Brendan Banfield convicted of double murder in au pair affair trial

By Lauren del Valle, Nicki Brown, CNN

(CNN) — A Virginia jury found Brendan Banfield guilty of killing his wife and another man as part of an elaborate scheme with the family’s au pair.

Prosecutors argued Banfield plotted with the au pair – with whom he was having an extramarital affair – to lure another man, Joseph Ryan, into their home with a fetish website and frame him for the murder of his wife, Christine Banfield.

Brendan Banfield was convicted of two counts of aggravated murder, a firearms offense and child endangerment. His daughter, who was 4 at the time, was in the home at the time of the killings, prosecutors said.

Banfield appeared stoic as the Fairfax County jury’s verdict was read aloud in court. The panel got the case midday Friday and deliberated much of Monday.

He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison, the mandatory penalty for the highest murder charge in Virginia. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8.

Steve Descano, commonwealth’s attorney for Fairfax County, said Banfield’s actions were “monstrous.”

“I hope he thinks about his wife in jail and about what a heinous thing he did,” Descano 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.”

Banfield was in love with the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, and plotted to get rid of his wife so they could be together, prosecutors said. Together they created fake accounts to pose as his wife on a fetish website to lure Ryan to the home under the guise of a consensual but violent sexual encounter with Christine, the au pair testified.

Prosecutors say Banfield fatally stabbed his wife and shot Ryan when he intervened in the 2023 encounter between Ryan and his wife and then staged the crime scene to make Ryan’s killing appear to be an act of self-defense.

The trial began January 12. Prosecutors called about 20 witnesses in the case over four days and another two witnesses in a short rebuttal.

The defense called several law enforcement witnesses to bolster its claims of a flawed investigation that led prosecutors to manipulate evidence to make a case against Banfield. The defense also put on a digital forensics analyst who said data recovered from Christine Banfield’s devices suggests there could not have been a catfishing scheme as prosecutors asserted.

The defendant took the stand

Banfield, who’s maintained his innocence, took the stand in his own defense, acknowledging the affair with Peres Magalhães started in August 2022 but denying any plans to kill his wife.

He testified he loved his wife despite them both having affairs throughout their nearly 20-year relationship and said his latest dalliance with the nanny wasn’t going to change his marriage.

Banfield also said he and Peres Magalhães had broken up at different times in their affair and were not actively in a relationship the day of the killings.

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.

The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the au pair’s testimony detailing the scheme she says she helped Banfield execute to “get rid” of his wife. According to the au pair, she watched Banfield fatally stab his wife and stage the crime scene to frame Ryan before they called 911.

Peres Magalhães was arrested for Ryan’s murder in October 2023 and a year later agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against Banfield in exchange for a recommendation she be sentenced to time served.

Banfield was not arrested and charged with murder for his wife’s and Ryan’s deaths until September 2024.

For jury, a question of credibility

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.

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 police officers arrived on the scene, they found Banfield kneeling over his wife’s body with his hands on her neck. Banfield testified his wife, still conscious at the time, directed him to apply pressure to her wounds to slow the bleeding.

Brendan Banfield’s DNA was not found on the knife used to fatally stab Christine. Analysis only recovered DNA from Christine and Ryan, who prosecutors say brought the knife there at Brendan Banfield’s direction, posing as his wife.

The jury deciding whether to convict Banfield on Virginia’s top homicide charge had to weigh Banfield’s credibility over Peres Magalhães. Prosecutors and Banfield’s defense attorney agreed not to offer the jury less severe homicide charges to consider against Banfield.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.