Dad: Soldier guilty of rape tried suicide

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. soldier convicted of raping a German woman is now in intensive care after trying to take his own life before he surrendered, his father said Tuesday.

John Stewart told Stars and Stripes his son, Kelly, 36, is being treated at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington and "may or may not live." The elder Stewart said his son was flown to Washington from Germany Monday after symptoms appeared while he was in custody.

Stewart, a medic in the Special Forces and a sergeant first class, was convicted last week of the 2008 rape. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank.

He was reported missing Thursday morning from the on-base hotel in Vilseck, Germany, and surrendered late Friday in Stuttgart. His father said Stewart called him while he was on the run with what sounded like a goodbye message.

"He told me that he loved me and that he was innocent and to tell his kids that he was a good man," John Stewart said.

His father said Stewart probably took pills or injected himself with poison before he turned himself in.