The Au Pair Murders

Summary

Criminology Podcast: “The Au Pair Murders” (Ep. 402, March 22, 2026)
Hosts: Mike Ferguson & Mike Morford

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the sensational and deeply disturbing double murder case known as the Au Pair Murders, where technology played a pivotal role in both the crime and its solution. The hosts, Mike Ferguson and Mike Morford, chart the chilling events that led to the deaths of Christine Banfield—a nurse, wife, and mother—and Joseph Ryan, an unwitting outsider lured to his death. The story is one of deception, betrayal, and cold-blooded planning executed by Christine’s husband, Brendan Banfield, and their Brazilian au pair, Juliana Paris Magaly. Listeners learn how methodical manipulation of digital evidence aimed to create the perfect alibi, and why it ultimately failed.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

I. The Banfield Family and the Introduction of the Au Pair

[03:23]

• Brendan and Christine Banfield, married for 19 years, with daughter Valerie, lived in Herndon, VA.
• Christine worked long, irregular hospital shifts; Brendan traveled for the IRS.
• Hired 21-year-old Juliana as a live-in au pair from Brazil through a cultural exchange program.
• Juliana and Brendan began a secret affair, quickly growing intense. Brendan discussed eliminating Christine to be with Juliana.
  Notable Quote:
  “At first, I thought he was joking.” – Juliana (Court testimony, paraphrased) [04:48]

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II. The Day of the Murders: Feb 24, 2023

[05:54 – 11:11]

• Brendan leaves early, purportedly for a work meeting.
• Juliana spots a strange man (Joseph Ryan) approaching the home; calls both Christine and Brendan, but Christine doesn't answer.
• Joseph Ryan enters the house, having been lured via a kinky persona ("Anastasia") on FetLife, where he believed Christine was engaging in consensual home-invasion role-play, including bringing a knife.
• Brendan and Juliana return home together; a chaotic confrontation ensues on the upstairs floor:
  • Brendan hears moaning, presumes affair—until sounds seem violent.
  • Brendan enters with his service weapon, confronts Joseph Ryan, and shoots him in the head.
  • Juliana then uses Brendan's personal firearm—a previously secured gun—to shoot Ryan again in the heart.
  • Juliana makes a shaky 911 call; Brendan takes over, reporting both the stabbing and shooting.

Host Reaction:
“You can see how this story is starting to be a little bit odd, because the au pair knows where the gun is, and she’s running in there, grabbing it and shooting this man a second time after he’s already been shot in the head.” – Mike Ferguson [13:45]

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III. The Crime Scene and Early Police Suspicions

[15:09 – 17:03]

• Christine is fatally stabbed in the neck seven times; Joseph Ryan dies instantly from gunshots.
• Christine’s phone found turned off, stashed in a basement drawer—suggesting deliberate isolation.
• Police Chief Kevin Davis notes obvious oddities that “felt off,” but initial physical evidence matches Brendan and Juliana’s claims of self-defense.
• Hosts question the plausibility of Christine turning off her phone and stashing it while sleeping.

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IV. The Digital Trap: How Joseph Ryan Was Lured

[20:04 – 22:12]

• Joseph Ryan was catfished by the “Anastasia” account (using Christine’s identity and photo).
• He was told to bring a knife, enter the unlocked home, and simulate a rape fantasy—instructions sent from Christine’s own laptop and email, exploiting the couple’s smart home features.
• Police immediately suspect the digital trail was manufactured by someone else, but lack concrete proof.

Memorable Host Commentary:
“To me...this seems like the plot straight out of some kind of murder mystery thriller movie.” – Mike Morford [22:12]

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V. The Investigation Unravels the Plot

[24:14 – 35:12]

• Brendan and Juliana begin openly living as a couple post-murders; evidence (like their photos together in the marital bedroom) emerges.
• Juliana is arrested eight months later; Brendan much later, both charged with Joseph Ryan’s murder and ultimately Christine’s.
• Blood spatter evidence and gunshot wounds suggest the crime was staged. Brendan moved Ryan’s body to fit their narrative.
• Host criticism of investigative missteps—like letting Brendan wash his hands soon after the crime—potentially hampering forensic evidence.

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VI. Juliana’s Confession and the Prosecution’s Case

[29:20 – 36:16]

• On the verge of her own trial, Juliana confesses, implicating Brendan fully in the plot:
  • They jointly created “Anastasia” on FetLife, methodically rejecting candidates who didn’t meet their trap criteria.
  • Juliana was coached and practiced with firearms at Brendan’s behest.
  • Brendan was meticulous: impersonating Christine only when she was home, manipulating smart devices, and even upgrading to triple-paned windows for soundproofing during the attack.

Host Insight:
“You have to really hone in and point out that Brendan went all out...It shows you the level of premeditation here, and the level was high.” – Mike Morford [40:36]

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VII. The Digital Forensics & Law Enforcement Dynamics

[41:13 – 45:38]

• Some investigators, including digital forensics examiner Brennan Miller, initially believed Christine’s online activity was genuine—leading to internal police conflict and claims of investigative tunnel vision.
• Prosecution underscores lack of evidence for Christine having any affairs, while Brendan’s infidelities and murder plots are exposed under cross-examination.

Host Reflection:
“This is just a reminder why defense attorneys don’t usually want their clients on the stand.” – Mike Morford [43:26]

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VIII. Concluding the Case: Convictions, Sentences & Fallout

[46:15 – 53:32]

• Brendan explored hiring a hitman but found it too risky; settled on the digital frame-up.
• Despite his claims the affair was insignificant, both considered building a life together in Brazil.
• Juliana’s cooperation via her plea deal (guilty to manslaughter, testimony against Brendan) is considered critical to the conviction.
• Juliana was ultimately sentenced to 10 years—a stiffer sentence than her initial "time served" bargain.
• Brendan Banfield was found guilty of aggravated murder, child endangerment, and multiple related charges; sentencing set for May 8, with life imprisonment likely.

Hosts on the Tragedy’s Reach:
“There's one more victim here that we haven't probably talked about enough, and that's Valerie...She's now lost her mom and her dad because he's going to prison. So what's the rest of her life going to be like?” – Mike Ferguson [52:16]

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Highlighted Quotes and Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 04:48 | Juliana (via testimony) | “At first, I thought he was joking.” | | 13:45 | Mike Ferguson | “You can see how this story is starting to be a little bit odd...” | | 22:12 | Mike Morford | “To me...this seems like the plot straight out of some kind of murder mystery thriller movie.” | | 40:36 | Mike Morford | “It shows you the level of premeditation here, and the level was high.” | | 43:26 | Mike Morford | “This is just a reminder why defense attorneys don’t usually want their clients on the stand.” | | 52:16 | Mike Ferguson | “There's one more victim here that we haven't probably talked about enough, and that's Valerie...” |

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Important Timestamps

• 03:23 – Banfield family background and hiring Juliana
• 05:54 – Feb 24, 2023: Murders occur
• 11:11 – 911 call and aftermath
• 15:09 – Chaotic crime scene, initial suspicions
• 20:04 – Joseph Ryan’s digital trap explained
• 24:14 – Investigation continues, couple moves on
• 29:20 – Juliana confesses, full plot revealed
• 41:13 – Law enforcement conflict, digital forensics issues
• 46:15 – Premeditation details, plea deals, and final convictions
• 52:16 – Reflection on the lasting impact for victim Valerie

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Tone and Language

Throughout, Ferguson and Morford maintain a conversational, analytical, but empathetic tone, scrutinizing the facts, highlighting the calculated cruelty of the crime, and reflecting on digital evidence’s role. They frequently question the plausibility of the couple’s staged story and express sympathy for all the innocent victims, especially Christine and Joseph, as well as the Banfield daughter Valerie.

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Summary for New Listeners

This meticulously reported episode exposes how genuine-seeming digital footprints can be weaponized, but also how even calculated murder plots can be unraveled by diligent police work, confessions, and unintended digital clues. Listeners come away with a deep understanding of how the investigation unfolded, the tragic impact on all involved, and why justice was ultimately served—even if imperfectly.

Transcript

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[Mike Morford]

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 402 of the Criminology podcast.

[Mike Ferguson]

I'm Mike Ferguson and this is Mike Morford.

[Mike Morford]

Mr. Morford, how you doing this week, buddy?

[Mike Ferguson]

I'm doing pretty good. How you doing?

[Mike Morford]

I'm doing great. I am ready for March Madness. It's, it's one of my favorite times of year.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I know. That's a time when, you know, when you've got extra time, you're watching some basketball. So I was thinking about that when we got on this morning.

[Mike Morford]

Yeah, I mean, I didn't watch as much college basketball as I normally do this year, but for some reason I just love the tournament. You know, I love the upsets, the small schools versus the big schools. And it's just fun to sit and watch and sometimes, you know, go with your friends and go to like a Buffalo Wild Wings or whatever it is and just sit and watch a bunch of games one after another.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, you got to do what you got to do to relax and rewind a little bit.

[Mike Morford]

Absolutely. Well, we didn't have any new Patreon support, so no new shout outs to give. But you know, like we always say, we really appreciate those who support us on Patreon.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, that really helps us out. And for all those that do support the show, thank you so much. For anyone else that wants to, you can get started by going over to patreon.com criminology all right, so let's dive

[Mike Morford]

right into this week's episode. You know, over the past two episodes, we did a deep dive on the 1970s Oakland County Child killer case. And we saw how that case was hindered in part due to a lack of technology at the time. You know, not having social media, cell phones, that kind of stuff. But in this case we're talking about, it was an abundance of technology that helped solve the mystery that was dubbed the au pair murders, in which two people, Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, lost their lives.

[Mike Ferguson]

Brendan and Christine Banfield had been together for 19 years. They dated for many years, got married and had a daughter named Valerie. The family was living in Herndon, Virginia, about a half hour's drive from Fairfax. Kristen was working as a pediatric intensive care nurse and Brendan was an officer with the Internal Revenue Service. They both had pretty busy schedules. Brendan traveled a lot for work and Christine worked 12 hour shifts and often worked overnight. But they still wanted to make sure their daughter got plenty of one on one attention. Because Christine didn't work a regular schedule, normal daycare hours wouldn't be very helpful for them. So they decided to hire a live in nanny. They went a step further and joined a cultural exchange program where they would host an au pair from another country.

[Mike Morford]

And my youngest Morph is, is in college, but that's exactly what she wants to be, a pediatric intensive care nurse. And you know, it's I think an exciting job, but also a tough one. You think about just intensive care itself being hectic and then you add in the fact that, okay, you're talking about small children and the stakes are high, no doubt about it.

[Mike Ferguson]

And that's not a nine to five type of job. I wouldn't think so. You know, having that kind of schedule, it makes sense that they would want to bring in this au pair.

[Mike Morford]

Yeah, definitely not nine to five. And I know she's been doing clinicals and a lot of the times it's, it is 12 hour shifts, maybe four days a week, but it could be overnight, it could be odd hours. In October of 2021, the Banfields began hosting a new au pair. Juliana Paris Magaly's a 21 year old woman from Brazil. It didn't take long for Juliana and Brendan to become romantically involved. By August of 2022, they were having a full fledged secret affair. This affair was happening underneath Christine's nose and it became hot and heavy. It seemed like Brendan was beginning to think Christine was in the way. In fact, he told Juliana that he wanted to marry her and start a family with her. Juliana would later testify that Brennan was thinking of harming Christine. In October of 2022, and he talked about it with her on the stand. Juliana said, at first, I thought he was joking.

[Mike Ferguson]

On the morning of February 24, 2023, Brennan left early for work. He claimed to have an important meeting with his manager, and he wanted to make sure he was there on time. Juliana was supposed to take Valerie to the zoo in Washington, D.C. christine, who worked the night shift, was still asleep. The initial story was that Juliana was still parked outside of the home because she forgot the lunches that she had packed for the day when she noticed a car she had never seen before. A man who she didn't recognize got out of the car and walked toward the Banfield home. So she called Christine to try to warn her, but she didn't get an answer. Juliana then called Brendan to tell him, since this was strange. Luckily, Brendan had stopped at a nearby McDonald's on his way to work, and he had popped in to use the bathroom, so he wasn't too far from home. Brendan was still in the bathroom when Juliana called him. He was in the bathroom for seven minutes, even though he had just left home. Investigators believe he actually waited for her call in the bathroom, where there were no cameras.

[Mike Morford]

Brendan rushed back to the house to check out the situation, but decided not to use the front door to enter because of an electronic keypad that made noise when the buttons were pressed. The explanation he gave for this was that he didn't think it was an emergency at the time. In fact, Brendan's story was that he thought that the man could just be one of Christine's affair partners. According to him, both he and his wife, Christine, were each aware of multiple affairs the other had in the past. He figured the man was there to see Christine behind his back and didn't want either of them to know he was there. Yet, according to Brendan, he. He entered through the basement door instead. As he did, Juliana, who was holding Valerie, followed. The family dog, Lily, was in the basement, acting anxious. Her dog bowl had been moved from the dining room to the basement, and the food had spilled on the floor. Brendan quickly searched the room before moving on to other areas of the home because he didn't know where the man went, even though he thought he might be there to see Christine. They left Valerie in the basement and went upstairs to the main floor of the home.

[Mike Ferguson]

In court testimony, Brendan claimed that as he approached the stairs to the second story, he could hear the sounds of what he thought were his wife and the man having sex. Sounds like moaning. He believed this confirmed that Christine was having an affair. This was much more real to him than the previous affairs, because this time he was actually catching her in the act in their home. According to Brendan's story, halfway up the stairs, he got upset and froze, and he thought about just leaving or what he would say if he burst in. But suddenly the noises that he had been hearing changed and he felt that Christine was being hurt. He said the impact sound sounded forceful and that her moaning sounded painful.

[Mike Morford]

So we are, you know, we're telling the story here from Brendan and Juliana's perspective. It's. A lot of this part is based off of their court testimony. Right. But in my mind, I mean, I'm picturing a strange scene. So you have the two of them going through the basement with Valerie. They decide to leave Valerie in the basement as they travel upstairs. And according to Brendan, he's hearing these sounds, which he believe are two people having sex. He believes one is his wife. Obviously, it's their home, and he's thinking about, okay, what's he going to do? Is he going to burst in? What's he going to say if he bursts in? I don't know. For me, the story just. It's not that. It's not plausible. It just seems strange because he's with the. The nanny or the au pair with whom he's having an affair.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, this sounds like a very. At the least, an awkward situation is about to happen here. He's talking about confronting his wife, who he thinks is having an affair. And maybe some people have asked themselves that question, what would I do if I was in that situation? Maybe you don't know until you're in that situation. But it sounds like he was having second thoughts, at least according to his story. But that's when the sounds he was hearing grew more concerning. And according to him, he was now worried about his wife's safety.

[Mike Morford]

Brendan unholstered his service weapon, a Glock 19, and continued up the stairs. When he walked into the bedroom, he saw Christine on the floor on her hands and knees. She was naked, and the man was behind her, fully clothed. He and the man made direct eye contact. Brendan shouted that he was police and pointed his gun at the man to try to take command of the scene. According to Brendan, Christine yelled out, brendan, he has a knife. He ordered the man to drop the knife. He wouldn't. The man at first told Brendan to leave, but then asked if he himself could leave. But Brendan told him he was under arrest. The man looked right at Brendan and said, she gave herself to me.

[Mike Ferguson]

After that, Brendan couldn't see exactly what was Happening because one of the man's hands was holding Christine by the hair. And the tip of the knife was, as Brendan described it, in Christine's hair. But it looked like he was hurting her. So Brendan fired one shot, which hit the man in the head while he was helping Christine, trying to put pressure on the wounds in her neck. Juliana had apparently run into the closet where Brendan kept his personal weapon, a Glock 43X, locked up in a safe. Brendan told Juliana to call 911. But unexpectedly, using Brendan's gun, Juliana shot the man a second time in his chest. Just before the shot, or at the same time. Brendan wasn't sure because everything happened so fast. Brendan felt the man hit him in the back. Juliana then put the gun on the bed and called 91 1. But she was too shaken to speak clearly, so Brendan took over. According to a Washington Post breakdown of the 911 call, Brendan said, there's someone here. He tried to explain the situation. I shot him. He stabbed her. She's bleeding out. There's several marks on her neck. Brendan told the dispatcher all of this before asking, what do I do?

[Mike Morford]

So we talked about this scene of Brendan and Juliana going up the stairs. Brendan thinking about confronting his wife and whoever she's with. This man. But now the scene has exploded into chaos. Right? They're not having sex. This man is fully clothed, but he's hurting his wife. He has a knife. He slashed her. And so, according to Brendan, he takes out his gun and he shoots it. But then Juliana grabs his personal weapon and also shoots the man. So there was one thing that. That jumped out at me about that. You know, obviously, Brendan had his service weapon with him, right, in a holster. So that was easy to get to. But the smaller Glock, his personal weapon, was in the closet. So that means Juliana had to know exactly where it was. It's in a safe where it should be. They have a small child. I mean, that means to me that she not only knew where it was Juliana, she also knew exactly how to get into the safe. And I get it. She's the au pair. She's there a lot. But that seems strange. Yeah.

[Mike Ferguson]

You can see how this story is starting to be a little bit odd, you know, because the au pair knows where the gun is, and she's running in there, grabbing it and shooting this man a second time after he's already been shot in the head. So, you know, I think as we go more along in the story, that stuff's going to sound a little bit strange.

[Mike Morford]

Well, and you just made a good point, right? She shoots him in the chest after Brendan shoots this guy in the head. Why? Why is there a need for her to shoot him if this guy's already been shot in the head? Christine had been stabbed in the neck seven times. Unfortunately, she lost too much blood too quickly. She had a disorder that affected the way her blood clotted, making her bleed uncontrollably. She was rushed to the hospital, but died shortly after arriving. An autopsy would reveal that Christine fought for her life. She had multiple bruises and scrapes on her arms and legs. Her jugular vein, carotid artery, and her trachea were all damaged by the knife. The man, identified as Joseph Ryan, had been shot twice, once in the head and then again in the heart. He was dead by the time authorities made it to the house. Four year old Valerie had been in the basement alone the entire time.

[Mike Ferguson]

The scene was chaotic. Authorities arrived to find multiple victims, multiple weapons, multiple shooters, and stories that just didn't quite add up. There were several things that just felt off. Investigators found Christine's cell phone downstairs in a drawer in the kitchen. It had been turned off. Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told ABC7 News. I knew, I suspected, I had a feeling that there was a lot more to what met the eye that morning. Even though investigators felt that there was something strange about the crime scene and what supposedly happened, there was no way to prove that Juliana and Brendan were lying. Initially, the evidence backed up their claims Joseph Ryan had brought the knife, and neither of them denied their role in shooting him.

[Mike Morford]

So I think the police chief is saying it right early on. They just thought something was strange about this whole thing, the scene, the story that was coming out from these people. But the evidence at the scene was kind of backing their story up, so what could they really do? I did want to touch on Christine's cell phone. I don't know how many people turn their cell phone completely off, put it in a drawer. I get it. She's working third shift, which means she's sleeping during the day. I would think most people would just put it on silent mode or airport mode or whatever it is. I don't know how many people would actually turn the phone off and stick it in a drawer downstairs when they. Before they go up to sleep.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah. It kind of defeats the purpose if you need your phone, you think? Most people like to keep it close to them someplace so they can turn it back on when they need it or get it easily enough, but, you know, to put it downstairs in a drawer turned off, it doesn't seem like something most people do.

[Mike Morford]

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[Mike Morford]

One important question was why would Was Joseph Ryan there in the first place? No one in the family knew him. He had no connection to the neighborhood or the house. It turns out that Joseph Ryan thought he had been invited to the home. He met a woman going by the username Anastasia on the website FetLife, which bills itself as the world's largest BDSM kink and fetish community, and talked about meeting up with her. The profile picture for Anastasia was a photo of Christine Banfield. Anastasia was the one that requested that he bring a knife to the home to role play a home intruder sexual assault fantasy. Ryan was told to show up at the home at 7:20am Just as he did, he was told that the door would be unlocked. It was Christine's phone and had been used to unlock the front door using their smart home security app. He was instructed to surprise Christine, the woman he thought he was talking to, who would be asleep. So he did. The knife was to be used to cut off her clothing and he was supposed to hold her down and tie her up no matter how hard she fought against him, no matter how scared she seemed or how loud she yelled, and not to stop no matter what she said.

[Mike Ferguson]

To him, it seemed clear that Joseph Ryan had done as instructed by a woman he believed was a willing participant in all of this. But investigators didn't believe that it was Christine who had set up that profile or sent any of those messages, even though they were sent from an email bearing her name and had been sent using her personal laptop. They felt that somehow Brandon and Juliana had set the whole thing up. They just had no way to prove it at the time. As the investigation went on, it must have seemed like they were going to get away with it, that they had pulled it off perfectly. They quickly moved on with their lives together as a couple, no longer hiding the fact that they were together. But police continued to work behind the scenes to prove their theory.

[Mike Morford]

And to me, Morf, this seems like the plot straight out of some kind of murder mystery thriller movie. And we said it right. Police were suspicious of the story right from the beginning. Now they start to find all of this out, and they just don't believe that Christine had set this profile up, that, you know, she had messaged this guy, Joseph Ryan, as much as, I hate to say, is kind of an ingenious plan, to a degree.

[Mike Ferguson]

Everything sounds convenient, the way this supposedly played out, that this guy would come in, he'd have a weapon, he'd basically go through these motions of this staged sexual assault. And depending how you look at it, if you're looking at it from Brendan's view, if he doesn't know anything about this and he walks in on the scene, you could almost say, okay, he was justified. He saw his wife being attacked and was trying to defend her. But on the other side of the coin, if he'd set this up as police thought, it seems like a pretty ingenious way to try and get away with that.

[Mike Morford]

But because if you're the police, you have to be thinking, right, who's the target? And for Brendan, that would be Christine. Joseph Ryan in this scenario would just be a. A patsy, right? An unfortunate person who was set up.

[Mike Ferguson]

If you're Joseph Ryan walking into this house doing as you're instructed, you have to be pretty confident that this is all on the up and up, because you're really walking into a situation where, you know, if somebody's pranking you or if somebody's got something more nefarious in mind and is setting you up, you could be in danger. And, you know, ultimately he lost his life walking into this house under these circumstances.

[Mike Morford]

And it did seem right as Brendan and Juliana were getting away with it, police didn't have enough evidence to charge them with anything. They were going on about their life. But then eight months later, their new life came crashing down. Juliana was arrested in October of 2023 and charged with the second degree murder of Joseph Ryan and using a firearm during the commission of a felony. At the time, it was unclear to the public why there were no charges related to Christine's murder. Specifically, it seemed like the investigators believed the self defense story, but felt that since Joseph Ryan had already been shot in the head, this second shot constituted murder. We now know that this isn't true, but at the time of her arrest, it was still such a confusing and convoluted case.

[Mike Ferguson]

When investigators returned to the Banfield home to take Juliana into custody, things were very different. The carpet in the bedroom where Joseph and Christine were killed had been removed and the furniture had been replaced. And that might make perfect sense after such a Bloody crime scene unfolded there. But that wasn't all that had changed. Juliana's belongings weren't in her room anymore. All the clothes that had been photographed by police in Juliana's closet the day of the murders were now on the bottom racks of the walk in closet in the primary bedroom. On the bottom racks where Christine's clothes once were, on the bedside table, feet from where Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield both died, there was a framed photo. It was of Juliana and Brendan together. Another framed photo of the two was on top of the dresser.

[Mike Morford]

Juliana was denied bail due to not only being from Brazil, but also because she filed for and received a new passport after her original was seized by authorities. As news mentioned her arrest, this case became known as the au pair murders. Brendan wasn't arrested Until September of 2024, more than a year and a half after the murders. He was charged with both murders and denied bail because the judge felt he could be both a flight risk and a danger to his young daughter. Adding to the confusion of trying to follow this case, Brendan was charged with four counts of aggravated murder even though he was only being accused of killing two people. Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano told WUSA9 we wanted to cover all our bases and make sure the jury had every option that they could want when looking at the evidence.

[Mike Ferguson]

While Brendan claimed on the stand that Christine had been on the floor with Joseph behind her, the prosecutors believed that when he and Juliana entered the bedroom, Joseph was holding Christine down on the floor and that after he was shot, he fell away from Christine. Photos from the scene show that Joseph was lying perpendicular to the bed near the top of it with his feet underneath the bed frame. Investigators believe that Brendan moved Joseph's body after he'd been shot in an attempt to stage the scene. According to the state's blood spatter expert, Brendan's pants were stained with Christine's blood that showed a cast off pattern from stabbing her while Joseph's pants had her blood smeared and dripped on them. On the day Christine died, after being told Christine didn't make it, Brendan began to cry. The officer with him felt bad trying to watch him wipe his face with blood on his hands and asked him if he wanted to wash them off. And he did this muddied. Any analysis for DNA or gunshot residue that could have been helpful to the investigation.

[Mike Morford]

And I talked about it earlier, Morf. Right. As much as I hate to say it, that something like a murder plot or something like that sounds ingenious, there were some elements to this one that did sound like, you know, there was thought there was planning put into this thing. But to me, there's always something that the killers don't think about. You know, let's say in this case it is the cast off patterns, you know, what an expert is going to make of the blood spatter. It's going to tell a story which may not align with the story that you're telling. But one thing I want to touch on is this officer allowing Brendan to wash his hands. I mean, I get it, the guy felt bad for him, but it seems like such a mistake.

[Mike Ferguson]

You think they would want to preserve evidence, keep his hands, his clothing, everything in the exact condition as it was when they arrived. And here the officers letting him wash his hands and, you know, that could come back to haunt this case once it goes to trial and the evidence is in question. And it's those kinds of things that can maybe make or break a case like this.

[Mike Morford]

But it is a real fine line though, right? I mean, you're walking that line of being empathetic to someone who might be the victim, but could also possibly be the perpetrator. You just don't know at that point. In October of 2024, a year after her arrest and just days before she was set to stand trial for killing Joseph Ryan, Juliana finally agreed to cooperate with the investigation. She admitted what really happened and entered a guilty plea to a reduced charge of manslaughter. For her cooperation, prosecutors would agree to recommend a sentence of time served, provided she went back to Brazil when she was released. Most importantly, perhaps, she had to testify truthfully against Brendan in order for the agreement to stand. Only after she completed her testimony could she be sentenced at all. On the stand, Juliana explained that Brendan didn't want to divorce Christine. In fact, he actually told her that divorce was not an option because he said she would have more money than he would. He also wanted full custody of their daughter. According to the prosecution, Brendan didn't think Christine was a good mother, though it's unclear why. Even Juliana didn't have anything bad to say about Christine. She described her as very friendly, very welcoming and, and very fair. In contrast to Brendan, Juliana's face lit up on the stand when she was asked to describe the Banfield's daughter, Valerie. You could also see her wiping away tears after being asked how old Valerie was when she met her.

[Mike Ferguson]

Juliana admitted that the Anastasia profile was really set up by her and Brendan. He had created a new Gmail account to use to make an account on FetLife and, and to Use on Telegram. Brendan created the Telegram account on Christine's laptop as well. The photo that was used as a profile picture on FetLife was a picture that Christine took of herself in the mirror of a gym bathroom. She had sent it to Brendan to show him her new bathing suit. She had been looking up vacation spots and resorts and had likely purchased the bathing suit for the trip she was dreaming of taking with her family.

[Mike Morford]

Looking through the private messages from FetLife, Anastasia had a very specific encounter in mind. Anyone who suggested meeting in person, like going out for drinks or to grab coffee anywhere in public before their hookup was rejected, some of them didn't even get a reply. Anyone who wanted to have their encounter somewhere neutral, like a hotel, was rejected. If they wanted more pictures of Christine, who was supposed to be Anastasia, they were rejected. If they wanted to have multiple encounters before agreeing to use restraints, they were rejected. There was a clear set of criteria that the person had to meet, and that criteria was pretty much to come directly to Anastasia's home alone. On the first meetup, one person who was messaging Anastasia about meeting up actually expressed concern about exactly what ended up happening. The user wrote, the concept is very hot. Yeah, but the way you explain it does not look great on my side. If anything were to go wrong, had that person not followed their gut and gone there, we might be talking about their murder. And I know I've said it a couple times more, but, you know, there is a real devious side to this whole plan. And the thought of setting up an account posing as your wife, using her real picture, I mean, there was a lot of thought that went into this.

[Mike Ferguson]

It wasn't lightly thought out. It seems like it was well planned. And I'm thinking of what this person that messaged the account said, you know, is spot on, because they were thinking, hey, if I show up to this stranger's house, where I've never been before, I walk in there with a weapon, am I being set up? What's going to happen here? Is this really going to go down the way this person is leading me to believe it is, or am I going to find myself in a bad situation? And in this instance, it was good that they. They sort of didn't go through with it, because they might have been the victim here.

[Mike Morford]

But the other thing that I'm thinking of is, as much as this was planned out, how did Brendan and Juliana not think that this digital trail was going to ultimately kind of lead back to them? I get it. They created the account as Christine, they used her laptop, all of that. Like I said, pretty well thought out. Maybe they just thought there would be no way to prove it.

[Mike Ferguson]

And I think we see it in a lot of cases. Some aspects of a plan sound well put together, but then there's glaring holes that police often find that cracks the case. And, you know, it's a good thing for. For investigators that people that do these devious things make mistakes.

[Mike Morford]

But think about it this way. I'll ask you the question. Without Juliana's testimony, would they have enough to prove Brendan's guilt? And I'm. At least from my perspective, I don't know that they would have.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah. It's not overwhelmingly clear that this account was created by Brendan and all this stuff was carried out by Brendan. You know, who's to say that she somehow didn't set up this account? How do you prove that? You know, it's her laptop that was used and emailing her name. I think Juliana was key here in giving more information that helped provide answers. Juliana also told the jury that Brendan gave her his personal firearm the morning of the murders. She had no need to run to the closet and use the code to the safe because she had the gun the entire time. An archived story from Juliana's Instagram account in late 2022 showed her firing a gun at a shooting range. It was Brendan who took the photo. He had also purchased the gun a few weeks after that photo was taken. Together, this helped show that there was a plan and that it had been in motion for at least two months. It also explains how Juliana was able to hit Joseph Ryan in the heart. She had been practicing shooting.

[Mike Morford]

All of the windows in the Banfield home had been replaced before the murders. This is a long process, and Christine knew about it. So it isn't directly related to the murders. But Brendan's choice to upgrade from double paned windows as originally planned to triple paned windows couldn't have hurt the plan at all. Not only are triple pane windows better at insulating from heat and cold, they dampen sound More, too. According to Juliana, Brendan asked her to go into the primary bedroom and scream so he could see whether or not it could be heard outside. She refused, but did stand in the driveway while he screamed from inside the main bedroom.

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[Mike Morford]

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[Mike Ferguson]

The location of Christine's phone stashed away in a kitchen drawer was a chilling detail. It seems clear that someone wanted to make it impossible for Christine to get any help. Even if she was able to get away from Joseph and and made it downstairs, how was she supposed to guess where her phone was? And if she did, she would have to wait for it to turn on before she could dial 91 1. Which we know now was supposed to happen after everything else was done. Christine's phone was turned off at 6:46am and it turns out that there was an earlier 911 call made by Juliana. But she hung up. And this call was made less than an hour before Christine's phone was turned off.

[Mike Morford]

And Juliana had an explanation for that first 911 call. At that point, only Joseph had been shot. Christine hadn't been stabbed yet. She was incredibly shaken because in her mind, not only had a stranger just broken into her home while she was asleep, he had started to attack her. Even just a robbery would have been terrifying. But here there was a man on top of her with a knife. The intruder had been shot. The danger was gone. Now, as a nurse, her instincts kicked in. Someone had been hurt. They needed help immediately. She told Juliana to call 91 1. So she did. But she hung up because Brendan told her to. Almost 15 minutes later, Joseph was dead. Christine had been stabbed and was rapidly bleeding out. Juliana called 911 again, but she didn't know what she was supposed to say. This is why Brendan had to take over that call.

[Mike Ferguson]

Brendan wanted to commit the perfect crime and thought about all of the things police might turn to. Cell phone data, Internet, social media. And according to Juliana, he tried to account for digital forensic evidence. He didn't just impersonate Christine so that it looked like she had sent messages to her killer. He actually made sure that anytime he did, he did pretend to be his wife or do anything related to one of the secret accounts. He did it while she was home. He knew that if investigators saw that there was activity on the FetLife account while Christine was at work or was out somewhere, like at the bank or gas station, where there were timestamps and surveillance cameras that could prove she wasn't home. And the elaborate ruse he set up would have completely fallen apart. He made sure that even if someone looked closely at the data, it would look like it was Christine who had been using her devices to create and use those accounts in her free time. Brendan and Juliana even traded in their cell phones because Brendan was worried that a factory reset wouldn't be enough to hide evidence of their affair, like pictures that Juliana took of the two of them together and their messages to each other. He also told her to get a new Apple ID so that there was nothing in the cloud that could be found.

[Mike Morford]

And you know me, more of, I hate to give killers credit for anything, but I do think, you know, you have to really hone in and point out that Brendan went all out. He really tried to think about what the police would look at afterwards. It shows you the level of premeditation here, and the level was high.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah. He thought about all the things that might be looked at by police, and he thought of ways to try and overcome them. So he was certainly trying to cover his tracks.

[Mike Morford]

Brendan's defense attorney had an uphill battle and tried to focus on supposed missteps in the investigation, intention behind the scenes. One detective involved in the case, Brennan Miller, a digital forensic examiner, did believe that the digital forensics indicated that it was Christine who had been speaking with Joseph Ryan online. Reportedly, the higher ups working the case were upset with Miller coming to that conclusion, and he was eventually moved to a different department. And Major Crimes Deputy Chief Patrick Brush said that as long as he was in charge, Miller would never be doing another digital forensics case. According to Homicide Detective Leah Smith. There was pressure to come to a certain conclusion, she said in court. We had a briefing within the first week of the incident where we were discussing everything everybody had done and the information that was collected. Our supervisor at the time told us that there were two theories in the case and we needed to get behind the right one, basically. The defense argued that Brendan Banfield was being targeted by investigators who didn't even agree with fellow investigators about what happened in this case.

[Mike Ferguson]

There was no evidence produced at the trial by either side that Christine was actually into anything that you would create a FetLife account for, that she ever watched anything sexual at all, like pornography, violent or not, or was interested in having any affairs. She also had no history of using dating apps. She had been with Brendan since she was 18 years old, and there was no evidence of affairs she was involved in. When Brendan testified in his own defense, the state was able to ask him about previous affairs he had with women, including one woman who he met on a website for sugar babies. The prosecutor called it a fetish site. And Brendan didn't deny the affair or meeting the woman online, but he did deny that it was a fetish site. And according to the prosecution, Brendan had talked about getting rid of Christine to other affair partners, not just to Juliana. This is just a reminder why defense attorneys don't usually want their clients on the stand.

[Mike Morford]

Yeah, I would say morph. It very rarely turns out. Well, you know, when a defendant testifies, I mean, there is a reason, like you just said, for that old adage that defense attorneys don't want their clients to take the standards. I mean, basically what it does is it opens up to allow the prosecution to ask them all kinds of questions and bring up things that, you know, otherwise probably couldn't be introduced.

[Mike Ferguson]

Now, the prosecution can point out that not only was Christine not having affairs or involved any of this stuff, but Brendan was. So now he looks even more shady to the. To the jury. So you have to wonder what the discussion was behind closed doors between him and his defense team, and not only

[Mike Morford]

the affairs, but that he had talked about getting rid of Christie to more people than just Juliana. I think that is pretty damning. I do want to go back for just a second and kind of talk about the defenses strategy. I mean, they did bring up some good things here that we talked about. You know, it does seem to me as though there was some tunnel vision in this case. Now, it might have been justified. It might have been focused on the right person, but you could see how maybe a jury would take some of this stuff, them saying, hey, you've got to get behind this theory basically targeting Brendan. You never know, right? How is a jury going to take some of that stuff? Because it was corroborated by some investigators.

[Mike Ferguson]

I think if you're the defense team, it's sort of a distraction. It's like, hey, don't look over at Brendan. Look over here at what's going on in the investigation. Because the more the jury looks at Brendan, the more stuff they probably find that they don't like, and it makes him look shady or guilty. So, you know, I think the defense attorney tried his best to get the jury focused on something else, but the

[Mike Morford]

lack of digital data was a clue as well. Brendan and Juliana took a trip to New York together with Valerie. During this time, there was no activity on any of the accounts related to the crime. No emails, nothing on FetLife, no messages on telegram. This Is one of the biggest signs that Christine was not the one using those accounts. She had a completely empty house and didn't invite anyone over for a hookup. She didn't use the time alone to take sexy pictures for her profile or even message anyone.

[Mike Ferguson]

According to Juliana, Brendan considered hiring a hitman to kill Christine, but he was concerned about leaving a trail of evidence that would lead right back to him. The communication with the person, the payment, that kind of stuff. The hitman themselves would be a liability because they would be able to reveal who hired them for the job. Too much could go wrong.

[Mike Morford]

Brendan described the affair with Juliana as not serious and it seemed somewhat rocky. They broke up multiple times because Juliana wasn't happy. She was only 22 years old. She didn't need to wait around for some married older guy with a child to realize that she deserved a real relationship. Brendan claimed that he and Juliana were in an off again part of their relationship at the time of the murders, but was adamant that this had nothing to do with what happened. In court, Brendan's defense attorney asked the jury, is it reasonable after a six to eight week affair that someone is going to try to get rid of their companion of 19 years, wife of 12 years, is that reasonable? Although Brendan called the relationship with Juliana nothing serious, the two had discussed baby names and even possibly moving to Brazil together. The defense also tried to cast doubt on Juliana's testimony, But she maintains that she only told the truth on the stand and that she wasn't just trying to save herself. She said, I just couldn't keep it to myself. The feeling of shame and guilt and sadness.

[Mike Ferguson]

After Brendan testified on the stand, his work supervisor at the time came forward and asked if he could testify because Brendan had lied on the stand. According to the supervisor, Brendan didn't have any kind of meeting that morning. This was just one more thing that damaged his credibility on the stand. On February 2, 2026, Brendan Banfield was found guilty of aggravated murder, child endangerment, and using a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder.

[Mike Morford]

Investigators had been proven correct that this case was not as it appeared on the surface and that Christine was the target and Joseph was unfortunately collateral damage. There was no home invasion. Brendan is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8. He could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now, one thing that I thought was interesting is that and we said it right, the prosecution agreed to recommend a sentence of time served, but ultimately it was up to the judge on Juliana's sentence and she ultimately was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Which to me, is a good thing. I thought that whole time served thing was way too lenient. Now I get it. This thing is kind of dragged on, so. I mean, she has already served I don't know how much time, but I. I still thought time served was. Was too lenient for her.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah. I think when you conspire to carry out a murder like this for your lover, even if she's not as culpable as he is, you know, it's. The sentence just seemed incredibly light, so I'm glad that it was a little bit tougher sentence than they originally were going to give her. So this is a sad case on multiple levels. First, because Christine Banfield, a loving wife and mother, was dead at the hands of her husband and her au pair, someone she trusted to come into her family's life. But also that her husband, who she devoted so much of her life to, tried to paint his wife in a negative light and sully her reputation, all in an effort to cover up the crime. And let's not forget poor Joseph Ryan. He had never even met the Banfields. He simply showed up at the home expecting some fun between him and another consenting adult, and he lost his life. He was randomly targeted to die in this terrible scheme that Brendan concocted, which shows just how cold blooded this man is. Let's hope he's sentenced appropriately.

[Mike Morford]

Yeah, we're less than two months away right from when he's supposed to be sentenced, so we'll have to keep an eye on that. But I have to believe that he's going to get life in prison. I mean, obviously we're talking about murder here, but my assumption is the judge is also going to look at all of the planning, all of the premeditation that went into this thing, and that's going to factor in as well, and it's not going to be in his favor. Right. This guy was so devious in the way that he schemed this whole thing.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, it was very cold and calculated, and there's plenty of evidence, it seems like, of how cunning this guy was. You know, we had Juliana sort of spilling the beans about some of the stuff he was doing, and that helped lead to a guilty verdict. So, you know, the judge will take that all into consideration and hopefully comes back with a nice, stiff sentence for this guy and he has time to think about what he's done.

[Mike Morford]

And I know I said it before, but I. I really do think without Juliana's testimony, I think this would have been a tougher case. I'm not Saying they couldn't have, you know, gotten a conviction. But I think it would have been more of a struggle, you know, her agreeing to the plea deal, part of which required her to testify truthfully and lay out exactly what the two of them did, I think is ultimately what sunk Brendan. If not, it's. It's possible he could have gotten away with this.

[Mike Ferguson]

And it's awful what happened to both of these victims. But there's one more victim here that we haven't probably talked about enough, and that's Valerie, the, the Banfield's daughter. She's now lost her mom and her dad because he's going to prison. So what's the rest of her life going to be like?

[Mike Morford]

Yeah, that's a great point. You know, in these cases, so many of them, it's such a spider web. You know, one person's decisions, one person's actions affect so many other people. Friends, family, co workers. And for what? I mean, when you really boil it down, what was it all for? Because Brendan wanted out of this relationship. He wanted to be with someone else, but he didn't want to give up money. He didn't want to split custody. It's just so amazing to me that people can think along these lines and a lot of people do. They want it all and they are willing to take another person's life to get it.

[Mike Ferguson]

Yeah, I think that's what's so mind boggling about these cases. We talk about it a lot, how they go through these great lengths instead of, you know, what we think would be a reasonable reaction or a conclusion. If you don't want to be with someone, if you want to be with a different person or just out of the relationship altogether, just get divorced, start over. But it seemed like in this case he wanted the easy way out. He wanted whatever money there was. He wanted custody of their daughter and he just wanted her out of the picture. And luckily he didn't get away with it.

[Mike Morford]

Yeah, absolutely. But that's it for our episode on the Aupair murders. As always, if you love the show but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a rating, leave a review. Also keep telling your friends. Word of mouth about the podcast really helps us out.

[Mike Ferguson]

If you want to find us on social media. We're on every major platform. Just search for Criminology podcast on your favorites. You can also check our website, criminologypodcast.com for more information and old episodes. And if you want to join a discussion about the cases we discuss for the show, head over to Facebook and search for criminology podcast discussion on fans.

[Mike Morford]

So that's it for another episode of Criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike and Morph, we'll talk to you next week.

[Mike Ferguson]

Take care, everyone. Sam.