A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair was found guilty Monday of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy.
Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhães, the au pair, shot him, too.
But officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Banfield set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of his wife. It later came out that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães had been having an affair.
The verdict comes after the gruesome and complicated double homicide was catapulted into mainstream media in Brazil, the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
“The details of this case attracted national attention — because it involved an affair, a fetish website and a premeditated plot,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said following the verdict. “But beyond the spectacle, we are here today because of the tragic deaths of two of our community members, Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan.”
Prosecutors argued that Banfield and Magalhães impersonated Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse, on a website for sexual fetishes. Officials said they used the site to lure Ryan to the house for a sexual encounter involving a knife, left the front door open and staged the scene to look as though they had shot an intruder who was attacking the wife.
Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and testified against her former lover at trial, corroborating prosecutors' theory.
Defense attorney John Carroll argued that Magalhães’ testimony could not be trusted because she was cooperating with prosecutors to try to avoid a long prison sentence. In his own testimony, Banfield said that the testimony was “ absolutely crazy.”
Carroll also introduced evidence showing that there was dissent within the police department over the theory that Magalhães and Brendan Banfield impersonated Christine Banfield on social media in a “catfishing” scheme. An officer who concluded from digital evidence that Christine Banfield was behind the social media account was later transferred in what Carroll said was punishment for disagreeing with a theory favored by the department’s higher-ups.
But prosecutor Jenna Sands pushed back on the notion that Banfield was unfamiliar with social media platforms for people interested in fetishes and couldn't be capable of such catfishing.
“You had multiple affairs, correct?” Sands asked the defendant, followed by, “And one of those affairs was with a woman named Danielle, who you met on a fetish site searching for ‘sugar babies.’ Is that correct?”
Banfield replied: “I would not call it a fetish site.” When pressed as to how he would describe the website, Banfield testified that he had an arranged relationship with someone who knew he was married.
In closing arguments, Sands told the jury they did not have to rely solely on Magalhães’ testimony, pointing to what she called a “plethora of evidence.” That included expert testimony that blood stains on Ryan’s hands suggested Christine Banfield’s blood had been dripped onto him from above.
Banfield was also convicted of child endangerment. Banfield's daughter, 4 years old at the time, was in the home's basement on the day of the killings, though physically unharmed.
The jury deliberated for nearly nine hours across two days before reaching a verdict. Banfield faces the possibility of life in prison at his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for May 8.
Magalhães was scheduled to be sentenced after Banfield’s trial. Attorneys have said she could be allowed to walk free if she is sentenced to time served and return to her home in Brazil.
Diaz reported from Richmond, Virginia, and Loller from Nashville, Tennessee.
This image taken from Court TV video shows Brendan Banfield, center and defense attorney John Carroll, right, rising to hear the verdict, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Fairfax, Va. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
This image taken from Court TV video shows Brendan Banfield in court, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Fairfax, Va. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump implored the House on Monday to end the partial government shutdown, but neither Republicans nor Democrats appeared ready to quickly approve the federal funding package he brokered with the Senate without first debating their own demands over immigration enforcement operations.
Democrats are refusing to provide the votes House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to push the package forward as they try to rein in the Trump administration's deportation operations after the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis. That's forcing Johnson to rely on his slim GOP majority, which has its own complaints about the package, to fall in line behind Trump's deal with Senate Democrats.
Voting could begin as soon as Tuesday, which would be day four of the partial shutdown. The Pentagon, Homeland Security and other agencies saw their funding lapse Saturday. And while many operations at those departments are deemed essential, and still functioning, some workers may go without pay or be furloughed.
“We need to get the Government open, and I hope all Republicans and Democrats will join me in supporting this Bill, and send it to my desk WITHOUT DELAY,” the president wrote on social media.
“There can be NO CHANGES at this time," Trump insisted. "We will work together in good faith to address the issues that have been raised, but we cannot have another long, pointless, and destructive Shutdown.”
The stalemate points to a difficult week ahead as Johnson relies on Trump to help muscle to package to passage.
The president struck a deal last week with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in which Homeland Security would only be funded temporarily, though Feb. 13, as Congress debates changes to immigration enforcement operations. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the package with the rest of the government funding ahead of Saturday's deadline.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries made it clear Monday that his side sees no reason to help Johnson push the bill forward in a procedural step, something that the majority party typically handles on its own.
With Johnson facing a revolt from his own Republican ranks, Jeffries is seizing the leverage it provides Democrats to demand changes to immigration operations.
“On rare occasions have we stepped in to deal with Republican dysfunction,” Jeffries said at the Capitol.
Democrats are demanding restraints on Immigration and Customs Enforcement that go beyond $20 million for body cameras that already is in the bill. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that officers on the ground in Minneapolis, including ICE, will be immediately issued body-worn cameras, and the program would be expanded nationwide as funding is available.
But Democrats are pressing for more. They want to require that federal immigration agents unmask — noting that few, if any, other law enforcement agencies routinely mask themselves in the U.S. — and they want officers to rely on judicial, rather than administrative, warrants in their operations.
They also want an end to roving patrols, amid other changes.
Jeffries said the administration needs to begin negotiations now, not over the next two weeks, on changes to immigration enforcement operations.
Certain Democrats, however, are splintering with the leader, and pushing for quicker passage of the funding package to avoid government disruptions.
At the same time, House Republicans, with some allies in the Senate, are making their own demands, as they work to support Trump's clampdown on immigrants in the U.S.
The House Freedom Caucus has insisted on fuller funding for Homeland Security while certain Republicans are pushing to include other measures, including the SAVE Act, a longshot Trump priority that would require proof of citizenship before Americans are eligible to participate in elections and vote.
Johnson and GOP leaders said they would be talking with lawmakers to see what it will take to win over support.
“Obviously the president really wants this,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said at the Capitol.
“We always work 'til the midnight hour to get the votes," Scalise said. "You never start the process with everybody on board. You work through it."
Meanwhile, a number of federal agencies are snared in the funding standoff after the government went into a partial shutdown over the weekend.
Defense, health, transportation and housing are among those that were given shutdown guidance by the administration, though many operations are deemed essential and services are not necessarily interrupted. Workers could go without pay if the impasse drags on. Some could be furloughed.
Lawmakers from both parties are increasingly concerned the closure will disrupt the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which they rely on to help constituents after deadly snowstorms and other disasters.
This is the second time in a matter of months that federal government operations have been disrupted as lawmakers use the annual funding process as leverage to extract policy changes. Last fall, Democrats sparked what became the longest federal shutdown in history, 43 days, as they protested the expiration of health insurance tax breaks.
That shutdown ended with a promise to vote on proposals to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. But with GOP opposition, Democrats were unable to achieve their goal of keeping the subsidies in place. Insurance premiums spiked in the new year for millions of people.
Trump is already working on an immigration deal to ensure the shutdown doesn't drag on.
Johnson said he was in the Oval Office last week when Trump, along with border czar Tom Homan, spoke with Schumer of New York as they discussed the immigration changes.
Body cameras, which are already provided for in the package, and an end to the roving patrols by immigration agents are areas of potential agreement, Johnson said.
But Johnson drew a line at other Democratic demands. He said he does not think that requiring immigration officers to remove their masks would have support from Republicans because it could lead to problems if their personal images and private information is posted online by protesters.
“I don’t think the president would approve it — and he shouldn’t,” Johnson said over the weekend on "Fox News Sunday."
And Senate Majority Leader John Thune tapped the brakes on the demand from Democrats to require judicial warrants for officers' searches, saying it's likely to be a part of the negotiations ahead.
“It’s going to be very difficult to reach agreement in two weeks,” Thune said at the Capitol.
Democrats, however, said the immigration operations are out of control, and must end in Minneapolis and other cities.
Growing numbers of lawmakers are also calling for Noem to be fired or impeached.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Matt Brown and Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., prepares to speak before the House Rules Committee as the panel meets to advance a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., brings the House Rules Committee to order as they meet to advance a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., walks through the House Rules Committee hearing room to meet with Republicans on the panel as they try to advance a federal funding package and prevent a prolonged partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The U.S. Capitol is photographed Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as he arrives to attend the wedding of White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino and Erin Elmore, the director of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to members of the media at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
