Husband charged in double homicide after having affair with au pair is going on trial in Virginia
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who had an affair with a Brazilian babysitter will go on trial Monday for what prosecutors allege was an elaborate double-murder plot to frame another man for stabbing his wife.
Brendan Banfield is charged aggravated murder The February 2023 murders of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields’ northern Virginia home. He pleaded not guilty in the case.
Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the family’s caregiver, were with her husband and Ryan the morning the victims were killed in the master bedroom of the Banfield home, according to court records. That day, Banfield and Magalhäes told authorities they saw stranger Ryan stab his wife after entering the home, authorities said. Banfield and Magalhäes later said they each shot the intruder.
Prosecutors painted a different picture, arguing that Brendan Banfield and Magalhâes lured Ryan into the house and made it look like he and his babysitter had shot a predator in defense. Authorities said Banfield and Magalhaes had been in a romantic relationship since the year before the murders.
Both the caregiver and her husband were arrested between 2023 and 2024 and were initially charged with murder in the case. Magalhaes in 2024 Pleaded guilty to reduced manslaughter charge after making a statement to authorities confirming parts of their theory.
In this statement, Magalhäes said that she and Brendan Banfield created an account in her husband’s name on a social media platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. Based on Magalhaes’ statement, authorities said Ryan contacted the account in the name of Christine Banfield and the users made plans to meet for a sexual encounter involving a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023.
Prosecutor Eric Clingan said last year that the babysitter’s statement helped the state solidify its theory before trial.
“There were 24 different theories with 12 different homicide detectives,” Clingan said. “Now a theory.”
Not all authorities investigating the case believe Banfield and Magalhäes published Ryan.
Brendan Miller, a former digital forensics investigator with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded that Christine Banfield personally contacted Ryan through the social networking platform.
An evidence analysis team at the University of Alabama peer-reviewed and approved Miller’s digital forensic findings based on evidence presented to the court.
Miller was transferred A former Fairfax County commander left the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, although he testified that the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary.
Banfield’s lawyer, John Carroll, argued that the Millers’ transfer was directly tied to the case. He also told the court that Fairfax County police reassigned the lead detective on the case after the man’s top officials shot down his catfishing theory.
“This is a theory looking for facts, rather than a set of facts supporting a theory,” Carroll said.
Banfield, whose daughter was at home the morning of the murder, is also charged. child abuse and felony child cruelty in connection with the case. He will also face those charges in the aggravated murder case.
