Brendan Banfield Found Guilty Of Murder In Au Pair Affair Trial

Updated at 5:35 p.m.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Jurors decided Brendan Banfield — the Herndon husband and IRS agent on trial for killing his wife and another man in a scheme involving his former au pair lover — is guilty of murder in the case.

Jurors deliberated for several hours Friday without reaching a verdict before returning to spend Monday deciding the case. Their verdict was announced shortly after 5 p.m.

NBC Washington reported Banfield was found guilty on all charges against him: one count of aggravated murder — two murders within three years; one count aggravated murder — multiple victims in same act; one count use of a firearm in the commission of a felony; and one count child endangerment.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered their closing arguments to the jury on Friday, according to an NBC Washington report. The jury had to decide whether to convict Banfield of aggravated murder in the 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 pleaded not guilty and faces a sentence of life in prison for the aggravated murder conviction. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8.

Prosecutor Jenna Sands told the jury Banfield was in love with his family’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, who testified against Banfield as part of a plea deal, WTOP reported.

“They got Joe Ryan into the house, and then they shot him,” Sands said during closing arguments. “Brendan stabbed Christine, let her bleed out on the floor, and then dripped, smeared and wiped her blood on Joseph Ryan’s body to make it look like he had attacked Christine. Then they called the police.”

Banfield took the stand in his own defense last week and said he never created “any sort of a plan” with Peres Magalhaes to kill his wife.

“I think that it's an absurd line of questioning for something that is not serious, that a plan was made to get rid of my wife,” he said. “That is absolutely crazy.”

A Look At Murder Plot

Earlier in the trial, Peres Magalhaes testified that she began working as an au pair in the home in October 2021, when she was 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 then-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.

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 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 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 Peres Magalhaes 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 Peres Magalhaes 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 Peres Magalhaes were having an affair; however, “there’s an awful lot more to look for.”