Man sentenced to life for a sprawling murder plot, an ‘evil crime’
A northern Virginia man has been sentenced to life in prison in a double murder plot that prosecutors say he hatched with the family’s au pair.
Brendan Banfield was sentenced on June 5 for the murders of his wife and a stranger he set up to take the fall for her death. Judge Penney Azcarate told Banfield in court she was looking at “evil” and said the plot to kill his wife involved manipulation and deception.
Banfield, a former law enforcement officer for the IRS, was convicted in February 2026 of aggravated murder for killing his wife, 37-year-old Christine Banfield, and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan at the Banfield family’s home on Feb. 24, 2023. He was convicted on two counts of aggravated murder, one firearms count and one count of child endangerment because the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was in the home at the time.
The live-in au pair, 25-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes of Brazil, with whom prosecutors said Banfield was having an affair, separately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, after which she will be deported, Fairfax County prosecutors said.
Banfield and Magalhaes hatched a plot to lure Ryan to the Banfield home and make it look like he killed Christine Banfield, who was a nurse at a pediatric intensive care unit. Brendan Banfield, who maintained his innocence up to the day of his sentencing, said he arrived home to find Ryan attacking Christine Banfield, and acted in her defense when he shot Ryan.
Ryan was shot in the head by Banfield and in the chest by Magalhaes, prosecutors said. Banfield stabbed Christine Banfield in the throat seven times with a knife, they said.
Banfield was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the aggravated murder charges, three years for the firearm charge and five years for child endangerment.
“He’s an evil guy. This was an evil crime, and he thought he was smart enough to get away with it, and he just wasn’t,” Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano told reporters after the sentencing.
Husband, au pair plotted to kill wife, stranger
Banfield and Magalhaes created a profile for Christine Banfield on a fetish website, where they found Ryan, prosecutors said.
Pretending to be Christine Banfield, the two messaged with Ryan and invited him to what he believed was a consensual sexual encounter to play out a “rape fantasy” involving a knife, prosecutors said.
Banfield and Magalhaes waited near the home for Ryan to show up. They then left the 4-year-old in the basement and went up to the bedroom. Banfield shot Ryan in the head with his service weapon and Magalhaes shot Ryan in the chest with another gun, prosecutors said. Banfield stabbed his wife in the neck seven times with the knife Ryan brought to the house, prosecutors said.
Banfield then “altered” the scene to make it look like Ryan had killed Christine Banfield. He changed the location of Ryan’s body and transferred some of Christine Banfield’s blood onto Ryan’s hands, prosecutors said. The two then called 911 with the story they had planned, making it look like Ryan killed Christine Banfield.
In a statement during his sentencing hearing, Banfield denied that he was responsible for his wife’s death. He denied that he and Magalhaes “catfished” Ryan, luring him to the home. Banfield denied stabbing his wife.
“She truly was a caring mother, a caring wife, a loving nurse. But I am not responsible for her death. This is not a knife that I ever held in my hand, and I never stabbed her,” Banfield said in court.
Judge Penney Azcarate rebuked Banfield in remarks.
“Life in prison is a punishment reserved for a very small number of individuals, those whom the community has determined should never walk free again. It is a harsh sentence, but in this case, it is a justified one,” Azcarate said. “The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable.”
“Luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap, continuing on after the murders without a care and not once thinking of the impact on Christine’s daughter, the unspoken tragic victim of your behavior. You did not just take her mother from her, you placed her in the middle of the horror you created.”
This article originally appeared on USA Today
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