General
Husband Is Indicted in Double-Murder Case Involving an Au Pair
Prosecutors in Virginia said the case involved a hidden love affair and sex arranged over a fetish site.
It’s a case that has drawn international attention for months: A woman was found fatally stabbed in an upscale neighborhood outside Washington, D.C. Her husband, who prosecutors say was having an affair with their Brazilian au pair, was a federal law enforcement officer. A second victim, who authorities said had been lured to the couple’s home through a sexual fetish site, was found shot to death next to the murdered wife.
Since the killings took place in February 2023, the case has riveted the public, spawning true crime podcast episodes and obsessive online chatter from the high rises of São Paulo to the Washington suburbs.
It took months for the first charges to come down, but in October 2023, the authorities charged the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, 24, with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the man found in the home, Joseph Ryan, 38.
And this week, the husband, Brendan Banfield of Herndon, Va., was charged with aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife, Christine Banfield, 37, and Mr. Ryan. He was also charged with use of a firearm in Mr. Ryan’s death.
Prosecutors in Fairfax County, Va., have accused Mr. Banfield of plotting to kill the two in his home in Herndon, Va., about 20 miles outside the capital.
