Suspect in double murder plot lured victim from sex-fetish site, said it was a ‘game,’ co-defendant claims
A Virginia man charged in a double murder plot had gone on a sex-fetish dating website to lure one of the victims, according to the suspect’s co-defendant.
Last September, Brandon Banfield was indicted for murder after his wife, Christine Banfield, 37, was found stabbed in the upper body and another man, Joseph Ryan, 39, was found with gunshot wounds to his upper body inside his home in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Herndon in February 2023.
Banfield has denied the allegations against him, NBC4 Washington reported.
The husband’s lover, Juliana Peres Magalhães, who had moved from Brazil and begun working as an au pair for the couple and their young daughter in October 2021, pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter in Ryan’s death.
As part of her plea deal, Magalhães revealed her version of events leading up to Christine and Ryan’s deaths.
She told prosecutors in an October 2024 interview recently obtained by NBC4 Washington she started an affair with Banfield about a year into her time working for the family, and in October 2022, Banfield said he wanted his wife out of the picture, but she claimed he wasn’t thinking about divorce.
Magalhães said Banfield told her about a website called FetLife.com, where she alleged he created a profile pretending to be Christine. She said she and Banfield would try to find someone to come over to the house and perform a rape fantasy with Christine.
Banfield’s attorney claims his client did not create the FetLife account, per NBC4 Washington.
Ryan then entered the picture, according to Magalhães. She said the plan was for Christine to be home alone when Ryan arrived for the rape fantasy.
“We told him before that it was kinda part of the game, where the person gets in the bedroom and then I would act like scared, like, try to run or try to scream or if the person starts doing something, she would just get kinda freaked out and try to resist but it was like ‘part of the game,’” she said.
When Ryan arrived at his house, Banfield is accused of shooting him and then stabbing his wife, ABC7 New York reported, citing court documents.
Prosecutors say Magalhães then also shot Ryan, and afterward, she called the police and pretended he was an intruder.
Banfield’s trial is schedule to begin in late October. Magalhães has yet to be sentenced as prosecutors have asked to hold off on her hearing until after Banfield’s trial.
