The husband of a woman who was found stabbed to death in a double homicide involving an affair and a fetish website was allegedly torn apart by a blood spatter.
Christine Banfield, 37, was found inside her bedroom suffering from stab wounds alongside Joseph Ryan, 39, who was shot in February 2023 in Herndon, Virginia.
Her husband, Brendan Banfield, was charged last month with her death and charged with four counts of aggravated murder.
The couple lived inside their million-dollar home with their four-year-old daughter and their au pair Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 24, who was also charged with murder.
Banfield and Magalhaes are accused of luring Ryan, who had no connection to the family, to the house and staging the scene to make it look like he had killed Christine.
Brendan Banfield, was charged earlier this week with the death of his wife and charged with four counts of aggravated murder.
Christine Banfield, 37, was found inside her room with stab wounds in February 2023.
Banfield and Magalhaes, who were allegedly having an affair at the time, claimed that when they arrived they found Ryan attacking Christine and both shot him.
However, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan revealed in court that blood spatter analysis showed the bodies were moved.
He said police received “two definitive reports in August from expert forensic investigators” who spent more than a year reviewing the evidence.
Clingan said the reports were instrumental in supporting prosecutors’ theory that the bodies of Ryan and Christine Banfield were moved and repositioned after they were fatally wounded.
Clingan also said Ryan’s arms were moved and stained with the wife’s blood.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, is accused of killing a BDSM fetishist as part of a plot with her boss, an IRS agent, to get rid of his wife so they could be together.
John Carroll, Brendan Banfield’s lawyer, argued in court that Clingan’s account of what happened was not evidence that the husband killed his wife.
“It just doesn’t add up, judge,” he said.
At the end of the hearing, Fairfax Circuit Chief Judge Penney Azcárate denied bail to Banfield, requiring the defendant to remain in the county jail until his trial, which is scheduled for February.
The blood splatter evidence is one part of officials’ extensive investigation into Banfield and Magalhães, who was arrested last October and will face trial in November.
Authorities have said the murders were part of a larger plan between Magalhães and Banfield, who authorities say began a romantic relationship in August 2022.
In the six months before the murders, Magalhães and Banfield went on a trip to New York City together and took romantic photographs together, Clingan said.
The prosecutor also said other women had informed detectives that Banfield engaged in multiple extramarital affairs during their marriage.
“Several credible women confirmed this fact, including one in particular, who told them that during the course of her affair with this defendant a few years ago, he constantly promised to leave his wife,” she said.
“At the end he told her, ‘It would be a lot easier for us if she wasn’t there.'”
According to prosecutors, the au pair and her boss Brendan Banfield were having an affair, and photographs of the couple were found in the bedroom where Christine died.
On the day of the murders, prosecutors said Magalhães called 911 at least twice within minutes, but ended the calls before speaking to first responders.
More than 10 minutes later, prosecutors alleged in court, Magalhães called 911 one last time and reported the emergency.
Banfield then spoke on the phone and said he had shot a man because that man stabbed his wife.
Police soon arrived at the Banfield home and discovered that Ryan had been fatally shot and Christine was suffering from stab wounds. She was taken to the hospital, where she died.
Magalhaes told police he had left the family home to take the boy to the zoo, but returned after realizing he had left his lunches behind.
She said she left the child in the basement after she and Banfield heard what sounded like an intruder before discovering Christine was being attacked.
When Magalhães and Banfield entered, the two found Ryan holding a knife to Christine’s throat, Magalhães told detectives.
Banfield, an Internal Revenue Service officer, told police he grabbed his service weapon and fired, wounding Ryan.
He told police he then ordered Peres Magalhaes to grab another gun and shoot him again, which she did and allegedly killed him.
Prosecutors allege that someone created a fake account for Christine on a BDSM site and made plans to have ‘rough sex’ with Ryan, as seen here.
Preliminary prosecutors said evidence pointed to a very different story, suggesting Ryan was shot to death as part of a plot to get rid of Christine.
Investigators became suspicious of Magalhaes’ story after she and Banfield did not disclose their alleged affair when speaking to detectives.
Police said they discovered evidence of a secret lovers’ getaway and noted that just eight months after the murders, Magalhaes had moved into the master bedroom.
They sent a photo showing a framed photo of Magalhaes and Banfield on their nightstand and their clothes were in Christine’s closet.
Prosecutors allege that someone created a fake account for Christine on a BDSM site and made plans to have “rough sex” with Ryan before they were both murdered.
It emerged in court that the fetish website account on which Ryan had been messaging was maintained on Christine’s computer under the username Annastasia9.
However, there was “not a shred of evidence that she was involved in knife play, bondage or BDSM,” prosecutor Eric Clingan said.
Ryan and the account user discussed rough sex and blood play, an act in which someone deliberately cuts another.
During the conversations, Annastasia9 wrote that she cheats on her husband “whenever she wants.”
Ryan told a friend that Christine’s marriage was not entirely monogamous and added that Brendan Banfield was aware “of his wife’s extramarital activity,” Clingan said.
Preliminary prosecutors said evidence points to a very different story, suggesting Ryan was shot to death as part of a plot to get rid of Christine.
Prosecutors also noted a 10-minute delay between the first 911 call and Magalhaes’ last call.
During Magalhães’ court hearings, prosecutors also argued that Ryan was not known to be violent.
In the 11 months between Magalhães’ arrest and Banfield’s indictment, authorities said they monitored his phone conversations at the Fairfax County Jail.
Clingan said Magalhães and Banfield had a brief phone call, in which she said, “I hope you don’t stay with me just because you’re afraid I’ll turn on you.”
In announcing the new charges against Brendan Banfield, FairFax County Prosecutor Steve Descano said: ‘On February 24, 2023, I stood in the middle of a cul-de-sac in Fairfax County and described the deaths of two people inside a residential home.
“Now, 570 days later, we know that the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield are, in fact, murders.”
