{"id":1403509,"date":"2026-02-03T08:22:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1403509&preview=true&preview_id=1403509"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T19:26:00","slug":"virginia-man-in-au-pair-affair-case-convicted-of-murdering-wife-and-another-man-in-elaborate-ruse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/03\/virginia-man-in-au-pair-affair-case-convicted-of-murdering-wife-and-another-man-in-elaborate-ruse\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia man in \u2018au pair affair\u2019 case convicted of murdering wife and another man in elaborate ruse"},"content":{"rendered":"

By OLIVIA DIAZ and TRAVIS LOLLER The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A Virginia man having an affair with the family\u2019s Brazilian au pair was found guilty Monday of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy.<\/p>\n

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalh\u00e3es, the au pair, shot him, too.<\/p>\n

But officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors<\/a> that Banfield set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of his wife. It later came out that Brendan Banfield and Magalh\u00e3es had been having an affair.<\/p>\n

Magalh\u00e3es pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial<\/a>. She said they had impersonated Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on a website for sexual fetishes. She said they used the site to lure Ryan to the house for a sexual encounter involving a knife, staging the scene to look as though they had shot an intruder who was attacking the wife.<\/p>\n