Wife Killed Over HIV Fear, Along With Adult Son

A husband killed his adult son and wife over HIV fear, after he allegedly became deeply concerned he’d contracted the virus from prostitutes years ago.

Police in Goodyear, Arizona have charged Eugene Maraventano, 63, in the murders of wife Janet (age unavailable) and Bryan Maraventano, 27. According to detectives, the crime in which Maraventano killed his wife over an HIV fear was self-reported, and fraught with a few strange turns.

Cops say the man stabbed his wife with a 14? kitchen knife before attacking and killing his son on Thursday. Over the course of the next two days, it is believed Maraventano made several suicide attempts, but was unsuccessful.

On Saturday, the man called police to report the murders, and detectives say he indicated that while in New York, he visited several prostitutes and believed he’d contracted HIV and passed it on to his wife. Janet Maraventano had recently tested negative for cancer and a Facebook page for Bryan Maraventano lists the young man’s hometown as Levittown, New York.

According to court documents, the man’s son was killed not over an HIV fear, but his father’s belief that he was not mentally stable:

“Police said Maraventano told detectives he decided to kill his son, who was stabbed twice when he opened his bedroom door, because he didn’t know how the son would cope without his parents.”

“Maraventano said he thought the son was mentally disabled because he didn’t have a girlfriend, couldn’t get a job and played video games all day, the statement said.”

Maraventano was charged Monday on two counts of murder in the first degree, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether the man’s HIV fear was confirmed to have merit.