A rural Virginia neighborhood. A seemingly normal family of three. A Brazilian au pair. A double murder.
It's all part of a complex puzzle as investigators continue to work to determine who killed Christine Banfield, a wife, mother and Fairfax County NICU worker, and Joseph Ryan, a 38-year-old man who showed up to her Herndon, Virginia, home in February 2023 with a knife.
Part of the mystery is beginning to unravel as Banfield's 23-year-old au pair, Brazilian national Juliana Pérez Magalhaes, prepares to stand trial on charges of second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime in Ryan's shooting.
Authorities have not filed any charges in Banfield's death.
Virginia au pair murder: Fetish intrigue, love affair and shooting range linked to double murder at home, prosecutors say
Juliana Pérez Magalhaes was indicted about eight months after shooting and killing Joseph Ryan, who had recently stabbed to death the wife of Juliana's lover. (Fairfax County Police)
First Crime
The mystery began on Feb. 24, 2023, when Magalhaes told police he left Christine and her husband Brendan Banfield's home at 13200 Stable Brook Way in Herndon to take their young daughter to the National Zoo. Magalhaes told authorities he started to drive but realized he'd left the lunch he'd packed for the trip inside the house, so he turned back and noticed an unfamiliar vehicle parked in the driveway.
She then reportedly called Brendan, a former IRS criminal investigator who was away at work at the time, to tell him there was an unfamiliar car in her driveway, and the two arranged to meet at the Banfields' house and go inside together.The Washington Post reported.
Virginia au pair charged with killing man in double homicide at home: police
Magalhaes is charged with second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a crime. (Instagram)
Magalhães initially told police that he and Brendan had entered the home and seen a stranger named Ryan holding Christine at knifepoint — Magalhães reportedly described Ryan as the intruder — and that while Ryan was clearly clothed, Christine was naked in the home's master bedroom.
It's unclear exactly what happened inside the house on Friday morning, but Magalhaes and Brendan apparently admitted to shooting Ryan while he was holding a knife against Christine. Ryan died inside the house, and Christine was stabbed in the neck and eventually died in the hospital.
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Christine Banfield was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her Fairfax County, Virginia home. (Facebook)
Fairfax County police began investigating, and at a press conference the afternoon of the murder, they told reporters that someone inside the home had called 911 that morning. Court documents later revealed that both Magalhaes and Brendan had called 911 multiple times that morning.
“It's evolving and changing. It's very dynamic.”
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a press conference that there were no suspects in the case other than the four adults who were inside the home at the time of the murder, and that there were no signs of forced entry and that “everyone who was inside the home” knew each other.
Fairfax County Police responded to a double homicide that occurred on February 24, 2023 in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way in Herndon, Virginia. (FOX 5 DC)
The police chief said at the time that the Banfields' daughter was home at the time of the murder.
Investigation revealed
As Fairfax authorities continue their investigation, they are beginning to uncover intricate details about the four adults involved in the double homicide.
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Prosecutors allege in court documents that Magalhaes and Brendan had been having an affair without Christine's knowledge, and the pair had allegedly gone to a shooting range together just weeks before the murder, according to The Washington Post.
Prosecutors also allege that the Banfield family's computers were linked to accounts on sexual fetish websites, The Washington Post reported.
“This is evolving and changing. It's very dynamic,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at the time, adding that there were no suspects in the case other than the four adults who were inside the home at the time of the double homicide. (Facebook)
The computer account featured photos of Christine in a swimsuit, but it was unclear who was communicating through the account, and the profile “contained no evidence that she was interested in knife play, bondage or BDSM.” “This is a case of two men who were arrested for sexual assault and assault with their families,” prosecutor Eric Clingan said in court, according to The Washington Post.
Ryan, the man who held Christine to knife power, also apparently had an account on the website and had been in contact with someone who had accessed the site from Banfield's computer.
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Authorities arrested Magalhaes in October 2023 after she moved into the master bedroom of the Banfield home and placed a framed photo of herself and Brendan on the nightstand next to her bed. A grand jury indicted Magalhaes, 23, in April and her trial is scheduled for November.
Prosecutors said framed photos of Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes, as well as the mistress' underwear, were found in the room where the double murder occurred. (Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney's Office)
Her lawyer, Ryan Campbell, said Brendan first shot Ryan while he was holding a knife to his wife's neck, then asked him to get another gun from a closet in the master bedroom. Magalhaes believed Ryan posed a threat to his employer and then shot him, The Washington Post reported.
“You have a stranger in your house and a woman near death.”
“Officer Banfield then shot him once,” Campbell said in court, according to The Washington Post. The lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Authorities eventually arrested Magalhães in October 2023. (FOX 5 DC)
Magalhaes' mother maintains that her daughter is innocent.
“I pray that the prosecutor and the judge understand who is guilty in this case, because it is not Juliana,” Marina Pérez Sousa told The Washington Post in Portuguese.
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In a June email to her mother and obtained by The Washington Post, Magalhaes wrote: “I am tired of this place, this situation. I am unhappy and nothing I do makes me happy. I just want to get out of here, go home and be with everyone.”
Brendan no longer works for the IRS, the agency confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday. During his preliminary hearing in April, he asserted his Fifth Amendment rights when asked about his involvement in the case.
