FAIRFAX, Va. (Court TV) — The young woman who pleaded guilty to her part in a murder plot that left two people dead in Virginia took the stand Tuesday to testify against her former boyfriend.
Juliana Peres Magalhães testified against Brendan Banfield, who is charged with aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan. Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in what prosecutors have described as a murder plot.
Juliana Peres Magalhães testified against Brendan Banfield on Jan. 13, 2026. (Court TV)
Magalhães said she moved in with the Banfield family in Oct. 2021 and initially had little interaction with Brendan. “We barely spoke,” Magalhães told the jury. “My relationship was mostly with Christine and [the Banfields’ daughter.] Brendan and I barely spoke at all.”
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That changed nearly a year later. Magalhães testified that her physical and sexual relationship with Brendan began in August 2022. While Brendan kept the relationship secret, Magalhães posted images and videos on social media, obscuring her boyfriend’s identity with an emoji.
Magalhães
testified that she did not initially view the relationship as serious, but said Brendan soon began discussing long-term plans, including marriage and having children.
Magalhães said Brendan described his marriage to Christine in negative terms, saying that “she didn’t seem to care about where he was, what he was doing…she didn’t seem to care about him at all.” Divorce, she said, “wasn’t an option” because of financial and custody concerns.
Magalhães said Brendan began to form a plan to “get rid of” Christine, first raising the idea while the two were on a trip to New York. Magalhães said she initially thought Brendan was joking, but that in the coming months he began to elaborate on his plans. “He said he wasn’t going to hire anybody, because that is something throughout the investigation that can be discovered easily,” Magalhães said. “And that he had heard of a website called Fetlife.”
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Prosecutors say Magalhães and Brendan created a profile on Fetlife.com under the name “Anastasia9” using Christine’s computer. Magalhães testified that they posed as Christine, uploaded photos, and began messaging users on the platform.
Brendan’s goal, Magalhães said, was to find someone who participated in BDSM who “plays aggressive or likes playing with blood” and invite them to the house under the guise of being Christine.
Magalhães testified that the couple deliberately used Christine’s devices and only accessed them when she was home to avoid detection.
Joe Ryan, who used the website under the username “TacoSupreme7000” responded to the messages, believing he was talking to Christine. In messages shared with the jury, Magalhães read messages aloud to the jury, saying that she and Brendan asked Ryan to come to the Banfield home, bringing restraints and a knife.
Christine was later found dead from stab wounds, and Ryan was fatally shot after arriving at the home.
Brendan has pleaded not guilty. His attorney acknowledged during opening statements that Banfield had an affair with Magalhães, but denied involvement in the killings.
