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It all began on a fetish website.
A 39-year-old man was sought out and recruited to pay a visit to a home in the affluent Herndon neighborhood of Virginia and fulfill what was described as a ‘violent sexual fantasy.’
Who exactly lured him in, and what played out next is at the heart of an explosive trial now taking place inside Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Brendan Banfield, 40, is accused of masterminding a bizarre double murder plot to kill his wife Christine Banfield, 37, and a complete stranger Joseph Ryan on October 24, 2023 because he was having an affair with his four-year-old daughter’s Brazilian au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães.
Prosecutors allege that the former IRS agent lured Ryan through the BDSM website Fetlife so that he could frame him for Christine’s murder.
Brendan Banfield, 40, is accused of masterminding a bizarre double murder plot to kill his wife Christine Banfield, 37, and a complete stranger Joseph Ryan on October 24, 2023
Magalhães, 25, testified to this version of events during the first week of the trial after she flipped on her former lover in exchange for lesser charges.
Banfield, who has pleaded not guilty, meanwhile claims he found Ryan stabbing Christine to death inside their home and shot him dead.
He is facing life in prison on four counts of aggravated murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. He is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty.
In this week’s edition of The Crime Desk newsletter, attorney Neama Rahmani speaks to Daily Mail’s Crime Correspondent Rachel Sharp about the high-profile trial.
Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president and co-founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, reveals his expert opinion on the strength of the case so far – and the star witness who could seal Banfield’s fate.
Brendan Banfield was having an affair with his Brazilian au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães. She moved into the master bedroom with him not long after Christine’s death, with a photo of them placed in a frame next to the bed
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