An Arizona man has been jailed for stabbing his wife and son to death because he feared he'd given her HIV after sleeping with prostitutes.
Eugene Maraventano, 67, was jailed for 25 years in a plea deal after confessing to the murders of his wife Janet and adult son Bryan Adam Maraventano, 27, at their home in Goodyear, Arizona, in 2013.
The married father told police he had grabbed a 14-inch kitchen knife and stabbed Janet repeatedly while she slept.
After killing his wife, he knocked on his son's bedroom door and stabbed him twice when he answered, according to police documents.
Maraventano had then tried to kill himself but was not able to bring himself to do it.
He spent four days in the house with the dead bodies if his wife and son before eventually calling the police.
Maraventano told investigators he worried that he infected his wife of 25 years through the prostitutes he used to frequent when he worked for a rail line in New York.
He began to suspect he'd infected her after she fell ill in 2013, with doctors suspecting cancer.
When the tests came back clear, he became convicted it was AIDS.
It was never clear what prostitutes he used or whether he - or his wife - had been infected with AIDS or HIV.
He then explained to police that he had murdered his son because he didn't want to leave him without his parents.
Maraventano believed his son was mentally disabled because he didn't have a job or girlfriend, and would spend all day playing video games.
'I killed my wife and I killed my son - I can't kill myself,' Maraventano told a 911 dispatcher, according to court documents obtained by Phoneix New Times.
He tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrist, suffocating himself with a plastic bag by taping it to his face, and by putting a knife handle against the wall and pushing himself into it.
When authorities arrived at the scene, he was taken to hospital for treatment for his injuries.
Maraventano told officers that about two weeks before he carried out the murders he had decided to kill Janet but changed his mind, according to court documents.
Before initially backing out, he said he had considered buying a gun but chose a knife because 'I'm not a violent person'.
Police also found a suicide note addressed to his oldest son, explaining that he had killed his wife and younger son, the New Times reported.
Earlier in his case, Eugene Maraventano was found to be mentally unfit, though a judge later concluded his psychological competency had been restored.
An earlier attempt at a plea deal fell apart 15 months ago when Maraventano repeatedly quibbled with details of the case and ultimately refused to sign off on the agreement. He also alleged that autopsy photos had been staged.
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