Accused wife-killer Brendan Banfield told his au pair and alleged accomplice he was “obsessed” with her happiness in love letters, and discussed baby names for their future child in text messages, a jury in Virginia has heard.
The former federal agent, 40, was grilled on the stand during his cross-examination Thursday over the alleged murder of his wife, Christine, and a stranger, Joseph Ryan, as part of a twisted and elaborate rape and killing plot to be with his Brazilian au pair.
“I am obsessed with your happiness,” the prosecutor read from a 14-page love letter Banfield reportedly wrote to his child’s nanny, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he admitted to having an affair.
Banfield told Magalhães in the letter written from jail that he had “never had a consistent partner before,” the prosecutor read.
The jury was also shown messages of Banfield and Magalhães discussing baby names for their future children on the encrypted messaging app Discord.
“That is something that she wanted to talk about,” Banfield told the prosecutor, referring to the nanny.
Banfield, who denies the Feb. 24, 2023, double murder, told the prosecutor that Magalhães was his “hero,” because she had “saved my life” on the day of the killings.
“I think it’s easier to fall in love with somebody that saved you,” he said.
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