The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are simply that.

Opinions.

All are presumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law.

Sensitive topics are discussed.

Discretion is advised.

Welcome back to On the Record.

I'm Cody Thomas.

And this week, courtrooms across the country were busy and the cases were heavy.

Three trials, three very different stories, but all connected by the same question, what drove someone to kill?

An alleged affair that turned deadly, a fire chief accused of murdering his wife and a family massacre inside a New Jersey mansion.

Let's go on the record.

Now, we begin in Virginia with one of the most unusual murder cases in years.

Former IRS agent Brendan Banfield is on trial for the murders of his wife, Christine Banfield,

and a man he had never met, Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors say this wasn't

random. They say it was a plot, rooted in a secret affair with the family's live-in opair.

Now, the state claims Bainfield used an online fetish website to lure Ryan to his home, then

killed him and his wife to avoid a divorce and keep control of his life.

The scene was set quickly as jurors listened to the chaotic 911 call placed by

Juliana Magalese, that's the Opaire, where Brendan Bainfield tells a dispatcher that a man

stabbed his wife before he shot the alleged attacker.

He posted as Christine seeking fulfillment of this stranger-raped fantasy.

He and Juliana spent weeks chatting with potential victims, searching for just the right guy

...