VA v. Brendan Banfield: Au Pair Affair Murder Trial

FAIRFAX, Va. (Court TV/AP) — A Virginia man is facing life in prison if convicted in the deaths of his wife and another man.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the Feb. 2023 deaths of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors allege the murders were part of a larger scheme between Brendan and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães, who were having an affair.

An evidence photo dated Oct. 13, 2023, shows a framed photo of Brendan Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhaes on a nightstand in the master bedroom of the Banfield home. (Fairfax County VA Commonwealth’s Atty’s Office)

On the day of the killings, Magalhães called 911 at least three times, hanging up twice before reporting the emergency on the third call. Brendan then spoke into the phone and said he had shot a man because that man stabbed his wife, reported the Associated Press.

Authorities soon arrived at the Banfields’ home in Herndon, Virginia, and found that Ryan had been fatally shot and Christine suffered from stab wounds. She was taken to the hospital, where she died.

The story that Magalhães told police raised suspicion. A months-long investigation revealed that Magalhães and Brendan were lovers. Prosecutors say the two schemed to kill Christine by luring a man to the house to play out a rape fantasy.

Ryan accepted the invitation, thinking he was meeting Christine for violent sex play, and brought a knife and restraints.

Magalhães was arrested in Oct. 2023 for the death of Ryan. Brendan was arrested nearly a year later in Sept. 2024 for the deaths of Christine and Ryan. The following month, Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Ryan. In a video obtained by NBC News, she said the plan was masterminded by Brendan to avoid a divorce.

DAILY TRIAL UPDATES

DAY 3 – 1/15/26

• LIVE STREAM: VA v. Brendan Banfield – Day 3 | Au Pair Affair Murder Trial
• Surveillance video from a McDonald’s tracks the defendant on the morning his wife was killed and helps to corroborate Magalhães’ testimony.
  • Magalhães described that the plan on Feb. 24, 2023, was for the defendant to wait at the McDonald’s near their house for her call to alert him as to when Joseph Ryan arrived at the house to play out the rape fantasy.
  • Call logs and surveillance video show Banfield arriving, hanging out and leaving the McDonald’s at times described by Magalhães and that match up with the call logs from Magalhães’ and Brendan’s cell phones.
  • VIDEO: Surveillance Shows Brendan Banfield at McDonald’s Before Killings

• Crime scene detective Terry Leach displayed photos taken in the master bedroom where Christine and Joseph Ryan were killed.
  • The text exchange between Joseph Ryan and Anastasia9 (the profile allegedly created posing as Christine) appear to line up with items found at the scene. (During the exchange, Ryan and “Anastasia” discuss elements of the role playing, including aggressive sex in which Ryan proposes either cutting or tearing her clothes off. Leach found ripped black underwear found at the scene and a pajama bottom that was inside out.)

DAY 2 – 1/14/26

• LIVE STREAM: VA v. Brendan Banfield – Day 2 | Au Pair Affair Murder Trial
• Defense attorney John Carroll spent the better part of a day grilling codefendant Juliana Magalhães about a double murder plot she claimed her ex-lover concocted so the two could pursue a life together.
  • Magalhães said Brendan Banfield posed as his wife on a fetish dating website to lure a man to the house to carry out a rape fantasy. His plan was to kill the stranger in self-defense while framing him for his wife’s murder, which Magalhães said Banfield carried out himself by stabbing her multiple times with the knife he told Joseph Ryan, the role-playing ‘rapist’, to bring.
  • Carroll questioned Magalhães about letters she wrote from jail, where she repeatedly expressed her frustration and disappointment over legal representation, and the pace at which it was going.  Magalhães was distraught and upset at being separated from her family and was anxious to be tried, believing she would be acquitted.
  • In earlier letters, Magalhães was effusive about her love for the defendant and vowed she would stand by him no matter how appealing a plea bargain prosecutors offered.
  • WATCH: Juliana Magalhaes’ Letter to Brendan Banfield: ‘They Want Me to Cooperate’
  • In a letter to Banfield’s mother, Tess, who was paying for her defense, she said, “I would give up my life for his…I will take the blame for both of us.”
  • As the months wore on, she grew more despondent and anxious, complaining about delays in her trial and her lawyer’s lack of commitment and trial preparation. She grew distant from him, at one point writing, “I don’t expect much from Brendan, I’ll be deported back to Brazil.”
  • The defense suggested the threat of being cut off from her family in Brazil and a health crisis in October pushed her to testify against Banfield and point the finger at him for planning the attacks on Joseph Ryan and Christine.
  • Also, on cross, the defense suggested that Magalhães stood to benefit from telling her story as she was negotiating with TV producers for money in exchange for her participation in a documentary.
  • In messages, Magalhães discussed speaking with producers who approached her with an exclusivity contract, in exchange for which she would be paid at least 10K, but she did not commit to a producing team representing Netflix, in hopes of holding out for more money.
  • WATCH: Former Au Pair Juliana Magalhaes Reviews Emails of Selling Story to Netflix
  • The defense also pressed Magalhães for details regarding the alleged plan to create the FetLife account, as well as identifying the author of messages on the fetish dating website generated by the profile using Christine’s laptop.  Magalhães insisted that she could not recall exactly who wrote which message, because she and Brendan both participated in writing the posts using similar language. She also could not recall specific details about creating the user profile – only that Brendan created the profile.
  • The exchange got testy at times, forcing the judge to chastise the witness, telling her to ‘just answer the question.’
  • The defense suggested Magalhães cobbled together her testimony by studying the discovery materials she received from the Commonwealth.
  • On redirect – Magalhaes insisted that she was telling the truth.

DAY 1 – 1/13/26

• LIVE STREAM: VA v. Brendan Banfield – Day 1 | Au Pair Affair Murder Trial
• Prosecutor Jenna Sands accused the defendant of masterminding the plot that ended the lives of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan. She said Brendan Banfield began an affair with his au pair that became more serious and intimate. She told jurors that Banfield schemed to lure a man to his house to execute a rape fantasy so that he would have a reason for killing a man whom he set up to take the blame for his wife’s murder. Sands told jurors that the defendant is responsible for both murders and urged jurors to find him guilty.
• WATCH: Au Pair Affair Murder Trial: Opening Statements
• Defense attorney John F. Carroll suggested the government was fixated on his client and focused on ‘flipping’ Juliana Magalhães when she was feeling most vulnerable – thousands of miles from home and in custody. The delays in her trial wore her down until she was ready to accept the government’s deal that would require her to testify against his client.
  • Carroll suggested that the correspondence she wrote while she was in jail reveals that prosecutors pressured her to lie against her ex in an effort to secure a conviction against him. He urged jurors to listen carefully to her testimony and claimed that it would not be supported by the evidence.
• WATCH: Jury Hears Brendan Banfield in 911 Call | Au Pair Affair Murder Trial
• WATCH: Bodycam Played in Court Reveals Chaotic Crime Scene in Banfield Home
• Codefendant Juliana Magalhães took the stand and detailed the defendant’s alleged plot to kill his wife to avoid a divorce and the potential of having to share assets and custody of their 4-year-old daughter.
  • Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield began a sexual affair in August of 2022 less than a year after she started working as his au pair. By October of 2022, Magalhães said he shared a plan to get rid of his wife by creating a profile on FetLife, a fetish dating website.
  • Magalhães said she and Banfield used his wife’s laptop to create a user profile – Anastasia 9. Banfield, posing as Christine, looked for users willing to come to his house to fulfill a rape fantasy that included gagging, bondage and spanking. Magalhães said Banfield requested that candidates bring restraints and excluded those users who wanted to meet in public before engaging in the ‘rapist’ role.
  • Magalhães testified that Banfield selected the date (2/24/23), a day when Christine would be home.  The plan was for Banfield to wait at a nearby McDonald’s and for Magalhães to pretend to take the child to the zoo to be out of the house when Ryan arrived. Magalhães said she was to call Banfield to tell him Ryan was at the house. She and Banfield returned to the home while Ryan was upstairs in the master bedroom with Christine. She said she saw Ryan on top of Christine, and heard her tell her husband, ‘He has a knife.’
  • The former au pair then described how Banfield allegedly shot Ryan in the head and then used the knife Ryan brought to stab his wife multiple times in the neck.
  • Magalhães said she noticed Ryan still moving and shot Ryan in the chest. Her testimony in court varies from her bodycam statement to police on the day of the shooting – in the bodycam, she claimed Banfield told her to shoot Ryan.
  • MORE: Au Pair testifies Brendan Banfield had a plan to ‘get rid of’ wife
  • WATCH: Brendan Banfield’s Former Au Pair Takes the Stand in Double Murder Trial
• The medical examiner who autopsied both victims concluded they were both ‘rapid fatalities,’ and would have died within seconds to minutes after sustaining the injuries they suffered. Dr. Meghan Kessler testified about numerous bruises and abrasions on Christine’s legs and arms. She said most of the bruises did not appear to be more than 48 hours old, and it was not clear to her if they happened peri (at or close to the time of death) or post mortem.