Brendan Banfield, a former IRS agent, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for the June 2023 murders of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan, a stranger whom Banfield and his au pair lover lured to the home in a plot to kill his wife. Judge Penney S. Azcarate of the Fairfax County Circuit Court imposed the sentence after a trial that included testimony from Juliana Peres Magalhães, the au pair who helped orchestrate the killings.
“The level of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse — it reflects evil, which is why I carry no burden and find no hesitation in sentencing you to life,” Azcarate said, according to CNN, which reported from the courtroom. The judge also imposed two consecutive prison terms for a firearms offense and child endangerment, because the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was in the basement at the time of the murders.
Prosecutors said Banfield and Peres Magalhães, who was from Brazil, had been having an affair and devised a plan to kill Christine Banfield to avoid the cost of a divorce and the prospect of shared custody. They lured Joseph Ryan, a man they had contacted online, to the Banfield home under the pretense of a rape fantasy. When Ryan arrived and startled Christine Banfield, Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed his wife to death, according to testimony. Peres Magalhães watched the killings, prosecutors said.
Banfield maintained his innocence throughout the trial and testified that he acted to protect his wife, claiming she was being stabbed by Ryan. The jury convicted him in February.
Peres Magalhães initially faced murder charges but accepted a plea agreement in 2024 for involuntary manslaughter, agreeing to testify against Banfield. Although the plea deal recommended time served, Azcarate in February sentenced her to the maximum of 10 years in prison.
“Your actions were deliberate, self-serving and demonstrated a profound disregard for human life,” Azcarate told Peres Magalhães at her sentencing. “So let’s get straight: You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and his family. May it weigh heavily on your soul.”
During Banfield’s sentencing hearing, Christine Banfield’s sister, Danielle, delivered a victim impact statement. “He could have divorced and moved on, but divorce would have required relinquishing control, and control was always the priority,” she said. “His actions were not driven by love, but a desire for power, deception, and a complete disregard for the lives he destroyed.”
Joseph Ryan’s mother, Deirdre Fisher, addressed the court virtually due to medical reasons, according to NBC News. “Brendan will remain known as an abusive father, the brutal murderer of his dedicated and compassionate, beautiful wife, and a narcissistic killer of an innocent man,” she said.
The case unfolded over more than three years, with Banfield arrested in 2023 and tried in early 2026. His conviction and sentence conclude the criminal proceedings for the double killing.