Murder Trial Begins For Husband Accused In Plot With Au Pair

HERNDON, VA — The murder trial of a Herndon husband accused of conspiring with the family's au pair to kill his wife and another man begins Monday in Fairfax County.

Brendan Banfield, 40, planned to kill Joseph Ryan and Banfield's wife, Christine Banfield, and place the blame on Ryan, prosecutors have said.

Banfield has been charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the killings of his wife and Ryan. His trial is scheduled to begin in October, and he faces a life sentence for each of the charges.

The Banfields' 4-year-old daughter was in the home at the time of the slayings, officials have said.
A grand jury later indicted Brendan Banfield on one count of felony child abuse and neglect and one count of felony child cruelty tied to the killings.

As part of her plea agreement, prosecutors questioned au pair Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of manslaughter in the death of 39-year-old Joseph Ryan of Springfield.

Banfield, a former IRS criminal investigator, has pleaded not guilty to the charges stemming from the Feb. 24, 2023, homicides.

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Peres Magalhaes is expected to testify against Banfield during the trial, WTOP reported. As part of her plea agreement, Fairfax County prosecutors have said they will recommend a sentence of time served and she will be deported after her sentencing later this year.

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

The killings happened at the Banfield home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way in the Hattontown neighborhood in the Herndon area. 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.

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.

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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 couple’s bedroom with a gun drawn and announced himself as law enforcement, she said. Ryan was on top of Christine Banfield, who yelled, "Brendan, he has a knife!" Banfield immediately shot Ryan in the head, Peres Magalhaes said.

Peres Magalhaes then 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.’"