On the morning of February 24, 2023, police in Herndon, Virginia, responded to a series of 911 calls from a home on Stable Brook Way. Inside, they discovered a horrific scene: Joseph Nathan Ryan, a 39-year-old White man, was dead from multiple gunshot wounds, and 37-year-old Christine Banfield had been stabbed multiple times. She was rushed to a hospital, where she died. The initial story came from Christine’s husband, Brendan Banfield, who told a 911 dispatcher that he had shot an unknown man who had entered his home and was stabbing his wife. The couple's 4-year-old daughter and their live-in au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, were also present at the residence.
Investigators soon began to question the home invasion narrative, noting there were no signs of forced entry. The case took a significant turn in October 2023 when police arrested Peres Magalhães, the 23-year-old au pair, and charged her with second-degree murder in Joseph Ryan's death.
Nearly a year later, in September 2024, Brendan Banfield himself was arrested and charged with the aggravated murders of both his wife and Ryan. Authorities then revealed that Banfield and Peres Magalhães had been involved in a romantic relationship that began months before the killings and continued afterward.
As the legal proceedings unfolded, prosecutors detailed an elaborate murder plot. They alleged that Banfield, an IRS criminal investigative agent, wanted his wife "out of the picture" so he could start a new life with Peres Magalhães. The two allegedly created a fake profile for Christine on a fetish website and used it to lure Joseph Ryan to the home under the pretense of a consensual, violent sexual encounter. Prosecutors said that on the morning of the killings, Banfield used an app on his wife's phone to unlock the door for Ryan, who went upstairs to the bedroom where Christine was asleep.
According to testimony, Banfield and Peres Magalhães then entered the bedroom armed. Banfield allegedly shouted "police officer" before shooting Ryan in the head with his service weapon. He then stabbed his wife to death. Peres Magalhães testified that Banfield urged her to stick to their plan, and she fired a second shot at Ryan. In a deal with prosecutors, Peres Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of manslaughter for her role in Ryan's death and agreed to testify against Banfield.
Brendan Banfield's trial concluded in February 2026, with a jury finding him guilty of the murders of both Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield. Days later, Juliana Peres Magalhães was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the maximum term under her plea agreement. During the sentencing, Ryan's mother spoke of her loss. "We spent countless hours on the phone,” she had said previously of her son. “The level of our friendship — not everybody gets to have that and I was blessed with that as a parent."
