Opening statements set for Tuesday in trial of man accused of killing his wife and another man in plot with au pair

By Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — Opening statements are expected Tuesday in the double-murder trial of Brendan Banfield, accused by Virginia prosecutors of killing his wife and another man as part of an elaborate scheme hatched with his family’s au pair.

Banfield has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated murder for the deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan, as well as using a firearm during the commission of a felony. He faces up to life in prison if convicted on the murder charges.

Jury selection took place Monday. By day’s end, the court had seated 12 jurors and four alternates who will hear the case, which is expected to last about four weeks.

Prosecutors say Brendan Banfield and the family’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, were having an extra-marital affair and carried out the plan together. The salacious plot features allegations of BDSM sexual role play, trips to the gun range and false 911 calls, all in an attempt to kill Banfield’s wife and frame Ryan, according to prosecutors.

Peres Magalhães was initially charged with murder and has since pleaded guilty to a lesser count of involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Ryan.

She has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a recommendation that she be sentenced to time served, according to the plea agreement. She is likely to be the star witness in Banfield’s murder trial.

The case began February 24, 2023. Calls to 911 led police to the Banfields’ Herndon, Virginia, home, where they found Christine Banfield, 37, dead of stab wounds, and Ryan, 39, dead of gunshot wounds nearby, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

In October 2024, court records show Peres Magalhães pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. At a plea hearing, prosecutors read aloud a statement laying out the key allegations in the case.

As they alleged, Peres Magalhães began working as an au pair for the couple in late 2021, and in August 2022 she and Brendan Banfield began an extra-marital relationship. That fall, prosecutors alleged, “Brendan Banfield expressed to Peres Magalhães his desire to be rid of his wife and soon thereafter began planning to kill his wife as well as, ultimately, Joseph Ryan, the victim in this case.”

Banfield set up an account on Fetlife.com, a sexual fetish site, began communicating with Ryan and lured him to the Banfield home, prosecutors said. Ryan “likely believed” he was meeting Christine Banfield for a consensual sexual encounter, prosecutors said.

As part of their plan, when Ryan came to the home, Peres Magalhães called Banfield to report that a strange man was at the house, and Banfield was waiting at a nearby McDonald’s so he could return to the home quickly, prosecutors said.

He and Peres Magalhães put his child in the basement and then went upstairs to the Banfields’ bedroom, with Brendan Banfield holding his service weapon and the au pair holding a firearm he had purchased a month earlier, according to prosecutors.

“The two entered the bedroom and Joseph Ryan was holding Christine Banfield down,” prosecutors said. “Brendan Banfield called out, ‘Police officer,’ and then shot Joseph Ryan in the head, and Ryan fell away from Christine Banfield.”

Peres Magalhães called 911 but ended the call at Banfield’s direction, prosecutors said.

Banfield stabbed his wife, according to prosecutors. Peres Magalhães saw Ryan still moving and shot him, prosecutors said.

The au pair then called 911 again and they reported the killings as if Ryan was an intruder who had stabbed Banfield’s wife, according to prosecutors.

Banfield was also indicted on a count of felony child abuse and neglect and felony child cruelty related to the killings in December 2024. His daughter, who was 4 at the time, was present at the scene, according to prosecutors.

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