The Father Who Tried To Kill His Baby With HIV | True Crime

The Year Was 1992...

HIV and AIDS were at their peak in public fear. People didn’t fully understand the virus back then, and misinformation was everywhere. It wasn’t just a medical crisis—it was a social one. Families, communities, and even schools were panicking about how it spread.

But while most stories from that time center on accidental transmission, this one...well, this one is different. It’s about something horrifyingly intentional.

Brian Stewart, a lab technician at a hospital, had a job that put him in contact with blood samples all day. He was supposed to help people. Instead, he became the villain in one of the most bizarre and heartbreaking crime stories I’ve ever come across.

So, let’s talk about what happened to his son—11-month-old Brryan Jackson.

In February 1992, Brryan was in the hospital with an asthma attack and pneumonia. His mother, Jennifer, did what any parent would do—she called Brian to let him know his son was sick. At first, Brian didn’t seem interested. In fact, he’d always denied being Brryan’s father and had made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with him.

But then, unexpectedly, he showed up at the hospital.

Jennifer wasn’t suspicious at first. Maybe this was his way of stepping up? Maybe seeing his sick son had softened him? When Brian suggested she go to the cafeteria to grab a drink, she didn’t think twice.

When she returned, Brian was sitting in a rocking chair, holding Brryan. The baby was screaming—like, really screaming. Jennifer tried everything to calm him down, but he wouldn’t stop. Nurses were called in, but no one could find anything wrong with him.

While Jennifer was out of the room, Bryan took a syringe full of HIV-positive blood—Blood he had stolen from his job at a medical lab—And injected it into his son.

Why would someone do something so horrifying to their own child?

Well, Brian didn’t want to pay child support. He had been making that clear for months, telling Jennifer things like, “Your son isn’t going to live long anyway,” and “Don’t worry, you won’t have to look me up for money.”

Those weren’t just idle threats. He meant every word. In his twisted mind, the easiest way to get rid of this “problem” was to make sure his son didn’t live to see his fifth birthday.

At first, the doctors didn’t notice anything. They stabilized Brryan and sent him home, thinking everything was fine. But over the next few months, Jennifer started noticing that something was seriously wrong.

Her happy, playful baby turned into a bloated, feverish, sick little boy. She went from one doctor to the next, begging for answers. For four years, no one could figure out what was happening.

It wasn’t until 1996, when Brryan was five years old, that his pediatrician connected the dots. By then, Brryan was extremely sick, and the doctor remembered something Jennifer had told her years earlier—that Brian had ominously claimed his son wouldn’t live long.

The doctor ordered a HIV test, and sure enough, it came back positive.

Let me just pause for a second to let that sink in. Brryan was five years old, a little kid who should’ve been running around, playing tag, and eating way too much candy. Instead, he had HIV because of his father.

Once the diagnosis was out, things didn’t get much easier. This was the 90s, and people were terrified of HIV. They didn’t know how it spread. Parents didn’t want their kids playing with Brryan, and schools made him bring his own water bottle because some kids’ parents thought he could “infect the water fountain.”

Brryan was just a little kid. He didn’t understand why people treated him differently. All he knew was that life wasn’t fair.

Doctors told Jennifer to prepare for the worst. They said Brryan only had a few months to live.

But Brryan? He wasn’t going anywhere. Against all odds, he kept surviving. He endured endless hospital visits, medications, and side effects.

His tiny body was battling on all fronts—fevers that wouldn’t break, a swollen liver, relentless ear infections, and even fungus creeping under his nails. He was drowning in medication, 23 different pills just to keep him going. With no immune system left to protect him.

But he kept going.

Today, Brryan isn’t just alive—he’s thriving. He’s a motivational speaker and an HIV activist, sharing his story to educate people about the virus. He’s taken something unimaginably awful and turned it into a mission to help others.

As for Brian Stewart, he didn’t get away with it. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 after a jury convicted him of first-degree assault.

And honestly? He deserved every second of that sentence.

But the real story here isn’t about Brian. It’s about Brryan—the kid who was supposed to die but refused to give up. He’s Turned What Could’ve Been A Life Of Bitterness And Anger Into A Mission To Help Others.

Honestly, If Anyone Deserves To Be Bitter, It’s Brryan. But Instead, He’s Out Here Forgiving His Father, Raising Awareness, And Proving That A Death Sentence Doesn’t Have To Be The End Of Your Story.

So, That’s The Story Of Brryan Jackson—The Kid Who Wasn’t Supposed To Make It, But Did.

Here is Brryan’s official website if you would like to learn more about him;