A Father's Treachery

In the Prado, in Spain, is one of the most horrific images ever painted by Goya: the god Saturn devouring one of his children. Mindful that an offspring could get in his way, Saturn made meals of all that he sired. In St. Charles, Mo., last week a modern parallel to that myth may have emerged. If charges are true, Brian Stewart, 31, possesses a similarly cold-blooded compulsion. He is accused of first-degree assault for injecting HIV-positive blood into his infant son, allegedly to avoid paying child support. If the boy is finally eaten away by disease, authorities say, they will elevate the charge to murder.

Stewart denies the accusation. But police have sketched a ghoulish scenario supported by witnesses. On Feb. 6, 1992, Stewart, a medical worker, smuggled a syringe filled with infected blood into the hospital where his son, at the time 11 months old, was being treated for a respiratory ailment, police say. He then allegedly injected the boy with the substance. For years the boy was in and out of hospitals, doctors unable to determine the cause of his illnesses. Then, in May 1996, the boy, who does not belong to any high-risk groups, was found to have full-blown AIDS.

Suspicion fell on Stewart after the boy's mother, who has identified herself as "Jennifer," informed police that Stewart told her not to bother asking for child support because the boy wouldn't live very long. "Jennifer" said she now believes that will come true, even though her son, who has become virtually deaf, has responded to a daily dose of about 10 medications.

Prosecutors chose the assault charge because it carries a penalty of up to life in prison; attempted murder is limited to 15 years. In the Roman myth, one of Saturn's children escapes to depose him; in Missouri, Stewart could be put away for life by the son he may have tried to destroy.