FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man, Brendan Banfield, is set to go on trial Monday on aggravated murder charges stemming from the February 2023 killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan, prosecutors say.
Banfield faces the charge in connection with Christine Banfield’s death and Ryan’s death at the Banfields’ home in northern Virginia, court records show. Banfield has pleaded not guilty, according to the case described by the Associated Press.
Prosecutors have painted an account in which Banfield and his Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, lured Ryan to the home and staged the scene to make it appear that Ryan and the au pair shot Christine Banfield. Prosecutors also argued that Banfield and Magalhães had a romantic affair beginning the year before the killings.
Authorities previously described a different version of events that Banfield and Magalhães told officials on the day of the killings. The Associated Press reported that authorities have said Banfield and Magalhães told investigators they saw Ryan, a stranger, stabbing Christine Banfield after he entered the house, and that both Banfield and Magalhães then shot the intruder.
Magalhães, according to the report, pleaded guilty in 2024 to a downgraded manslaughter charge after giving a statement that confirmed parts of the prosecution’s theory. The statement described a social media “catfishing” setup, according to the Associated Press.
In that statement, the report said Magalhães stated she and Banfield created an account in Christine Banfield’s name on a platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. The report said Magalhães further stated that Ryan connected with the account and that users made plans to meet on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, for a sexual encounter that would involve a knife.
Prosecutor Eric Clingan said the au pair’s statement helped prosecutors solidify their theory ahead of trial. Clingan told the court, according to the Associated Press, that earlier investigations included “12 different homicide detectives” and “24 different theories,” but that “now, one theory.”
Not all officials involved in investigating the case, the Associated Press reported, agreed with the catfishing account. Brendan Miller, a former Fairfax County Police Department digital forensic examiner, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield connected with Ryan herself through the social networking platform, the report said. An evidence analysis team at the University of Alabama, the Associated Press reported, peer-reviewed and affirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings based on court-submitted evidence.
The case also includes testimony and dispute over Miller’s transfer out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024. The Associated Press said a former Fairfax County commander testified that the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary, while Banfield’s attorney, John Carroll, argued in court that the transfer was directly tethered to the case and that police reassigned the case’s lead detective after that detective pushed back on top brass’ catfishing theory. Carroll said in court that the catfishing theory was “a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory.”
Banfield is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty connected to the case, the report said, and the charges are expected to be addressed during the aggravated murder trial. The Associated Press reported that Banfield’s daughter was at the house on the morning of the killings.