The husband of a woman found stabbed to death in a double murder involving an affair and a fetish website was undone by blood spatter.
Christine Banfield, 37, was found in Herndon, Virginia, in February 2023 in her bedroom with stab wounds next to 39-year-old Joseph Ryan, who was shot.
Her husband, Brendan Banfield, was charged in her death last month and indicted on four counts of aggravated murder.
The couple lived in their $1 million home with their four-year-old daughter and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 24, who was also charged with murder.
Brendan Banfield was charged with his wife’s death earlier this week and indicted on four counts of aggravated murder
Christine Banfield, 37, was found in her bedroom in February 2023 with stab wounds.
Banfield and Magalhaes, who were reportedly having an affair at the time, claimed they arrived to find Ryan attacking Christine, and both shot him.
However, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan revealed in court that blood spatter analysis showed the bodies had been moved.
He said police in August received “two final reports from expert forensic investigators” who spent more than a year reviewing evidence.
Clingan said the reports were fundamental in supporting prosecutors’ theory that the bodies of Ryan and Christine Banfield were moved and moved after they were fatally injured.
Clingan also said Ryan’s arms were moved and stained with the woman’s blood.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, is accused of killing a BDSM fetishist as part of a plot with her IRS agent boss to get rid of his wife so they could be together
John Carroll, Brendan Banfield’s attorney, argued in court that Clingan’s account of what happened was not evidence that the man killed his wife.
“It’s just not right, judge,” he said.
At the end of the hearing, Fairfax Circuit Chief Judge Penney Azcarate denied Banfield bail, forcing the suspect to remain in jail until his trial, scheduled for February.
The blood spatter evidence is part of officials’ extensive investigation into Banfield and Magalhães, who were arrested last October and will appear in court in November.
Authorities have said the killings were part of a larger plan between Magalhães and Banfield, who officials alleged began a romantic relationship in August 2022.
In the six months before the murders, Magalhães and Banfield took a trip together to New York City and took romantic photos together, Clingan said.
The prosecutor also said other women informed investigators that Banfield participated in multiple extramarital affairs during his marriage.
“Multiple credible women corroborated this fact, including one in particular who told them that during her affair with this defendant a few years ago, he would continually promise to leave his wife,” he said.
“Finally he told her, ‘It would be so much easier for us if she weren’t here.’
Prosecutors say the au pair and her boss Brendan Banfield had an affair, with photos of the couple found in the bedroom where Christine died
On the day of the killings, prosecutors said Magalhães called 911 at least twice within minutes, but ended the calls before speaking to first responders.
More than ten minutes later, prosecutors alleged in court, Magalhães called 911 for the final time and reported the emergency.
Banfield then spoke into the phone and said he shot a man because the man had stabbed his wife.
Police soon arrived at the Banfields’ home and discovered that Ryan had been fatally shot and Christine had stab wounds. She was taken to hospital, where she died.
Magalhaes told police she left the family home to take the child to the zoo, but returned after realizing she had left their lunch behind.
She said she left the child in the basement after she and Banfield heard what sounded like an intruder before discovering Christine being attacked.
When Magalhães and Banfield went inside, the two found Ryan with a knife to Christine’s throat, Magalhães told investigators.
Banfield, a law enforcement officer with the Internal Revenue Service, told police he grabbed his service weapon and shot and wounded Ryan.
He told police that he then ordered Peres Magalhaes to get another gun and shoot him again, which she did, allegedly killing him.
Prosecutors allege someone created a fake account for Christine on a BDSM site and made plans to have “rough sex” with Ryan, see here
Preliminary prosecutors said the evidence pointed to a very different story, suggesting Ryan was shot as part of a plan to get rid of Christine.
Investigators first became suspicious of Magalhaes’ story after she and Banfield failed to disclose their alleged romance during a conversation with detectives.
Police said they found evidence of a secret getaway for lovers and pointed out that Magalhaes had moved into the master bedroom just eight months after the murders.
They sent in a photo with a framed photo of Magalhaes and Banfield on her bedside table and her clothes were in Christine’s closet.
Prosecutors allege someone created a fake account for Christine on a BDSM site and made plans to have “rough sex” with Ryan before they were both murdered.
It emerged in court that the fetish website account where Ryan had been sending messages was managed on Christine’s computer under the username Annastasia9.
However, there was “not a shred of evidence that she engaged in knife play, bondage and BDSM,” prosecutor Eric Clingan said.
Ryan and the account user discussed rough sex and bloodplay, an act in which one person deliberately cuts off the other.
During the chats, Annastasia9 wrote that she cheats on her husband “whenever she wants.”
Ryan told a friend that Christine’s marriage was not entirely monogamous, adding that Brendan Banfield was aware “of his wife’s extramarital activities,” Clingan said.
Preliminary prosecutors said evidence points to a very different story, suggesting Ryan was shot as part of a plan to get rid of Christine.
Prosecutors also pointed to a 10-minute delay between the first 911 call and Magalhaes’ last call.
During court hearings for Magalhães, prosecutors also argued that Ryan was not known to be violent.
In the 11 months between Magalhães’ arrest and Banfield’s indictment, authorities said they tapped their phone conversations in the Fairfax County Jail.
Clingan said Magalhães and Banfield had a brief phone call in which she said, “I hope you’re not staying with me just because you’re afraid I’m going to turn on you.”
In announcing the new charges against Brendan Banfield, FairFax County Attorney Steve Descano said: “On February 24, 2023, I stood in the middle of a cul-de-sac in Fairfax County and described the deaths of two people in a residential home.
“Now, 570 days later, we know that the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield are in fact murders.”