Divorce was “not an option” for Virginia IRS agent Brandon Banfield, who wanted leave his wife and run off with the sultry Brazilian au pair he’d been sleeping with for barely two months.
So Banfield, 40, allegedly devised a twisted plot to lure a fetish-seeker to his home under the guise of playing out a rape fantasy with his 37-year-old wife, Christine, and then shoot the kinkster in the act and stab his wife to stage an assault and murder, all while making himself appear a tragic hero.
That’s according to the naughty nanny herself — 25-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhães — who testified about the whole sordid affair as Banfield’s murder trial kicked off last week, where she detailed weeks of meticulous preparation while insisting she was only following her lover’s orders.
The morbid scheme all began in October 2021 when Magalhães was hired by the Banfields to help take care of their 4-year-old daughter. She was paid $200 per week, according to WUSA, and moved into their Herndon home as a live-in au pair.
Within a year, however, her job became more than a babysitting gig when she began sleeping with Banfield around July or August 2022. By October, Banfield had made up his mind that he wanted to leave his wife — but he didn’t want to pay for a divorce, and didn’t want to share custody of their daughter, Magalhães testified.
So Banfield settled on murder instead, and in the coming weeks laid out a sick plan to find a kinkster on the internet who would unknowingly subject his wife to unimaginable trauma in the final moments of her life — and his own, according to the testimony.
He allegedly set up an account on a BDSM fetish website under his wife’s name, and swiped through other users’ profiles while pretending to be her and chatting with depraved men about a desire to engage in elaborate rape fantasies.
Magalhães joined in, and they took turns swiping and chatting with possible matches — but were careful to only log on when Christine was at home and using her laptop to make it appear to future investigators that she really was the one surfing the website at those times, according to the nanny.
They would also take turns leaving the house so their cells would ping off distant towers while another was home chatting online in an attempt to create a digital alibi to throw investigators off their trail.
Several fetish site users showed interest in the rape fantasy, but Banfield would stop chatting with anyone who insisted on meeting up beforehand or at a location other than his home, Magalhães said.
Then they found 38-year-old Joseph Ryan, who was not only enticed by the fantasy — he sent pictures of a knife and chains he said he’d bring along — but was also placated by a phone call where Magalhães posed as Christine, according to the au pair.
“He made Brendan feel confident enough that he would be the person to play the role that he needed a person to play, which means being aggressive and hold her down and come over to the house and bring stuff,” Magalhães testified, according to CNN.
Banfield, meanwhile, had spent weeks casing out the neighborhood for security cameras that might capture things he didn’t want, and even installed new soundproofing windows on his home, his illicit lover said.
Banfield and Magalhães also carefully explained to Ryan how he was to enter the house through an unlocked door at a specific time, sneak into the bedroom, then tie Christine up before cutting off her clothes and raping her.
He was also told not to stop, no matter how much Christine begged or cried for help. And Ryan, thinking he was talking to Christine, did just that when he arrived on Feb. 24, 2024, according to the live-in babysitter.
Banfield had confirmed Ryan’s arrival that morning and then turned off and hidden his wife’s phone. Then he unlocked a door and drove to a nearby McDonald’s, where he monitored the house with a smart-home app to make sure the door remained open, Magalhães testified.
Magalhães also left, having told Christine she was taking her daughter to the zoo — but she parked down the road with the girl and waited for Ryan to arrive.
When he finally did, she called Christine’s phone, then immediately called Banfield — as if to report seeing an intruder in the house for later phone records to see.
Banfield then raced back to the house and the pair entered the home through a basement door — leaving the daughter downstairs — and went up to the bedroom where they waited outside the closed door and listened for the terrible struggle within, Magalhães testified.
When they finally burst in, Christine yelled out, “Brendan, he has a knife,” Magalhães said, and when Ryan turned around with a “shocked” look on his face, Banfield allegedly shot him in the head with his IRS-issued pistol.
Banfield then allegedly pounced on his wife and hacked her to death — stabbing her repeatedly in the throat and face.
“I was just crouching down on myself and covering my ears and covering my eyes,” Magalhães testified. “A few times I looked, and I was able to see him stabbing her.”
They then placed calls to 911, and Banfield allegedly began wiping Christine’s blood over Ryan’s body to make it look more like he’d been the one who attacked his child’s mother.
At one point, Ryan began to stir — so Magalhães finished him off with a shot to the chest, she confessed.
That’s when police arrived and found the grisly scene.
Free of Christine after the blood and dust settled, Magalhães soon moved into the suburban home and hung her clothes in the dead mother’s closet.
She even slept in the same bed where she said Banfield stabbed his wife to death, and placed a picture of the new couple on their bedside table, she admitted.
But their romantic reverie didn’t last long.
Magalhães was arrested before the year was out in October 2023, and a year later, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for receiving the lighter charge and time-served at her sentencing.
Banfield was arrested in September 2024, a month before Magalhães struck her plea deal, and pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder.
His attorneys insist Magalhães’ story is inherently false, arguing last week that she was coerced into lying in exchange for a softer sentence.
Banfield faces life in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to last between three and four more weeks.
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