- Brendan Banfield, a former IRS agent, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in Virginia for the murders of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan.
- Banfield orchestrated an elaborate plot with the family's Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, to eliminate his wife to avoid a costly divorce.
- The scheme saw Banfield and Magalhães impersonate Christine Banfield on a sexual fetish website to lure Joseph Ryan to their home, staging the scene to appear as if they had shot a violent intruder.
- Magalhães testified that Banfield wanted to marry her but needed to “get rid of” his wife. Banfield was also convicted of child endangerment because his four-year-old daughter was home during the killings.
- “The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” the judge said at sentencing, adding, “Luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap; continuing on after the murders without a care; and not once — not once — thinking of the impact.”
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