{"id":1770,"date":"2026-06-05T23:33:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1770"},"modified":"2026-06-05T23:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:33:53","slug":"virginia-man-gets-life-in-prison-for-double-murder-scheme-in-affair-with-brazilian-au-pair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1770","title":{"rendered":"Virginia man gets life in prison for double murder scheme in affair with Brazilian au pair"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) \u2014 A Virginia man who was having an affair with the family\u2019s Brazilian au pair was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife and a man who was lured to the couple’s home as a fall guy.<\/p>\n

Read more Detectives identify Californian woman who died while snorkeling off state park in Broward<\/a><\/p>\n

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalh\u00e3es set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse.<\/p>\n

Judge Penney Azcarate called Banfield\u2019s actions evil and calculated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,\u201d she said in handing down the sentence, which is mandatory in Virginia for an aggravated murder conviction. The scheme involved \u201cluring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap; continuing on after the murders without a care; and not once \u2014 not once \u2014 thinking of the impact\u201d on the Banfields’ 4-year-old daughter. Brendan Banfield \u201ctook everything from her,\u201d Azcarate said.<\/p>\n

In addition to murder, jurors in February convicted Banfield of child endangerment because the couple\u2019s daughter was home during the killings. Azcarate sentenced Banfield to an additional five years on that charge and three more years on a firearms charge.<\/p>\n

Speaking at his sentencing, Banfield proclaimed his innocence. Banfield said he loved his wife and, although he had affairs, he never intended to leave her.<\/p>\n

Azcarate was unmoved, citing his lack of remorse as a reason she felt no hesitation in ordering him to remain behind bars for life.<\/p>\n

During Friday’s hearing, Christine Banfield\u2019s older sister, Danielle Hocker, described her sister as kind, caring, reliable and selfless. She said they grew up chasing fireflies and sleeping next to each other on the floor in sleeping bags.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she was born, ‘I’ became \u2018we\u2019,\u201d Hocker said. \u201cI haven\u2019t stopped saying \u2018we\u2019 when I speak about my childhood after her death, except now when I do, it takes my breath away \u2014 a pause filled with love that has nowhere to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s mother, Deidre Fisher, told the court that her son was an \u201cextremely caring\u201d person who was a caretaker for his grandmother and other loved ones.<\/p>\n

Read more County plans eminent domain to acquire Fisher Island fuel depot<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cJoe was a guy who believed in fighting for the underdog, and even actual neglected dogs,\u201d Fisher said, with a small laugh. \u201cHe would walk into an animal shelter and ask for the oldest, ugliest dogs, bring them home and love them for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan’s aunt, Sangeeta Ryan, said Banfield \u201cdidn\u2019t just take Joe and Christine from us. He tried to erase the truth of who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Banfield’s trial, Magalh\u00e3es testified he had told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, but he needed to \u201cget rid of\u201d his wife first. He didn\u2019t want a divorce because \u201cshe would have more money than he would\u201d and because he wanted custody of the couple\u2019s daughter, said Magalh\u00e3es, who was 21 when she started working for the Banfields in 2021.<\/p>\n

Magalh\u00e3es also testified that she and Brendan Banfield staged the scene at the home in Herndon, Virginia, to look as if they had shot a violent intruder. The pair had pretended to be Christine Banfield on a fetish website to lure Ryan to their house for a sexual encounter involving a knife.<\/p>\n

On the day of the killings, Magalh\u00e3es waited in a car outside the house with the daughter. When Ryan arrived, she called Brendan Banfield, who was waiting at a nearby McDonald’s. The pair took the child to the basement and then went to the bedroom, where they encountered Ryan. Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed Christine Banfield with the knife Ryan had brought. When Magalh\u00e3es saw Ryan moving, she fired a second shot that killed him.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Banfield emphasized that there was dissent within the police department over the theory that he had impersonated his wife, saying it would have been impossible for him to send some of the messages.<\/p>\n

Some media have dubbed the case the \u201cau pair affair.\u201d Magalh\u00e3es pleaded guilty to manslaughter after agreeing to testify against Banfield. Magalh\u00e3es was sentenced to 10 years in prison after Banfield’s trial.<\/p>\n

Read more Defense Department slashes its religious designations list from more than 200 choices to 31<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) \u2014 A Virginia man who was having an affair with the family\u2019s Brazilian au pair was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for the murder of his wife and a man who was lured to the couple’s home as a fall guy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nVirginia man gets life in prison for double murder scheme in affair with Brazilian au pair - South Florida Moving Guides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=1770\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virginia man gets life in prison for double murder scheme in affair with Brazilian au pair - South Florida Moving Guides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FAIRFAX, Va. 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