Herndon Au Pair Charged In Death Of Springfield Man: Report

HERNDON, VA — A Fairfax County District Court judge determined Monday that there was probable cause to charge Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the Herndon au pair accused of killing a man in the home where she worked in 2023, according to WTOP reporter Neal Augenstein.

Magalhaes is accused of fatally shooting 39-year-old Joseph Ryan of Springfield at the home of her employers Brendan Banfield and his wife Christine Banfield, who was also killed.

The killings happened on Feb. 24, 2023, at a home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way in the Hattontown neighborhood of Herndon. Police found Christine Banfield with upper body stab wounds and Joseph Ryan with upper body gunshot wounds.

Banfield was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead, while Ryan was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 4-year-old girl was home when the shooting occurred and was not hurt, police said.

Based on forensic evidence and interviews, Fairfax County Police charged the au pair with second-degree murder in Ryan's death.

"Prosecutors and police say Peres Magalhaes said she shot Ryan after Brendan Banfield shot and wounded him. The judge said he didn’t have to consider motive — based on the evidence, prosecutors demonstrated probable cause," Augenstein reported on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday afternoon.

LOCAL UPDATE: Prosecutors say the au pair charged with fatally shooting a man inside a Fairfax County house where a woman was also stabbed to death last year visited a shooting range with the woman’s husband just a few months before the bizarre double slaying.…
— WTOP (@WTOP) April 2, 2024

Augenstein also reported Brendan Banfield pleaded the fifth when asked if he had an affair with Magalhaes. Additional evidence presented by prosecutors in court showed that Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield had visited a Loudoun County shooting range two month's prior to Christine Banfield's death. Her husband returned later to purchase the Glock prosecutors say Magalhaes used to kill Ryan, Augenstein said.

Brendan Banfield has not been charged in connection with either death, according to court records.

In December, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kelsey Gill said that Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhaes had been involved in an affair for "several months" prior to the killings, according to the Washington Post.