Brendan Banfield to be sentenced in elaborate double murder plot that involved au pair

The former IRS agent convicted in a deadly catfishing scheme targeting his wife and a stranger was sentenced Friday to a mandatory life term in prison

The former IRS agent convicted in a deadly catfishing scheme targeting his wife and a stranger was sentenced Friday to a mandatory life term in prison.

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Brendan Banfield, 40, was found guilty in February on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of using a firearm in committing a felony, and child endangerment in the 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields’ home in Herndon, Virginia.

The couple’s au pair involved in the plot, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Peres Magalhaes initially faced charges of second-degree murder but was given the lesser punishment after she cooperated with authorities and testified for the prosecution at Banfield’s trial in Northern Virginia.