Au Pair, Affair, and Murder: The Banfield Case

On February 24, 2023, in Fairfax County, Northern Virginia, the lives of two people ended in violence orchestrated by a wealthy married man and carried out with the help of his Brazilian au pair lover. The crime exposed a web of deception that began months earlier, rooted in an illicit affair and a husband's desperation to escape his marriage.

Juliana Peres Magalhães arrived in the United States in October 2021 to work as an au pair for the Banfield family. She was 21 years old. Around ten months into her employment, she began a sexual relationship with her employer, Brendan Banfield. The attraction would prove fatal.

Banfield expressed his desire to marry Magalhães and start a family with her, but he faced a significant obstacle: his wife, Christine Banfield. Rather than pursue divorce, Banfield rejected that path—primarily because, as he told Magalhães, his wife would receive a substantial financial settlement and gain custody of their 4-year-old daughter. In his mind, eliminating his wife was preferable to the financial and custodial consequences of legal separation.

To execute the plan, Banfield turned to the internet. He created a fake profile on a sexual fetish website, impersonating his wife Christine. Using this deceptive identity, he lured Joseph Ryan—a stranger—to their home under the guise of a consensual roleplay scenario. The arrangement, according to the lure, would involve restraints and a knife. It was an elaborate trap.

On the morning of February 24, 2023, Ryan arrived at the Banfield residence, unsuspecting. What followed was brutal and calculated. Brendan Banfield shot Ryan in the head. As Ryan struggled, still alive and moving, Banfield ordered Magalhães to finish him. She shot Ryan in the chest.

The couple then called 911. When investigators arrived, they found the 4-year-old daughter in the home, unharmed but aware of Magalhães's presence in her family's life. Notably, the child referred to the au pair as "Mommy." Among the evidence collected was a photograph of Brendan and Juliana together—a visual confirmation of their relationship.