The trial of an ex-IRS agent accused of the double murder of his wife and another man began on Tuesday. The prosecution’s key witness, a Brazilian au pair involved in an affair with the accused, Brendan Banfield, took the stand to testify.

According to prosecutors, Banfield allegedly murdered his wife by stabbing, and subsequently shot Joseph Ryan. Ryan was reportedly lured into the situation under false pretenses, orchestrated by Banfield and the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, as a decoy for Christine Banfield’s murder, as reported by WDCW.

In 2024, Magalhães admitted to manslaughter and agreed to testify against Banfield, as previously noted by CrimeOnline. She recounted to investigators that on the morning of February 24, 2023, she left the Herndon, Virginia residence of Brendan and Christine Banfield, where she worked as a live-in au pair, around 7:30 a.m. to take their 4-year-old daughter to the National Zoo. Returning home after forgetting lunches, she noticed an unfamiliar vehicle in the driveway.

Magalhães attempted to contact Christine Banfield without success and subsequently reached out to Brendan Banfield, who was on his commute. He hurried back to the home, and together they entered a second-floor suite where they claimed to find a stranger who had attacked Christine. Brendan allegedly used his service weapon to shoot the intruder, identified as Ryan, and instructed Magalhães to retrieve another firearm from a gun safe to shoot him again. She complied, shooting Ryan in the chest.

The prosecution’s narrative, presented in their opening statement, diverges significantly, as reported by WDCW. They allege Banfield used his wife’s email to create a profile on FetLife, a website for fetish enthusiasts, to orchestrate a “stranger rape” scenario. He spent over a month communicating with Ryan online, setting up the fantasy.

Prosecutors claim Banfield instructed Ryan to enter the house through an unlocked door and to bind and assault Christine Banfield, specifying not to stop “even if she looks terrified.” This narrative paints a chilling picture of premeditated manipulation and deceit.

They said Banfield used his wife’s phone to unlock the door and then hid it in a drawer on the day of the murders. Instead of heading to work, he went to a nearby McDonald’s while Peres Magalhães waited down the street with the daughter. When the two saw Ryan arrive, they went back to the home and found him with Christine Banfield in the bedroom.

Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed his wife over and over, manipulating her body to make it look like Ryan was killed while attacking her.

For their part, defense attorneys say the original story is the true one and that Peres Magalhães’s testimony is suspect because she agreed to a plea deal.

General testimony on Tuesday included the assistant chief medical examiner and police officers who responded to the 911 call at the the home. And then came Peres Magalhães, who testified that Banfield planned the murder for months and he began the process during a trip they took to New York in October 2022.

Banfield told her, she said, that divorce wasn’t an option because Christine Banfield “wasn’t good” for the couple’s daughter and that she would get more money than him in any divorce. He initially thought of using a hitman but dropped that idea because he thought it would be uncovered too easily.

Then he found FetLife and set up the fake profile for his wife.

On the morning of the murder, she testified that the two of them watched from down the street until their chosen patsy entered. Banfield identified himself as a police officer, and his wife shouted that her “attacker” had a knife and to call 911. Peres Magalhães started to do that, she said, until Banfield told her to stop. Then he shot Ryan and stabbed his wife to death.

When both Ryan and Christine Banfield were dead, the pair called 911.

Peres Magalhães’s testimony will continue on Wednesday.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder and child abuse and endangerment charges. He faces a maximum of life without parole if convicted.