A Virginia man who was having an affair with his family's Brazilian au pair used an elaborate scheme to lure an unsuspecting man to the house as part of a plan to kill his wife, prosecutors said in opening statements on Tuesday. Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and the second man, Joseph Ryan, at the Banfields' home in northern Virginia, per the AP. He has pleaded not guilty in what's been called the "au pair affair" case and could face life in prison if convicted.
In opening statements, Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Jenna Sands told jurors that Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the family's au pair, were in love. Banfield did not want a divorce because he did not want to lose custody of his then-4-year-old daughter or even to share custody with his wife, Sands said. To "get rid of" Christine Banfield, the pair impersonated her on a social media site for sexual fetishes and spent a month arranging an elaborate scenario with Ryan in which Ryan would act out an arranged rape fantasy, Sands said.
They arranged for Ryan to come in the morning while Christine Banfield was sleeping and bring restraints and a knife, Sands said. Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield left the house but stayed nearby. Magalhaes entered after Ryan and called Brendan Banfield. She also called 911 but hung up, Sands said. She only called 911 again after both she and Brendan Banfield had shot Ryan, and Banfield had stabbed his wife multiple times, Sands said. Magalhaes was also charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in 2024 after cooperating with investigators. She will be sentenced at the conclusion of Banfield's trial.
Banfield's attorney, John Carroll, said in opening statements that Magalhaes had maintained her innocence for a year but eventually changed her story in exchange for a sweetheart deal. "The whole reason she was arrested was to flip her against my client," Carroll said. The prosecution's theory relies on the idea that Banfield and Magalhaes were "catfishing" Ryan by pretending to be Christine Banfield, but he said some detectives on the case disagreed with that idea. "You're going to see a presentation of a horrible, tragic, awful event," Carroll said. He said there is no dispute that Banfield and Magalhaes were having an affair. However, "there's an awful lot more to look for."
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