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Amy Robach
This is an iHeart podcast.
TJ Holmes
Guaranteed Human success starts with your drive, and American Public University is here to fuel it.
Amy Robach
With affordable tuition and over 200 flexible online programs, APU helps you gain the skills and confidence to move forward.
TJ Holmes
Whether you're changing careers, starting fresh, or pursuing a lifelong passion, APU's programs are designed for people who never stop.
Amy Robach
You bring the fire. APU will fuel the journey. Learn more at apu Apus.
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Amy Robach
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Yeah, we're not the only ones. A lot of folks at the end of the day, back feels like it's shaped like a question mark.
Amy Robach
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It actually moves your body into a better posture.
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Amy Robach
I've been impressed by her composure. She started off on the stand first yesterday a little shaky, a little emotional. She seems composed. She doesn't seem to rattle easily, which is good in terms of her ability to keep her emotional level steady, which I think must be a pretty difficult thing to do given what she's admitted to and what she's accusing someone who she once loved deeply, according to her, and he's just a few feet from her, that cannot be easy.
TJ Holmes
I mean, she seemed annoyed at times but never combative. She never took it that far. And I'll give the attorney credit as well. He has been very steady and respectful with her.
Amy Robach
You know what, it's interesting. It's defense attorneys are known oftentimes to be sharks and you know, they're, they are going to go to bat for their client no matter what. He has a like a fatherly, grandfatherly warmth about him that is unusual in a defense attorney. But I find it to be very effective because you're almost he's very likable, which is an unusual quality in a defense attorney. And he's not being a showboat like what you would expect for some larger than life defense attorney. He actually just seems like a genuine good human being. That's, that's been my takeaway is his voice, his demeanor, how he's even asking.
TJ Holmes
Tough questions, a slow talker even. So, yes, give everybody credit for at least doing their job so far, but yes. Is the Brendan Banfield trial on trial for double murder, killing his wife and also a stranger, someone that according to prosecutors he lured to the house as a Part of some bdsm. What did he call it?
Amy Robach
Yeah, he basically tried to make it look like his wife was into some sort of deviant sex with a stranger who was carrying out a rape fantasy that he walked in on and read the wrong way and thought someone was attacking his wife with a knife, shot him, but he didn't make it in time. Before that said sex, sexual deviant was stabbing his wife to death. This is what he wants jurors to believe.
TJ Holmes
We are going to have to come up with a shorter way to explain this case because we're going to have to cover it for the next several weeks. I can't come up with just a simple way. You could just say, yes, it's the au pair affair murder trial, and maybe a decent enough number of people are familiar, but to just explain this thing is tricky.
Amy Robach
It is, because it's a murder case like we've never seen or heard before. This is. This is a new one.
TJ Holmes
So, yes, she got on the stand yesterday. Juliana Perez Magaly is the name the au pair. 25 years old now, but 21 when this affair started, as she was working for the family. But, yeah, she dealt with direct yesterday. Cross examination started this morning, and it started Roche. She had to explain herself, first of all, which was about this plea deal. Like, why are you here?
Amy Robach
It's a big deal because for many, many months, and we'll get into the letters that the defense was able to produce, she was professing her love for Brendan Banfield. She to him, to his mother, saying that she did nothing wrong. She didn't do anything untoward. She stayed with what Brendan has been saying all along. They were a united force in terms of their story as to what happened. And then suddenly she takes this plea deal, and now she has a completely different version of what happened. And so rightfully so, the defense attorney is gonna say, okay, so you weren't telling it the truth now, but now you're telling the truth. That's definitely going to be a huge hurdle for prosecutors because she is their case. I mean, she pretty much is. The case is built around her narrative of what happened.
TJ Holmes
You know, in opening, did they say. What did they say they're going to offer in terms of physical evidence?
Amy Robach
The only thing I heard in opening arguments from the prosecutor, beyond getting Juliana's testimony, direct testimony and version of events, was blood evidence. And she said, there will be blood evidence we will be able to show you that will prove that Brendan was on top of his wife, stabbing her with that knife in the neck. So that is the other evidence we're expecting to hear beyond Juliana's story. But clearly, if you don't believe Giuliani Giuliana, then you're gonna have a hard time with the rest of the case.
TJ Holmes
Like I say, we always put ourselves in that jury box. And they're giving enough, they are setting up enough that you would have doubts about the story. And the reason there are doubts that are coming because, yes, this plea deal is here, but they have set up now, robes, the timing of this thing to where they're asking her, why did you decide to come forward when you did? Because there is how much time between her making the plea deal and her initial arrest? We're talking about a year.
Amy Robach
It's. It was almost a year. And. Yes. And she is, in these letters, getting more and more desperate.
TJ Holmes
Okay. Yes. So in these letters that they had her read a bunch of. She was raw, emotional. And the letters, you could hear her decline over time that she started getting worse, talking about wanting it to end. She sounded awful.
Amy Robach
Suicidal.
TJ Holmes
Yes. And what is it? Not clear. And they made the point. But listening to it, did it not sound like the longer she was in there, the worse things were getting?
Amy Robach
So the defense attorney was trying very much to get her to admit that as time went on, the longer she was in prison, the longer she was denied any sort of bond or her hearings weren't going the way she wanted them to. She was getting more and more depressed, more and more desperate, and she was writing exactly where she was mentally to Brendan and his mother. And she did sound suicidal, and it was declining. Now, she wouldn't admit that she was declining. She said she thought that she stayed the same. But you could see the defense attorney trying to establish the longer you stayed in there, the worse you got, which would make sense. Then, at a certain point, what he's trying to get her to admit is that she broke, that eventually she couldn't take it anymore. And. And she was just at a point where she would sign anything, say anything to get out of jail.
TJ Holmes
So it was a year. I'm looking at the dates here, because he's. He hit her on this point. October 13th of 2003. That's around the time she was arrested.
Amy Robach
2023.
TJ Holmes
23. Excuse me. And then October 28th of 2024 is when she signed the deal.
Amy Robach
Wow.
TJ Holmes
Now, he pointed out, as she was saying, I'm here because I want to tell the truth. Want the truth to get out. He asked, well, why didn't you want it to get out? Until the 28th of October, when you had a full year to get the truth out. And that's a fair question. He also pointed out robes. She read excerpts from letters in which her depressive state turned to anger, anger at her attorney, anger at the legal process. And this was around the time she all of a sudden fooped, she gets a deal. So he is setting up at least a timeline that makes you go, hmm, what changed?
Amy Robach
It sows seeds of doubt. And you have a quote from her. And she said this. I withheld the truth for a long time. Anyone who is going to say that on the stand will make you, as a juror, question whether or not you can believe she's telling the truth. Now, that is the problem for the prosecution and that is the problem for any testimony this au pair gives, because for a full year, she was saying something completely different.
TJ Holmes
And I guess you could make an argument that she was scared or she was trying to protect him or I guess you can. But it is difficult to hear that she's here now doing the right thing when there was a long time where she had an opportunity to do the right thing. They also. Robes didn't expect this to be a big deal. And it almost looked like it surprised the attorney a little bit. She couldn't remember some details about the laptop. A big part of this has been that they set up this fetty. What's the website?
Amy Robach
Sorry, it's.
TJ Holmes
Oh, my God.
Amy Robach
Now you just said FetLife. FetLife.com MetLife. It's FetLife.
TJ Holmes
Yes.
Amy Robach
Life again. I think it's actually okay that you didn't remember the name of the website. It's just further. I didn't need to know that you didn't know this, but. But it's not on our radar, so it's not something that we can just go, oh, yeah, FetLife, you know that website that we've never been to and have never heard of before?
TJ Holmes
So FetLife. A big part of the story and a big part of the plot was that they signed up for this account in the wife's name without her knowing, and they had to use her laptop and ropes. He said, well, how did you do that with the wife in the house? And she said, well, she usually leaves her bag by the door. He said, okay, so who got it? Don't know. Okay, then where did you go and sign up in the house? Don't know. Who did it, Brendan? Where'd he do it? Don't know. She could remember nothing of signing up other than That's.
Amy Robach
That's glaring. That's a big deal, because this is, again, a huge part of the prosecution's theory here, that, yes, Brendan and Juliana, according to Juliana, had to create this fake account using his wife's photos, pretending to be Christina. And that's a huge part of the story that has to be true for their theory to work.
TJ Holmes
It has to be. That's a good way. That has. It must.
Amy Robach
So for her not to remember something that important in terms of how they started this plan and how they put the plan in place by creating this fake account to lure this person to their home to then pin the murder on. How could she not remember? Because that is a thing to note, that for them to get her computer while she was in the house and log onto her computer and pretend to be her. What is Christina doing at this time? How are they sneaking around? You would remember that because you'd be nervous because you'd be doing something that you wouldn't want to get caught at. So you would remember it. Those are the kinds of things you remember.
TJ Holmes
She only remembered that the wife was upstairs was all she would say. He said, well, where were you? How do you know she was up where you were down? She had. I mean, she could give zero details about how they took it physically out of the bag to put it back. And weren't you the one that did the deeper dive on it? But the groups of folks and digital forensic folks who actually say that the wife was the one using it.
Amy Robach
Yes. So he is already setting up with Juliana, the defense attorney here, if she can't get specific or remember this story that she told to prosecutors. And now you have members of the detective team who actually believe. And they're going to get into this when the defense presents its evidence who believe that, yes, Christina is the one who set it up. They don't believe digital forensic experts. They had it outsourced to the University of Alabama, peer reviewed. That that group, that team also believes that it was Christina who set up the account. If that is something the jury believes, there's no case. There is no case.
TJ Holmes
Wow. That is a very important detail. But stay with us here, folks. We'll get into a little more of what happened, including some of her bizarre behavior after the murders, also her relationship with a few reporters who have been slipping her money and might be trying to get her a TV deal. Stay here. Success starts with your drive. And American Public University is here to fuel it.
Amy Robach
With affordable tuition and over 200 flexible online programs, APU helps you gain the skills and confidence to move forward.
TJ Holmes
Whether you're changing careers, starting fresh or pursuing a lifelong passion, APU's programs are designed for people who never stop you bring the fire.
Amy Robach
APU will fuel the journey. Learn more at apuapus.edu.
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TJ Holmes
So like a posture gadget of some kind?
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No, it's called Form. Form Science engineers smart posture clothing for your health and confidence. It's worn by Taylor Swift, Olympians and orthopedic surgeons. All you have to do is wear it and it will change your posture whole body literally instantly on its own. Like autopilot.
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Oh come on. That simple?
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TJ Holmes
All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ with the so called au pair affair, murder trial going on. Brendan Banfield accused of killing his wife and another man he had lured to the house. Brobs the. They went to a lunch break. As we're recording this, they are still, they'll still be coming just coming back from lunch and we do expect the au pair. Juliana. Say the name for me again.
Amy Robach
It's not easy. She is Brazilian, so this is Portuguese. Juliana Perez Majales is my best effort at saying her name correctly.
TJ Holmes
Yes, we will see her back on the stand today with ropes they did hit on. I mean, just looks weird or looks bad about her behavior after the murders, including moving back into the house where the murders had taken place. But her sleeping arrangements kind of changed while she was there. She was, she said when she went back, she was staying in her own room when she went back. But then someone asks, were you staying in there by yourself? No. So the husband Brendan was staying in there, but that arrangement didn't last long.
Amy Robach
Yes. So they were originally staying in her room, which I understand because, yeah, people were shot and killed in that bed and in that bedroom. But eventually Juliana moved into the master bedroom and she put up photos of her and Brendan in the nightstand. She put her clothing in what was once Christina's closet. She put a Brazilian flag up in the bedroom. I mean, she, she moved in and basically assumed wifely, a wifely position in the house.
TJ Holmes
And yes, they were there living with the child who was end up being four.
Amy Robach
She was four at the time of the murders. So, and this isn't that long ago. We're talking what, two years ago? A year and a half ago. So the little girl, four, five, six. Yeah, little.
TJ Holmes
So these are some of the things the defense has been hitting on. But also robes that it's came out talking about her relationship with reporters. Some local reporters who were in touch with her while she was in jail used to, well, she said give her money for her phone calls and give her money for the commissary, for prison. Those things just came out. But from that it came out robes that she has talked to someone and named a production company and negotiations are currently ongoing about possibly getting her some money to tell her story and possibly a TV show.
Amy Robach
Look, the problem is when you have the key witness in this case, where your entire case pretty much is hinging on her version of events. If you can make her look transactional, if you can see as a juror, wow, she got out of jail for free, basically, even though she's saying she pulled the trigger at least in one of the deaths. But because she's testifying and turning against her once lover, she's literally going to walk away and head to Brazil. And on top of that, she was somebody who was giving information to reporters in exchange for money. She's somebody who might be profiting off of this story she is now telling and selling as the truth for a movie deal. Her credibility at that point now is shaken. At the very least.
TJ Holmes
Everything you said, you can't help, but that has to be a part of it. Everything she has gone through, she might be telling 100 the truth on everything, but if you're sitting there as a juror, you cannot help but think something is up. Because we now we have several scenarios in which it looks like she has done something a little untoward or maybe even criminal for the sake of covering her own ass. And she will throw anybody under the bus to do it.
Amy Robach
And look, hearing those letters and how and what she was saying, not just to Brendan, but to his mom, you know, you hear a completely different version, a completely different set of experiences, emotions than what you're seeing here in court. That's hard. Which version of her do you believe? Her written word? What she said right after the murders? What she said six months after the murders. What she said when she got a really big sweetheart deal. Which one is the truth? How are you supposed to know who? Which version are you supposed to believe?
TJ Holmes
Well, she continues. Folks, you'll continue to testify this afternoon. As always, top right corner of your podcast Apple Podcast app where you see our show page button says follow click that you can subscribe and get all the updates coming to you so you don't have to go hunting for them. We'll keep an eye on this this afternoon. We'll hop back on if anything comes to the surface. But as always, we appreciate you spending some time here. I'm TJ Holmes on behalf of Amy Robot. We'll talk to you all soon. Success starts with your drive, and American Public University is here to fuel it.
Amy Robach
With affordable tuition and over 200 flexible online programs, APU helps you gain the skills and confidence to move forward, whether.
TJ Holmes
You'Re changing careers, starting fresh, or pursuing a lifelong passion. And APU's programs are designed for people who never stop.
Amy Robach
You bring the fire. APU will fuel the journey. Learn more at apu Apus Edu.
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Amy Robach
TJ you know how we're always slouching at our desks or on flights?
TJ Holmes
Yeah, we're not the only ones. A lot of folks at the end of the day back feels like it's shaped like a question mark.
Amy Robach
That's right. Form fixes that instantly. FormScience designed smart posture clothing that trains your body to sit and stand taller the moment you put it on. From the power bra to the power tee and even their pants and socks, every piece realigns your posture in real time.
TJ Holmes
That sounds like, well, magic.
Amy Robach
It's science based and worn by Taylor Swift, Olympians and orthopedic surgeons. Made in the USA and built for work, travel, sports or sleep. You just need to wear it and feel the body move to a better position.
TJ Holmes
It actually moves your body into a better posture.
Amy Robach
Exactly. Invest in your health and confidence. Visit Form Science. That's F o r m e. Or follow at Form Science and see how smart clothing can change how you move and feel. That's F o r m e Science. This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Episode Title: UPDATE Au Pair Affair Murder Trial: “I Withheld the Truth for a Long Time”
Release Date: January 14, 2026
Hosts: Amy Robach & TJ Holmes
This episode provides an in-depth update on the dramatic cross-examination of Juliana Perez Majales (the “au pair”) in the ongoing high-profile “Au Pair Affair” double murder trial. Amy and TJ analyze Majales' testimony, her composure on the stand, the defense’s strategies, and deep credibility questions that have emerged regarding her story — especially the shifting nature of her account and her potential motives. The hosts also discuss the evidence (or lack thereof), the complicated timeline, and the impact these factors have on the prosecution’s case against Brendan Banfield.
Composure Under Pressure
Defense Attorney’s Approach
Complicated Case Narrative
Plea Deal & Credibility Crisis
Highlight Quote:
Prosecution’s Evidence
Desperation and Change of Heart
Fuzzy Details About Crucial Events
Contradictory Digital Forensics
Post-Murder Actions
Relationship with the Media
The episode is analytical, conversational, and frank. Amy and TJ combine professional legal analysis with empathetic musings, explicitly placing themselves in the jurors’ position and emphasizing the emotional weight and oddness of the trial. They often challenge each other and reflect uncertainty, highlighting how complex and unsettling this case is both factually and ethically.
In this episode, Amy and TJ guide listeners through the latest developments of the “Au Pair Affair” murder trial, focusing on the tough cross-examination of key witness Juliana Perez Majales. They dissect her testimony, the timeline inconsistencies, the erosion of her credibility, and the implications of new digital forensics and her interactions with the media. With almost the entire prosecution case swirling around Juliana’s believability, her shifting narrative and possible motives for fabrication take center stage — all presented in the show’s candid, people-first, jury-box-driven style.