IRS Agent Brendan Banfield CONVICTED — Au Pair's Testimony Seals His Fate

Brendan Banfield will die in prison. A Fairfax County jury convicted the former IRS special agent of aggravated murder Monday in one of the most disturbing domestic murder plots in recent memory. The 40-year-old federal law enforcement officer now faces mandatory life without parole for the February 2023 killings of his wife Christine and Joseph Ryan — a stranger prosecutors say was lured to the family home and set up to take the fall.
                    
The prosecution's case hinged on testimony from Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family's 25-year-old Brazilian au pair who was having an affair with Banfield. She told jurors Banfield wanted to "get rid of" his wife so they could marry and have children together. According to her account, they created fake profiles on FetLife posing as Christine, catfished Ryan into believing he was meeting a willing woman for a violent sexual encounter, then executed him when he showed up.

Magalhães testified she watched Banfield stab Christine seven times in the neck, then stage the scene — smearing his wife's blood on Ryan's body to frame him as the attacker. She admitted firing the second shot into Ryan herself. In exchange for her testimony, prosecutors reduced her murder charge to manslaughter with time served.

The defense called her a liar who sold out her co-conspirator. They pointed to missing DNA evidence, challenged the digital forensics, and accused investigators of tunnel vision. Banfield took the stand and called the allegations "absolutely crazy." The jury deliberated nine hours and disagreed.

We break down the conviction, the evidence, and the appeal that's coming.

#BrendanBanfield #HiddenKillers #AuPairAffair #ChristineBanfield #TrueCrime #MurderConviction #JulianaMagalhaes #FairfaxCounty #LifeWithoutParole #JosephRyan

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