Alleged killer husband Brendan Banfield had moved his au pair’s lingerie into his murdered spouse’s closet, and changed images of the couple with footage of him and the nanny inside months of his partner’s loss of life, authorities in Virginia stated Thursday.
Banfield, a former IRS agent, is on trial for the homicide of the mom of his youngster, Christine, and a second sufferer, Joseph Ryan, as a part of a twisted rape plot to kill her so he might be together with his Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes.
Sgt. Kenner Fortner, with the Fairfax County Police Division, described how Magalhaes’ clothes, together with a number of objects of purple lingerie, had been moved from her bed room to the main bedroom between February 2023, when he visited on the day of the murders, and October 2023, when he had come to arrest the au pair.
He additionally famous that images of Banfield and his murdered spouse had been changed with footage of him and Magalhaes within the eight months between the 2 police visits to the house in a leafy Washington, DC, suburb.
Images of Magalhaes’ lingerie in Christine Banfield’s closet, in addition to her former bed room with a Brazilian flag on the wall above her mattress, had been proven to the jury on the trial.
Banfield, 40, is accused of killing his spouse and Ryan, a stranger whom he and Magalhaes allegedly employed on a BDSM fetish web site to rape Christine, so they might stage the double homicide as a lethal residence invasion.
The pair allegedly lured Ryan whereas posing as Christine on-line, organising what Ryan believed was a consensual sexual encounter.
A backpack belonging to Ryan containing lubricant, electrical tape, chains, and an apricot — which police believed was supposed for use as a makeshift ball gag — was found within the bloodstained bed room.
When Ryan arrived and commenced raping the sleeping Christine, Magalhaes reportedly phoned Banfield, who returned to the home and allegedly shot Ryan earlier than fatally stabbing his spouse within the neck.
The jury was additionally proven footage of the blood-covered bed room carpet the place Christine’s physique was discovered, in addition to images of the knife allegedly used to homicide her, discovered subsequent to the mattress underneath a blanket.
Blood spatters on the bed room wall and on a laundry basket had been additionally photographed by police and proven by the prosecution.
Two handguns, a Glock 19M and a Glock 23X, found on the property, had been pictured and proven to the decide.
Magalhaes beforehand advised the jury that she and Banfield had turn into intimate in October 2022, six months earlier than the alleged homicide.
The jury was proven footage of a fitted bedsheet recovered from Magalhaes’ bed room stained in bodily fluids.
Banfield, who faces life in jail if discovered responsible, remained impassive because the grotesque proof was displayed, often taking notes.
