Banfield murder trial: Au pair testimony resumes Wednesday

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - Day three of the Brendan Banfield murder trial continues Wednesday in Fairfax County, following a dramatic afternoon of testimony from a key prosecution witness detailing what investigators describe as a planned double murder plot.

Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the 2023 killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan at the couple’s northern Virginia home. He has pleaded not guilty and faces the possibility of life in prison.

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FOX 5’s Melanie Alnwick said that the family’s au pair, Juliana Magalhães, will return to the stand Wednesday. On Tuesday, she testified that she began working in the home in October 2021, when she was 21, and that she and Banfield began a sexual relationship about 10 months later.

She testified that Banfield told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her but needed to "get rid of" his wife first. Magalhães told jurors she initially believed Banfield was joking. Prosecutors say the plan was real and that Magalhães went along with it for more than a year.

Magalhães said Banfield came up with a plan to create a fake profile for his wife on a sexual‑fetish website. She told jurors that she and Banfield posted to the account using Christine Banfield’s laptop. They were careful to post only when Christine was home, Magalhães said.

READ MORE: 911 call from Banfield, au pair captures moments after murder: 'I shot him'

Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands told jurors that Banfield and Magalhães spent a month planning an elaborate scenario with Ryan involving a staged sexual‑assault fantasy. During her testimony, Magalhães said Banfield convinced Ryan to break into the house and bind and assault his wife. He then planned to intervene as the hero. She said she shot Ryan because he was still moving, and that she got blood on her hands and feet while crouching on the floor trying not to see or hear Banfield stabbing his wife.

Jurors heard the 911 calls from the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, followed by testimony from the first officers on the scene and the medical examiner. Graphic police body‑camera video and autopsy images were shown only to the jury and the defense and remain under seal.

Banfield wiped his face several times during the testimony, though the courtroom remained largely stoic. Among the evidence shown was a blood‑soaked gun and the knife Ryan brought to the home.

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The defense focused on the chaotic first moments after police arrived, the number of officers inside the house, and the fact that one officer allowed Banfield to wash blood off his hands at the hospital where Christine had been taken.

Magalhães was also charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge in 2024 after cooperating with investigators. She is scheduled to be sentenced once Banfield’s trial concludes.

Court resumes at 10 a.m. Wednesday.