Brendan Banfield sentenced to life in prison for BDSM double murder plot with family’s au pair

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (TCN) -- A 40-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2023 killings of his wife and a stranger at their home. The family’s au pair was involved in the scheme and has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter for her role.

On Feb. 24, 2023, au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães, now 25, dialed 911 to say that her friend was hurt. Brendan Banfield got on the call and told dispatchers he had stabbed the man, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan, because he had been trying to kill Banfield’s wife, Christine Banfield, 37.

Police pronounced Ryan dead at the scene and Christine Banfield died at the hospital of her injuries. Ryan had been shot and Christine Banfield had been stabbed.

During the ensuing 19-month investigation, Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhães continued their affair, which had begun before the killings.

Brendan Banfield was arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated murder in connection with their deaths in September 2024. Peres Magalhães was arrested nearly a year before Brendan Banfield on a charge of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

According to NBC News, charges against Peres Magalhães were reduced to manslaughter after she agreed to testify against Banfield.

NBC News reports Banfield was found guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of using a firearm in committing a felony, and child endangerment in February and sentenced to life in prison on June 5. During the trial, Banfield admitted he had cheated on Christine Banfield with other women in addition to Peres Magalhães.

According to prosecutors, Brendan Banfield used a fetish website to lure a man to the house for a violent sexual fantasy encounter, NBC News reports. 

Banfield was reportedly trying to avoid having to divorce his wife when he created the scheme and made a profile pretending that he was her, and that she wanted a stranger to come to her home for the encounter. This was the profile used to approach Ryan. According to KDFW, the encounter was to involve a knife, and when Ryan arrived at the home, Banfield staged the scene to appear as though a violent intruder had been shot. 

Peres Magalhães took the Banfields’ 4-year-old son outside while Ryan arrived, and then took the child to the basement before following Ryan up to a bedroom, according to trial testimony, per KDFW. She testified that Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed his wife with the knife Ryan had reportedly brought.

Brendan Banfield rejected the allegations and denied killing his wife. NBC News reports he said, “I loved her very much, despite what you may think of my affairs. Our marriage worked for us. ... She truly was a caring, a caring mother, caring wife, loving nurse. But I am not responsible. I am not responsible for her death.”

NBC reports that in court, Christine Banfield’s sister said, “He could have divorced and moved on, but divorce would have required relinquishing control, and control was always the priority. His actions were not driven by love, but a desire for power, deception, and a complete disregard for the lives he destroyed.”

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