Alleged killer husband Brendan Banfield had moved his au pair’s lingerie into his murdered wife’s closet, and replaced photographs of the couple with pictures of him and the nanny within months of his spouse’s death, authorities in Virginia said Thursday.
Banfield, a former IRS agent, is on trial for the murder of the mother of his child, Christine, and a second victim, Joseph Ryan, as part of a twisted rape plot to kill her so he could be with his Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes.
Sgt. Kenner Fortner, with the Fairfax County Police Department, described how Magalhaes’ clothing, including several items of red lingerie, had been moved from her bedroom to the master bedroom between February 2023, when he visited on the day of the murders, and October 2023, when he had come to arrest the au pair.
He also noted that photographs of Banfield and his murdered wife had been replaced with pictures of him and Magalhaes in the eight month period between the two police visits to the home in a leafy Washington, DC, suburb.
Banfield, 40, is accused of killing his wife and Ryan, a stranger who he and Magalhaes allegedly hired on a BDSM fetish website to rape Christine, so they could stage the double murder as a home invasion gone wrong.
The pair allegedly lured Ryan while posing as Christine online, setting up what he believed was a consensual sexual encounter.
When Ryan arrived and began raping the sleeping Christine, Magalhaes reportedly phoned Banfield, who returned to the house and allegedly shot Ryan before stabbing his wife to death in the neck.
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