Nanny suspected of suburban double murder reaches deal as employer goes on trial

Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the Brazilian woman who was indicted along with her Virginia employer for the murder of his wife and a stranger in February 2023, has pleaded guilty to a lesser crime, according to local news reports.

The then-22-year-old au pair and Brendan Banfield, husband and father of a then-4-year-old daughter, are charged with the murder of Christine Banfield – Brendan's wife and Fairfax County NICU employee – and Joseph Ryan, the 38-year-old man who showed up at the Banfield home armed with a knife, in Herndon, Virginia, in February 2023.

Magalhaes, now 24, pleaded guilty to manslaughter Tuesday morning, according to FOX 5 DC. She was scheduled to go to trial in November.

She was initially arrested in October 2023, about eight months after the murders, when authorities charged her with aggravated murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

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Juliana Peres Magalhaes was charged almost eight months after fatally shooting Joseph Ryan – the man had just stabbed his partner's wife to death. (Fairfax County Police)

Virginia authorities arrested Banfield, a 39-year-old IRS employee, in September, more than a year after the murders. He is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony.

Banfield faces a possible life sentence for the alleged crimes, while Magalhaes faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for the manslaughter charge, according to FOX 5.

Prosecutors say the killings stem from a scheme orchestrated by Banfield and Magalhaes, who were in a romantic relationship at the time of the crime and for months afterward, before their arrests.

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Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. (Instagram)

Ryan's connection to the family or to their au pair remains unclear.

“On February 24, 2023, I stood in the middle of a dead-end street in Fairfax County and described the deaths of two people inside a residence. Today, 570 days later, we “We know of the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield are, in fact, murders,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a news conference in September.

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When police responded to a 911 call from the residence that day, they found Christine with stab wounds to the neck and Ryan with fatal gunshot wounds in the upstairs bedroom of the home. Authorities took Christine to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, Davis said.

Brendan Banfield is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony. (Fairfax Co.PD)

Officers recovered a knife and two firearms at the scene.

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“We know that Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes were in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders,” Davis said at the September press conference. “I will not describe the involvement of our victim, Joseph Ryan, in this matter at this time as this investigation is ongoing.”

Christine Banfield was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her Fairfax County, Virginia, home. (Facebook)

Initially, Magalhaes told police that she and Banfield saw an unknown man, Ryan, holding Christine at knifepoint the morning of the murders. She would have described him as an intruder. Ryan was apparently fully clothed while Christine was naked in the master bedroom of the house.

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It's unclear exactly what happened inside the house that Friday morning, but both Magalhaes and Brendan apparently admitted to shooting Ryan while the man held a knife to Christine.

A framed photo of Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes as well as the mistress's lingerie were found in the room where the double homicide occurred, according to prosecutors. (Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office)

Prosecutors allege that a computer in Banfield's home was linked to an account on a sexual fetish website, the Post reported.

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Ryan, the man who allegedly held Christine at knifepoint, apparently also had an account on the website and communicated with anyone who accessed the site from Banfield's computer.

Fairfax police arrest Brandon Banfield. (Fairfax County Police Department)

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Authorities arrested Magalhaes in October 2023 after she moved into the Banfields' master bedroom and placed a framed photo of herself with Brendan on a nightstand next to the bed. A grand jury indicted the 23-year-old in April.

Banfield is no longer employed by the IRS.