Banfield Bought Gun A Month Before Wife's Grisly Murder, Witness Says

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Brendan Banfield purchased a gun about a month before his wife was found dead in their Herndon home, investigators said during day three of Banfield's high-profile, double-murder trial in Fairfax County.

Investigators, a forensics expert and other key witnesses took the stand Thursday in the trial of Banfield, who is accused of killing his wife and another man in a sprawling homicide scheme involving his former au pair lover.

Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the Feb. 24, 2023, deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph 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.

On Thursday, Amy Shotwell, an employee of Silver Eagle Group, testified that Banfield bought a gun from the shooting range in Northern Virginia about a month before the killings, NBC Washington reported. Documents show he bought a Glock 43X pistol on Jan. 28, 2023.

Day three of the trial follows two days of testimony by former Banfield family au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who took the stand as part of an October 2024 plea agreement, in which she pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in connection with Ryan's death.

For more than a year, Peres Magalhaes did not speak with authorities about the killings 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.

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

Fairfax County Police Sgt. Kenner Fortner took the stand first on Thursday. Fortner said he returned to the Banfield home months after the murders to take additional photos and discovered a portrait of Banfield and Peres Magalhaes on the nightstand of the primary bedroom where Christine Banfield and Ryan were killed, according to NBC Washington.

Fortner said he also found “red, lingerie-style clothing items” and a yellow T-shirt in that room’s closet, months after photographing them in Peres Magalhaes's former bedroom.

Following Thursday's testimony, the judge dismissed the court until Tuesday, after the federal holiday.

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.’"

John 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.

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

The Associated Press contributed reporting.