Former IRS agent gets life in Virginia catfishing murders

A former IRS law enforcement officer was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for a deadly catfishing scheme that prosecutors said he carried out with his family’s au pair to kill his wife and frame an innocent man lured to their Virginia home.

Brendan Banfield, 40, was convicted in February of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and child endangerment in the Feb. 24, 2023, killings of Christine Banfield, 37, and Joseph Ryan, 39, at the Banfields’ home in Herndon, Virginia. The child endangerment conviction stemmed from the presence of the Banfields’ 4-year-old daughter in the home during the killings.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Penney Azcarate imposed the mandatory life sentence for aggravated murder and added five years on the child endangerment charge and three years on the firearms charge, CBS News reported.

“The level of cruelty, calculation, and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse; it reflects evil, which is why I carry no burden and find no hesitation in sentencing you to life,” Azcarate said. She also said Banfield showed disregard for his wife’s life and for “luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap.”

Prosecutors said Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family’s Brazilian au pair, created a fake profile on a sexual fetish website using Christine Banfield’s laptop to pose as her and lure Ryan to the house. The profile, “Annastasia9,” described wanting to act out a violent sexual fantasy with a stranger in the home.

Magalhães, who had been having an affair with Banfield, testified for the prosecution after pleading guilty to manslaughter. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She initially faced a second-degree murder charge but received a lesser sentence after cooperating with authorities.

At trial, Magalhães testified that Banfield told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her but needed to “get rid of” his wife first. She said he did not want a divorce because Christine Banfield “would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of their daughter.

Magalhães said that on the morning of the killings, she waited in a car outside with the child while Ryan arrived at the house. She then called Banfield, who she said was waiting at a nearby McDonald’s. According to her testimony, they took the child to the basement, went to the bedroom, and Banfield shot Ryan before stabbing Christine Banfield with a knife Ryan had brought. Magalhães testified that she fired a second shot at Ryan when she saw him moving.

Banfield denied the allegations at trial and at sentencing. He testified that he shot Ryan after seeing him stab his wife, saying, “I did not want to shoot him. Um, I wanted him to let her go.” Before receiving his sentence, Banfield said he was “greatly disappointed in the legal system” and argued that prosecutors’ evidence and witnesses did not support their case.

“I loved her very much, despite what you may think of my affairs. Our marriage worked for us,” Banfield said. “She truly was a caring, a caring mother, caring wife, loving nurse. But I am not responsible. I am not responsible for her death.”

Christine Banfield’s sister, Danielle, addressed Banfield in court, saying he “could have divorced and moved on, but divorce would have required relinquishing control.” Joseph Ryan’s mother, Deirdre Fisher, appeared virtually for medical reasons and called Banfield “the brutal murderer of his dedicated and compassionate, beautiful wife, and a narcissistic killer of an innocent man.”

Banfield has 30 days to file an appeal.