WATCH: Brendan Banfield sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife, stranger amid affair with his family’s au pair
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Nicki Brown, CNN
FAIRFAX, Va. (CNN) — Brendan Banfield, the Virginia man convicted of killing his wife and a stranger as part of an elaborate plot with the family’s au pair, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole after facing his victims’ loved ones in court.
“The level of cruelty, calculation and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse – it reflects evil, which is why I carry no burden and find no hesitation in sentencing you to life,” Judge Penney S. Azcarate said as she handed down the sentence.
Banfield and the au pair – who were having an affair – lured Joseph Ryan into the family’s home in February 2023 under the pretense of a sexual encounter to frame him for the killing of Banfield’s wife, Christine, prosecutors argued.
Brendan Banfield and the 26-year-old au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, both took the stand during the double-murder trial and offered conflicting accounts about the killings. Banfield maintained his innocence and insisted he shot Ryan after finding the man attacking his wife.
The judge also ordered Banfield to serve consecutive prison sentences for his convictions on a firearms offense and a child endangerment charge. The latter charge was related to his young daughter, who was in the Herndon, Virginia, home at the time of the murders.
Loved ones of the victims addressed the court before Azcarate handed down the sentence.
A lifelong friend of Christine Banfield, 37, remembered her as a dedicated pediatric nurse, an advocate for rape victims and a loving mother to her daughter.
“She always carried everything with the most respect and, again, it was just all about helping people and being a person who somebody could go to and trust,” Lucille Priolo told CNN Trial Correspondent Jean Casarez before the sentencing.
Priolo, who grew up with Christine Banfield on Long Island, New York, described her as “one of the kindest people I have ever been in contact with.”
“Through life, every chapter, we were together, we were friends, and she just always made sure she was that person who was at the door, even without being asked,” Priolo said.
Peres Magalhães pleaded guilty in October 2024 to involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Ryan as part of a plea deal in which she agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against her former paramour.
At her sentencing in February, members of Ryan’s family mourned their beloved “Joe,” who they said loved painting, martial arts and caring for neglected animals.
“What I do hope is that even for a moment, that the world, and you, judge, will say Joe meant more than nothing,” his mother, Deirdre Fisher, said. “That he was someone worthy of dignity and life who didn’t deserved to be used and thrown away, treated as utterly disposable.”
Au pair described the plot to ‘get rid’ of Christine Banfield
Over five days, Fairfax County prosecutors called more than 20 witnesses including Peres Magalhães, who testified for three days about the scheme to “get rid” of Christine Banfield.
The Brazilian au pair said she started living with the Banfields in October 2021 and began having an affair with the defendant the following August.
Banfield wanted to be with her but did not want to pay for a divorce or share custody of the couple’s daughter, Peres Magalhães said, so he hatched a plan to kill his wife.
Using Christine Banfield’s laptop, the pair created a fake email address and an account on a fetish website to find a man willing to carry out a rape fantasy so they could frame him for her murder, the au pair testified.
Posing as his wife online, Brendan Banfield gave Ryan specific instructions for the baited sexual encounter, prosecutors said.
“Christine will be asleep in bed. Come straight upstairs. Cut off the clothing. Tie her. Rape her. Simple and fun. That was how it was posed,” Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands said in her opening statement.
When Ryan entered the family’s home the morning of February 24, 2023, Peres Magalhães called Banfield, who she said was waiting at a nearby McDonald’s. The two then entered the house through the basement, where they left the Banfields’ then-4-year-old daughter before heading upstairs, she said.
When they entered the bedroom, Christine Banfield yelled the purported intruder had a knife, the au pair testified. Ryan looked up at them and appeared “shocked,” she said, before Brendan Banfield shot him and then repeatedly stabbed his wife.
“I was just crouching down … and covering my ears and covering my eyes,” Peres Magalhães testified. “And a few times I looked, and I was able to see him stabbing her.”
Banfield later took handfuls of his wife’s blood and dripped it on Ryan in an effort to frame him, the au pair said.
When investigators returned to the crime scene roughly eight months after the double homicide, they found a framed photo of Banfield and Peres Magalhães on a bedside table in the room where the murders occurred.
Defendant denied plan to kill his wife
When Brendan Banfield took the stand in his own defense, he pushed back against the au pair’s testimony and adamantly denied any plot to kill Christine Banfield, calling the allegation “absolutely crazy.”
Brendan Banfield said he loved his wife, although he claimed they both had affairs throughout their nearly 20-year relationship. Banfield and Peres Magalhães weren’t actively together at the time of the killings and their relationship wasn’t going to change his marriage, he said.
On the day of the killings, Banfield was heading to an important work meeting with a manager that could’ve led to a promotion, he testified. But during the commonwealth’s rebuttal case, his then-acting supervisor denied having plans to meet with Banfield that day and said his other managers were out of town.
Banfield testified he returned to the house after he received a call from a distressed Peres Magalhães and was unable to reach Christine Banfield by phone.
Brendan Banfield, then an IRS investigator, entered the master bedroom with his service weapon drawn and announced himself as “police,” he said. He described seeing Ryan kneeling over his naked wife on the floor before he began stabbing her. Banfield then fired a shot that struck Ryan before Peres Magalhães shot him again with his personal firearm, he said.
Priolo said it was “hurtful and shocking” to hear Banfield speak against his wife’s character on the stand.
“It just wasn’t who she was – it didn’t make sense,” she told CNN. “Right away, none of the story from day one that he told made sense, so it was all very questionable.”
Banfield’s defense attorneys called several other witnesses to bolster their claims of a flawed investigation that led prosecutors to manipulate evidence to fit their theory. They agreed with the prosecution not to offer the jury less severe homicide charges to consider against Banfield.
Though Peres Magalhães agreed to testify against Banfield if prosecutors recommended a sentence of time served, Judge Azcarate ultimately sentenced her to 10 years in prison – the maximum sentence and well above the joint sentencing recommendation by prosecutors and her attorneys.
“Your actions were deliberate, self-serving and demonstrated a profound disregard for human life,” the judge said. “So let’s get straight: You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and his family. May it weigh heavily on your soul.”
Priolo, meanwhile, continues to mourn the future milestones she and Christine won’t be able to experience together.
“When you say you’re friends with someone for 37 years, that’s not long enough. It really isn’t – not (with) the type of person she was,” Priolo told Casarez, wiping her eyes with tissues. “I wanted longer, and we were cut short of that.”