not say where the files were (USA Today). The post itself was not read. | reported media | s_pf25, s_usat, s_count |
| 2 | Oct 2020 (month only) | Oct 2020: McAfee arrested at Barcelona airport on a US tax warrant PolitiFact: charged with tax evasion and willful failure to file; AFP: arrested just before boarding a flight to Istanbul. | reported media | s_pf25, s_afp |
| 3 | 24 Jun 2021 05:30 | 24 Jun 2021: Champlain Towers South partly collapses (about 1:30 a.m. EDT) NIST [read]: a 12-floor condominium in Surfside, partially collapsed 'at approximately 1:30 a.m. EDT'. Other reports say 1:22 a.m. The difference is unresolved. Other-source time: Other sources give about 1:22 a.m. EDT (05:22 UTC); NIST says approximately 1:30 a.m. EDT. | disputed document | s_nist |
| 4 | 29 Sep 2023 (date only) | 29 Sep 2023: Spanish court's ruling (dated 24 Jul 2023) closing the inquiry made public AFP: 'no indications of anything other than a violent death of suicidal origin, nothing at all'; the ruling cannot be appealed. The ruling was not read. | reported media | s_afp |
| 5 | 09 Sep 2025 (date only) | 9 Sep 2025: NIST update: failure likely started in the pool deck Read. Includes indications of distress visible in the weeks before the collapse. | reported document | s_nist25 |
| 6 | 22 Jun 2026 (date only) | 22 Jun 2026: NIST technical findings: collapse began in early June 2021 Read: 'the collapse began in early June, when two connections between garage columns and the pool deck failed'. | reported document | s_nist |
| 7 | 01 Jun 2021 00:00 to 10 Jun 2021 00:00 | 'Early June': two garage-column and pool-deck connections fail (NIST) NIST [read]: the collapse began in early June. The exact days are not given; the bar is our reading of 'early June'. | inferred document | s_nist |
| 8 | 01 Jun 2021 00:00 to 24 Jun 2021 00:00 | Weeks of visible distress: a sliding door off its frame, a cracked planter wall, a shifting gate NIST Sep 2025 [read]: 'indications of the building's distress that were visible in the weeks before'. The dates of each sign are not given here. | inferred document | s_nist25 |
| 9 | 08 Jun 2021 (date only) | 8 Jun 2021: McAfee posts two real tweets; neither mentions files or a condo USA Today: one carries the same timestamp as the later fabricated screenshot, 'indicating it could have been the template'. PolitiFact: two tweets sent on 8 June, neither about files or a condo. | reported media | s_usat, s_pf28 |
| 10 | 23 Jun 2021 (date only) | 23 Jun: Spanish court approves extradition; McAfee found dead hours later PolitiFact: the extradition was not final. The Catalan justice department: 'Everything points to death by suicide'. Times of day not given in the reports read. | reported media | s_pf25, s_afp |
| 11 | 23 Jun 2021 (date only) | 23 Jun: an Instagram account of McAfee posts a plain letter 'Q' minutes after news of his death PolitiFact: it is unclear who controlled the account, which has since been removed. | single media | s_pf25 |
| 12 | 24 Jun 2021 05:30 | 24 Jun: the building partly collapses (about 1:30 a.m. EDT) See Panel C for the time discrepancy. | reported document | s_nist |
| 13 | 25 Jun 2021 (date only) | 25 Jun: Instagram post uses a fabricated tweet image to link the two events PolitiFact: the post of 25 June used a fabricated image; USA Today: similar versions spread on Instagram, Twitter, Reddit and blogs. | reported media | s_pf28, s_usat |
| 14 | 25 Jun 2021 (date only) | 25 Jun: Snopes and PolitiFact publish; no such tweet found; no property link Snopes (Dan Evon): rated False; hundreds of archived tweets searched on Archive.is. | reported media | s_snopes, s_pf25 |
| 15 | 25 Jun 2021 20:38 | 25 Jun 20:38 UTC: Internet Archive captures @officialmcafee (content not read here) Availability record read; the capture's content is blocked from this environment. Open it in a browser. | single data | s_wayback |
| 16 | 28 Jun 2021 (date only) | 28 Jun: PolitiFact and USA Today rate the tweet image false PolitiFact's sources include Twitter advanced search, AllMyTweets, AccountAnalysis.app and an email to a platform spokesperson. | reported media | s_pf28, s_usat |
| 17 | 04 Jul 2021 (date only) | 4 Jul: the remaining structure is demolished Secondary report; the final death toll was 98 (Gulf News, Miami-Dade). | single media | s_gulf |
| 18 | 24 Jun 2021 05:30 | Partial collapse: about 1:30 a.m. EDT (NIST) or 1:22 a.m. (other sources) A 12-minute difference between the investigating agency's rounded time and other reports. It does not affect any claim. Other-source time: Other sources: about 1:22 a.m. EDT (05:22 UTC) | disputed document | s_nist |
People and bodies involved
- John McAfee: Software entrepreneur; died aged 75 in a prison cell near Barcelona on 23 June 2021.
- Janice McAfee: His widow; said he was not suicidal when they last spoke and asked for further checks and another autopsy (PolitiFact; AFP).
- Javier Villalba: McAfee's lawyer; told Reuters he saw no warning signs (PolitiFact).
- Catalan justice department: Said 'Everything points to death by suicide' (PolitiFact).
- Spanish court: Approved extradition on 23 June 2021; later closed the inquiry into the death in a ruling dated 24 July 2023 (AFP).
- NIST investigators: Judith Mitrani-Reiser (lead) and Glenn Bell (co-lead) presented the findings (NIST).
- Daniella Levine Cava: Miami-Dade County mayor; said there was nothing to indicate foul play at that point (USA Today).
- Fact-checkers: Dan Evon (Snopes); Madison Czopek and Tom Kertscher (PolitiFact); USA Today; Check Your Fact.
- AP: Reviewed property records at the building; found neither McAfee nor his wife listed as owners of any unit (via USA Today).
- Pat McAfee (sports analyst): Named in the fabricated chain as a claimed son; said he has no condo in Florida (Snopes). Not a relative of John McAfee per the same report.
- The residents and families of Champlain Towers South: 98 people died; named here only as the people affected.
Sources
s_nistNIST, Champlain Towers South Collapse (updated 22 Jun 2026) authenticity: authenticated, strongs_nist25NIST, Investigation Nears Completion of Technical Work (9 Sep 2025) authenticity: authenticated, strongs_snopesSnopes, Did John McAfee Hide Files at Collapsed Miami Building? authenticity: fact-checks_pf25PolitiFact, Rumors surrounding John McAfee's death (25 Jun 2021) authenticity: fact-checks_pf28PolitiFact, Image suggesting John McAfee stored files ... is fake (28 Jun 2021) authenticity: fact-checks_usatUSA Today fact check (via Yahoo) authenticity: fact-checks_afpAFP via The Local, Spain court shelves probe (29 Sep 2023) authenticity: wire report; ruling not reads_countTheCount.com, Did John McAfee Own A Florida Condo ...? (26 Jun 2021) authenticity: weak; corroboration onlys_waybackInternet Archive capture of @officialmcafee, 25 Jun 2021 20:38 UTC (content not readable from here) authenticity: unchecked: not reads_gulfGulf News, Florida tower collapse: final death toll put at 98 authenticity: secondary
Generated from timeline.yaml by build/tools/render_timeline.py. This page records what is reported and where reports differ. It is not a finding about what happened.