A Virginia father who admitted to having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was found guilty of murdering his wife and a stranger that prosecutors claimed was lured to the house as a fall guy.
Brendan Banfield, 40, a former IRS law enforcement officer, was found guilty Monday, after two days of deliberations, of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of using a firearm in committing a felony and child endangerment in connection with his wife Christine’s murder.
He now faces the possibility of life in prison at sentencing, which is tentatively scheduled for May 8.
The former IRS agent appeared stone-faced as the verdict was read in court. His parents, though, looked somber as Christine’s parents wept, The New York Times reports.
Banfield had told police he found Joseph Ryan, 39, attacking his wife, Christine, 37, with a knife on the morning of February 24, 2023.
He then shot Ryan, and his au pair, Juliana Magalhães, 25, fired at him too.
But officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Banfield set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of his wife.
Their case was bolstered by the au pair, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial.
She told jurors how she and Banfield impersonated Christine, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on BDSM site Fetlife to lure Ryan to carry out a ‘rape fantasy’ in which he would sneak into the Banfield’s home with a knife to make it look like he was an intruder.
Brendan Banfield, 40, was found guilty of double homicide by a jury in Virginia on Monday
Banfield was convicted of plotting his wife Christine’s murder. The two are pictured with their young daughter
Magalhães claimed in court that Banfield shot Ryan in hopes of it appearing as ‘self-defense’, before he also stabbed his wife to death to frame Ryan.
She told how Banfield left his home on the morning of February 24, 2023, and ordered her to wait outside in her car while he waited at a nearby McDonald’s.
She said that he told her to call him when Ryan arrived to carry out the ‘rape fantasy’, so that he could come home and catch him on top of his wife.
When they entered the home, she testified they took Banfield’s child to the basement before going upstairs to find Ryan struggling with Christine.
‘When I got to the bedroom, he yelled, “Police officer”,’ she said of Banfield, who at the time was an armed IRS agent.
‘Christine yelled back at Brendan, saying, “Brendan! He has a knife!” That’s when Brendan first shot Joe,’ she told the court.
After shooting Ryan, Banfield then began stabbing his wife, Magalhães alleged.
She said she tried covering her eyes as the alleged murder unfolded, but admitted that she then saw Ryan moving on the ground, so she shot him with a gun that Banfield had given her.
Banfield was also found guilty of murdering Joseph Ryan, 39, who prosecutors said was the fall guy in Banfield and his au pair’s plot to kill Christine
Banfield’s mistress Juliana Peres Magalhães admitted to shooting Ryan during the incident and was initially charged with murder, but pleaded down to a lesser charge of manslaughter as she became a key witness for the prosecution
Jurors had heard earlier in the trial that investigators discovered Magalhães had moved into Banfield’s marital bed and was still sleeping with him months after Christine was murdered.
Fairfax County Sgt. Kenneth Fortner testified that he first entered the Banfield’s home in February 2023 as part of the investigation into the double homicide and took pictures of the home, including both the primary bedroom and Magalhães’s room.
When he visited the home again eight months later, ‘red, lingerie-style clothing items’ and a yellow t-shirt with green trim that had previously hung in the au pair’s closet had been moved to the master bedroom, he testified.
‘They had gotten new flooring, new bedroom furniture,’ Fortner said, noting how photographs that once featured the Banfields had been ‘taken down and replaced with Brendan and Juliana together.’
But defense attorney John Carroll argued that Magalhães´ testimony could not be trusted because she was cooperating with prosecutors to try to avoid a long prison sentence.
‘When they lie and manipulate to get someone to make a statement, that’s not discovering the truth,’ he said in his closing statements on Friday. ‘That’s planting the truth.’
Banfield, seen crying at the trial, testified that Magalhães’s description of what happened was a lie and there was no plot to kill his wife
Jurors had heard earlier in the trial that investigators discovered Magalhães had moved into Banfield’s marital bed and was still sleeping with him months after Christine was murdered
When Banfield earlier took the stand on Wednesday, he said his former nanny’s testimony was ‘absolutely crazy’ even though he admitted to having an affair with Magalhães and several other women.
‘I think it’s an absurd line of questioning for something that is not serious that a plan was made to get rid of my wife,’ he argued.
‘That is absolutely crazy.’
He then went on to argue that Magalhães’s description of a plot to kill his wife was a lie, and insisted that ‘there was no plan.’
Carroll also introduced evidence showing that there was dissent within the police department over the theory that Magalhães and Brendan Banfield impersonated Christine Banfield on social media in a ‘catfishing’ scheme.
An officer who concluded from digital evidence that Christine Banfield was behind the social media account was later transferred in what Carroll said was punishment for disagreeing with a theory favored by the department´s higher-ups.
Still, prosecutor Jenna Sands told the jury in her closing arguments that they did not have to rely solely on Magalhães´ testimony, pointing to what she called a ‘plethora of evidence,’ including expert testimony that blood stains on Ryan’s hands suggested Christine Banfield´s blood had been dripped onto him from above.
‘I think that he was obviously hoping for a life with Juliana, and he didn’t see a way to accomplish that without executing his wife,’ she said when asked about the verdict Monday night.
Carroll, though disagreed.
‘Obviously, I believe we had the evidence in our favor,’ he said, simply, adding that he did not know whether Banfield would appeal the decision.
In the meantime, Magalhães is scheduled to be sentenced following Banfield’s trial. She faces 10 years behind bars, but attorneys have said she could be allowed to walk free if she is sentenced to time served.
