A Virginia man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after prosecutors said he murdered his wife and an innocent stranger in a twisted plot tied to his affair with the family’s au pair.
Brendan Banfield was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday, June 5, four months after he was convicted of aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.
Christine, 37, was a pediatric intensive care nurse and mother. Ryan was allegedly lured to the Banfield family home in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23, 2023, as part of a disturbing scheme prosecutors said Brendan created to frame him for Christine’s killing.
“The level of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse — it reflects evil,” Judge Penney S. Azcarate said as she sentenced Banfield.
Moments before learning his fate, Brendan reportedly insisted he was “not responsible” for his wife’s death.
Prosecutors said the deadly plot began after Brendan started having an affair with the family’s live-in au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, around October 2022.
During the trial, Peres Magalhaes testified that Brendan told her “divorce was not an option” because money was involved and he did not want to lose custody of his daughter.
Authorities said Brendan, a former federal agent, created a fake profile on FetLife.com while pretending to be his wife. He allegedly used the bondage and fetish website to communicate with Ryan about a planned sexual encounter involving restraints, a knife and violent roleplay.
Prosecutors said Ryan believed he was meeting Christine for a consensual encounter. Instead, they argued, he was walking into a trap.
According to testimony, Brendan allegedly told Peres Magalhaes to call Christine’s phone once Ryan entered the home. Brendan would then return to the house, shoot Ryan in the head and stab Christine in an attempt to make it look like Ryan had attacked her.
Peres Magalhaes testified that she saw Brendan stabbing Christine.
“When I first saw that happening, I ran to the other side of the bed, and I was just crouching down … and covering my ears and covering my eyes,” she said, according to reports. “And a few times I looked, and I was able to see him stabbing her.”
Peres Magalhaes pleaded guilty in October 2024 to manslaughter in Ryan’s death. Prosecutors said she shot Ryan after Brendan initially fired at him and she later saw Ryan moving.
Brendan was also convicted of child endangerment because his and Christine’s young daughter was home at the time of the killings.
At sentencing, Judge Azcarate said Brendan had “taken everything” from his 4-year-old child.
“The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” the judge said.
She also said the case involved “luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap” and continuing after the murders “without a care.”
Christine’s death devastated her family, friends and community. Ryan’s family was also left grieving a man prosecutors said had no idea he was being used as part of a deadly setup.
Now, Brendan Banfield will spend the rest of his life in prison for a case prosecutors described as calculated, cruel and horrifying from the start.
