On the run, software guru McAfee says has left Belize

The home of anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee is seen in San Pedro November 14, 2012.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. anti-virus software guru John McAfee said on Monday he has left the tropical paradise of Belize, where police want to question him in connection with his neighbor's murder.

McAfee has been in hiding since police said they wanted to question him as "a person of interest" about the murder of fellow American Gregory Faull, with whom McAfee had quarreled.

McAfee says he believes authorities in Belize would kill him if he turned himself in for questioning. Belize's prime minister has called the 67-year-old "bonkers".

"We are not in Belize, but not quite out of the woods yet," McAfee wrote on his blog www.whoismcafee.com, saying he was accompanied by two journalists and a woman called Sam.

He said he had sent a body double to the Belize-Mexico border to act as a smokescreen and help him elude authorities.

"My double, carrying a North Korean passport under my name, was in fact detained in Mexico for pre-planned misbehavior," McAfee wrote on the blog.

"But due to indifference on the part of authorities (he) was evicted from the jail and was unable to serve his intended purpose in our exit plan. He is now safely out of Mexico."

Police in Belize say McAfee is still at large and are looking for him.

"We still believe that he is here, somewhere in the country," said police spokesman Raphael Martinez.

McAfee, who started McAfee Associates in 1989, has been living in the tiny Central American nation for about 4 years. (Reporting by Simon Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler)