FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who had a relationship with a Brazilian au pair will go on trial Monday in what prosecutors say was an elaborate double murder to frame another man for stabbing his wife.
Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 slayings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at Banfield’s home in northern Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Banfield and the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, were with his wife and Ryan on the morning the victim was killed in the master bedroom of Banfield’s home, court records show. That day, Banfield and Magalhães told officials they saw Ryan, a stranger, enter the house and stab his wife, authorities said. They then each shot the intruder, Banfield and Magalhães said at the time.
Prosecutors painted a different picture, arguing that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to the home and pretended he and the au pair shot a predator in self-defense. Officials said Banfield and Magalhães had been in a relationship that began a year before the killings.
Both the au pair and the husband were arrested between 2023 and 2024 and were initially charged with murder in the case. In 2024, Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded manslaughter charge after giving a statement to officials confirming part of his theory.
In her statement, Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield created an account on the social media platform in their wife’s name for people interested in sexual fetishes. There, Ryan connected the account under the name Christine Banfield, and the user planned to meet on the morning of February 24, 2023, for a sexual encounter involving a knife, authorities said, according to Magalhães’ statement.
Prosecutor Eric Clingan said last year that the au pair’s statements helped the state solidify its theory before trial.
“With 12 different homicide detectives, there were 24 different theories,” Klingen said. “Now, there’s a theory.”
Not all officials investigating the case believe Banfield and Magalhães catfished Ryan.
Brendan Miller, a former digital forensics examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded that Christine Banfield contacted Ryan himself through social networking platforms.
Based on the evidence presented to the court, the University of Alabama’s evidence analysis team peer-reviewed and confirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings.
Miller transferred out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, but the former Fairfax County commander confirmed the transfer was not punitive or disciplinary.
Banfield’s attorney, John Carroll, argued that Millers’ transfer was directly related to the case. He also told the court that Fairfax County police reassigned the lead detective on the case after rebutting the catfish theory from higher-ups.
“It’s a theory that looks for facts, rather than a set of facts that support a theory,” Carroll said.
Banfield, whose daughter was at the home the morning of the incident, was also charged with child abuse and felony child abuse in connection with the case. He will also face the charges during his aggravated murder trial.