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Tag: joseph ryan

  • Brazilian au pair sentenced to 10 years in prison for role in Fairfax County double murder – WTOP News

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    The Brazilian au pair who plotted with her lover to kill his wife and another man in Herndon, Virginia, in 2023 was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

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    Au pair sentenced for role in Fairfax Co. double murder

    The Brazilian au pair who plotted with her lover to kill his wife and another man in Herndon, Virginia, in 2023 was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

    Fairfax County Chief Circuit Court Judge Penney Azcarate sentenced Juliana Peres Magalhães to the maximum penalty allowed for manslaughter in Virginia, breaking from the recommendation made by the commonwealth and the au pair’s attorney.

    “Let’s get straight, you do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and this family,” Azcarate said. “May it weigh heavily on your soul.”

    Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Joseph Ryan, who prosecutors say was lured to the Banfield home in February 2023 as part of a plot to frame him for murder.

    Under the terms of her plea deal, Magalhães’ attorney and prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of time served in exchange for her cooperation and testimony. But Azcarate exercised her authority to reject that recommendation.

    During Banfield’s trial, Magalhães testified about their affair and the plan to kill his wife and pin her murder on Ryan.

    Before her sentence was passed down, Magalhães’ attorney argued that testimony was integral to convicting Banfield in the aggravated murders of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Ryan.

    “The Commonwealth had circumstantial evidence, forensic evidence, electronic forensic evidence, digital forensic evidence and others,” he said. “But it was Juliana who ultimately told the story firsthand of what occurred, because that decision was integral in the jury’s decision.”

    Why judge deviated from recommended sentence

    The au pair told the court she teamed up with Banfield to make an account on a fetish website impersonating Christine. They used the account to message Ryan and invite him to the home with promises of rough sex.

    She had initially been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Ryan, but the au pair took the plea deal in October 2024.

    Azcarate called that deal a “bargain” for Magalhães as it downgraded the charge against her to manslaughter.

    “You could have been facing life, plus three years, and now the maximum I can sentence you to today is 10 years,” she said. “That’s clearly a trade for your cooperation with the commonwealth.”

    Azcarate said the au pair shot Ryan shot him “point blank in the heart” as he laid moaning and watched as Banfield stabbed his wife.

    “The facts of this case demonstrate an intentional and calculated level of violence that is the most serious manslaughter scenario that this court has ever seen,” she said.

    For a year and a half after the killings, the judge said Magalhães shared a fabricated story that depicted Ryan as a rapist and a murderer.

    “Until today, you have shown no empathy for the victim in this case,” Azcarate said.

    During the hearing, Azcarate listed off her ten reasons for sentencing Magalhães to additional time in prison.

    “Number 10, telling the child it was OK to call you mommy hours after the murder, your actions were deliberate self serving and demonstrated a profound disregard for human life,” Azcarate said.

    Banfield’s attorney has questioned Magalhães’ motives for cooperating with investigators, saying she told prosecutors what they wanted to hear.

    Magalhães has said that she confessed to share the truth — not as an attempt to be freed from jail.

    Banfield is scheduled to be sentenced May 8. He faces life in prison with no chance of parole.

    In addition to the murder charges, Banfield was also found guilty of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and child endangerment, as his 4-year-old child was home during the killings.

    WTOP’s Abigail Constantino and Thomas Robertson contributed to this report. 

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jessica Kronzer

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  • ‘Whose story does the evidence support?’: Jury resumes deliberations in ‘au pair affair’ murders trial – WTOP News

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    During the two week trial, Fairfax County prosecutors have argued that Brendan Banfield had an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair and staged an elaborate scheme to lure Joseph Ryan to the home to get rid of his wife and blame her killing on someone else.

    Jurors will resume deliberations Monday morning in the aggravated murders trial of Brendan Banfield, charged in the 2023 deaths of his wife, and another man, in his Herndon, Virginia, home.

    During the two week trial, Fairfax County prosecutors have argued that Banfield had an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, and staged an elaborate scheme to lure Joseph Ryan to the home to get rid of his wife and blame her killing on someone else.

    The former IRS law enforcement officer has pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison with no chance of parole if convicted of one of two aggravated murder charges. He’s also charged with use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and child endangerment, as his 4-year-old child was home during the killings, on Feb. 24, 2023.

    Jurors began deliberating midday Friday, and will resume their closed door discussions, Monday at 10 a.m.

    The panel of 12 heard drastically different stories in closing arguments of what happened before, during, and after the killings of Christine Banfield and Ryan.

    Prosecutor Jenna Sands said Brendan Banfield was in love with Magalhaes, and came up with the plan to kill his wife. After initially being charged with Ryan’s murder, Magalhaes testified for the prosecution, after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, and a promise that she would be sentenced to time served.

    Prosecutors and Magalhaes told jurors Banfield created fake accounts to pose as his wife on a fetish website to lure a man to the home, for what Joseph Ryan believed would be a consensual but violent sexual encounter with Christine Banfield.

    “They got Joe Ryan into the house, and then they shot him,” said Sands, in closing arguments. “Brendan stabbed Christine, let her bleed out on the floor, and then dripped, smeared and wiped her blood on Joseph Ryan’s body to make it look like he had attacked Christine. Then they called the police.”

    During trial, Magalhaes testified that Banfield shot Ryan in the head, and the au pair shot Ryan in the chest.

    However, defense attorney John Carroll said prosecutors failed to produce evidence that corroborated their “catfishing” theory.

    “Juliana made it up,” said Carroll, during his Friday closing argument. “She told the Commonwealth what they wanted to hear and without question they just took it as their story.”

    “She was a pawn in trying to get to my client,” said Carroll. “Her entire story has been bought and paid for.”

    Carroll reminded jurors that Brendan Banfield’s DNA was not discovered on the knife that was used to kill Christine Banfield. “The guy who brought the knife to the house is the stabber,” said Carroll.

    Carroll pointed out that prosecutors didn’t call investigators from Fairfax County Police Department to testify about blood or digital evidence, because their findings contradicted the prosecution’s catfishing theory.

    “When they lie and manipulate to get someone to make a statement, that’s not discovering the truth, that’s planting the truth,” Carroll concluded, when asking jurors to find his client not guilty of all charges.

    In her rebuttal closing, Sands questioned whether Magalhaes would have pleaded guilty to manslaughter if Banfield’s version of interrupting a home invasion were truthful. “If this version is correct, coming from Mr. Banfield, then she would be set free — she would be as ‘not guilty’ as he would be.”

    “Whose story is more credible here, Juliana’s or Mr. Banfield’s,” Sands asked. “Whose story does the evidence support?”

    On Friday, prosecutors and the defense agreed not to offer the jury less severe homicide charges to consider against Banfield, creating an all-or-nothing decision on each aggravated murder count.

    One aggravated murder count alleges that Banfield killed Ryan and Christine Banfield as part of the same act. The other aggravated murder count charges Banfield with killing two people within a three-year period.

    WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report. 

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Neal Augenstein

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  • Lawyers make final case in Fairfax double murder trial connected to au pair affair – WTOP News

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    Closing arguments are expected to begin Friday morning in a Fairfax County murder trial prosecutors say involved catfishing, a fetish website and an affair with a Brazilian au pair.

    WATCH LIVE: Closing arguments expected Friday in ‘au pair affair’ murders trial

    Closing arguments have begun Friday morning in a Fairfax County murder trial prosecutors say involved catfishing, a fetish website and an affair with a Brazilian au pair.

    Brendan Banfield testified this week in Fairfax County court that he did not devise a plan with the family’s au pair to kill his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, as prosecutors allege.

    “I think that 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 testified. “That is absolutely crazy.”

    Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the killings of his wife and Joseph Ryan.

    He has pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison if convicted.

    Lead prosecutor Jenna Sands began giving her closing arguments at 10 a.m., highlighting what evidence she said supports the commonwealth’s case.

    Prosecutors have said that Banfield and the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, lured Ryan to the family’s home in February 2023 by messaging him from an account they created on an adult fetish website impersonating his wife.

    Investigators said the pair fatally shot Ryan and Banfield stabbed his wife, then set up the scene to make it appear as if Ryan had attacked Christine.

    Magalhães has backed up prosecutors’ theory, testifying in court about Banfield’s plot to kill his wife.

    “I just couldn’t keep it to myself, the feeling of shame and guilt and sadness,” she said in court earlier this month.

    Magalhães was arrested eight months after the killings and charged with second-degree murder in Ryan’s death. But she has since pleaded guilty to a reduced manslaughter charge as part of a plea deal.

    What Banfield says happened

    In his testimony Thursday, Banfield recounted what he said happened on the day of the killings, which occurred while the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was at home.

    Banfield testified he came home after getting a call from Magalhães saying a strange man was in the family’s home.

    After arriving, he said he heard what he thought were sounds of sex.

    When Banfield opened the bedroom door, he said he saw Ryan holding a knife to his wife, who was naked on the floor. Ryan, he said, was clothed.

    Banfield testified that he told Ryan to drop the knife, and Ryan replied by telling him to drop his gun.

    “I did not want to shoot him. I wanted him to let her go,” Banfield said.

    Banfield said he fired his gun after seeing Ryan do a “downward stabbing stroke.”

    He said he noticed blood in his wife’s hair but didn’t initially see she had stab wounds.

    “Christine told me that she was bleeding out and that she was sorry and that she loved me,” Banfield said.

    Banfield said he then heard a gunshot and saw Magalhães holding a firearm.

    “I looked up and I saw that Juliana had my other firearm, and I was stunned that Juliana had shot,” he testified.

    Prosecutors have questioned whether Christine could have held a conversation with seven neck wounds, which were found in the autopsy.

    Prosecutors have argued Banfield stabbed his wife multiple times before Magalhães called 911.

    Banfield said he waited to shoot at Ryan out of fear of wounding his wife.

    The defense has tried to challenge the catfishing theory by providing digital evidence related to Christine’s phone and laptop use. A digital forensic examiner testified that Christine used both devices at the same time — raising questions about how Banfield could have used his wife’s laptop to message Ryan.

    The forensic examiner said he agreed with one detective — who was later removed from the case — that Christine Banfield never lost control of her phone or laptop.

    In his testimony, Banfield admitted having an affair with Magalhães. He said both he and his wife had affairs throughout their near 20-year relationship but did not intend to end their marriage.

    “We were together the entire time. We didn’t break up at any point,” Banfield said.

    Banfield told the court he met Christine when they were freshmen students at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.

    Magalhães will be sentenced after Banfield’s trial concludes. She could be sentenced to the time she has already served.

    WTOP’s Neal Augenstein and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jessica Kronzer

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  • Defense tries to poke holes in au pair’s confession in double murder – WTOP News

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    On the first day of the defense’s case in Fairfax County Circuit Court, attorneys for Brendan Banfield asked the judge to dismiss the charges, arguing prosecutors knowingly presented false testimony.

    On the first day of the defense’s arguments in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday, the attorneys of Brendan Banfield started by attempting to have the entire case thrown out, arguing the prosecution knowingly presented false testimony against his client.

    Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the 2023 deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and another man, Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors say Brendan killed them both as part of an elaborate plot with the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, to kill his wife and blame it on Ryan.

    Defense attorney John Carroll filed a motion to dismiss, saying at the end of the prosecution’s case, “It was at that point, when they rested, that this became incumbent upon me to make this motion.”

    Carroll cited a report from detective Brendan Miller, who testified at the behest of the defense Wednesday, which stated that an email account and an account with a website used for setting up sexual encounters was created by Christine Banfield.

    Peres Magalhães later told police she was the one behind those accounts — a confession that came after Miller wrote the report.

    Nonetheless, it was an issue Carroll honed in on when Miller took the stand.

    “I was able to determine that it was her phone used in the creation of that account based on a variety of returns,” Miller said.

    “And did you make any conclusions at that time that she had not given up her devices?” Carroll asked.

    “I had nothing indicating loss of dominion and control at that time,” Miller responded.

    Under further questioning, Miller acknowledged his findings did change upon Peres Magalhães admission.

    Prosecutor Jenna Sands asked Miller if he could “conclusively opine as to who was behind the screen” based on the activity of Christine Banfield’s phone. He said he could not.

    “When you wrote this report that Mr. Carroll has referenced, you used the phrasing ‘Christine did this. Christine did that.’ Is that correct?” Sands asked.

    “Yes,” Miller said.

    He also testified that he can’t determine who is behind a screen at all times without some form of corroboration.

    Judge Penney Azcarate rejected the defense’s argument that prosecutors knowingly allowed false statements to be used in court. From there, the defense rehashed police body camera video of the immediate aftermath of the killing, including the moments when Brendan Banfield learned his wife was dead.

    The defense also used its own blood spatter analyst to try to poke holes in the theory that Banfield was able to drip his wife’s blood over Joseph Ryan’s body to connect him to her death.

    Defense expert LeeAnn Singley disagreed with testimony from a prosecution witness the previous day, who said blood drops on Ryan’s arm appeared to have been dripped from above.

    “Once you’ve classified it as a certain mechanism, you’ve excluded everything else,” Singley said. “I didn’t feel there was enough information here for me to do that, and this target surface, it would be inappropriate, I believe, to do that, because the target surface was not ideal for being able to do that.”

    After the trial broke for lunch, Singley returned to the stand and was eventually cross examined by Sands about her decision not to make a solid determination of how the drops got there.

    Singley agreed that none of the options have been excluded.

    She also conceded it was at least possible the blood droplets on Ryan’s arm did get dripped onto him, even if she didn’t agree with the conclusion of the prosecution’s expert that that’s actually what happened.

    The case resumes at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. It’s also possible the trial continues Friday — normally a day off for the jury — because of the judge’s concern about the impending snowstorm this weekend. Azcarate said it would be her decision to decide whether the courthouse would be closed for inclement weather.

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    © 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    John Domen

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  • WATCH LIVE: Fairfax Co. husband goes on trial in double murder case involving au pair – WTOP News

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    The Fairfax County, Virginia, husband accused of conspiring with the family’s au pair to kill his wife and another person, is on trial, charged with aggravated murder for the February 2023 deaths.

    Prosecutors said Brendan Banfield planned with Juliana Peres Magalhaes to kill Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, who had been lured to the Banfields’ Herndon home with promises of rough sex.

    Peres Magalhaes pleaded guilty in 2024 for her involvement in the double murder. Authorities said the au pair and the husband had a romantic affair.

    Court sessions will begin at 10 a.m. each day and run Monday through Thursday.

    Watch the court proceedings below for the latest on the case.

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    Abigail Constantino

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