The trial for a Herndon man facing charges in the slaying of his wife and another man will begin nearly two years after the killings occurred.
Brendan Banfield, 39, was indicted Monday (Sept. 16) on four counts of aggravated murder in connection to the stabbing of his wife, Christine Banfield, and the shooting of a man at their home in the Frying Pan area in February 2023.
Banfield has also been charged with one count of using a firearm while committing a felony.
Banfield’s trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 3, 2025, but could be pushed back due to the status of discovery. The defense has yet to receive eight terabytes of information obtained by prosecutors, Banfield defense attorney John Carroll said today (Thursday) in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Law enforcement initially responded to the home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, after Banfield and the family’s live-in au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, called 911, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Banfield allegedly told a dispatcher that he had shot the other man — 39-year-old Joseph Ryan of Springfield — after Ryan had stabbed Banfield’s wife multiple times.
According to one police detective, Magalhaes later told investigators that she fired a second gunshot in self-defense at Ryan, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Christine Banfield later succumbed to her injuries at a local hospital, police said.
In October, Peres Magalhaes was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. A search of Banfield’s bedroom at the time produced three photos of the two embracing, as well as a woman’s robe nightgown hanging from a dresser, prosecutors said.
“We know Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes, the family au pair, were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Monday.
Magalhaes’s criminal jury trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 12
“The fact that we’ve indicted Brendan today and made that arrest does not mean that her case is being thrown out,” Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano said Monday. “We intend to go forward with that case as scheduled.”
