FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — The trial for a Herndon family's au pair is scheduled to begin on Thursday, according to the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office.
On Feb. 24, 2023, police found the bodies of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield in the Banfield family's home.
Monday afternoon, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced that a grand jury had indicted Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, for the 2023 killing of Joseph Ryan. She was indicted on charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and is accused of shooting and killing 38-year-old Ryan.
Peres Magalhaes, a live-in au pair from Brazil, was employed by a Herndon couple, Christine and Brendan Banfield. Descano says that on February 24, 2023, it is alleged that Peres Magalhaes shot Ryan at her employer's home.
Ryan is not related to the family.
"I want people to remember Joe for the good-natured loving man that he was. For the man who loved his family, he loved other people. He was socially aware. He was a kind person," said Deirdre, Joseph Ryan's mother, just hours after the indictment was announced on Monday.
She told WUSA9 she doesn't want his to be a case played out in the court of public opinion, but rather that it plays out in the courtroom with facts.
"I believe the facts will come out," she said Monday.
On April 1, WUSA9 was inside the courtroom, as a a judge ruled that there was enough probable cause to move the case to the grand jury.
Prosecutors allege that the au pair and husband of the home, Brendan Banfield, were having an affair months before the deadly incident. Records in court showed photos of the same room where the shooting took place with new framed photos of the two.
There were also records from Silver Eagle Group Shooting Range in Ashburn that showed both Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield visited the gun range.
The prosecution shared with the court, that a few weeks later, Clingan said Brendan Banfield also purchased a gun, which would eventually be used to shoot Ryan.
There were two 911 calls that morning 15 minutes apart starting at 7:47 a.m. that led investigators to the Banfield's home on Stable Brook Way.
The morning of the shooting, Christine Banfield had purchased tickets for Peres Magalhaes to take her 4-year-old daughter to the zoo.
According to an attorney representing Peres Magalhaes, she ended up returning home because she'd left their lunches behind and wanted to pick them up. But, when she got to the home, there was a car she didn't recognize in the Banfields' driveway.
Peres Magalhaes' defense attorney said that she called Christine Banfield from outside, and when she didn't answer, she called Brendan Banfield, who was at a nearby McDonald's.
The au pair waited outside for Brendan Banfield, her attorney said. And when they entered the home, he went upstairs where Peres Magalhaes said Brendan Banfield caught his wife in the room naked with Ryan.
There was a commotion upstairs, and Peres Magalhaes' attorney said she heard calls to "drop the knife." She eventually heard the sound of "flesh being struck."
According to Peres Magalhaes' chain of events, Brendan Banfield shot Ryan. She confessed to a detective that Brendan Banfield then instructed her to get a second gun in the safe in the bathroom closet.
"Mr. Banfield told her to obtain a firearm from the bathroom closet," testified Fairfax County Police Detective Steven Carter. "Mr. Banfield provided her with the code to get into the safe."
Peres Magalhaes confessed to shooting Ryan, who was already on the ground, in the chest – "piercing through his heart."
In a previous hearing, attorneys said the au pair and husband acted out of self-defense.
In October, Ryan's mother told WUSA9 that her son was not a violent person
"Joe never, at 39, had ever struck a woman or been violent with a woman. So, this is ridiculous It's so beyond ridiculous I can't even tell you. Like you don't just all of a sudden wake up and decide you're gonna be a killer," she said.
Peres Magalhaes initially told detectives that she was not in a romantic relationship with Brendan Banfield, an assertion not shared by her attorney in court on April 1, who described Peres Magalhaes as Brendan Banfield's "girlfriend, live-in lover."
Brendan Banfield has not been charged in the case. The morning of the shooting, he told authorities that he'd shot a man in his house who had stabbed his wife.
Brendan Banfield was an IRS special agent, and prosecutors suggested Monday he was carrying his issued gun at the time of the shooting.
His counsel was also at the April 1 hearing since he’s still being investigated. Brendan Banfield took the Fifth Amendment to most of the questions out of concern his answers could incriminate him.
In a news release on Monday, Descano wrote that "Christine Banfield was also killed during the incident, but charges have not yet been brought in relation to her death".
The trial for Peres Magalhaes is scheduled to begin on July 29.
WUSA9 has been on this story since it broke in 2023, and we will continue to bring you details as we learn them.
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