A former IRS agent convicted of catfishing his wife and a stranger will be sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Subscribe to read this story without ads
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Brendan Banfield, 40, was convicted in February of two counts of aggravated murder, one count of use of a firearm in a felony and child endangerment in the 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields’ home in Herndon, Virginia.
Because of his aggravated murder conviction, Banfield will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The husband and wife pair involved in the scheme, Juliana Pérez Magalhães, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Perez Magalhães was initially charged with second-degree murder, but his sentence was reduced after he cooperated with authorities and testified for prosecutors at the Banfield trial in northern Virginia.
The ruling will bring an end to a highly publicized case involving a fetish website.
During his trial, Banfield admitted on the witness stand that he had had affairs with his wife, Magalhães, 25, and several other women.
Prosecutors said Banfield was motivated by infidelity and used a fetish website to lure Ryan, 39, into what he believed to be a violent sexual fantasy at the Banfields’ home on February 24, 2023.
Prosecutors said the morning incident ended with Banfield stabbing his wife, 37, and shooting Ryan.
In court, Perez Magalhães said he also shot Ryan. She said Banfield was trying to avoid a divorce when he embarked on a catfishing scheme and used Christine Banfield’s laptop to create a fake user profile on a fetish site posing as her.
The profile “Anastasia9” said she was looking to find a stranger to act out her sexual fantasies with at home. Ryan was that stranger, Perez Magalhães said.
Banfield denied these allegations during the trial, calling them “absolute insanity.” He testified that he saw Ryan stabbing his wife and shot him.
“I didn’t want to shoot him,” Banfield said, testifying that he was armed with a service weapon. “Well, I wanted him to let her go.”
