How a plot involving a fetish website and an au pair affair led to murder

The Banfield residence sits on the finish of a quiet cul-de-sac — a two-story, Georgian brick revival very similar to its neighbors in an prosperous northern virginia neighborhood.

on a winter morning in February 2023, the scene inside was nightmarish.

A brand new “20/20” episode, “The Au Pair, The Affair and Murder” airing Friday, Feb. 20, at 9 pm ET on ABC and streaming the subsequent day on Disney+ and Hulu, examines the case.

You can even get extra behind-the-scenes of every week’s episode by listening to “20/20: The After Show” weekly sequence proper in your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by “20/20” co-anchor Deborah Roberts.

When officers responded to a 911 name simply after 8 am that day, they discovered Christine Banfield, a 37-year-old pediatric nurse, bleeding out on the ground of her bed room with seven stab wounds to his neck. A person, later recognized as 39-year-old Joseph Ryan, lay fatally shot with gunshot wounds to the top and chest.

“The blood soaked through the carpet, through the foam pad, and then onto the subfloor,” Fairfax County murder detective Terry Leach mentioned, describing the scene on the Banfield residence.

The house owner, IRS agent Brendan Banfield mentioned on a 911 name that he got here residence to discover Ryan — who he didn’t know — stabbing his spouse, Christine. banfield mentioned he used his government-issued firearm to shoot Ryan earlier than rendering help to his dying spouse.

Also on the scene was the household’s 22-year-old Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, who instructed police that she too shot ryan — whereas the household’s 4-year-old youngster was left within the basement.

Ryan drove to the Fairfax County residence on Feb. 24, 2023, to interact in what he believed was a consensual rape fantasy with Christine Banfield after discovering a lady he thought was her on a sexual fetish website referred to as FetLife, in accordance to investigators.

Authorities puzzled if profile — beneath the identify “Annastasia9” and exhibiting a single photograph of the married mom in a one-piece bathing swimsuit — was really created by Christine.

“When we start looking into a lot of the details of what’s going on in the digital evidence and the other evidence we’re finding outside of the digital evidence, a picture starts to develop of things that made investigators very suspicious,” Thomas Gadell, to Fairfax County Police murder detective, instructed “20/20.”

“We found things in the messages where sentences were oddly phrased, like ‘How has your experience been on this site?’ which in and of itself could be a typo, but it could be a sign of someone typing who maybe English isn’t their first language,” he mentioned.

The query of what precisely occurred contained in the Banfield residence plagued investigators for months.

Item wasn’t till October 2024 that police served a second search warrant and discovered that Magalhães had moved into the major bed room. All pictures of Christine had been faraway from the house and as an alternative a framed image of Banfield and Magalhães sat on the nightstand.

“When we looked around the rest of the room inside the closet, throughout the room, we found Juliana’s clothing, Juliana’s lingerie,” Gadell instructed “20/20.” “Juliana had effectively replaced Christine.”

In October 2024, police arrested Magalhães, charging her with the second-degree murder of Joseph Ryan. By her preliminary account to police, she had fired the second and deadly shot.

Joseph Ryan’s mom, Deirdre Fisher additionally instructed “20/20” that she and her son had a shut relationship. According to Fisher, Ryan instructed her that he engaged in tough intercourse and function play — though he all the time emphasised the significance of consent in these encounters.

“I knew Joe was very gentle as a person and concerned about the well-being of his romantic and sexual partners,” Fisher mentioned.

Prosecutors anticipated Magalhães may flip on Banfield as soon as in jail. Police mentioned it took a yr for Magalhães to confess, simply after police arrested Banfield and charged him with aggravated murder, legal youngster cruelty and legal youngster abuse.

“There had been a lot of discussion about how we could get her to turn,” Prosecutor Jenna Sands instructed “20/20.”

Magalhães pleaded responsible to a lesser cost of manslaughter and a sentencing suggestion from prosecutors of time served in change for her cooperation. This cooperation concerned her testifying in opposition to Banfield ought to his case go to trial.

In January, the Commonwealth of Virginia launched a three-week-long trial in opposition to Banfield. Prosecutors started with practically 9 hours of testimony from Magalhães the place she mentioned that Banfield had concocted a plot to pose as Christine on FetLife to lure an unsuspecting man to the home.

Banfield took the stand in its personal protection. While insisting that he cherished his spouse and that there was no plot to hurt her, Banfield additionally recounted particulars from his a number of extramarital affairs, together with his affair with Magalhães.

In an unique interview with “20/20,” one lady got here ahead to share particulars about her year-long affair with Banfield whereas he was married to Christine.

The lady, who spoke to “20/20” on situation of anonymity, mentioned she met banfield in 2013 on a “sugar baby” website. After seven conferences, a relationship shaped and the 2 would even meet within the Banfield residence whereas Christine was away, she mentioned.

“I have would do these very detailed cleanings after I [would] leave because I have different colored hair from his wife,” the lady mentioned. “I have called it CSI sweep,’ which was really stupid. But it was just like, I think he almost liked it. It was almost like a game to him. It was kind of like there’s a thrill, I think, to doing forbidden things.”

At one level, in accordance to the lady, Banfield mentioned issues can be simpler if his spouse was out of the image. She mentioned that, on the time, she did not suppose a lot about Item.

The jury deliberated for simply over eight and a half hours earlier than delivering their verdict, discovering Banfield responsible on all counts on Feb. 2.

“I’ve seen a lot of different cases, different homicide cases, and I’ve never seen anything that was this planned, this premeditated, this calculated,” Gadell — the Fairfax County detective — instructed “20/20.”

Christine’s household wept within the entrance row of the courtroom gallery as the decision was learn.

In the wake of the decision, her household launched a assertion to ABC News, wherein they remembered Christine as an “honest, faithful, caring, compassionate, helpful person who was dedicated to her family, friends, and patients.”

“We are committed to ensuring that Christine will always be remembered as the beautiful person she was to everyone who loved her,” they wrote.

On Friday, Feb. 13, Magalhães was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Brendan is ready to be sentenced on May 8. He faces a most sentence of life in jail with out parole, because the dying penalty was abolished within the state of Virginia in 2021.

For Lucille Priolo, there is no such thing as a closure after the lack of her childhood finest pal, Christine, whom she described as an “angel on earth.” But Priolo is set to honor my pal, particularly for the Banfields’ younger daughter.

“I want to keep her memory alive just by talking about her, telling her stories and sharing who she was and remembering her laugh,” Priolo mentioned. “That’s one of my favorite sounds. And sometimes I could look at a picture and I hear it because it was a pretty great laugh.”