Former IRS officer Brendan Banfield was found guilty in the murders of his wife, Christine Banfield, and a stranger, Joseph Ryan, after a bombshell trial that brought intense focus to the tragedy in the Banfields’ home in Fairfax County, Virginia. The jury, comprised of seven women and five me n, deliberated Friday afternoon and Monday before announcing they had reached a verdict in the trial. Just after 5 p.m., the jury foreperson announced they found Banfield guilty of all charges against him: one count of aggravated murder – two murders within three years one count of aggravated murder – multiple victims in same act one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony one count of child endangerment Banfield rose to hear the verdict and appeared stoic in the courtroom. Prosecutors said the killings were part of a calculated plan so Brendan, now 40, could get Christine out of the picture and start a new life with his family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães. Brendan, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, testified in his defense in the final days of his three-week trial, saying the accusation that he plotted Christine’s murder was “absolutely crazy”. What we know about the day of the killings On the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, police responded to a 911 call made by the Banfield family’s au pair. In the Banfields’ bedroom, they found 37-year-old Christine Banfield had been stabbed several times, and another man — later identified as 39-year-old Joseph Ryan — had been fatally shot. In the wake of the killings, Brendan Banfield and Peres Magalhães told police they had gone into the second-floor bedroom and that Ryan attacked Christine, leaving her seriously wounded. They said Brendan grabbed a gun and shot the alleged intruder and told Peres Magalhães to grab another gun so they could shoot him again. The shocking scene was described to detectives as an act of defense. Prosecutors, however, said evidence pointed to a very different story. They say Brendan Banfield was the mastermind in a double murder plot targeting his wife and a stranger solicited from FetLife, a fetish sex website. A search of a computer in the family’s home led detectives to FetLife. They found a profile for Christine and communications between her profile and Ryan — but prosecutors say someone else was communicating with Ryan while pretending to be Christine and scheduled a meetup at the family’s home that day. At about 7:30 a.m. that day, Peres Magalhães, a Brazilian national who lived with the family, left the house with the Banfields’ 4-year-old daughter, according to detectives. Peres Magalhães told police she doubled back to the home because she forgot to grab their packed lunches. She told police she saw a car there she didn’t recognize. She called Christine, but when she didn’t answer, Peres Magalhães called Brendan, who quickly returned home, authorities said. Minutes later, the husband and au pair entered the home with the little girl. Brendan then went upstairs to the bedroom, where he says he found his wife and Ryan. Detectives say the two claimed Ryan had attacked Christine, prompting Brendan — a law enforcement officer for the IRS — to fire his gun at Ryan. Ryan had no obvious connection to the family or to the home. But as detectives began probing how he supposedly found Christine, their case and the witness statements started to diverge. Ultimately, Peres Magalhães would go on to be charged in Ryan’s death. She took a plea deal and testified on behalf of the prosecution. On the witness stand, Brendan testified in his own defense, giving jurors a detailed account of what he said happened on that morning. He told the court he heard “moaning” and sexual sounds coming from the upstairs bedroom before the sounds “changed.” At another point in his testimony, he claimed Christine had a previous BDSM affair. Prosecutors argued that the evidence — digital, forensic and physical — consistently pointed in one direction. At the center of the case was the digital evidence, which the commonwealth described as uncontradicted. Detectives testified repeatedly that there was no history of Christine using dating sites, fetish platforms or pornography, and no evidence she was seeking a violent sexual encounter. Instead, the digital trail showed that dating and fetish activity only occurred when both Brendan and the au pair were in the home — and notably, there was zero Fetlife activity on two weekends when Brendan and Juliana were out of town. Prosecutors argued that pattern alone dismantled the defense theory. ...read more read less