A man living in Phoenix has been charged with murdering his wife and adult son, after admitting that he stabbed both victims in the fear that he contracted HIV from prostitutes and gave the virus to his wife.
Authorities reveal, as reported by ABC, that the 63-year-old man, Eugene Maraventano, had liasons with prostitutes when he was working in New York City. Fearing that he gave the virus to his wife, who recently underwent tests for cancer, Maraventano stabbed his wife twice with a 14-inch kitchen knife while she was sleeping in their bedroom.
He also killed his son, 27-year-old Bryan Maraventano, by stabbing him twice when he opened his bedroom door. Eugene Maraventano defended the murder of his son on the account that he didn't know how his son would live without his parents, as he believed his son was mentally disabled since he did not have a girlfriend and played video games all day.
He called 911 on Saturday to report the murders he committed the previous Thursday, reveal the police in a probable cause statement filed in court.
"I killed my wife and I killed my son; I can't kill myself," said Maraventano, who faces two counts of first-degree murder, to a 911 dispatcher, reports Fox.
According to The Phoenix New Times, Maraventano told the dispatcher that his wife had cancer. When authorities arrived at his residence, he was covered with blood and had wounds to his chest. He was taken to the hospital, and there he told the authorities that his wife had been sick recently and tested negative for cancer, leading him to deduce she contracted HIV from him.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that over 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV and that one in five are unaware of their infection. What's more, the CDC shares that HIV transmission rates have dropped significantly in the United States.
Maraventano also revealed to the cops that he decided to murder his wife two weeks ago and debated his weapon of choice: a gun or a knife. After the murders, he reportedly tried to kill himself several times by trying to suffocate himself with a plastic bag and stabbing himself with a knife against the wall. Authorities found a suicide note to his eldest son. The failed suicide attempts led Maraventano to call confess to the police.
No reports were able to confirm if Maraventano was HIV positive, let alone if his wife was.
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