Brendan Banfield is expected to be sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole, in the 2023 “au pair affair” murders in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Banfield was convicted in February of two counts of aggravated murder in the killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and another man, Joseph Ryan.
Aggravated murder became Virginia’s most serious offense after former Gov. Ralph Northam abolished the death penalty in 2021. It carries a mandatory life sentence.
Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, conspired with his family’s au pair to kill his wife and pin it on a stranger.
He was also found guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and child endangerment, as his 4-year-old child was home during the killings.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney Azcarate, who presided over Banfield’s trial, will impose the sentence.
Before sentencing, prosecutors plan to call three witnesses who will provide victim impact statements.
WTOP will carry a livestream of the sentencing, which begins at 11 a.m.
The ‘au pair affair’
During the trial, prosecutors told the jury Banfield was in love with his family’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, and that the two staged an elaborate scheme to lure Joseph Ryan to the home to get rid of Banfield’s wife, Christine, and blame her killing on Ryan.
According to the prosecution and Magalhães, who testified against Banfield after taking a plea deal, Banfield and the au pair created an account on a fetish website impersonating Christine and lured Ryan to the home with promises of rough sex.
During her two days of testimony, Magalhães detailed her sexual relationship with Banfield, his desire to “get rid of his wife” and the plan he developed to do so.
Magalhães was initially charged with murder in October 2023, eight months after the killings and nearly a year before Banfield himself was charged.
With her trial date nearing, Magalhães accepted a plea deal, in which her charge was downgraded to manslaughter. In February, after testifying against her former lover, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in the double murder.
WTOP’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.
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