A Brazilian au pair who was having an affair with her employer pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday and will cooperate with prosecutors when they try her ex-lover on murder charges in the 2023 killings of his wife and another man, the authorities said.
The guilty plea by the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, 24, in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Va., was the latest twist in a case that has drawn widespread attention and generated true-crime podcasts and social media discourse from São Paulo to the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Ms. Magalhães had been having an affair with her employer, Brendan Banfield, a former agent for the criminal division of the Internal Revenue Service, according to prosecutors. On the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, the police found Mr. Banfield’s wife, Christine Banfield, 37, close to death after being stabbed, and another man, Joseph Ryan, 38, shot dead in the Banfield’s home in Herndon, Va., about 20 miles northwest of the nation’s capital. Ms. Banfield died later at a hospital.
Ms. Magalhães was charged in October 2023 with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Mr. Ryan.
Steve Descano, the attorney for the Fairfax County Commonwealth, told reporters on Tuesday that, as part of a plea deal, Ms. Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of Mr. Ryan. Her trial had been scheduled to begin in November.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors downgraded the murder charge that she faced and agreed to recommend that Ms. Magalhães, who has been in custody, be released with credit for time served after Mr. Banfield’s trial if she continues to cooperate with the authorities. Mr. Banfield is scheduled to be tried in February.
Ms. Magalhães, whose sentencing was scheduled for March 21 before Chief Judge Penney S. Azcarate Fairfax County Circuit Court, could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office. Had Ms. Magalhães been convicted on the murder charge, she could have faced more than 40 years in prison.
“Today’s agreement was a significant step forward in this case,” Mr. Descano said.
Mr. Descano declined to share additional details of what had led to the agreement, citing Mr. Banfield’s pending trial. Mr. Banfield was charged in September with aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife and Mr. Ryan.
Lawyers for Ms. Magalhães and Mr. Banfield did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
Ms. Magalhães began working for the Banfields in 2021 as a live-in childcare worker. Sometime later, prosecutors said, Ms. Magalhães and Mr. Banfield began having an affair that lasted months.
Initially, Mr. Banfield and Ms. Magalhães told the police that on Feb. 24, 2023, Ms. Magalhães saw Mr. Ryan enter the Banfield’s home, and that Mr. Banfield had shot Mr. Ryan as Mr. Ryan was stabbing Ms. Banfield. But at a hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors shared new details about what unfolded at the Banfield’s home that morning.
Eric Clingan, the deputy attorney for the Fairfax County Commonwealth, said on Tuesday that after Ms. Magalhães and Mr. Banfield began their affair, Mr. Banfield began expressing a desire to kill his wife, The Washington Post reported.
Mr. Banfield then created an account on FetLife, which describes itself as an online community for people interested in kinky sexual practices, to lure Mr. Ryan to the Banfield home, The Post reported.
On the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, Mr. Banfield and Ms. Magalhães took the Banfields’ daughter to the basement. Mr. Banfield then shot Mr. Ryan in the head, and stabbed his wife, according to The Post. At some point, Ms. Magalhães also shot Mr. Ryan after she saw him move.
The Post reported that Mr. Clingan said at a hearing in September that the police believed the bodies of Mr. Ryan and Ms. Banfield had been moved to make it look as though Mr. Banfield had tried to stop an attack by Mr. Ryan.
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