Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
HUBBY-FROM-HELL: IRS REP KILLS WIFE VIA FETISH WEBSITE, "HOT NANNY" LOVE TRIANGLE
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What led to the murder of Christine Banfield?
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Guaranteed human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A husband from hell. An IRS agent allegedly murders his wife through a fetish website because of a hot nanny love triangle. Their words, not mine. A hot nanny love triangle. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us.
Did a glamorous au pair scheme an elaborate murder plot where her boss-turned-lover's wife is found stabbed dead? Husband has said, I have shot somebody because they were stabbing my wife. This is not just a homicide. This is a double homicide.
Chapter 2: How did the nanny become involved in the murder plot?
Sir, hello?
Ma'am, can you hear me? Okay. Are you the one that was injured? She's not responding. Okay. Can you tell me how her breathing is? She's still breathing. Okay. Just keep applying pressure to where she's bleeding from and just put her on her side, okay? On her side? Yeah, on her side. You said she's breathing normally. She's just not responding to you? She's got a very big hole in her neck. Okay.
Just keep applying pressure, okay?
Just keep adding more because it's already there. Wait a minute. Before I go out to our investigative reporter, Gigi McKelvey, let me start with veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney, Paul Batista, prominent criminal defense attorney in New York, bestselling author of Civil Rico, fourth edition. Paul Batista, that was the husband? He didn't sound very upset.
He's just like, oh yeah, she's got a big hole in her neck.
Well, he didn't sound real.
If I came home and found my husband with a hole in his neck, I'd be screaming at the top of my lungs.
I may have to play that again. Makes no difference whatsoever. He's calling to report a crime. There are very different voices, very different tones of voice. I don't think that indicates anything, Nancy.
You know what? Let me see, Batista. Batista, you can only get just so far on charm and good looks. But you do have that going for you. So you say, this doesn't mean anything. I'm going to hear that again. And listen for this. Now, you got the hot nanny. Their words, not mine. I did not call this a hot nanny love triangle. Oh, and look at that mouthful of red lipstick. That's a showstopper.
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Chapter 3: What happened during the 911 call after the stabbing?
Why won't she die? Okay, listen. Sir, hello?
Ma'am, can you hear me? Oh, hold on. Okay. Are you the one that was injured? She's not responding. Do I want to know what you're doing?
Okay.
Okay. Can you tell me how her breathing is? I don't know how her breathing is. She's still breathing. Okay. Just keep applying pressure to where she's bleeding from and just put her on her side, okay? On her side? Yeah, on her side. You said she's breathing normally. She's just not responding to you? She's got a very big hole in her neck. Okay. Just keep applying pressure, okay?
Just keep adding more because it's already there. Okay, I have to act this out. I hope, Dr. Delatore, that you can see this. They're like, um... She's not responding. She's still breathing. I asked a pretty big hole in her neck. That's what it sounds like to me, Delatore.
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Chapter 4: What evidence suggests a double homicide rather than a break-in?
It does. It sounds very stilted. Yeah, it sounds stilted. It sounds rehearsed. It sounds like this was always meant to be kind of a teleplay that they were always meant to say as soon as they got on the computer, as soon as they got on the phone.
I think that the expectation is that if you really did stumble upon this scene and everything unfolded accurately, you'd be way more emotional than just kind of the robotic nature in which you're describing what you're seeing.
I mean, you know, you heard Paul Batista, and I guess he's going to argue that to a jury with a straight face, and he's won a lot of cases. It apparently works. Let's listen to more of the 911 call. Okay, so who's the person?
Where's the person that's bleeding?
Where are they in the house? Okay, and where is the person that was shot?
Are they also in the house downstairs? Okay. Yeah, they're on the way. They're coming to you now, lights and sirens, okay? And any weapon is secured, correct? Any weapon is secured?
Okay, can you just leave it where it is?
Okay. And you said you don't know the individual that was shot? Okay.
I'm not buying it. Okay, we're showing you interspersed shots of the hot nanny, my galise, and we're showing you the wife. There's... There's the wife. She's so cute. Oh my goodness. Those lips.
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Chapter 5: How did investigators uncover the role of the fetish website?
What is that? They just take over the whole picture. This is the nanny that without doubt, no question is having an affair with the IRS agent. That certainly hurts the IRS credibility. Uh, She is having an affair with the husband, the IRS agent. That's been proven. And Dr. De La Torre, before I go back to my observations of the 911, oh, there you go. I'm glad she got that cleavage in.
Can I see that shot again? Because I don't want to miss that. Oh, yeah. Okay. That is perfectly positioned. Okay. Not judging. Don't care. All I care about are the two dead bodies. But to Dr. De La Torre, De La Torre, you know what? I'm going to let Gigi McKelvey tell you this. Joining me, Gigi McKelvey, investigative journalist, host of podcast Pretty Lies and Alibis.
Gigi, could you tell De La Torre and Batista, Batista, listen, about the photos that were found. As soon as the wife is dead, when police go back, the hot nanny has already moved photos of her and the husband.
yeah they went back on the side of the bed into the master bedroom and her clothes are hanging in there including lingerie that they just showed um you know to the jury yeah i mean there were loved up photos of them several of them placed in the master bedrooms where these murders occurred initially they started out staying in her bedroom after the murders but moved into what was christine and brendan's room and not only uh
slept in the same bed where she was killed, put their photos everywhere. It's just, it blows my mind, Nancy. How could you lay your head down in that room knowing what you did in there?
Okay, did you just say she moves in the loved up photos, puts them beside the bed, moves in her lingerie, which has been shown to the jury. I couldn't be happier. But wait a minute, sleeping in the same bed. Question, Paul Batista, were the sheets still warm from the dead wife?
Were the sheets still warm at what point? There's no issue here. He was having an affair with his au pair. That does not constitute evidence that he murdered two people.
It's not his au pair. She's not changing his diapers. It's the baby's au pair. Maybe she is changing his diapers.
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Chapter 6: What were the details of the relationship between Brendan and the nanny?
They did manage to commit the murder through a fetish website. So I don't know who's wearing diapers and who's dressed up like a cat and a dog. But I do know that these two, hey, listen to this, Batista, to you, Dr. De La Torre, and that second portion of the 911 call we just played, you know what? Let's hear that again. I want to see if the same thing jumps out at you. Let's hear it.
Okay, so where's the person that's bleeding? Where are they in the house?
They're upstairs. Okay. In the bedroom.
Okay, and where is the person that was shot? Are they also in the house downstairs? Yes. They're in the bedroom too. Okay. Can you help me? Yeah, they're on the way. They're coming to you now, lights and sirens, okay? And any weapon is secured, correct? Any weapon is secured?
I have one.
Okay, can you just leave it where it is? Okay. And you said you don't know the individual that was shot? Okay.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Where's the person that's bleeding? Where are they in the house?
Okay, and where is the person that was shot?
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Chapter 7: What were the injuries sustained by Christine and Joseph Ryan?
The reason why they could move into the bedroom and have the lingerie and everything and all the pictures, the reason why that could happen was because the wife in their mind was already a non-human obstacle, right? The person that was going to come in who thought he was there for a specific reason then ends up getting shot.
That person was a non-human obstacle that they needed to get in the way to get to this call to set up their alibi.
I'm looking at the transcript of this, and I want to be clear, because it's not really clear. Sidney Sunderland joining me, crime stories, investigative reporter. It's not really clear what they're telling the 911 operator. But one victim, the stranger that, according to police... They, the nanny and the IRS agent husband, they lured him to the home through a fetish website. There he is.
He thinks he's just going for some gratuitous sex off a fetish website, and he ends up dead, okay? He's shot. The wife is stabbed. The wife is stabbed. It's not really clear on the 911 call, Sidney. Right.
So Christine is stabbed and they claim on this 911 call that the stranger that was shot, who is actually Joseph Ryan, is the one who stabbed Christine. She says they came into this room and Joseph Ryan is on top of Christine. She sees Brendan. screams for help, and Brendan shoots Joseph Ryan, who then falls off of Christine, and she thinks she's been saved. This is an unimaginable situation.
Your house has been broken into. Someone is attacking you. They're wielding a knife. You're terrified, and you think no one's home, and it's this miracle that your husband comes home and is managing to save you, But as Joseph Ryan falls off of Christine Banfield, Brendan climbs on top of her, uses the knife that he was holding, and stabs her.
It's so far-fetched, the story that she's telling. The grain of truth is that they colluded together to kill the wife so they could be together. I don't get why they just didn't get a divorce. He remains innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Listen to more of the 911 call. And, sir, where are you? Are you taking care of the person upstairs?
I'm trying. I'm trying, but it's too long. Okay, I have officers that are pulling up outside, okay? So just make sure the weapon is placed where it is and it's secure and just keep applying pressure. And make sure your door is unlocked. Can we make sure that's done?
All right, all right. Okay.
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Chapter 8: What implications does this case have for the surviving child?
I need to understand her story, okay? And, of course, isn't this the way, Paul Batista? They're like two wet cats in a barrel. They both are under suspicion, and they're both now doing that, pointing the finger at each other. We see it at trial all the time. That's why I like to try people together.
The only way to do that is, of course, don't use interlocking statements against the other, right? There are ways to try them together constitutionally. That did not happen here, and I'm sure they have a reason why. But, Paul Batista, this is just SOP, standard operating procedure. Blame the other one. So much for true love, Paul.
Nancy, this is one of the most preposterous stories of a cooperating witness I have ever heard in 40 years of doing this. It's intricate, it's bizarre, and it sounds like the concoction of a lady, meaning the au pair, who has been sitting in jail for a year, living a delusional life, and suddenly
She wants to cooperate with the prosecutors, and she conveys this utterly, bizarrely intricate story. Not a credible witness.
You stated that she's been sitting in jail for a year. Oh, my stars. What a difference 12 months can make. You've got to see the before. There's the before shot. There's the before. Take a look at her now.
What about it, Batista? You know, the prosecutors obviously dressed up this lady for her testimony to look like a household servant. The picture of her entering the courtroom and speaking to the jury, of course, is entirely different from the sex pot picture of taken God knows when, but before she went to jail, they're dressing her up to sound convincing, calm, remorseful. She's a puppet.
She's making up a story.
Paul Battista, you said that the state dressed her up. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. She hasn't been sentenced. Her own lawyers dressed her up like that for maximum dowdy effect. And I want to show you this trick. Let's see Jodi Arias before and after. Before she went to trial and her on the stand. Yeah, there you go.
Okay, so to you, Dr. John De La Torre, you see with Jodi Arias, she's a blonde bombshell. before she sees the jury. And then when she goes in front of the jury, she looks like grandma spinster. What, what message are these women trying to convey? Well, actually they're defense lawyers.
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