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After initially claiming self-defense, an au pair changed her story on Tuesday, pleading guilty to manslaughter and admitting her role in her employer’s alleged plot to kill his wife and another man. Juliana Peres Magalhaes , 24, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Joseph Ryan at the Fairfax County, Virginia, home where she worked, according to a plea form reviewed by HuffPost. On Feb.
24, 2023, Peres Magalhaes and her employer Brendan Banfield reported that his wife, Christine Banfield, had been fatally stabbed by an intruder. They told authorities that they had shot the man, later identified as Ryan, as he was attacking her. Immediately after the killings, police hinted there would be “twists and turns” ahead.
After investigating for months, authorities said that Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhaes had been having an affair, and had plotted together to kill Banfield’s wife, a pediatric intensive care nurse. Brendan Banfield allegedly planned to lure Ryan to the house by creating a profile on a bondage and fetish website. He and Peres Magalhaes then allegedly staged the scene and lied about how Christine Banfield and Ryan had been killed in a 911 call.
Peres Magalhaes was arrested in October 2023 and had been set to go on trial in November . Instead, under the plea deal, she’s now cooperating with authorities in the ongoing investigation of Brendan Banfield, who was charged in September with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. At a hearing on Tuesday, Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano described the plea deal as “a significant step forward in this case, and it is an important development in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families,” The Washington Post reported .
Prosecutors say Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield began their affair in August 2022, according to a probation document shared by WJLA . The au pair had started working for the Banfields earlier that year, and by fall 2023, Brendan Banfield had allegedly expressed a desire to kill his wife. To carry out his plan, Brendan Banfield created a profile on a bondage website, speaking online to other users including Ryan, according to the probation document.
He allegedly “settled” on Ryan as a target and lured him to the family’s home, where Ryan had been led to believe that he would have a consensual sexual encounter. In the days leading up to the killings, Brendan Banfield instructed Peres Magalhaes to pretend to be his wife while communicating with Ryan over Telegram, according to the probation document. Ryan was prepared to use restraints on Christine Banfield and violently cut her clothes off with a knife, under the belief it was all a part of consensual sexual role-play, prosecutors said.
As the date drew closer, Peres Magalhaes expressed to Brendan Banfield that she did not believe he would go through with his plan, and at some points told him she did not want to participate in the killings, according to the probation document. However, Brendan Banfield allegedly told Peres Magalhaes it was too late for her to back out. When the day of the killings arrived, Brendan Banfield gave Peres Magalhaes the gun he had purchased her a month earlier, according to the probation document.
Once Ryan entered the Banfields’ home, Peres Magalhaes called Brendan Banfield, who was at a nearby McDonald’s “waiting so that he could return quickly,” the probation document said. Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhaes then made sure to leave the Banfields’ child in the basement before they went to the primary bedroom, according to the probation document. They entered the room, each with a gun in hand, and saw Ryan holding Christine Banfield down, according to the document.
Brendan Banfield, who was then an IRS criminal special agent, called out “police officer” before shooting Ryan in the head, the document said. Peres Magalhaes called 911, but Brendan Banfield instructed her to cut the call short, according to the probation document. He then allegedly stabbed his wife while Peres Magalhaes left the room.
When she returned, Peres Magalhaes saw Ryan still moving and shot him, according to the probation document. Brendan Banfield instructed her to call 911 again, and the two reported Ryan as an intruder who had stabbed Christine Banfield, the document says. Christine Banfield was taken to the hospital, where she was declared dead.
Peres Magalhaes gave a detailed account of the killings on Friday and confessed to shooting Ryan after he had been shot by Brendan Banfield, according to the probation document. Other news outlets have retreated behind paywalls. At HuffPost, we believe journalism should be free for everyone.
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Attorneys for Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment. Brendan Banfield is scheduled to next appear in court in February 2025, The Washington Post reported. Dive deep into true crime cases and follow the latest headlines with HuffPost’s Suspicious Circumstances newsletter.
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