Brendan Banfield: The Au Pair Affair Murders | #436

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Brendan and Christine Banfield had what looked like the perfect family. They lived in a beautiful million-dollar house in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. She was a hard-working nurse, and he worked as a criminal investigator. for the IRS. And their four-year-old daughter, Valerie, completed the picture. But early on the 24th of February, 2023, that idyllic facade was absolutely ripped apart. The family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Perez Margulies, called 911. Police arrived on the scene to find two bodies in the master bedroom, soaked in blood. One was Christine Banfield, the other a stranger. Christine had been stabbed savagely, whilst the unknown man had two gunshot wounds to his head and chest. Brennan claimed that he and Juliana had come home and caught an intruder attacking his wife Christine. So they shot the man in self-defence, but tragically it was too late to save his wife. Yet something about this shocking scene just didn't add up. And as investigators dug deeper, they uncovered evidence of a twisted scheme so outlandish that it sounded like a plot ripped from a juicy Brazilian telenovela. A scandalous affair between a cheating husband and a femme fatale au pair. Fetish websites, catfishing and bloodthirsty kinks? And an obvious patsy lured in as a sacrificial lamb for a forbidden love story? Or is it? It is no wonder that this case has had the internet absolutely obsessed for the past three years. And with the much-anticipated trial finally wrapping up literally the day before we sat down to record this episode, we figured it's time. So strap in, listeners, because this case really does have it all. I'm Saruti. I'm Hannah. And this is Red Handed. And this, more importantly, is the baffling saga of the Au Pair Affair murders. And we change the intro to see what would happen. And I hate it. I'm old. I'm set in my ways. Don't make me change. Let's see. Let's see. There better be some really good data. We're going to start off by introducing the Banfield family at the heart of this case. Brendan and Christine were college sweethearts who got back together in 2004. After tying the knot in 2010, Christine gave birth to their daughter Valerie in 2018. The family originally lived in New York, but after Brendan got a job with the IRS in 2019, they moved to the affluent suburb of Herndon, Virginia. Brendan's role involved investigating mainly white-collar fraud. So he was technically a federal law enforcement agent, although his role was definitely more pencil pusher than 007. As we'll go on to see, he doesn't think so. Meanwhile, Christine kept up her career as a registered nurse, working exhausting shifts, caring for extremely ill children. But outside of work, they both still made an effort to fit into their new community. Christine was known in the neighbourhood as a devoted mum, who would arrange multiple playdates, while Dallas Cowboys fan Brendan would often stop and talk football with the local dads. How about them cowboys? Yeah, sports teams. You better be paying them cheerleaders. I've watched both series. Neighbours saw the Banfields as the perfect all-American family. I know people are going to be upset. All-American doesn't mean anything. It's just living the dream, right? I figure that's what it means. I guess. Yeah. But it just seems like I don't know of any other country or culture that has an equivalent? No, I guess it's maybe about like the American dream of like, you know, you're living the good life. You worked hard, you got a job, you got the kids, you got the house, you know? I guess so. I just, yeah, it doesn't compute with my software. And actually they weren't really the all-American family because they had an international twist. Only from the outside. Through the Cultural Care Au Pair Agency, the Banfields had previously employed a young Brazilian woman called Amanda to help look after Valerie. Amanda slotted into their family perfectly. She and Christine got on like a house on fire, and little Valerie was a flower girl at Amanda's wedding when she left them to get married. So, after Amanda left, Christine probably hoped that she would get just as lucky with Amanda's replacement. But she got more than she ever bargained for with Juliana Perez Margulies. From the town of Zancorei on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, 21-year-old Juliana had signed up to the au pair programme, hoping for a slice of the American dream, travel, independence and maybe a bit of adventure. And you might be tempted, especially if your understanding of Brazil starts and ends with City of God, which, to be fair, is pretty much all the education system in the US and the UK offers up, to imagine Juliana as some sort of desperately poor girl from the favelas, dreaming of escaping to the developed world. But the reality is much less dramatic and a bit less patronising. From what we can tell, Juliana didn't come from abject poverty. Sacre is an ordinary suburb, and Juliana was from a pretty average family with a single mum who worked as a cleaner. Like many young Brazilians, Juliana was seeking a more comfortable life in the US and the chance to spread her wings and see the world. I thought about being an au pair. It's not that weird. No, no. I've got friends who are au pairs. Yeah. It's just like, she's like, I've got a very reasonable life in Brazil, but she's like, it still kind of sucks. You don't need any qualifications. Free room and board. Might learn her language. That's very much Juliana. Through and through. so most of the story that we are about to tell you next is based on juliana's version of events it's very very important that we all remember that we don't know the truth for sure this is just what juliana says happened so with that in mind let's go back to october 2021 when a fresh faced juliana first came to live with the banfields juliana's role as an au pair was mainly to help look after little Valerie as a sort of live-in nanny. With room and board covered, she'd also get $200 a week for spending money. And at first, her relationship with her new bosses was cordial, yet professional. She mostly interacted with Christine about Valerie's care, and didn't even really see that much of Brendan. But after about 10 months, everything changed. In the cliché of all clichés, around the summer of 2022, Juliana and Brendan started a torrid Beckham-style affair behind Christine's back. Brendan was 15 years older than Juliana and, if we're being frank, quite bland-looking. Yeah, he is, that's the word, very, like, forgettable-looking. Has to be, he's a spy. He's a federale. whereas Juliana, her look evolves, shall we say, throughout this episode, which we'll get to later. But at this point, she looks a bit like, what was her name? The Mormon. Jodie Arias. Oh. She looks a bit like her. You can't just say the Mormon. We've done so many. No, we have done a lot. And actually, was she even a Mormon? I can't remember. Yeah, she looks a little bit like Jodie Arias. What I will say about Juliana is she has a striking resemblance to America Ferreira. Ugly Betty, for those of you who don't know. I love America Ferreira. And she looks like America Ferreira if she had dyed her hair blonde and wore loads of red lipstick and really, really tight revealing clothes at this point. Which at the end of Ugly Betty, almost. That's who I think of when I see Juliana. Well, regardless of their looks, it does seem quite evident that they had electric chemistry between them sheets. Juliana later claimed that since their fling was mainly based on lust, she didn't think it was that serious at first. But as time went on, the situation evolved. I also don't know how strenuous the COVID regulations would have been in Virginia in 2021. I didn't even think about that. Throw it to the room. So maybe they're all just banged up and can go anywhere? Maybe. Anyway, when they were allowed outside, with Valerie in tow, the pair managed to sneak off for a romantic getaway to New York without Christine. And they took loved-up selfies together in a bath. Mmm. According to Juliana, that is when Brendan first started to mention his plans for the future. And it became clear that he saw Juliana, not his wife, by his side in that vision. Brendan told Juliana that he wanted to marry her and have kids with her. But there was just that pesky problem of Christine, you know, his current wife standing in the way. And Brendan is very clear, he tells Juliana, according to her, that divorce was not an option, since he couldn't stand the idea of Christine eventually ending up with more money than him as part of the divorce proceedings. And he also said that he didn't want to share custody of Valerie because he reckoned that Christine was lazy and a bad mum. Now, we can't say for sure what the dynamic was like in that house but this picture that he paints of christine as being a shit mom is basically the opposite of what everyone else says about her everyone else says she's an incredibly devoted mother to valerie and absolutely doted on her daughter still according to juliana brendan pushed the narrative that his wife was the villain of the piece and if they wanted a happy ending then christine would have to go juliana claims that she didn't take brendan too seriously when he first started saying these kind of things about wanting to, you know, get rid of his wife, which I would argue, why? Why would you not think that's serious? But maybe they'd said all sorts of crazy things to each other and she thinks it's just a language barrier. Oh, yes. She definitely likes to pretend there's a big language barrier later. Maybe it's just pillow talk. Who knows? But that's what she claims. for a while. Brendan didn't see you like he had a firm plan, so Juliana claims that she just thought he was joking. What a funny joke. But as time went on, it became even clearer that Brendan Manfield was drop-dead serious. Brendan told Juliana that he was working on a plot that would free them from Christine without any suspicion coming their way. The first major decision was, apparently, that Brendan didn't want to hire someone else to kill Christine, since he figured that contract killings always backfired on the one who ordered the hit. Smart. I mean, he obviously doesn't know anything about JFK. Juliana says that Brendan appeared to be drawing on his experience as law enforcement agent. If you are in financial, is he in financial crime? Federal financial crime? He works for the IRS. You're a glorified accountant. The end. The most boring of all. It appeared to Juliana, or so she now claims, that Brendan had an impressive knowledge of how murder for hire really works. And if their plan was going to work, Juliana claims that Brendan told her she needed to follow his instructions to the letter because he really knows what he's talking about. So they had to enter into a pact of silence that would seal Christine's fate. Juliana? All in, agreed. So together, she and 15 years older father of the child she looks after, Brendan, joined forces to concoct a plan so insane it sounds almost impossible to believe. But if it was impossible, we wouldn't be here. starting a business can be overwhelming you're juggling multiple roles designer marketer logistics manager all while bringing your vision to life shopify helps millions of business sell online build fast with templates and ai descriptions and photos inventory and shipping sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl that's shopify.nl it's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Honestly, with this case, we've done a lot of cases like this. We've done a lot of cases where spouses are offing each other, that kind of thing. We've seen the hitman for hire. We've seen the like, you know, oh, it was an intruder, all of this. This one truly is fucking on another level. And we promise from the bottom of our hearts and the hearts of our bottoms, every word we're about to tell you is true. Yeah. So with a hired hitman out to the question, Brendan needed to prepare Juliana for battle. While Brendan had undergone firearms training and he did carry a service weapon for his job, Juliana had never so much as held a gun before. So Brendan takes her to a firing range several times over the next few months. You ever fired a gun? No, I haven't. I would. I'd go to a firing range. But I feel like I'd probably just hurt myself. I think my issue with firing ranges is the only thing stopping the person next to you from shooting you is social construction. Or is it millions of years of biological evolution? No, as in like if they decided to just turn around and shoot you, they literally could. You feel like that when you're in a car though. Oh, I feel like that in the car all the time. It's a death machine on wheels. And I literally could just go, whoa, and then it would all be over. Okay, I'm not going to go to a shooting range with you. No, no, I, my cousin, like, I think shooting is one of those things that, like, if you go to a shooting range, it can be one of those things that you're magically amazing at. Yeah. Like, my cousin is one of those people. She just went to a firing range with her father-in-law, and she's amazing at it. Never, ever touched one before, and she's assassin marksman. How will you know until you get that? Because I once played laser attack against my will. Oh, I used to just hide under the bunk beds in the World War II section. I was top gun. Were you really? I was top gun. Is it because they can't see you coming? I don't know because actually I turned up for work that day and I was wearing heels. As much. Before pre-COVID so I used to actually wear heels to work and now my feet can't get into heels anymore. And I completely forgot that we were going to play laser tag as a team after work. And I was like, oh, they just can't come anymore. And they were like, no, you're coming. They'll have some spare shoes you can borrow. We got there. They didn't have spare shoes I could borrow. And even if they did, they would be full of fungus. Exactly. Disgusting. And so I was like, well, I guess I'm just playing in my fucking heels then. And I fucking got Top Gun. And I was like, fuck you all. I'm the best. I think I always used to get lamb to the slaughter. I think it was. I love her, not a fire. I think it was just like a gross misunderstanding. I'm just more of a hand-to-hand combat guy. There you go. That's better. When the end times come, you know, we haven't got any guns. Anyway. In the end times, I won't be trying to survive. What would be the point? So anyway, he takes her to this range. And he gets her shooting. And the thing I found interesting about this was this prep work that they're doing. You'd think it would be kept top secret. It was not. Because Juliana would post pictures of them at the gun range on her Instagram. One time she even used the caption, this hottie, talking about Brendan, takes a good photo. Does he? No. I don't know if she means takes a good photo as in you can take good photos of him or he takes good photos of her. Oh, probably that one. Yeah. So yes, while some men buy their mistresses diamonds, Brendan bought Juliana, after he deemed her to be ready, a handgun. According to her, Brendan still wasn't sure exactly how they were going to get rid of Christine yet. But he was working hard to try and meticulously cover all the bases in the lead up to whatever they were going to end up doing. And those drastic measures even involved triple glazing the entire house and testing how soundproof it all was by getting Juliana to stand in various rooms and scream. And chillingly, all the while, Christine Banfield went on with her life with no idea of these twisted plans. Working back-breaking shifts as a nurse, she had no clue that her hubby and her au pair were coldly plotting to take her out. All that was left was for Brendan Banfield to decide how he was going to do it. In January 2023, Brendan finally had the brainwave he'd been waiting for. He told Juliana that they should set up a fake profile in Christine's name on a website that we have covered before, FetLife. which, if you are uninitiated, is a forum where people with extreme kinks from a bit of cheeky BDSM to the darkest of fetishes. It's a place where they can all connect and share their fantasies. Brendan claimed that he'd never used the site himself but he just heard about it. Sure. But according to Giuliana, the plan was that they would set up an account for Christine and used the sight to find an unwitting stooge to come to the house, expecting a kinky BDSM encounter with a bored housewife. Only for them to stage a scene where it would look like things had gone sideways for the man, and the man had killed Christine. So they had killed him in self-defence after stumbling across the horror. Not a great working knowledge of what self-defence means there. I guess it's like, well, he's in my house and he's killing my wife. And there are a lot of ways that spouses decide to off each other. And Brenda Banfield is a piece of shit, but one with an imagination. You've got to give it to him, kind of. The next step was to try and reel in this horny second unsuspecting victim. So, a swimming costume selfie that Christine had snapped at the gym and sent to her husband Brendan appeared on a FetLife profile under the username Anastasia9. Spelled wrong, it's not how you spell Anastasia. Yeah. And he swiftly got a bite from a user called Tacosupreme7000. Is there a more supreme number than 7000? I don't think so. No, there's not. Or a more supreme food. Otherwise, tacos, not particularly sexy. No, I wouldn't be going for it. But fake Christine definitely did. Because the man behind the tacos was 39-year-old Joseph Joe Ryan. And he, just a normal bloke. He lived with his grandma and dog in Washington, D.C. And basically enjoyed like some pretty nerdy hobbies like LARPing with his friends in his spare time. So what was Joe doing on FetLife? Well, underneath his exterior, quite normal man, taco man vibes, Joe had a very specific taste for blood. Literally. To be specific, he was into knife play. A type of BDSM where the dominant partner inflicts superficial wounds on their sub to make them bleed. which both participants seemingly get a kick out of. Now those who knew Joe say that he was actually pretty open about his fetishes and while some of them were pretty extreme they insist that he was not a violent person in real life and his friend Don Arnold called him an old-fashioned man who respected women. He just happened to have a very particular appetite in the bedroom And he was searching for a gal who could bring those fantasies to life. And that's how Joe Ryan found Anna double N Anastasia nine, the FetLife user with Christine's photo. Now, it is important to clarify that messages were exchanged between the two accounts. But just like on Reddit, there is no way of saying who actually wrote them. But the police, and we, believe that it was never Christine on the other side of the keyboard. Instead, it was Brendan and Juliana pretending to be her. Because people will be like, well, you can use IP, blah, blah, blah. Like, the computer used is not in dispute. The home in which it's happening is not in dispute. It is who is the actual, literal person who is typing out those messages that is in dispute. But not really, because it definitely wasn't Christine. The account was always accessed from Christine's computer at times when she was at home and that might sound like a logistical nightmare but according to Juliana, that was deliberate Brendan told her that they had to make sure that they had alibis ensuring that Christine's movements would match up with the timing of the messages when the inevitable investigation took place He's not wrong Everything was done with ice precision and premeditation But Joe Ryan had no idea he been catfished I don think you can have an idea you been catfished otherwise you haven been catfished You've just been like, you're not who you say you are. True. Unless it's been going on for a really long time and then you write into Catfish, the catfish show, and you're like, I think I'm being catfished. What a show. Because I don't know how to use reverse Google image. Now, unsurprisingly, the messages between Anastasia and Joe Ryan quickly turned spicy. Anastasia claimed that she cheated on her husband regularly to engage in rough sex with strangers, and so Joe was more than happy to volunteer as tribute. They discussed meeting up in person to carry out an elaborate rape fantasy role play, where Joe would come over to the Banfield home and act like a violent intruder, tearing off Christine's pyjamas with a knife and forcing himself on her. And in these messages from Anastasia9, Christine the person even says if I'm screaming if I'm crying if I'm telling you to stop ignore me carry on it's all part of the game now we get this is an incredibly dodgy area but look it's worth saying that at least from Joe Ryan's understanding of events all he was doing was taking part in a consensual role play scenario obviously could people who are engaging in this sort of thing take a few more precautions like hey i want to meet you and i want you to tell me face to face that that's what you want me to do maybe but as far as he is aware christine's on board with this agreeing a safe word is pretty standard i would say this this too it feels like you're left a lot of there's like a lot of holes been left in this for problems to occur but as we have also said on this show multiple times when people are horny they don't think clearly that's One of the main things I've learned in 10 years. Never a truer word. And look, I will also point out that as far as Joe Ryan's concerned, he also spoke on the phone to Christine. Because records show a voice call on the Telegram messaging app where Joe spoke to who he thought was Anastasia. But it was probably Juliana doing the talking. And so knowing that they had this voice call, plus the context of the messages that we can physically read, it seems that they were probably firming up plans for an in-person tryst on the 24th of February. So a week or so before, Brendan and Juliana traded in their phones and wiped their iCloud data. So the stage was set for the big day. But Christine Banfield, she was still very much in the dark. As for what happened on Tuesday the 24th of February 2023, we should probably start with what the authorities saw and heard on that fateful morning. The 911 call came in at 8.02am. And what's your name and what's going on? My name is Brendan Banfield. I'm a federal agent. This is my house. There's somebody here. I shot him. He stabbed her. She's bleeding. She's got several marks on her neck. What do I do? Okay. So what I need you to do is apply direct pressure directly to where she's bleeding from, okay? And if it becomes silk, just add more cloth to what is already there. i think we can all agree that call is incredibly fucking cringe like firstly juliana she sounds like she's on drugs she's so like um my friend's been stabbed like i don't know what to do anymore like at least try sound a bit panicked and look we've done a lot of these calls before on people like they sound too panicked they sound too out of breath they sound a bit too but come on this is a little bit too far in the other direction and then him brendan manfield the whole i'm a federal agent and he was in my house and i shut him like the man is on a fucking power trip this entire case this is this man on a power trip i'm like you're a fucking irs investigator weeding out tax evaders at most like calm the fuck down there isn't a lame a federal agent no there isn't. It is like the most lame form you could be and still be technically a federal agent. He's such a fucking loser. I can't stand him. First responders rushed to the house of the federal agent where Joe Ryan lay dead from gunshot wounds and Christine Banfield was barely clinging to life, having been stabbed multiple times in the neck. Paramedics tried valiantly to save Christine, who was unable to speak. Brendan rode with Christine in the ambulance, but it was too late. 37-year-old Christine Banfield tragically died soon after arriving at the hospital. When doctors told Brendan the news, he broke down in a fit of tears. Seemingly a grieving husband struck dumb by a senseless tragedy. Hi, sir. My name is Tina. I'm one of the doctors here. Your wife has died. whatever brendan shut the fuck up like look i get it what would i do if i was pretending to cry in front of people i'm not saying it's an easy thing to do but like he's just so skeezy i can't stand him it's despicable So while this is all going on at the hospital, back at the Banfield home, officers took four-year-old Valerie into protective custody. And a shaken Juliana told first responders her version of events. Mom. And then it was too fast. They were yelling at each other. He was saying, like, drop the... I'm sorry, my first thing was just... No, no, no, you're doing really well. He was saying drop the... The knife or the gun? The gun. And Brendan said, no, police, don't drop the knife. And then he was saying, I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her. And I don't know, he stabbed, he started stabbing her. Brendan, I think Brendan shot him. I can't stand. Can you say, how you say... How you say... Sogoya? i just i oh oh oh english isn't my first language and they're like you're doing a great job and she's like i am aren't i i'm america ferrera if they ever make this into a movie i sincerely hope america ferrera plays her and then when she pretends she can't remember the english word for gun i'm like shut the the the the and they're like gun no gun gun shut up you've got pictures on your Instagram viewer a fucking gun range. She's such a fucking doink. I can't stand her. I also feel like in environments when your adrenaline is running is when your second language is the best. That's when you're firing on all cylinders. On all guns. So yeah, she basically does this little role play and then she tells her story, right? She claimed that she had gone out for a trip to the zoo with Valerie that morning, leaving the house just after Brendan had left for work at about 10 past seven in the morning. Shortly after leaving though, she said that she realised that she'd left hers and Valerie's packed lunches at home and so she turned back. When she returned to the house at 7.20am, she said, I keep wanting to call her America Ferrera, no, Juliana said that she saw a strange car in the driveway and she saw a man entering the house. She said she went into the house and called for Christine but got no answer. so she rang Brendan and asked him to come home immediately. They then went into the house together where she took Valerie to the basement whilst Brendan went upstairs. Juliana said that she then heard a commotion so she ran upstairs where Brendan was yelling Police officer, drop the knife! Inside the bedroom she saw Christine naked and bleeding on the floor and a man she didn't know lying motionless nearby and a panicked Brendan leaning over Christine trying to help her. Then the other man, the one she didn't know, moved. He wasn't dead. Brendan then ordered Juliana to get another gun out of the bedroom safe, giving her the code. Juliana said she shakily took the gun and shot the stranger in the chest. After that, she called 911. Brendan repeated the exact same story as Juliana to authorities. their accounts were aligning seamlessly. On the surface, this looked like a home invasion gone terribly wrong. Brendan Banfield was the bereft husband who had tried to save his poor wife to no avail, with Juliana the loyal au pair trying to help her bosses and protect their little girl. Quickly, the police found the FetLife messages, and they started to consider that this could have been a sexual meeting between Christine and Joe that had somehow gone sideways. So from Brandon's point of view, everything was going perfectly to plan. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. But soon there were details that just didn't add up. Firstly, it seemed odd to investigators that Juliana and Brendan seemed so sure of their timelines. And Juliana is literally like, I left at 7.10. I went down the road. We came back at 7.20. I called Brendan. We waited outside. We went in at this time. Like, it's very, very, very precise. And they're just like, that's not typically how people remember traumatic things. Right. So they're immediately like a little bit questioning about this. Then is the big red flag, which is Christine's alleged behavior. it seemed massively out of character to this married mum who's a nurse all of her friends insisted that she had always been faithful to her husband and no one in her life was aware of any kinks that christine had like being into bdsm now of course she could have just kept that a secret for most people these things are incredibly private so it's not exactly completely unusual or that none of her loved ones knew what she liked in bed. But yeah, there's more to it later. But the way the tryst had been planned also didn't quite ring true. Christine had worked a long shift as a nurse the day before, so naturally it would be expected to have a bit of a lie-in on her day off. Would she really plan a kinky meet-up just after 7am, moments after her husband, her daughter and their au pair were due to leave the house. 7am BDSM. Sounds bad. Pretty intense. Now, Juliana and Brendan's accounts of Joe Ryan's death were also incredibly confusing. A medical examiner concluded that Brendan's first shot to Joe Ryan's head would have at least partially blinded or demobilised him. In other words, he wouldn't have really been an active threat. Now, of course, look, in the heat of the moment, filled with fear, there's a stranger in your house. It is believable that Brendan could still have perceived this man as being a threat and shocked him. That wouldn't have been that weird. And also, come on, if this was real, emotions are running incredibly high. This man broke into your house and stabbed your wife in the neck. Like, who would blame him really for shooting twice, right? what's odd though is that brendan who was already armed and who still had bullets in his gun and who had already shot the intruder once why didn't he just shoot the man again instead remember what actually happened according to brendan and juliana he called juliana his au pair who as far as he knows doesn't know how to fucking shoot a gun to go and get another gun that was locked up in a safe in another room, go get that, come in and shoot this man. If you think he's such a threat, just shoot him. You're the law enforcement officer with a gun. Not going to send the, like, basically child I employ to go and get another one. I don't know. That's the thing that didn't make sense. It didn't feel like it fit the natural pattern of what a person would do who was in that kind of situation, even under extreme stress. And then there's the 911 calls. As it turned out, Juliana placed more than one call to the emergency services that morning. The first was made at 7.47am, where dispatchers heard what they called a guttural moan followed by silence. A minute passed, then two more calls connected within seconds of each other. Again, the caller didn't speak. The last call was made at 8.02am where Juliana begged for help and Brendan took over and explained what happened and that he was a federal agent, as we just played you. Between the first and final calls, there were 13 minutes. If you hold your breath for 30 minutes, you're dead. And in the context of saving someone's life, someone who's bleeding out on the floor, it's an especially long time. But that's not even the worst bit. Most damningly of all, Juliana failed to mention those earlier calls to the police when she was telling them what happened. Deputy Commonwealth's attorney, Kelsey Gill, said in a press conference that it was, quote, not what a person in that situation would do unless they were trying to cover something up. Finally, there was the forensic side of things The strangest of all Because the blood patterns at the scene Just didn't add up with Juliana and Brendan's story Firstly, some of the blood at the scene Was already dried God Secondly, the blood from Joe Ryan's wounds Appeared to have flowed in several different directions as if he'd been repositioned after he'd been shot in ways that he couldn't have done himself given his injuries. Do they not teach you that in federal tax school? Apparently not. As for Christine, her neck was absolutely covered in gashes of varying depths. Some were superficial, almost like tentative paper cuts made with just the tip of the knife. Typically what you see, kind of hesitation marks. or what actually happens when you're doing knife play. Like we've said this a hundred times, the difference between a sex game, even one including a knife, and actually killing someone miles apart. Yeah. Because she also had some very, very deep wounds, the deepest of which was 2.5 inches deep, which had severed her carotid artery and jugular vein. Christine would have bled out rapidly. But what was really interesting is that some of the blood wasn't where it should have been. Or should we say some of the blood wasn't how it should have been? Because if someone stabs a person in the neck multiple times, you'd expect to see blood spray on the attacker's clothes and body, particularly when one of the wounds has cut the carotid artery. And a lot of it. Yeah, absolutely. You'd also expect to see transferred blood on them, like in big pools from where you're trying to hold the person down that you're stabbing. But forensic investigators found that Christine's blood actually looked like it had been smeared onto Joe Ryan's arms. The police smelled a big fat rat. A very embarrassed, humiliating rat. That shat itself. And then smeared it all over the walls. The investigation went on for several months, during which time Brendan and Juliana were free. Bizarrely, Juliana continued living at the family home with Brendan and Valerie. Shockingly, a victim liaison officer named Sally Fiers witnessed Valerie asking Juliana, Valerie's the kid, should I call you mummy now? And are you going to marry daddy? so nothing's behind closed doors it would appear juliana responds i wish yeah because look kids she's four kids ask weird questions right but very often within the context of the situation they are in absolutely but juliana responding i wish in front of a fucking liaison officer are you all right like it's just oh my god she's so confused poor valerie this horrible thing has happened to her she's so confused instead she's like yeah fucking wish kid a fucking wish she is so stupid police were starting to suspect that the relationship between juliana and brendan might run a little bit deeper than just boss and employee and their hunch was eventually confirmed on the day of the murders officers had taken photos of the house including juliana's room There was a Brazilian flag on the wall, and her clothes were in the wardrobe. Nearly seven months later, though, in October 2023, they returned to the house with a search warrant and took yet more photos. Only now there had been a pretty significant change. Juliana's clothes and lingerie were now all in the master bedroom, where framed photos of the Banfields had been replaced with lovey-dovey shots of Juliana and Brendan. sleeping in that woman's bed is sick it's also disgusting they're so stupid as well they're so stupid it's been seven months since your wife was murdered in that house i mean i'm not even gonna do this because she was murdered but not by joe ryan by you and to just it's like if you rob a bank the number one rule is don't immediately start living like you just robbed a bank Well, don't play with real money when you're playing Monopoly. All good tips. All good tips. So if you are going to plot and murder your wife with your fucking mistress, don't immediately start a relationship with your mistress very publicly. Maybe just wait a little bit longer. But they don't. They were very openly a couple, with Juliana taking Christine's place before she was barely fucking cold. And this, of course, spiked investigators' interest. and so more searches were done and they quickly discovered that the pair had been having an affair for over a year with online evidence detailing their extramarital antics behind Christine's back. Now while the affair between Brendan and Juliana wasn't exactly proof in itself it put a whole new spin on the case that couldn't be ignored and this is the thing if they hadn't very openly been a couple. Their affair might never have even been discovered, which just points to how fucking stupid this whole thing. Investigators were finally asking the question, were the foreign au pair and her skeezy boss in cahoots to get rid of his wife? Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. In October 2023, Juliana was charged with the second degree murder of Joe Ryan. The second shot to the chest by Juliana was judged to be the fatal blow that killed him. She was held in jail for almost a year while Brendan stayed free. Yeah, this feels very like, I think if they genuinely believed that Joe Ryan was a man who had broken into the house to kill Christine, I don't think they'd be bringing any charges against Juliana. This is a ploy. Split them up, divide and conquer, get her into jail she's the weak link she's much more likely to crack they obviously pin him as being the mastermind and they're like we get her away we test their loyalties to each other we put the pressure on and then we see if they crack brendan even remained a tax spy he remained working for the irs although he was placed on suspension pending investigation so he worked as an Uber driver. Fuck, that is terrifying. Turn your location on, ladies. During this time, Juliana's lawyer tried to do damage control by publicly claiming the affair between Juliana and Brendan wasn't really that deep. Juliana was on dating apps, and the Banfields allegedly weren't sexually exclusive. Meanwhile, a smitten Juliana stayed loyal to Brendan Banfield behind bars. She sent him gushing letters where she promised that she would never do anything to hurt him, vowing to take the blame for everything if she had to. The pages were littered with love hearts smiley faces and soppy phrases like always yours She even assured Brendan mum who she affectionately called her mother that she wouldn switch up on Brendan insisting that no matter what the police offered her she just would not take it. I would pay money to know what Brendan's mum has to say. Well, they're paying for her defence. so juliana was standing by her man until she wasn't yeah because after almost a year behind bars juliana fell ill and was hospitalized needing gallbladder surgery around this time her letters to her mum back in brazil took on an increasingly desperate tone she was complaining that she was absolutely miserable in prison and longing to come back home. And to make matters worse, Juliana wasn't quite feeling the love from Brendan in the way that she had at the start of her stint in the clink. Gave her the stay straight at the gate. Juliana wrote to a friend that she was starting to realise that the only thing she and Brendan had in common was sex. She moaned that she was pissed off with him, as he apparently kept flaking on coming to visit her. And with her own trial looming, Juliana was clearly panicking about the outcome, writing that she'd never forgive herself if she couldn't see her family again. But luckily for Juliana, there was light at the end of the tunnel. By now, Brendan Banfield was facing his own charges of aggravated murder, a firearms offence and one count of child endangerment against his daughter Valerie, because she was in the house when her mother was killed. As far as the prosecution were concerned, the big kahuna in this case was Brendan Banfield, the man they suspected of masterminding the plot to murder his own wife and a stranger. And while they had Brendan in the crosshairs, they still weren't quite certain that a jury would definitely convict him. And that's where Juliana came in, their crown jewel, the one he would least suspect. Prosecutors offered Juliana a sweetheart deal. If she spilled the beans and testified against Brendan Banfield, they would reduce her own charges to involuntary manslaughter, and she would face a maximum sentence of just 10 years, which, compared to the time she'd served for second-degree homicide, was definitely sweet. They even hinted that if she played a blinder as the star witness at Brendan's trial once it was over, she could be released with time served and just be deported back to Brazil, which is what Juliana wanted most in the world anyway. So, unsurprisingly, Juliana snapped up that sweetheart plea deal and started yapping. All eyes were on Juliana as she took the stand at Brendan's murder trial in January 2026. Under the banner of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the trial featured the same courtroom and the same judge, Penny S. Askerati, as Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's notorious defamation case. There you have it. There you have it, absolutely. And while this would have just as much scandal as that case, the trial would definitely lack the same glamour, shall we say. Because Juliana turned up to court looking very different. And I mean, like, quite literally like a different person. Like, completely. Juliana, she is now in the dock, free of her lash extensions, dyed blonde hair the red lipstick is gone she's got no makeup on at all she's got glasses on and she's dressed like in very very plain gray clothes and she's also very visibly put on quite a bit of weight very different person and this very much glowed down version of juliana which was so obviously a ploy on her part to like de-sex herself told the story that we have just gone through with you guys so far, explaining how Brendan had masterminded the whole plan to get rid of Christine and that she had just been roped into it. She also added that she'd actually got cold feet and tried to back out in the days leading up to the murders, but that Brendan Banfield told her it was too late for all that. So scared, alone in the country and hopelessly in love, Juliana claimed that she just did as he instructed. On the stand, Juliana gave her account of what actually happened on the morning of February 24th. And it was a very different story to the one she had initially told police. It laid out a meticulous itinerary that she and Brendan had prepared well in advance. Juliana admitted she never intended to go to the zoo that day with Valerie. Instead, she just drove around the corner and waited for Joe Ryan's car to arrive as expected at 7.20am. She rang Brendan, who was waiting at a local McDonald's for her call to let him know. Brendan returned and they went into the house with Valerie, who Juliana led straight down into the basement while Brendan went upstairs. Juliana then followed, hearing Brendan doing his whole freeze, I'm an officer shtick, and entered the bedroom to find the scene they had prepared playing out in real time. A terrified Christine was naked on the floor while Joe Ryan loomed over her with a knife as Brendan pulled out his service gun and shot Joe once in the head. Christine called out to Juliana and begged her to call 911. A flustered Juliana made the call while Joe Ryan moaned in agony in the background. That was the noise the dispatchers had heard on the first brief 911 call. But Brendan motioned for Juliana to hang up. So she did. And what happened next is beyond chilling. Juliana claims that she went into the bathroom to get some towels. And when she returned, Brendan Banfield had taken the kitchen knife that Joe had brought and was stabbing his own wife repeatedly. Christine was begging Brendan to let her go, but he didn't stop. He kept going, stabbing his wife seven times. Juliana says she couldn't bear to look, pacing around the room and covering her eyes. all as a terrified and confused Christine bled to death at the hands of her husband. And probably in those final moments, seeing Juliana doing nothing to help her, realising the betrayal that had taken place. As Christine bled out, Joe Ryan showed signs of movement, perhaps a final desperate attempt to survive. Juliana pulled out the gun that Brendan had given her that, as it turned out, she'd actually had on her the whole time and she shot Joe Ryan in the chest This time, Joe Ryan stopped moving for good Next, Brendan and Juliana quickly rejigged the scene to fit their story This involved wiping Christine's blood on Joe's arms to really sell the idea that he was the one who'd stabbed her Juliana opened the safe where the spare gun Brendan had brought her was usually kept to cover up the fact that she'd already had it on her Even now Brendan was callous and unremorseful Juliana claims that he was disappointed by the knife that Joe had brought for the rape fantasy since the sharper one would have made everything a bit easier After several minutes, Brendan gave Juliana the nod to phone 911 again, which explains the bizarre 13-minute gap in between the emergency calls that morning. Juliana's testimony was incredibly damning for Brendan Banfield. But the defence shot back with one very loud and very clear question. How on earth was the jury supposed to believe a word that Juliana said? And to have a dying woman beg you to call 911 and still keep going. Yeah. And also to remain like in love with a man that you've just watched. Yeah. Stab his wife in the neck seven times in front of you. And say you'll take the blame. Obviously, she doesn't stick to it. No. But like to even have that for quite a long amount of time. Oh, absolutely. She sticks to guns. juliana is she she tries to put herself across in this entire case as like this innocent victim who was like sven gali'd by fucking brendan banfield and that's just not the case but like the point in trial stands as that juliana is the star witness for the prosecution against brendan banfield she is the only way in which they're going to bring him down and he is the one that they really want. But the defense's point is a very, very good point. Like, how is the jury supposed to believe what she is saying, right? They pointed out how the sweetheart deal completely incentivized Juliana to throw Brendan under the bus. And they insisted that she was now just spouting whatever story the prosecution wanted her to say in order to save her own bacon. That's how Carla Homo got off. Absolutely. This is the tricky thing. It's like, it all comes down to in court, do you believe Juliana or do you not believe her? Brendan's defense lawyer, John Carroll, actually tried to pass a motion for the whole trial to be thrown out on the basis of Juliana's dubious integrity. But the judge refused. But Carroll, how he said, does have a point. Juliana claimed in court that she was telling the truth now because it was the right thing to do. and let's have a little listen to juliana being questioned by carol yes this is a letter that you wrote it looks like on december 8th 2023 yes and that would have been about two months after you were arrested on this charge yes correct and uh calling your attention to the highlighted portion? Did you ask something? I'm sorry I was reading it. I was asking you to read it, yes. Have you read it? Yeah, I read it. OK. And the yellow portion there, can you read that, please? Yes. Well, now that you know, parentheses, I mean, they already knew, close parentheses, that I'm not going to cooperate with them. There is nothing I can do. So I don't know what they are going to use. I mean, everything they have and can. I don't know everything. I just have the feeling they might hold me here until my trial. It can take months, years. There are many theories of what had happened set up by you, or I wasn't supposed to be there, and et cetera. OK. In this letter, which you wrote, it suggests that someone from the Commonwealth had been talking to you about cooperating against Brendan. Is that correct? No, they never talked directly with me. OK. How would they communicate that to you? Through my lawyer. Overruled. How would they communicate that to you? Through my lawyer. Okay. And so this is two months after you were arrested. And were you given an opportunity to plead guilty and cooperate at that time? Yes. Okay. And what was it that they were offering you at that time? At that point, my lawyer had said that they were offering, in exchange for my cooperation, they would offer me a misdemeanor and I would be released on time served. Okay. And you're, I guess, as I understand it, your lawyer communicated that to you and then you made the decision as to that? Yeah. And what was your decision? That I didn't want it. Okay. So you rejected the misdemeanor offer? Yes. Based on what you knew? Yes. Okay. Thank you. The defense, as you heard there, are highlighting for the jury that Juliana acknowledges that there are many theories out there regarding her involvement. You know, they're making her read out messages that she sent, and she's like, yeah, there's loads of different theories for what people think happened. And also in that message she's just been forced to read out, her willingness to change her story depending on the situation, which is not a good look for her. No, but like I also, without her, there's enough gray area for them both to get off. And that's why the judge doesn't throw out the whole case. I understand why the defense is asking for that. But sweetheart deals are normal practice for law enforcement. they're a normal part of the justice system. So of course the judge can't throw it out based on that because then there's so many cases you would set a precedent for that kind of thing. Now, Juliana also had to admit in court that part of her decision to now tell the truth or change her story, depending on how you want to look at it, was absolutely motivated by the terms of the plea deal. Again, not very helpful because the terms of the plea deal mean that she could get out with possibly time served and also be reunited with her family which is basically all that she really wants and it's very clear because that's what she's saying in her messages and carol reminded the jury that the son of sam laws in the u.s prevent convicts from making money off their cases but this doesn't apply in brazil interesting so if she gets out on a reduced prison sentence and gets deported back to Brazil, she can do whatever the fuck she wants. So Juliana could be absolutely gearing up for a big payday after her turn as the Commonwealth Star Witness. And Carol actually presented evidence of this in court in the form of jailhouse letters where Juliana actually discussed Netflix negotiations, revealing that she had been offered $10,000 to appear in a future documentary. But she still apparently wanted more. telling her mom, we deserve something. And here is a clip of John Carroll asking her to explain what exactly she means by we deserve something. What does that mean? You deserve something. That's what it says, the words, we. I know that. What do you mean? What are the details that are associated with making a statement? Yeah, okay, so also me in the future, yes. And what is it you deserve something for? For being what we've been through, my family and I, for everybody. For being what you've been through? For being through what I've been through. Okay. Okay. You were charged with murder because you shot someone. Am I wrong? No, you're not. And so why would you deserve something because of that? Not because of that. I didn't say that I deserve something because of what I did. I didn't hear any details, so feel free to tell me why. I'm saying for after, when this is over, for me and my family. And again, for everything we've been through. Okay. Now, when prior to you accepting the Commonwealth's offer and accepting the story, were you negotiating with anyone prior to taking your plea? Not that I remember. Okay. I'm sorry. Not that you remember. Yes. Okay. Were you talking to any media? Don't. Not in a reader. Okay. Was there any talk of money with anyone, no matter who it was? No. Other than people that you want to pay into your account? No. Okay. Okay, so this newfound interest in a nest egg for yourself or money for you has come about since you pled guilty and accepted their deal, correct? Well, that is correct. and you you and I guess it took a little time to go out into the future in order for you to feel comfortable doing that is that correct well yeah I was thinking about my future yes thinking it was a huge risk did you say huge risk no I was thinking about my future yes thinking about your future okay and so that gets back to where I started So that's just what this is about. Is it just thinking about your future? You can say that. Okay. Well, do you say that? I'm going to put it that way, yes. Okay. Thank you. Do you see the letter that's marked March 8th, 2025? Yes. Did you write that? Yes. Do you see the highlighted portions? I can. And, Your Honor, this is defense 68. Can you read the highlighted portion to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury? It says, I'm talking to this girl. She's an author, published books and everything. She even sent me her books to read. Her name is Kate. She works with a guy named Zacharias. We have video calls sometimes. They are the ones interested in making a documentary with Netflix about my case, interview, etc. So I'm negotiating with them regarding money, etc. And they could help me while I'm here putting money in my account. And Juliana was also forced to admit in court that Netflix producers were also paying for her commissary items while she'd been inside. Netflix. Cheeky. Cheeky. needless to say this was yet another enormous blow to juliana's credibility in the courtroom in the eyes of that jury me too to be honest she came across as a selfish grasping little piece of shit and she wasn't exactly helped by her blasé attitude on the stand either she didn't appear to show much emotion at all, even when describing the gruesome details of Christine and Joe's murders. But it's not over till it's over. The fight was still on. Prosecutors defended Juliana's switch up by putting it into context. They highlighted that she was a foreigner in the US. She was only 23 and totally dependent on the Banfields for everything from legal representation to communication with her family and she'd been reluctant to turn against her support system. Before the Netflix producers coughed up, Brendan Banfield's parents were the ones paying for her lawyer and funding the account she used to communicate with her family while in jail. Those gushing letters from Juliana to Brendan's mum in her early months inside where she promised that she wouldn't betray Brendan. Well, they just showed how Juliana relied upon the Banfields for her basic needs, seeing them as her only source of support while she was locked up and scared. And while I don't believe that's what she was doing, I can see the argument of I'm not going to tell my boyfriend's mum who's paying for me that I'm dobbing him in. Yeah, I can see that logic. They claim that Juliana turning on Brendan, And in spite of all of that, actually pointed to credibility, not against it, because she was willing to risk her safety, risk her life, risk her sentence, risk it all. To tell the truth. It's the best they've got. But ultimately, the prosecution argued that all of this was just splitting hairs anyway. because at the end of the day, Juliana's story checked out. Her testimony was not only realistically detailed, but it also completely lined up with the expert evidence that the prosecution had presented in court. They called up a blood pattern expert who confirmed that the blood appeared to have been unnaturally placed between the bodies, just like Juliana had described. The expert also pointed to blood spatter on Brendan's shoes, which wouldn't typically occur from tending to a person who had already been stabbed. Instead, it looked a lot more like cast off. Even if Juliana was just trying to tell the prosecutors what they wanted to hear, there's no way she could have got all those details so eerily accurate. Now, of course, look, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the prosecutors gave Juliana this information so that she could then tell a story that backed up the facts that they were going to present. But that would be highly corrupt behaviour. And we haven't seen any evidence that that's what they did. The first pillar of the Banfield trial, of course, was Juliana's credibility. The second was the so-called catfish theory. The prosecution consistently pushed this as an explanation for everything. The hinge for their whole case rested on it not being Christine who arranged the tryst with Joe Ryan But instead it having been a plot concocted by Brendan and Juliana to facilitate Christine murder So unsurprisingly Brendan Banfield defence set out to do all they could to dismantle it During Juliana's cross-examination, John Carroll tried to catch her out by asking specific questions about the plan, needling her on tiny details like who sent what between her and Brendan and where exactly was she in the house when she sent certain messages. Juliana couldn't always remember and often said she wasn't sure. But it was three years ago and the questions were so specific it's not that surprising. Despite minor wobbles, Juliana was pretty solid on the overall story and the messages she described sending were consistent with forensic evidence. Again, how would Juliana have such intimate knowledge of the content of the messages unless she had a hand in writing them? it's very accurate stab in the dark otherwise isn't it for a 20 something year old she was 21 at the time on a fet life website yeah and you're not native language okay but it all comes down to the question of proof and in this case it's not that straightforward the defense made the bold claim that there was zero digital evidence to conclusively prove that Juliana and Brendan used Christine's computer to send those messages. Which, annoyingly, is kind of true. Digital experts for both sides testified that there is no data-led way of proving who was behind a specific bit of communication. As one digital expert put it, the zeros and the ones stay the same. In other words, the binary code of the computer cannot tell us anything beyond the raw data, i.e. that the messages were sent and where they were sent from. They can't tell us who sent them. It's impossible to actually place someone behind the screen and assert that they were the ones who posted something, only that it came from a particular account or device. And it's this lack of certainty that the defence tried to strike on hard during the trial. That's all they have to do. Just enough. And then Brian's defence attorney, Carol, stepped things up a gear to conspiracy. He alleged that as the catfish theory started to be pushed by investigators, both the lead homicide detective and another forensic detective who disagreed with the theory were quietly transferred onto different cases. Carol pointed to an earlier report written by forensic detective Brendan Miller, which concluded that Christine was, in fact, the user behind the activity on her device before he was unceremoniously pulled off the case. Carroll described turmoil inside the police department, insinuating that there was a party line to follow, even if the evidence didn't fit. Now, Detective Miller's boss confirmed on the stand that Miller was indeed pulled from the case after making a wrongful deduction in his report. But this wasn't because he came to a different conclusion than the one that they wanted him to. it was because he had made a call that couldn't possibly be proven by the digital evidence alone. So basically what they're saying is Miller does say, I think these were written by Christine. I can prove that these were written by Christine. But like we've already said, no forensic analyst worth their salt should ever or could ever be making that kind of a conclusive statement based on pure data, which is all that Miller had. Essentially, Miller wasn't taken off the case because he disagreed with the leading theory. He was taken off the case because he fucked up by saying something he couldn't possibly prove. That's what you want. Yeah. That's who you want on the case. Despite what John Carroll might want you to believe, there's no such thing as a silver bullet when it comes to digital forensics, at least not in this story. Way more important is the fact that the prosecutors did actually present solid contextual evidence in support of the so-called catfish theory. They pointed to several occasions when Juliana and Brendan were known to be away from the house, like another weekend they spent in New York with Valerie that corresponded with a conspicuous lack of activity on those accounts on Christine's computer. This, I think, is so much more interesting, right? Because they obviously, according to Juliana and according to the evidence, all of the messages are sent when at least two of them, including Christine, is in the house. But when Brendan and fucking Juliana aren't in the house, then Christine's not sending all of these saucy messages. Make it make any sort of sense, please. Like, that to me is so conspicuous. Yeah. If Christine was messaging kinky suitors behind her husband's back, surely the perfect time to do that would be when she had the place to herself. All right. Defense comes in and they're like, no, no, no. Part of the thrill was her almost getting caught. So when they weren't in the house, it wasn't that interesting for her to send these messages. Like, that's the only thing they could say that would make any sense. Because they've even taken Valerie with them on these dirty weekends for some reason. Which, like, how was that explained? Well, that's the only reason that it would make any sense that Juliana has to go. But I still don't get it. Oh, okay, I see. Still, though, like, you'd be suspicious. I can imagine it spun from Brendan, like, you're so busy at work. you're so busy at work. Let me not leave Juliana, our au pair, at home with our daughter and let me take you away for a nice weekend in New York. I will go to New York and take our child and our nanny. You know you've always said you love this house. And you stay here. But don't you send any fucking kinky messages behind my back. The messages were always sent when either Brendan or Juliana were also at home with Christine. Juliana testified that they would take advantage of Christine being wiped out after a long work day to take her laptop from her backpack and use it without her knowing. And prosecutor Jenna Sands pointed out that a new email account was made to create the FetLife account. So any correspondence wouldn't go into Christine's actual inbox that she used in her daily life. It would go to a different one. So you could easily interpret that as someone trying to hide it from her. Now look, you could also make the argument that you're up to no good, you're going to create a burner email account to use on this website. Maybe. But here's the real kicker. Officers testified in court that they reviewed all of Christine's accounts and online activity across several years prior to the murders. And guess what they didn't fucking find? there was zero evidence that she had ever accessed or made accounts on any similar fetish or sex related websites this is what i said earlier the fact that none of her friends knew and they were all like this doesn't sound like christine at all sure that could just be something you keep secret but nobody keeps secret from their fucking internet usage what fetishes they're into right? Like that is just not believable. As Lieutenant David Gyakko put it, she had never so much as visited a porn site. So with all these factors considered, did Christine honestly sound like the sort of person who would engage in X-rated chats with a stranger and then invite them over to pretend to rape her? The prosecution said no. But whether it would be enough to sway the jury was another matter. And this brings us on to one of the most interesting moments of the whole trial. This really just like, yeah, this is it for me. Christine's dad was called to testify. But rather than tugging the jury's heartstrings with a grieving father's memories of his daughter, the state's questioning focused strictly on the clinical stuff. Specifically, the blood clotting disorder that Christine suffered from. Her dad explained that Christine bled and bruised incredibly easily and it was something she'd had since childhood, to the extent that the hospital had to make special precautions when Christine gave birth to her daughter Valerie. When nudged, he indicated that Brendan was also well aware of this disorder. Now we can see why the prosecution went down this road. It got across the idea that Brendan most likely chose to stab Christine as the manner of murder because he knew that she was at a higher risk of bleeding out more quickly than most people. And they also insinuated that Christine's known blood disorder would make her less likely to engage in knife play in the bedroom. It would be, unlike many a sex game, an actual risk to her life. And she was a nurse. She would know that. You could say that perhaps Christine may still have engaged in the kink despite the danger, and sure, that is possible, but if you put that together with the lack of any kinky internet history whatsoever, I just don't think so. No. So the trial rolled on. And all the while, the media frenzy continued to grow. The attention of the press really honed in on Juliana, the scheming au pair at the centre of the drama. Whilst Brendan remained very aloof, he always sits quietly in the dock, showing very little emotion, just scribbling a fuck-ton of notes. It's honestly so, so annoying to watch. There is so much footage of this trial out there, and I watched far too many hours of this yesterday. And all he does all the time, he's doing fake writing. He is doing pretend writing. I'm just like, what are you fucking writing? Whenever anyone is testifying, he's just like, and scribbling away on his little fucking notepad. Like, what are you writing? Your fucking memoirs. Like, shut the fuck up. There's even a point, and this was just so like striking, there's even a point where in court, they play the body cam footage of one of the first responders. And they don't show it, obviously, on the YouTube, but you know that the people in the courtroom are seeing the incredibly bloody scene that those officers met. Christine had been stabbed in the neck seven times and Joe Ryan had been shot twice. People look horrified. Even Brendan Banfield's lawyer like puts his hand to his mouth like he's shocked by what he's seen, even though I'm sure he's seen it before. But Brendan Banfield just goes back to writing notes. He's a fucking Apart from... Norbert. The few moments where he took the time to wipe away a singular tear from his eye. Yeah. But if you actually look at his face, bone dry. There's no tits there. Towards the end of his trial, the jury and public finally got their chance to hear Brendan's side of the story bold move. Yeah. The defence chose to put him on the stand to testify, leaving himself bang open to a cross-examination. I couldn't believe it. And it backfired spectacularly, but I can't say that anyone is surprised. No. When testifying, Brendan Banfield comes across exactly as you might expect. he's incredibly cold, he's incredibly callous, and he comes across incredibly arrogantly. He admitted to having cheated on Christine multiple times in the past, though he also shrugged off and said she had affairs too. Something that couldn't be verified by anyone else, though. He seemed to roll his eyes and get sarcastic when questioned by prosecutor Jenna Sands. He clearly thinks, when he's speaking, that he is the smartest person in the room. Oh, yeah. That's his whole vibe. I can feel it through the notes and this is where prosecutor Jenna Sands honestly came into her own on cross-examination she grilled Brendan about the holes in his story of which there were many specifically about how his claims on the stand that he wasn't really that into Juliana were total bullshit and Jenna Sands came armed with the receipts like messages where a seemingly smitten Brendan suggests baby names for his and Juliana's future children. Trage. And on top of that, Sands offered a compelling motive. A desperate Brendan went through with the murders, at least partly, to keep his sexy little 21-year-old mistress from leaving him. And there was still one last bonus in store for the Commonwealth, and oh my God, it is so good. In the trial footage, you see the prosecutor say, Jenna stands. She stands up and she says, we've got a new witness, judge. We've got a new witness. It's a rebuttal witness who came forward only last night. So it's a complete surprise to us. His name is Thomas Smith. T. Smith. And the defense attorney, Carol, he stands up and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who is this guy? You can't just randomly bring up a new witness that we've never heard about. And they're like, it's a rebuttal witness. It's rebutting something your fucking client who you never should have put on the bloody stand said therefore we can bring them forward as a surprise and the judge is like what do you want to you can have a chat about this but the judge says i'm not going to refute a rebuttal witness that that's totally legit of her to do and they could only come forward because of something he said so fair is fair and it is so funny because while john carroll is like who is this guy who's t smith who's thomas smith The camera cuts to Brendan Manfield and he's like, oh shit. Oh shit. This last minute witness was none other than Brendan's manager from the IRS. Thomas Smith? Yeah. That's why he knows because he's like, but that's my boss. After hearing Brendan testify that he had an early meeting scheduled at work, With his boss on the morning of the murders, Thomas Smith personally reached out to testify. That's a real federal agent. I love this so much. Because, yeah, Brendan's whole story is like, well, I left at seven because I had this really important business meeting I had to go to. And that's why I was in such a rush. And he's like, I want to testify. And he dropped the bombshell that no such meeting was ever planned. And in fact, Brendan's supervisors were all out of the office that week. I really hope that Thomas Smith always hated Brandon. Oh, yeah. And he was just waiting for his moment. And he never, ever thought that it would be this good. It's so good. So, of course, that blew Brandon's whole story wide open. and proved him conclusively to be a big fat liar, a bounder and a cat. Because, as we mentioned earlier, he wasn't at a business meeting. He was hiding in a McDonald's toilet. And the prosecution had the CCTV to prove that. Because he's allowed to run his mouth saying that he was at a meeting, but they find out he's at the McDonald's, they get the CCTV, and now they've also got Thomas Smith to be like, there was no meeting. So it's not like he thought there was a meeting, he left, there wasn't a meeting, he goes to McDonald's. There was no fucking meeting. Beautifully played how they wait till the end to really harpoon him. Absolutely. So after deliberating for almost nine hours on the 4th of February, 2026, the day before the eve of today, the day before we sat down to record this very episode that you're listening to or watching with your eyes, the jury returned with a verdict. Brendan Banfield. was found guilty on all charges, including the aggravated first-degree murders of both his wife Christine Banfield and Joe Ryan. He is expected to be sentenced to life because, surprisingly to me, Virginia doesn't have the death penalty. Brendan showed zero emotion when the verdict was read out, which isn't that surprising. the fact that he meticulously plotted to murder the mother of his child in cold blood, as well as a perfect fucking stranger, just to avoid custody issues and financial battles in a future divorce, is truly chilling. Not to mention that he was more than happy to run the risk of essentially orphaning his own daughter, or at the very least, taking from her a loving mother. Brendan Banfield treated Christine like she was just some sort of admin annoyance. And he had no problem whatsoever in smearing her reputation as well as taking her life. And smearing the reputation of Joe Ryan as some sort of rapist murderer. And Banfield, look, he is no different to other killers. The two that really stuck out to me, Chris Watts, Scott Peterson. men who wanted to start over with a brand new life and a brand new wife completely unburdened by the past they don't want a divorce and then have to be a divorcee and then have this ex-wife that's like hanging around wanting your money like wanting you to co-parent they're like nah fuck that shit i'm done with you i'm on to this get the fuck out and i don't care that you will your life will be over so that i can have what i want and that psychopathy makes it easy for them to destroy basically anyone who stands in their way. And I think what's really interesting is that Brendan Banfield obviously recognised the similarities between himself and such killers, which is why I think he worked so hard to come up with what he thought was going to be this foolproof plan. I feel like he really studied other crimes and he's like, right, why did this guy get caught? Why did this guy get caught? And he's like, what I need is a solid reason for why she's been stabbed and why I'm shooting this person. And he's like, this is it. I'll set up this elaborate scheme. And his narcissistic ego, which I think, you know, I don't have to be a fucking psychiatrist to say that, clearly made him believe that he was clever enough to get away with this. He's a federal agent. He's a federal agent. Of course he is. Fucking hell. Not everyone can be a federal agent. Quite. As for Juliana, most likely she'll be headed back to Brazil with that Netflix deal in her back pocket. The state's gambit paid off. Her testimony was a huge part of what solidified the case against Brendan Banfield, and likely what put him behind bars. Without her cooperation, I don't think they could have conclusively proven the case against him. I really do think there would have been enough grey area to wobble a jury. but it does sting that juliana literally got away with murder and escaped with basically zero consequences what she can't go back to the u.s i think she's just gonna go back to brazil she'll dye her hair again like get a netflix deal write a book do something and then she can just get enough plastic surgery that no one will reckon i can recognize her now like and she's just gonna go on living her life because the fact is like giuliana knew exactly what she was doing she had so many opportunities to prevent this tragedy from happening and she didn't take a single one of them christine begs her to call 911 and she keeps going she's a co-conspirator hands down i won't say instigator i do think it was brendan's idea i don't think it's full carla homelka where it was like or like myra i don't think it's that but co-conspirator absolutely and she wiggled out of it without the sentence she truly deserved like she's killed a man yeah she shot him in this point blank and like i honestly thought like this isn't entirely clear to me but i was like did brendan manfield make her shoot joe ryan so that she is equally implicated in like getting her hands dirty but like she never says that she just says i had the gun i shot him she doesn't say he ordered me to shoot him which why wouldn't you say that when you're already ratting him out so that makes you look better this is what i mean i don't know so we do really truly hope that christine bamfield and joe ryan's loved ones feel like justice has been served but i don't know i understand how it has come to this and at least it is a very solid conviction for him he'll have a really hard time wiggling out of it which i think is in the end what justifies it and i do think it's justifiable it's just a real fucking kicker that she got away with it really is he won't get out of prison now i mean you know double first degree aggravated homicide like he's done but i'd be pissed if i were christine's family that fucking juliana just gets to swan off back to brazil it's a bit unsatisfying yes the end but But we did it less than 24 hours after the verdict. Don't say we never give you nothing. There you go. That is it, guys. And I know a lot of people have like reading the comments under like a lot of the trial footage. A lot of people have very like complicated feelings about sweetheart deals and about like the prosecution using Juliana to make this happen. It is tricky. I'm not going to deny that. but like if only one of them was going to go to prison or if only either of them was going to go to prison, I'm glad that it's Brendan Banfield and I'm glad it's for the rest of his fucking life. I agree. I do think without her, it could have been either of them. Yeah, absolutely. Because it's not one of those cases where you're like, where I was particularly like, oh, did he do it? Didn't he do it? Oh, yeah. He fucking did it. Yeah, it's just how to prove that in court. Absolutely. And Juliana was totally the linchpin to make that happen, unfortunately. So that's it, guys. that is the case of the murder of christine banfield and the murder of joe ryan who again i feel like christine is barely spoken about really as most victims end up not being but joe ryan is like a completely fucking random uninvolved person in this and i watched an interview with his mother and it's just completely heartbreaking like it he did not know what was going on and obviously it's a bit tricky with people maybe feeling unfavorably about people having rape fantasies and knife play and stuff like that. But I have to reiterate, he 100% believed if you read the messages that he was taking part in something consenting with another adult. Which happens. Which happens. So yeah. That's it. There you go. Thank you for listening. Be good. Thank you for watching and we will see you next time for something else. Goodbye. Bye.