The Virginia man charged in the deaths of his wife and another man inside a Fairfax County house will stay in jail until his trial in February.
Judge Penney S. Azcarate agreed with prosecutors that Brendan Banfield, 39, was a danger to himself and the public, and he might not show up for the trial in the stabbing death of his wife, Christine Banfield, and the shooting death of Joseph Ryan.
Christine Banfield and Ryan were killed inside a bedroom in the Banfields’ home on Stable Brook Way in Herndon in February 2023. Brendan Banfield was arrested earlier this month, nearly a year after the Banfields’ Brazilian au pair Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, was charged with shooting Ryan.
Brendan Banfield’s attorney, John Carroll, said his client needed to be free, citing “he has a 6-year-old daughter who needs him at home.” He also painted Banfield as a man just trying to carry on with life following the death of his wife, adding that he was “gainfully employed,” serving as a tutor, teaching robotics, delivering medicine for cancer treatment and coaching his daughter’s soccer team.
“Mr. Banfield has asserted his constitutional rights but otherwise has been cooperative with the numerous search warrants … there is no evidence to suggest that he would obstruct justice or anything else pursuant to” Virginia bail laws, Carroll argued in a Wednesday afternoon court filing.
Brendan Banfield is an agent for the IRS, where he has been placed on administrative leave, pending the investigation’s outcome.
What happened inside the Banfields’ house?
Prosecutors have alleged someone used Christine Banfield’s laptop to make an account on an adult fetish website, which Ryan responded to before visiting the Banfield home with the intention of having “rough sex” with her.
Prosecutors also said Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhaes cooked up the plot involving a sex fetish website to lure Ryan to the house, and alleged the two were having an affair.
Peres Magalhaes’ defense attorney, Ryan Campbell, argued in another hearing that the evidence showed Christine Banfield established the adult website account, and also purchased tickets for Peres Magalhaes to take the couple’s then-4-year-old daughter to the National Zoo in D.C. during her alleged assignation with Ryan.
Peres Magalhaes told detectives she saw Ryan holding a knife to the throat of Christine Banfield, who was nude, inside the master bedroom. Brendan Banfield likewise told investigators that he walked in on Ryan stabbing his wife in bed, so he shot and killed him using his IRS-issued service weapon.
Virginia prosecutors contended that Ryan was shot not standing over Christine with a knife, but instead in the corner of the bedroom and was likely kneeling.
After shooting Ryan, Peres Magalhaes said Brendan Banfield told her to get a gun from a safe in the bathroom of the master bedroom. She then fired a shot at Ryan, which struck him in the chest, and “devastated his heart,” according to the medical examiner who testified at a December 2023 hearing.
Eric Clingan, with the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, played a 911 recording in court that prosecutors say was Ryan moaning in pain. The call was made from Peres Magalhaes’ phone, but she hung up eight seconds after starting the call. Another 911 call was reportedly made from her phone some 15 minutes later.
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
