A Virginia jury on Monday found Brendan Banfield guilty of aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan, in a case prosecutors said stemmed from an elaborate plot tied to an affair with the family’s au pair.
The 12-member jury in Fairfax County convicted Banfield on two counts of aggravated murder, as well as related firearm and child endangerment charges, after deliberating nearly nine hours. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8, and he faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors argued that Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, conspired with the couple’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, to lure Ryan to the family’s Herndon home under false pretenses and then kill both Ryan and his wife. They said a fake profile was used on a fetish website to entice Ryan to the house.
Magalhães, who previously pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with Ryan’s death, testified against Banfield under a plea agreement. Prosecutors said her testimony, along with other evidence, supported their claim that Banfield planned the killings.
Banfield denied plotting the murders, telling investigators he shot Ryan in self-defense after finding him attacking his wife. Defense attorneys also challenged the credibility of key evidence presented at trial.
The jury also convicted Banfield of a firearm offense and child endangerment, noting his then-4-year-old daughter was in the home’s basement during the incident.
“I hope he thinks about his wife in jail and about what a heinous thing he did,” Steve Descano, commonwealth’s attorney for Fairfax County, told reporters after the verdict Monday. “Because that’s something he’s rightfully going to have to live with for the rest of his life.”
Prosecutor Jenna Sands, who cross-examined Banfield, said he was dishonest and cold during his testimony.
“He showed absolutely no human emotion that we’d expect to see of someone in that position,” Sands said after the verdict on Monday.
CNN noted:
Banfield testified on February 24, 2023, he’d left for the day in anticipation of an important work meeting when Peres Magalhães called him to say she saw a strange man enter the family’s home. Banfield said he thought his wife might’ve been having an affair and drove home from a nearby McDonald’s to investigate.
He said Peres Magalhães followed him into the home and up the stairs, leaving his 4-year-old daughter alone in the basement. Banfield, an armed IRS special agent, said he entered his bedroom with his service weapon drawn, finding Ryan attacking his naked wife. Banfield testified he announced himself as police and shot Ryan after the man repeatedly stabbed Christine Banfield.
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Peres Magalhães fired a second shot at Ryan with Banfield’s personal firearm. He testified he never told her to get the gun from his safe or shoot Ryan, but the au pair said Banfield had taught her how to shoot before the incident and gave her the gun earlier that morning.
When the police officers arrived at the scene, they found Banfield kneeling over his wife’s body with his hands on her neck. Banfield testified that his wife, who was still conscious at the time, instructed him to apply pressure to her wounds in order to slow the bleeding.
Brendan Banfield’s DNA was not found on the knife used to fatally stab Christine. Analysis only retrieved DNA from Christine and Ryan, who prosecutors claim brought the knife at Banfield’s direction while posing as his wife.
The jury tasked with deciding whether to convict Banfield on Virginia’s highest homicide charge had to evaluate his credibility against that of Peres Magalhães. Both the prosecutors and Banfield’s defense attorney agreed not to present the jury with lesser homicide charges to consider in Banfield’s case.
