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Virginia man indicted in killing of wife and another man nearly a year after au pair was charged in case
A Virginia man was indicted in the killing of his wife and another man at the married couple’s Fairfax County home, authorities said Monday, nearly a year after the family’s au pair was charged in the case.
A grand jury indicted Brendan Banfield on the charge of aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan, according to a bench warrant filed in Fairfax Circuit Court. Banfield was also charged with one count of felony firearm use.
Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a news conference that Banfield was arrested while driving in Fairfax County, and that authorities were searching his home on Monday. An attorney for Banfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Banfield’s arrest comes nearly a year after Juliana Peres Magalhães, an au pair caring for the Banfields’ daughter, was charged with second-degree murder in Ryan’s killing, but not Christine Banfield’s, CBS affiliate WUSA-TV reported. Magalhães is scheduled for trial in that case in November.
“The fact that we’ve indicted Brendan today and made that arrest does not mean that her case is being thrown out,” Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano said. “We intend to go forward with that case as scheduled.”
WUSA-TV posted video of a handcuffed Banfield being led into a police vehicle outside the Fairfax County Public Safety Headquarters.
On the day of the killings, authorities have said Magalhães called 911 at least two times within minutes, but ended the calls before speaking with first responders. More than 10 minutes later, authorities have said in court, Magalhães called 911 a final time and reported the emergency. Brendan Banfield then spoke into the phone and said he had shot a man because that man stabbed his wife.
Authorities soon arrived at the Banfields’ home in Herndon, Virginia, and found that Ryan had been fatally shot and Christine Banfield suffered from stab wounds. She was taken to the hospital, where she died.
According to affidavits, Magalhães told authorities she and Brendan Banfield left the house early that morning, leaving Christine Banfield home alone. Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield returned later that morning.
When Magalhães and Brendan Banfield went inside, the two found Ryan holding a knife to Christine Banfield’s throat, Magalhães said. She alleged Ryan stabbed Christine Banfield and that Brendan Banfield then shot Ryan. Magalhães also told authorities that she shot Ryan once with a second firearm.
Earlier this year, Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan shared records that showed two months before the shooting, Magalhães and Brendan Banfield visited a fun range in Ashburn, Virginia, WUSA-TV reported. A few weeks later, Clingan said Brendan Banfield also purchased a gun which would eventually be used to shoot Ryan.
Authorities have said the killings were part of a larger scheme between Magalhães and Brendan Banfield, whom officials allege began a romantic relationship in the months leading up to the killings. At court hearings for Magalhães, prosecutors questioned her telling of events, arguing that Ryan was not known to be violent. Prosecutors also have said Magalhães and Brendan Banfield continued their romantic relationship after the double homicide.
WUSA-TV
Ryan’s mother, Deirdre, told WUSA-TV Monday that she was grateful that the charges were filed.
Prosecutor Descano said Banfield would be arraigned later this week. He was being held without bail at the Fairfax County jail.
Banfield is facing four counts of aggravated murder and one count of using a firearm during the commission of a felony, even though only two people were killed that day in 2023, WUSA-TV reported.
“The reason we did that is, it’s very lawyerly and technically, but essentially it boils down to in the aggravated murder statute there are a number of different options to prove that. When we took a look at what we intend to present at trial, we believe our presentation of evidence can possibly hit both of those different subsection elements,” Descano said.
“We wanted to cover all our bases and make sure the jury had every option that they could want when looking at the evidence,” Descano added.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images
Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
