Virginia man in ‘au pair affair’ case convicted of murdering wife and
another man in elaborate ruse
[February 03, 2026]
By OLIVIA DIAZ and TRAVIS LOLLER
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was
found guilty Monday of murdering his wife and another man that
prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy.
Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, told police he
came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a
knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana
Magalhães, the au pair, shot him, too.
But officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true,
telling jurors that Banfield set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of his
wife. It later came out that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães had been
having an affair.
The verdict comes after the gruesome and complicated double homicide was
catapulted into mainstream media in Brazil, the U.S. and elsewhere in
the world.
“The details of this case attracted national attention — because it
involved an affair, a fetish website and a premeditated plot,” Fairfax
County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said following the verdict.
“But beyond the spectacle, we are here today because of the tragic
deaths of two of our community members, Christine Banfield and Joseph
Ryan.”
Prosecutors argued that Banfield and Magalhães impersonated Christine
Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on a website for sexual
fetishes. Officials said they used the site to lure Ryan to the house
for a sexual encounter involving a knife, left the front door open and
staged the scene to look as though they had shot an intruder who was
attacking the wife.
Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against
her former lover at trial, corroborating prosecutors' theory.
Defense attorney John Carroll argued that Magalhães’ testimony could not
be trusted because she was cooperating with prosecutors to try to avoid
a long prison sentence. In his own testimony, Banfield said that the
testimony was “ absolutely crazy.”
Carroll also introduced evidence showing that there was dissent within
the police department over the theory that Magalhães and Brendan
Banfield impersonated Christine Banfield on social media in a
“catfishing” scheme. An officer who concluded from digital evidence that
Christine Banfield was behind the social media account was later
transferred in what Carroll said was punishment for disagreeing with a
theory favored by the department’s higher-ups.
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This image taken from Court TV video shows Brendan Banfield, center
and defense attorney John Carroll, right, rising to hear the
verdict, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Fairfax, Va. (Court TV via AP,
Pool)
But prosecutor Jenna Sands pushed back on the notion that Banfield
was unfamiliar with social media platforms for people interested in
fetishes and couldn't be capable of such catfishing.
“You had multiple affairs, correct?” Sands asked the defendant,
followed by, “And one of those affairs was with a woman named
Danielle, who you met on a fetish site searching for ‘sugar babies.’
Is that correct?”
Banfield replied: “I would not call it a fetish site.” When pressed
as to how he would describe the website, Banfield testified that he
had an arranged relationship with someone who knew he was married.
In closing arguments, Sands told the jury they did not have to rely
solely on Magalhães’ testimony, pointing to what she called a
“plethora of evidence.” That included expert testimony that blood
stains on Ryan’s hands suggested Christine Banfield’s blood had been
dripped onto him from above.
Banfield was also convicted of child endangerment. Banfield's
daughter, 4 years old at the time, was in the home's basement on the
day of the killings, though physically unharmed.
The jury deliberated for nearly nine hours across two days before
reaching a verdict. Banfield faces the possibility of life in prison
at his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for May 8.
Magalhães was scheduled to be sentenced after Banfield’s trial.
Attorneys have said she could be allowed to walk free if she is
sentenced to time served and return to her home in Brazil.
___
Diaz reported from Richmond, Virginia, and Loller from Nashville,
Tennessee.
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