WASHINGTON — Just weeks away from the trial for a Brazilian au pair accused of participating in a double murder inside a Herndon home, part of a 911 call has been introduced as evidence in the case.
Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, is charged with multiple counts including second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Joseph Ryan, 39, at the Fairfax County home where she lived with married couple Brendan and Christine Banfield. Peres Magalhaes was hired to take care of the couple's 4-year-old daughter.
Fairfax County Police found Ryan's body in the Banfields' upstairs bedroom. He had been shot twice, by different guns. Investigators say Ryan was lured into the home using a fetish website.
Christine Banfield, was found nude inside the same room with multiple stab wounds according to investigators. The 37-year-old mother died at the hospital.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said that police received two 911 calls the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. The first call was a hang-up, and in the second one, Brendan Banfield told dispatchers that he had shot a man who had stabbed his wife.
Both calls were made from the cellphone of the family's au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes.
In the eight-second audio obtained by WUSA9, groans are heard as the 911 operator says, "Fairfax County 911, what's your emergency?"
Peres Magalhaes told investigators that she was directed by Brendan Banfield to shoot Ryan after they allegedly found him inside the bedroom with Christine.
On April 15, Juliana Peres Magalhaes was indicted in Ryan's death, but not Christine Banfield's. Peres Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Her trial in Ryan’s death is scheduled for November.
On Sept. 16, Brendan Banfield, a former IRS agent, was charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of using a firearm during the commission of a felony, despite only two people being killed.
The case took a stunning turn when it was revealed that Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield had an affair. Court records show that in the months leading up to the deaths, the pair had visited a shooting range together, and Brendan had purchased a gun later used in the killings. Evidence was introduced in the case that shows a photograph of the pair in a picture frame in the primary bedroom of Banfield home.
Brendan Banfield's trial is scheduled for February of next year and is expected to take four weeks.
