Au Pair Affair Turns Deadly: Brendan Banfield Allegedly Plotted Wife's Murder Using Fetish Website
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Juliana Peres Magalhães was a 22-year-old Brazilian au pair living with the Banfield family in Herndon, Virginia. She cared for their four-year-old daughter. She became part of their home. And prosecutors say she became romantically involved with Brendan Banfield — a federal IRS agent — months before his wife Christine was stabbed to death in their master bedroom.
On February 24, 2023, Christine Banfield and a man named Joseph Ryan were both killed inside the Banfield home. Brendan and Juliana initially told police Ryan was an intruder who attacked Christine with a knife. They claimed they shot him in self-defense.
But prosecutors allege the entire thing was staged. They say Brendan created a fake profile on FetLife — a fetish dating site — using Christine's photo to lure Ryan to the house. Ryan thought he was meeting a woman for consensual role-play. Instead, according to prosecutors, he was set up to take the fall for a murder Brendan allegedly committed himself.
Juliana has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is cooperating with prosecutors. She says Brendan gave her a gun that morning and told her to shoot Ryan if he was still moving. The defense says her testimony is unreliable — the word of a woman trying to avoid prison.
Brendan Banfield's trial is set for January 2026. He faces life in prison. The only witness talking is the one who already cut a deal.
#BrendanBanfield #ChristineBanfield #JulianaPeresMagalhaes #AuPairMurder #FetLifeMurder #VirginiaHomicide #TrueCrimePodcast #DoubleMurder #FairfaxCounty #HiddenKillers
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. |
| 0:03.3 | Here now, Tony Brewski. |
| 0:06.8 | On the morning of February 24, 2023, a man named Joseph Ryan walked into a brick front colonial |
| 0:15.0 | in Herndon, Virginia. |
| 0:18.4 | His expectation that he was going to be doing it with a stranger. He'd been chatting |
| 0:25.6 | with her for weeks on a website called FetLife. I'll let you guess what that's all about. |
| 0:36.0 | Her name was Anastasia 9. |
| 0:39.5 | Her photo showed a petite woman in a one-piece bathing suit. |
| 0:43.2 | She told him she wanted it rough. |
| 0:48.9 | Knife play. |
| 0:51.2 | A essay fantasy |
| 0:55.2 | acted out in her bedroom |
| 0:56.9 | while her husband was at work. |
| 0:59.5 | That's what |
| 1:00.7 | was presented on this website. |
| 1:06.8 | You're like, people do that? |
| 1:08.6 | Like, yeah, I kind of thought the same thing, too. |
| 1:11.1 | Like, uh, seems, that? Like, yeah, I kind of thought the same thing, too. Like, uh, it seems, yeah. |
| 1:13.6 | Anyway, Ryan showed up, ready to play his part. |
| 1:18.9 | He brought restraints, and according to prosecutors, he thought he understood the assignment. |
| 1:24.9 | By 8 a.m., Joseph Ryan was dead. Shot twice, once in the hat and once in the chest by two |
| 1:31.3 | different guns, allegedly fired by two different people. And the woman in that profile photo, |
... |
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