Virginia man having affair with au pair found guilty of murdering wife and another man

"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 24 February 2023."

"He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, 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 Magalhaes had been having an affair. Magalhaes pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial."

"She said they had impersonated Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on a website for sexual fetishes. She said they used the site to lure Ryan to the house for a sexual encounter involving a knife, staging the scene to look as though they had shot an intruder who was attacking the wife. Defense attorney John Carroll argued that Magalhaes' 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 Magalhaes 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."

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, was convicted of killing his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan. Banfield claimed he shot Ryan after finding him attacking his wife with a knife, and the family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Magalhaes, also shot Ryan. Magalhaes, who had an affair with Banfield, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified that she and Banfield impersonated Christine on a fetish website to lure Ryan for a staged sexual encounter involving a knife. The defense attacked Magalhaes' credibility, pointed to internal police dissent about social-media evidence, and noted a transferred officer who disputed the favored theory.

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