Nanny Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Double Homicide, Agrees to Cooperate Against Ex-Lover

Mar. 15, 2025

Juliana Peres Magalhaes.Photo:Fairfax County Police Department

Fairfax County Police Department

A Brazilian au pair who was charged in connection with the deaths of her ex-lover’s wife and another man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter to one of the slayings.

The plea deal between Fairfax County, Va., prosecutors andJuliana Peres Magalhaes, 24, was the latest development in the bizarre double homicide case.

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said Peres Magalhaes’ plea agreement on Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the shooting of 39-year-old Joseph Ryan, marked a “significant step forward in this case, and it is an important development in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families.”

Prosecutors allege Peres Magalhaes and Brendan, a former agent for the criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service, began an affair in Aug. 2022, after she moved into the Herndon, Va. home Brendan shared with Christine, a pediatric intensive care nurse, and their then 4-year-old daughter.

Christine Banfield.Christine Banfield/Facebook

Christine Banfield/Facebook

The month before the murders, Brendan allegedly created a profile on the bondage website Fetlife.com and began communicating with Ryan, a mixed martial arts enthusiast who liked live action role-playing.

Brendan then allegedly directed Peres Magalhaes to call Ryan, pretending to be Christine, using an encrypted messaging application called Telegram, to confirm details “that both parties were willing participants.”

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Clingan said Brendan “lured” Ryan to the home on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, alleging that “Ryan likely believed that he was meeting Christine Banfield to have a consensual sexual encounter involving restraints used on her, her clothing being cut off with a knife he brought, and other violent sexual role play.”

Brendan Banfield.Fairfax County Police Department

Brendan allegedly gave Peres Magalhaes a gun he bought a month earlier and told her to call Christine’s phone when Ryan entered the home and then to call Brendan “saying there was a strange man at the house, and she was scared,” Clingan said.

The call to Christine’s phone went straight to voicemail because Brendan allegedly turned her phone off and put it in a kitchen drawer before he left home that morning.

Prosecutors allege Brendan then drove home, where he shot Ryan in the head and stabbed his wife.

Peres Magalhaes “saw Joseph Ryan moving, and shot him,” according to Clingan.

The duo then “reported the offense as if Joseph Ryan was an intruder who stabbed Christine Banfield,” said Clingan.

After serving warrants on the Banfield home in October 2023, investigators found photos of Brendan and Peres Magalhaes “in loving poses” arranged throughout the bedroom along with the au pair’s lingerie. That same month, Peres Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony in the death of Ryan. She was not charged in connectoin with Christine’s death.

She is facing up to 10 years in prison. However,The New York Timesreported that prosecutors agreed to recommend that Peres Magalhaes be released from custody with credit for time served after Brendan’s trial provided she continues to cooperate with authorities.

A sentencing date has been set for March 21, 2025. Brendan is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 3, 2025.

source: people.com