Key details that got glamorous au pair and her boss arrested for double murder at $1M Virginia mansion
The husband of a woman who was found stabbed to death in a double homicide involving an affair and a fetish website was undone by blood splatter.
Christine Banfield, 37, was found inside her bedroom suffering from stab wounds alongside Joseph Ryan, 39, who was shot, in February 2023 in Herndon, Virginia.
Her husband, Brendan Banfield, was charged last month with her death and indicted on four charges of aggravated murder.
The couple were living inside their $1 million home with their four-year-old daughter and au-pair Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 24, who was also charged with murder.
Brendan Banfield, was charged earlier this week with the death of his wife and indicted on four charges of aggravated murder
Christine Banfield, 37, was found inside her bedroom suffering from stab wounds in February of 2023
Banfield and Magalhaes, who were allegedly having an affair at the time, claimed they arrived to find Ryan attacking Christine, and both shot him.
However, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan revealed in court that blood splatter analysis showed the bodies were moved.
He said police received in August ‘two definitive reports from expert forensic investigators’ who spent more than a year reviewing evidence.
Clingan said the reports were foundational in supporting prosecutors’ theory that Ryan and Christine Banfield’s bodies were moved and repositioned after they were fatally wounded.
Clingan also said Ryan’s arms were moved and smeared with the wife’s blood.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, is accused of killing a BDSM fetishist as part of a plot with her IRS agent boss to get rid of his wife so they could be together
John Carroll, Brendan Banfield’s attorney, argued in court that Clingan’s narrative of what happened was not evidence of the husband killing his wife.
‘It just doesn’t add up, judge,’ he said.
At the end of the hearing, Fairfax Circuit Chief Judge Penney S. Azcarate denied Banfield bail, requiring the defendant to remain in the county jail until his trial, which is scheduled for February.
The blood-spatter evidence is one piece of officials’ sprawling investigation into Banfield and Magalhães, who was arrested last October and will face a trial this November.
Authorities have said the killings were part of a larger scheme between Magalhães and Banfield, whom officials alleged began a romantic relationship in August 2022.
In the six months before the killings, Magalhães and Banfield went on a trip to New York City together, and took romantic pictures together, Clingan said.
The prosecutor also said other women had informed detectives that Banfield participated in multiple extramarital affairs during his marriage.
‘Multiple, credible women confirmed this fact including one, in particular, who told them that during the course of her affair with this defendant a few years ago he would constantly promise to leave his wife,’ he said.
‘Eventually he told her, ‘It would be so much easier for us if she was not around’.’
According to prosecutors, the au pair and her boss Brendan Banfield were having an affair, with pictures of the couple found in the bedroom where Christine died
On the day of the killings, prosecutors said Magalhães called 911 at least twice within minutes, but ended the calls before speaking with first responders.
More than 10 minutes later, prosecutors alleged in court, Magalhães called 911 a final time and reported the emergency.
Banfield then spoke into the phone and said he had shot a man because that man stabbed his wife.
Police soon arrived at the Banfields’ home and found that Ryan had been fatally shot and Christine was suffering from stab wounds. She was taken to the hospital, where she died.
Magalhaes told police she had left the family home to take the child to the zoo but returned after realizing she had left their lunches.
She said she left the child in the basement after she and Banfield heard what sounded like an intruder before they discovered Christine being attacked.
When Magalhães and Banfield went inside, the two found Ryan holding a knife to Christine’s throat, Magalhães told detectives.
Banfield, a law enforcement officer for the Internal Revenue Service, told police he grabbed his service gun and shot and injured Ryan.
He told police he then ordered Peres Magalhaes to grab another gun and shoot him again, which she did and allegedly killed him.
Prosecutors allege that someone created a fake account for Christine on a BDSM site and made plans to have ‘rough sex’ with Ryan, seen here
Preliminary prosecutors said that evidence pointed to a much different story, suggesting Ryan was gunned down as part of a scheme to get rid of Christine.
Investigators first became suspicious about Magalhaes’ story after she and Banfield failed to disclose their alleged romance when speaking to detectives.
Police said they uncovered evidence of a secret lovers’ getaway and pointed out that just eight months after the killings Magalhaes had moved into the main bedroom.
They submitted a picture showing a framed photo of Magalhaes and Banfield on her nightstand and her clothes were in Christine’s closet.
Prosecutors allege that someone created a fake account for Christine on a BDSM site and made plans to have ‘rough sex’ with Ryan before they were both killed.
In court it emerged that the fetish website account Ryan had been messaging on was maintained on Christine’s computer under the username Annastasia9.
However, there was ‘not one iota of evidence that she was into knife play, binding, BDSM,’ said prosecutor Eric Clingan.
Ryan and the account user discussed rough sex and bloodplay, an act where someone deliberately cuts another.
During the chats, Annastasia9 wrote that she cheats on her husband ‘whenever she wants to’.
Ryan told a friend Christine’s marriage was not entirely monogamous, adding that Brendan Banfield was aware ‘of the extramarital activity of his wife,’ Clingan said.
Preliminary prosecutors said that evidence points to a much different story, suggesting Ryan was gunned down as part of a scheme to get rid of Christine
Prosecutors also pointed out a 10-minute delay between the first 911 call being placed and Magalhaes’ final call.
During court hearings for Magalhães, prosecutors also argued that Ryan was not known to be violent.
In the 11 months between Magalhães’ arrest and the indictment of Banfield, authorities said they monitored their phone conversations at the Fairfax County jail.
Clingan said Magalhães and Banfield had a brief phone call, in which she said: ‘I hope you are not just staying with me because you are afraid I’m going to turn against you.’
In announcing the new charges on Brendan Banfield, FairFax County Attorney Steve Descano said: ‘On Feb. 24, 2023, I stood in the middle of a cul-de-sac street in Fairfax County and described the deaths of two persons inside of a residential home.
‘Now, 570 days later, we know the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield are, in fact, murders.’