Virginia Man to Be Sentenced After Conviction in Elaborate Plot to Kill Wife

A Virginia man convicted in the 2023 deaths of his wife and a stranger he lured to their home is scheduled to be sentenced Friday after a jury found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder.

Case Overview

Former IRS agent Brendan Banfield was convicted in February for the killings of his wife, 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield, and 39-year-old Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors say Banfield used an online "catfishing" scheme on a fetish website to lure Ryan to the Fairfax County home and staged a role-play scenario intended to frame the stranger for Christine's murder.

Obtained by ABC News - PHOTO: Christine Banfield is seen in an undated photo.

Charges and Potential Penalty

Banfield was convicted on two counts of aggravated murder and also found guilty of child endangerment and using a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Allegations and Evidence

Authorities say Banfield conspired with the family's au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair. Police say Magalhães helped lure Ryan to the home and later shot him at Banfield's direction. Prosecutors presented evidence that Banfield stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife that Ryan had been instructed to bring and then attempted to alter the scene to make it appear Ryan was the attacker, including transferring some of Christine's blood onto Ryan's hands.

Obtained by ABC News - PHOTO: Joseph Ryan is seen in an undated photo.

Arrests, Pleas and Testimony

Magalhães was arrested first and initially charged with second-degree murder in Ryan's death. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and was sentenced in February to 10 years in prison, the maximum term for her plea. During sentencing she apologized to the victims' families and later testified against Banfield at his trial.

"There is nothing I could possibly do to make it up to you, for your loss... It's a tragedy I have been carrying with me," Magalhães said during her sentencing hearing.

Magalhães told jurors that Banfield had expressed a desire to "get rid of" his wife in October 2022 and that he told her he wanted to marry and have children with the au pair. She said he resisted divorce because of financial concerns and custody of the couple's daughter.

Tom Brenner, Pool via AP, FILE - PHOTO: Juliana Peres Magalhaes is escorted into the courtroom before continuing her testimony, during the double murder trial for Brendan Banfield in Fairfax County Circuit Court, on Jan. 14, 2026, in Fairfax, Va.

Banfield's Account

Banfield testified in his own defense during the three-week trial. He admitted to the affair but denied planning the murders. He said he returned home on Feb. 24, 2023, after the au pair called to report a stranger in the house, went upstairs with his gun drawn and saw his wife and Ryan together. He told jurors he believed Ryan had a knife and that he shot Ryan in fear for his wife's safety.

Police responded to a 911 call from the Reston home on Feb. 24, 2023. Responding officers found Ryan dead in an upstairs bedroom from gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Prosecutors say Christine Banfield had been stabbed seven times in the neck. The couple's then-4-year-old daughter was in the basement at the time of the killings.

Next Steps

Sentencing is scheduled for Friday. Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano said Magalhães' testimony helped jurors understand what prosecutors described as a convoluted double-murder plot orchestrated by Banfield.

Reporting note: ABC News' Sophie Sonnenfeld contributed to this report.