It has been three years since police arrived at the home of Christine and Brendan Banfield just after 8 a.m. on Feb. 24, 2023, to find an almost incomprehensible scene. In the couple’s upstairs bedroom, Christine, a 37-year-old pediatric nurse, lay dying from multiple stab wounds to her neck. The body of Joseph Ryan, 39, was just feet away. The medical examiner determined that he had been shot twice — by different guns — in his head and chest.
Prosecutors alleged that Brendan was having an affair with Juliana Peres Magalhaes, the au pair who cared for the Banfields’ then-4-year-old daughter, and conspired with her to “get rid of” his wife and frame Ryan for her death so that they could live together and retain custody of the child. Peres Magalhaes was indicted for her alleged role in the killings and arrested in October 2023, a year before Brendan’s arrest on murder charges the following September.
The au pair, the prosecution’s star witness, recounted the shocking and lurid details of the alleged murder plot before the jury last week.
After pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in exchange for her testimony, prosecutors recommended that Peres Magalhaes, 25, receive time served rather than the up to 10 years the sentence usually carries. (If Brendan is convicted, he faces a life sentence.)
Peres Magalhaes told jurors that she and Brendan had created an account on the sexual fetish website FetLife and communicated with users using Christine’s laptop and phone. They eventually persuaded Joseph Ryan to visit the house with a knife to engage in a “rape fantasy.”
The former au pair testified that Brendan stabbed Christine and shot Ryan in the head using his service revolver. She said she used her own gun to fire the second shot at Ryan because she saw him moving.
A detective testified last week that Peres Magalhaes was arrested after authorities performed a second search of Brendan’s house in October 2023, months after the murder. Jurors saw “before and after” pictures that allegedly showed that Peres Magalhaes had moved out of the guest room and was sharing the primary bedroom with Brendan. Her clothes were hung in the walk-in closet, and two framed pictures of Brendan and Christine had been swapped out for affectionate photos of Brendan and Peres Magalhaes.
Peres Magalhaes seemed to become increasingly annoyed during her cross-examination, responding to defense attorney John Carroll’s attempts to challenge her credibility with vague answers or by saying she didn’t remember specific details because of the trauma she had endured. Even so, prosecutors had agreed to recommend a sentence of time served if she continued to cooperate until her sentencing, which is set to follow Brendan’s trial.
Peres Magalhaes dropped a few bombshells when she read aloud portions of her jailhouse communications at Carroll’s request. In some letters, she complained about her original attorney and revealed that Brendan’s mother had paid for until Peres Magalhaes stopped defending her son.
She also said members of news media organizations and production companies had contacted her in prison, and alleged that some were even paying into her commissary account for food and phone calls.
In one letter to her mother, she claimed a Netflix producer had offered her $10,000 for an exclusive agreement to participate in a documentary. She said she wanted to negotiate for more money, adding, “We do deserve something.”
It was a stunning response from a person who had confessed to her role in two horrific killings, and Carroll pounced.
When he asked Peres Magalhaes to elaborate, she told him she deserved it because of what she’d “been through.”
“You were charged with murder because you shot someone. Am I wrong?” he said.
“You are not,” she responded.
The defense began to question witnesses Wednesday after prosecutors rested their case the previous afternoon. The trial was originally expected to last about four weeks.
Do you have a news tip or a true crime case you’d like me to explore? Email me at drumoorhouse@buzzfeed.com.
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