Brazilian nanny Juliana Peres Magalhãoes and her boss Brendan Banfield are accused of plotting to kill Brendan’s wife Christine during a secret affair

Already a dedicated nurse and patient advocate, Christine Banfield appeared to go above and beyond during the pandemic.

“She was an angel to me,” recalls Rodrigo Valderrama, a COVID patient at the suburban Virginia hospital where Christine worked.

He remembers waking up from a weeks-long coma to see Banfield’s gentle face next to his bed:

“He shaved me; helped me set up a Zoom call with my family. The construction project manager struck up a friendship with his nurse and invited her and her husband, Brendan Banfield, an IRS criminal division special agent, and their then-3-year-old daughter, Valerie, to a party at a park near Washington, D.C. In the spring of 2021.

Christine told him that she planned to hire a babysitter from South America to live with the couple and help with their toddler. “He asked me to recommend restaurants in the area,” says Valderrama, who was born in Colombia. “That was his personality; He wanted the babysitter to feel at home.”

Yet it was the Banfields’ Brazilian babysitter, 22-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who first alerted police to what they described as a “horrible scene” at the family’s home in two calls to 911 on the morning of February 24, 2023. House in Herndon, Virginia. In her second-floor bedroom, Fairfax County Police Department officers found Christine, 37, naked except for her socks, covered in blood from fatal stab wounds to her neck; he died in hospital later that day. Nearby was the lifeless body of Joe Ryan, 39, who authorities said had arrived at the home that morning for a pre-arranged sex date, with gunshot wounds to his head and chest. Also at the blood-soaked scene were Peres Magalhäes and Christine’s husband Brendan, 38, as well as a bloody knife, two guns and a bag full of fetish sex accessories, according to police. Valerie, then 4 years old, was found unharmed in the basement.

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During a nine-hour interview at the police station, Peres Magalhäes admitted killing Ryan in the chaotic aftermath of the shocking attack on Christine. The nanny said she was in the car with the baby that morning when she saw a man with a briefcase enter the front door of the house, according to court documents. He called Christine, who was alone inside. When Christine didn’t pick up the phone, Peres said Magalhàes called Brendan. He had already left for work but came back immediately. He and Peres Magalhaes then entered the bedroom and found Ryan kneeling over Christine with a knife to her throat.

In Peres Magalhäes’ first account of what happened next, Brendan, who was carrying a gun on the job, shot Ryan in the head with his service pistol and shouted at Peres Magalhäes to get another gun from his bedroom safe. She said she feared Ryan would attack again so she pointed the gun at him and fired the bullet that pierced his heart and killed him. However, the police were not convinced by Peres Magalhäes’ story about preventing the home invasion and killing the intruder in self-defense.

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Investigators soon discovered evidence that Brendan and Peres Magalhäes had been in a sexual relationship: text messages sent from Peres Magalhäes’ phone about his new love, photos of the couple on a trip to New York City, and underwear strewn across Brendan’s bed.

Records allegedly show that the pair visited the shooting range approximately two months before the double murder and that Brendan returned to the facility to purchase a Glock 43X, the gun used by Peres Magalhäes.

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On October 13, 2023, Peres Magalhãoes was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in Ryan’s death. Nearly a year later, on September 16, 2024, based on recently obtained information, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced that Brendan had been charged with murder in the deaths of Ryan and Christine. “I will ensure that my office presents the strongest possible case at trial and that we continue to seek justice for the victims and their families,” Descano said.

The Banfields were apparently a happily married couple who doted on their daughter, whom they both adored. Christine, who grew up on Long Island and graduated from Quinnipiac University with a nursing degree in 2007, and St. Louis on Long Island. Brendan, who studied accounting at St. Joseph’s University, opened a math tutoring center for children in Moriches, NY. They moved in with newborn Valerie. To Virginia in 2019. When she wasn’t working as a critical care nurse, Christine was active in a neighborhood Facebook group, looking for suggestions for a backyard landscaper, a “baby hospital” to fix her daughter’s toy, and a dog boarding house for the family husky.

The couple, who had previously employed another Brazilian nanny, contacted Peres Magalhäes in 2021. “Juliana wanted to travel and learn English,” says a friend from Brazil. “She had just graduated from nursing classes and was excited to come live with a nurse, so they had a lot in common.” In Virginia, Peres Magalhäes “seemed very happy,” his friend says. “It was easy. Everything was working perfectly.”

Or so it seemed. By August 2022, Brendan had fallen in love with his babysitter and began expressing a “desire to be rid of his wife,” Acting Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan said at the October hearing. In the weeks before the murders, Brendan allegedly created a profile on a website for bondage and role-play enthusiasts and began communicating with fellow user Ryan. Days before the murders, Clingan said Brendan instructed Peres Magalhäes, who was pretending to be Christine, to call Ryan on an encrypted messaging app and confirm details of “a consensual sexual encounter, such as the restraints placed on him, the cutting of his clothes with a knife”. and other violent role plays.”

Authorities allege that on the morning of February 24, 2023, Brendan and Peres Magalhäes’ elaborate plot to get Christine out of the way went according to plan. At 7:17 a.m., while Brendan was waiting for Peres Magalhaes’ call at a nearby McDonald’s, Ryan arrived home for a previously scheduled kinky sex date with Christine. Back at the house, Brendan and Peres Magalhäes broke in from the basement and left Valerie there as they climbed the stairs to the second floor. Brendan allegedly called out “police officer” to Ryan before shooting him in the head and then stabbing Christine. Peres Magalhäes then shot Ryan after allegedly seeing him moving on the ground.

Relating to: Va. Man Accused of Killing His Wife and Man Nearly One Year After Allegation Against His Au Pair

In the months following Peres Magalhäes’ arrest, the couple’s relationship became strained as Brendan continued to live in the family home with his daughter and mother. “I hope you’re not just staying with me because you’re afraid I’ll turn against you,” Peres Magalhäes is heard saying in a recorded jailhouse conversation, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors say in another recorded conversation found on his mother’s phone, Brendan complains that the nanny “can’t keep her damn mouth shut” on calls from prison.

Finally, on October 29, just days before his murder trial was to begin, Peres Magalhäes struck a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and agreeing to cooperate with authorities, possibly in exchange for timely release from custody.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s friend, Mr. Zulu, says he is grateful that the truth has come out about his eccentric friend’s unwitting role in the twisted murder plot. “I know you didn’t do what you said you did,” says the gentleman. “He was just a pawn. “Joe was the man who adopted dogs that didn’t have the chance to adopt them and loved them very much.” Christine will be remembered for her service to the community, says her friend Valderrama: “She was unique.”