A Virginia father who admitted to having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was found guilty of murdering his wife and a stranger that prosecutors claimed was lured to the house as a fall guy.
Brendan Banfield, 40, a former IRS law enforcement officer, was found guilty on Monday of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of using a firearm in committing a felony and child endangerment in connection with his wife’s murder.
He now faces the possibility of life in prison at sentencing.
The former IRS agent had told police he found Joseph Ryan, 39, attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, 37, with a knife on the morning of February 24, 2023.
He then shot Ryan, and his au pair, Juliana Magalhães, 25, fired at 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.
Their case was bolstered by the au pair, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial.
She told jurors how she and Banfield impersonated Christine, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on BDSM site Fetlife to lure Ryan to carry out a ‘rape fantasy’ in which he would sneak into the Banfield’s home with a knife to make it look like he was an intruder.
Brendan Banfield, 40, was found guilty of double homicide by a jury in Virginia on Monday
Banfield was convicted of his wife, Christine’s murder. The two are pictured with their young daughter
Magalhães claimed that Banfield shot Ryan in hopes of it appearing as ‘self-defense’, before he also stabbed his wife to death to frame Ryan.
But 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.
When Banfield then took the stand himself on Wednesday, he said his former nanny’s testimony was ‘absolutely crazy’ even though he admitted to having an affair with Magalhães and several other women.
‘I think 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 argued.
‘That is absolutely crazy.’
Yet jurors had heard earlier in the trial that investigators discovered Magalhães had moved into Banfield’s marital bed and was still sleeping with him months after Christine was murdered.
Banfield was also found guilty of murdering Joseph Ryan, 39, who prosecutors said was the fall guy in Banfield and his au pair’s plot to kill Christine
The family’s former au pair Juliana Magalhães, 25, testified against Banfield as she detailed the affair they had
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.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Jenna 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.
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.
The jury deliberated for nearly nine hours across two days before reaching the verdict.
