Man in 'au pair affair' found guilty of double murder

His family au pair pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial.

Monday 2 February 2026 23:52, UK

An American man who was having an affair with his family's Brazilian au pair has been found guilty of murdering his wife and another man.

Brendan Banfield, 40, from Virginia, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of 24 February 2023.

He shot Mr Ryan and then the au pair, Juliana Magalhaes, 25, shot him too.

But officials told jurors the story was too good to be true, saying Banfield set Mr Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of his wife. It later emerged Banfield and Magalhaes had been having an affair.

Magalhaes pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial.

She said they had impersonated Ms Banfield, a paediatric intensive care nurse, on a website for sexual fetishes.

They used the site to lure Mr Ryan to the house for a sexual encounter involving a knife, she said, staging the scene to look as though they had shot an intruder who was attacking Ms Banfield.

Defence attorney John Carroll argued Magalhaes' testimony could not be trusted because she was cooperating with prosecutors in an attempt to avoid a long prison sentence.

Banfield testified to say the testimony was "absolutely crazy".

In her closing arguments, prosecutor Jenna Sands told the jury they did not have to rely solely on Magalhaes' testimony, pointed to a "plethora of evidence", including expert testimony that blood stains on Mr Ryan's hands suggested Ms Banfield's blood had been dripped onto him from above.

Banfield faces the possibility of life in prison.

Magalhaes was scheduled to be sentenced after his trial. Attorneys have said she could be allowed to walk free if she is sentenced to time served.

Man in 'au pair affair' found guilty of double murder

Related Topics