Chapter 1: What is the Banfield trial about?
We're going to start things off with a trigger warning. Some of the reporting is disturbing, so please listen and watch with care. So welcome to a special episode of the 48 Hours podcast, Inside the Banfield Trial. I'm your host, 48 Hours correspondent Anne-Marie Green.
And today we are taking you inside the court case of Brendan Banfield, the former IRS agent charged with the February 2023 stabbing murder of his wife, Christine, and then the fatal shooting of another man, Joseph Ryan, in the Banfield's Northern Virginia home.
Brandon pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, and he maintains that it was Joseph who stabbed his wife while he shot Joseph in self-defense. This is one of the most talked about trials in the country right now. It's even sort of being dubbed the au pair affair because Brandon had been having an affair with the family's Brazilian au pair. Her name is Juliana Perez Magalhaes.
She pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for shooting Joseph Ryan.
Chapter 2: Who is Juliana Perez Magalhães and what is her involvement?
Here's prosecutor Jenna Sands describing what she says was Brendan's plan to kill his wife.
He wanted her out of the picture. And he convinced young Juliana, 22 years old, not from the United States, living in his home, in love with him, that they should get rid of Christine. He talked about hiring a hitman, finding someone to kill her for money, but he was concerned that that would tie back to him, that there would be too much evidence against him and that he could end up at risk.
So they crafted a plan. They would use Christine's email accounts to create a fake profile to lure someone in who was into kinky sex, violent sex. And they would get this guy to come into the house and fake rape Christine. Brendan would be the hero of the day. He would show up, kill the guy, kill his wife, pretending that it had been that guy.
And that guy was Joseph Ryan. So joining me now to discuss this case is 48 Hours producer Michelle Sigona. Michelle, it's great to see you. It's great to see you, Emery. So this is one heck of a case, boy. I mean, I understand why the entire country has been watching and you've been following this case basically since it started.
And I just want to point out that this trial, the Brendan Banfield trial, is taking place in the same courthouse as the Johnny Depp Amber Heard defamation trial.
And it's the same judge. Cameras generally usually are not permitted. But like the Depp trial, there's a lot of interest in this case.
So as for this trial, Banfield's au pair, Juliana, she's now 25 years old. She was originally charged with the murder of Joseph Ryan, but then she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, involuntary manslaughter, and she decided to cooperate with the government. She is the star witness, which is why I expected her to show up maybe later on in the trial.
I was really surprised that she was called so early in the trial. What was it like when she walked into the courtroom?
It was, first, it was very surprising. I mean, openings were a little more than a half hour. There were some other witnesses who had testified. And then they talked about the co-defendant. Like, on the first day? Oh, my goodness. She walks in through a side door, has to walk past the defense table and all the way up to be sworn in to sit down. And she looked drastically different.
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Chapter 3: What was Brendan Banfield's alleged plan to kill Christine?
She said they were also looking for someone to agree to come to the house before ever meeting Christine in public. So then who's doing the messaging to all of these men? Are both of them? When the defense asked Juliana who was doing this, there were times when she couldn't remember who was doing the messaging, but she did say it was both of them at different times on different days.
So ultimately, after messaging several men, they finally messaged Joseph Ryan, who is open.
And we see the messages in the court presented to the gallery on the Telegram app between Joe and Christine's account. And that account used an alias as well, Anastasia. And there are exchanges between them about cuts and bruises. An Anastasia message that, quote, some marks are okay. I said, as long as they are covered by my clothes, I have a few days to heal up.
Yeah. And this character is sort of encouraging a certain level of violence. And she I don't know if she asked for a photo of the knife, but he eventually sends a photo of a knife, too. Right.
Yes. Joe did share an image of a knife.
So it's one thing to have this communication online, but this is part of a bigger plot. Can you tell us how things were supposed to unfold in the house when Joseph Ryan shows up?
I still cannot get over the level of detail that went into this alleged plot, again, according to Juliana. And here's the prosecutor explaining how this day started.
On February 24th, 2023, Brendan Banfield's birthday, the plan was put into action. Knowing that Christine had the day off, Brendan and Juliana arranged a fake outing at the zoo for Valerie. Juliana and Valerie packed a lunch, prepared for this fake outing. Christine, still in bed, asleep, at 6 a.m., Brendan takes her phone and Valerie downstairs.
He chats with Joe to confirm a 7.20 arrival for the execution of the fake rape. And Brendan then disables the door lock, preventing it from automatically locking, turns off Christine's phone, and puts it in a drawer in the kitchen where she couldn't possibly find it to call for help when she finds an intruder in her home. Brendan leaves the house, followed shortly by Juliana.
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