Au Pair and 'married lover hatched twisted BDSM plot that led to double murder'

A Brazilian au pair has admitted her role in the shocking deaths of a woman and a man lured to her home, telling prosecutors the double killing was all "part of the game".

Juliana Peres Magalhaes, 23, made a chilling confession in a recorded interview from October 2024, telling prosecutors about the BDSM-fuelled plot, which she claims was hatched between herself and her alleged former lover Brendan Banfield, 39.

That interview, obtained by NBC4, details the events leading up to the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Banfield's wife Christine.

Christine was found mortally wounded after being stabbed in her home on February 24, 2023. She later died in the hospital. Ryan, a mixed martial arts enthusiast, was found dead nearby with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

READ MORE: Dentist who killed wife with poisoned smoothies caught out by phone clue

READ MORE: 'My dad was a notorious serial killer who slaughtered women and left clues around our home'

At first, investigators were told Ryan was an intruder who had attacked Ms Banfield. But the reality was later revealed to be far more twisted.

Prosecutors allege Peres Magalhaes and Banfield, a former agent for the criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service, began an affair after she moved into the home he shared with his wife and their then four-year-old daughter.

Peres Magalhaes told prosecutors that Banfield expressed interest in 'getting rid' of his wife around October 2022. "And then I asked him, 'Are you gonna divorce her?' And then he said, 'That's not what I'm thinking about.' And then he explained that he was thinking about finding a way to just get rid of her, out of the picture," Peres Magalhaes said, per NBC4.

Prosecutors allege that months before the murders, Banfield created a profile on the bondage website FetLife.com and began communicating with Ryan, who liked live action role-playing.

READ MORE: Boy, 10, went out to play then was found mutilated, burned and dead in sack

Peres Magalhaes claimed in the interview that they used Christine's work computer and looked for someone who would willingly participate in a rape fantasy they choreographed.

"[Banfield] wanted somebody that sounded, like, violent and was kinda playing the way he wanted the person should play, so that's when he started talking to Joe," Peres Magalhaes said, via NBC4.

According to Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan, Banfield lured Ryan to the family home on the morning of February 24, 2023, adding that "Ryan likely believed that he was meeting Christine Banfield to have a consensual sexual encounter involving restraints used on her, her clothing being cut off with a knife he brought, and other violent sexual role play".

Prosecutors say Banfield gave his alleged former lover a gun and instructions - call Christine's phone when Ryan arrived, and then call him. He waited at a nearby McDonald's until summoned.

Peres Magalhaes reportedly told prosecutors that Christine was sleeping when Ryan showed up at the home. "We told him before that it was kinda part of the game, where the person gets in the bedroom and then I would act like scared, like, try to run or try to scream or if the person starts doing something, she would just get kinda freaked out and try to resist but it was like 'part of the game,'" she said, per NBC4.

READ MORE: 'I got a lift from a serial killer, I was stuffed in the boot but managed to escape'

Prosecutors allege Banfield then drove home from the nearby McDonald's, and shot Ryan in the head and stabbed his wife.

For her part, Peres Magalhaes "saw Joseph Ryan moving, and shot him", according to Clingan, who added that the pair then "reported the offence as if Joseph Ryan was an intruder who stabbed Christine Banfield".

In October 2023, when police returned to the Banfield home with a warrant to arrest Peres Magalhaes, they found that she had moved into the master bedroom with her employer - the same room where Ms Banfield was stabbed eight months earlier.

Her clothes were also hanging in the closet and her lingerie was strewed around the bed, according to photos introduced at a hearing. A framed picture of the two had been propped on the bedside table.

READ MORE: Mum found dead in septic tank with daughters after 'sending husband to chemist'

Prosecutors further revealed that the pair practiced shooting at a gun range two months before the murders, and that Banfield later returned to the range and purchased a pistol — the Glock with which Magalhaes shot Ryan.

In October 2023, Peres Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony in the death of Ryan. She later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in October 2024.

Banfield was indicted a month prior in September 2024 by a Fairfax County grand jury on four charges of aggravated murder and one charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with the deaths. His trial is set for October 2025.

Prosecutors agreed to recommend that Peres Magalhaes be released from custody with credit for time served after Banfield's trial, provided she continues to cooperate with authorities, the New York Times reports.