Man kills his spouse for mistress then used a fetish web site to lure man to border
A man who killed his wife and a bloke he intended to frame for her murder has been handed a life sentence Brendan Banfield attempted to use a fetish website to orchestrate the wild murder
Brendan Banfield was handed a life sentence (Image: Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
A man who was having an affair with the family’s Brazilian childcare worker has been sentenced to life prison after he used a fetish website to a man couple’s home to try and frame.
Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, attempted to claim that he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of his wife Christine Banfield who was a paediatric intensive care nurse.
During Banfield’s trial, Magalhães testified that he had told her he wanted to marry his new mistress and have children with her, but he needed to “get rid of” his wife first. The man’s mistress stated he didn’t want a divorce his wife because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter.
Magalhães was only 21 when she started working for the Banfields in 2021. Magalhães told jurors she and Brendan Banfield had impersonated Christine Banfield on a website for sexual fetishes. They used the site to lure Ryan to the house in Herndon, Virginia, for a sexual encounter involving a knife and staged the scene to look as though they had shot a violent intruder.
Magalhães said on the day of the killings, she waited in a car outside the house with the Banfields’ child. When Ryan arrived, she called Brendan Banfield, who was waiting at a nearby McDonald’s.
The pair took the child to the basement and then went to the bedroom, where they encountered Ryan. Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed Christine Banfield with the knife Ryan had brought. When Magalhães saw Ryan moving, she fired a second shot that killed him. Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter after agreeing to testify against Brendan Banfield. Magalhães was sentenced to 10 years in prison after Banfield’s trial.
During the trial Brendan Banfield rejected the allegations and denied killing his wife. NBC News reported Banfield stated: “I loved her very much, despite what you may think of my affairs. Our marriage worked for us. … She truly was a caring, a caring mother, caring wife, loving nurse. But I am not responsible. I am not responsible for her death.” Christine Banfield’s sister said issued a damming statement during the court hearing.
The woman slammed Banfield and said: “He could have divorced and moved on, but divorce would have required relinquishing control, and control was always the priority. His actions were not driven by love, but a desire for power, deception, and a complete disregard for the lives he destroyed.”
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