Monday, Apr. 21, 1997

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY VIRUS

By Richard Lacayo

Darnell ("Boss Man") McGee had a way with the opposite sex. In the area around East St. Louis, Illinois, he was a familiar face. He would hang out by the skating rink or the junior high school, smiling and waving at the girls. To make them feel special, he told them they were pretty and gave them gifts. Over the past two years, he had sex with at least 61 women and girls, ranging in age from 12 to 22. Three months ago, McGee, 28, was shot dead. But he left many of his partners something to remember him by: the virus that causes AIDS.

In one of the worst cases on record of a person knowingly transmitting the AIDS virus, 13 women McGee had sex with have tested HIV-positive. Some are pregnant. At least one has given birth to an infected infant. State public health officials, who are trying to track down and notify his sex partners, expect the tally to climb as more women come forward to be tested.

McGee knew what he was doing. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which broke the story, state records show that he tested positive in 1992 and was told the result. "He didn't care about spreading the virus," says Beth Meyerson of the Missouri Department of Health. "It was a clear case of power." Meyerson says that in Missouri, which closely tracks people with HIV, fewer than 1% knowingly infect others. But one heartless player can mean a public health disaster.

That has police wondering whether McGee's death was a revenge killing made to look like a robbery. On the afternoon of Jan. 15 he was driving with a young woman through St. Louis when he stopped for a man who waved him down. The man walked to the driver's-side window, shot McGee at close range and went through his pockets before fleeing. Police have no suspects. But there were plenty of people who might have wanted McGee dead.

--By Richard Lacayo. Reported by Sharman Stein/St. Louis

With reporting by SHARMAN STEIN/ST. LOUIS