Au Pair 'Wanted The Truth To Come Out' About Ex-Lover, 2023 Homicide

FAIRFAX, VA — A former Brazilian au pair and ex-lover of Brendan Banfield, who is accused of killing his wife and another man at his home on Stable Brook Way in Herndon in 2023, testified on Wednesday that she turned against Banfield because she “wanted the truth to come out," according to reports.

For more than a year, Juliana Peres Magalhaes did not speak with authorities about the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, or about Brendan Banfield’s alleged involvement. But attorneys say that days before her own criminal trial, the former au pair changed her mind and began to talk.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife and Ryan, who authorities said were killed at the Banfield family's home in the Hattontown neighborhood in Herndon.

Banfield has pleaded not guilty and could face life in prison if convicted.

Peres Magalhaes took the stand this week as part of her October 2024 plea agreement, in which she pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the death of Ryan.

On Wednesday, letters written by Peres Magalhaes were introduced in court. In earlier letters, she professed her love for Banfield and the pain she was feeling at not being with him, and how she would steadfastly remain loyal by not giving in to the Commonwealth’s offers of a plea, Court TV reported.

In a letter to Banfield's mother, Peres Magalhaes said she would not testify against him.

"I'd give my life for his and I would never do anything to hurt him or against him. Whatever they're saying, whatever they want to believe, I don't care. I'll take the blame for the both of us," the letter to Banfield's mother read. She wrote the letter while in jail.

As time went by, reports said Peres Magalhaes grew depressed and despondent due to delays in her trial. In other letters to her mother and other family members, she complained about her lawyer and confusion over the timing of a potential trial, NBC Washington reported.

Related: Murder Trial Begins For Husband Accused In Plot With Au Pair

Brendan Banfield's mother paid for attorneys to represent Peres Magalhaes until she accepted a plea deal, testimony on Wednesday revealed. She relied on Banfield and his mother to keep in contact with Peres Magalhaes's mother in Brazil via text, NBC reported.

On Wednesday, defense attorneys suggested the threat of cutting off support from her family in Brazil, and a health crisis in October eventually led to the agreement to testify against Banfield, according to Court TV.

A Look At Murder Plot

On Tuesday, Peres Magalhaes testified that she began working as an au pair in the home in October 2021, when she would have been 21 years old. She and Banfield began a sexual relationship about 10 months later.

Banfield told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, but he needed to “get rid of” his wife first, she testified. He didn't want to divorce his wife because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple's 4-year-old daughter.

The killings happened at the Banfield home on Feb. 24, 2023. At the scene, police found Christine Banfield with upper-body stab wounds and Ryan suffering from upper-body gunshot wounds. Banfield was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead, while Ryan died at the scene.

Prosecutors previously said Banfield posed as his wife on a fetish website and lured Ryan to the home for what he thought was consensual sex. Banfield then shot Ryan in the bedroom and stabbed his wife, prosecutors have said, while Peres Magalhaes also shot Ryan.

On Tuesday, Peres Magalhaes said both she and Banfield would both post to the site from Christine Banfield's laptop, and they were careful to post only when Christine Banfield was home.

“He knew that we needed to have some alibis,” she testified.

Details Of Slayings

In an interview obtained by NBC Washington last August, Peres Magalhaes said the morning of the slayings, Banfield pretended to go to his job but instead went to a nearby restaurant after instructing her to call him as soon as Ryan arrived at Banfield's home. Peres Magalhaes then took the 4-year-old child to a car under the pretense of going to the zoo.

When Banfield arrived at the home, he and Peres Magalhaes entered the house through the basement and left the child there. Banfield then entered the bedroom he shared with his wife with a gun drawn and announced himself as law enforcement, she said.

“When I got to the bedroom, he yelled, ‘Police officer,’” Peres Magalhaes said of Brendan Banfield. “Christine yelled back at Brendan, saying, 'Brendan! He has a knife!' That's when Brendan first shot Joe.”

Peres Magalhaes previously told prosecutors that Banfield took Ryan’s knife and stabbed his wife multiple times.

"He was stabbing her, and she was just telling him, 'Let me go. I'm gonna die anyways. I'm gonna bleed to death,'” Peres Magalhaes said. “She was just, 'Leave me here. Let me die.' And he was telling her, 'I can't.' I don't know why he said 'I can't.’"

Carroll, Banfield's attorney, said in opening statements that Magalhães had maintained her innocence for a year but eventually changed her story in exchange for a sweetheart deal.

The prosecution's theory relies on the idea that Banfield and Magalhães were “catfishing” Ryan by pretending to be Christine Banfield. However, the lead homicide detective and the forensic detective both disagreed with that theory, Carroll said. Both were later transferred. Carroll said there was “turmoil” inside the police department over that case that some media have dubbed the “au pair affair.”

“You’re going to see a presentation of a horrible, tragic, awful event,” Carroll said. He said there is no dispute that Banfield and Magalhães were having an affair; however, “there’s an awful lot more to look for.”

Banfield is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty in connection with the case. He will also face those charges during the aggravated murder trial.

WTOP will carry Court TV’s pool coverage. To watch a livestream of the trial, click here.

• RELATED: Au Pair Reveals New Grisly Details Of Herndon Double Murder

The Associated Press contributed reporting.