Going West: True Crime - The Au Pair Murders // 479

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

In February of 2023, a 37-year-old pediatric nurse was stabbed to death inside her suburban Virginia home, alongside a stranger from a dating app. But what appeared to be the scene of a sexual tryst gone terribly wrong quickly changed in the eyes of investigators the more they questioned the family’s live-in au pair. And when they did, a sinister plot revealed itself. This is the story of Christine Banfield. It’s also the story of Joseph Ryan, known as the Au Pair Murders.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host, T. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to going west. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Big shout out to Chris who recommended today's case. This one, I cannot believe I didn't hear about this in the news, especially because this happened only two years ago, actually in February of 2023. So like exactly

two years ago, there was a bunch of news only a few months ago and I heard none of that. Like, I don't know what happened. I actually knew about this case a little bit, did a little bit of diving into it, but all the details hadn't been out yet. So I, you know, I thought maybe we should just wait to do this one. But now with the trial behind us, this felt like the perfect time to cover this case.

And again, thank you, Chris, so much for putting this back on our radar. Like this one is gonna furrow the brows. You know what I mean? Like every detail you're like. What does that mean? Like furrow the brows. As my author speak. No, um, furrowing the brows, you know, like this, like your, your brows are furrowed. I see, I see. It's the what the hell face. Like you're going to be all the details. You're just going to be astonished at, you know, you know this Heath. I do know what you mean. I

don't have to tell you. You don't have to tell me. I know the story. So thank you guys for tuning in. And without further ado, let's dive in. Actually, by the way, there are, there are some videos, actually there's one video and there's, you know, of course relevant photos for this case, just like every case we cover. So check out our socials for those to follow along with the episode. Yes, please go over and follow us on Instagram We're on Instagram at going west podcast and we're also on Facebook. Usually I say that at the end But if you guys want to see you know photos from this case and all the other cases we've covered Go check us out on socials. All right guys. This is episode

479 of going west. so let's get into it. In February of 2023, a 37-year-old pediatric nurse was stabbed to death inside her suburban Virginia home alongside a stranger from a dating app. But what appeared to be the scene of a sexual tryst gone terribly wrong quickly changed in the eyes of investigators the more they questioned the family's live-in au pair. And when they did, a sinister plot revealed itself. This is the story of Christine Banfield. Christine Benson was born on September 20, 1985 in Ronconkoma, New York to parents Linda and Gary, and she grew up alongside a sister named Danielle. Christine is remembered as a sweet, genuine, and affectionate person who frequently went out of her way to be helpful. This passion for assisting others led her to a career of, you guessed it, nursing and specifically the pediatric intensive care unit. Co-workers

recall that she loved children and had a real knack for making families and babies feel comfortable and taken care of, even in some of the most challenging moments of their lives. While working as a nurse, she mentored and trained other nurses, and her penchant for being bubbly and compassionate was loved and appreciated by her patients. In 2010, 25-year-old Christine married a man named Brendan Banfield, who worked as a criminal investigator for the IRS. The two eventually settled in Virginia, and together they bought a spacious home in the Hattentown neighborhood of Herndon, Virginia, which is about 40 minutes west of Washington,

D.C. Virginia, which is about 40 minutes west of Washington, DC. And it has like a nice, very suburban kind of cookie cutter look to it, like lots of newer two-story builds with brick exteriors. And their house was like that too. It's described as a quote, very spacious, five bedroom, four and a half bathroom, colonial. And although the house is at the end of a charming cul-de-sac, I will include like an overhead visual on our socials for anybody who wants to see, because at the end of the cul-de-sac, there's like a small kind of short street that leads to two extra houses that

back into a patch of woods. Now one of those houses was the Banfields. So it was one of two more secluded houses in this neighborhood and that does feel important to mention because of obviously what is gonna happen in this house. There are many houses nearby but it's kind of tucked back into the woods a little bit. The perfect addition for this beautiful new family home was a baby so in 2018 Christine and Brendan welcomed their little girl named Valerie.

And between their demanding careers and Christine's exhausting schedule working as a nurse for Inova Fairfax Women's Hospital in nearby Falls Church, the Banfields needed some extra help, so they decided to hire an au pair from Brazil through a hosting program where they would provide the au pair with room, board, and a salary in exchange for live-in childcare. Pretty good deal. Yes, it is. And on top of that, the au pair would also be able to enroll in college courses at a local school and immerse themselves in American culture, so this would be a great opportunity for them. Now, the Banfields first hired a young woman named Amanda, and Amanda and Christine had

a wonderfully close relationship, with Amanda describing Christine as her big sister, since Christine was just 33 at the time and quote, the best host mom ever. So while working as an au pair, Amanda attended classes, met her future husband, and she decided to move to the United States permanently. And in fact, Christine and Amanda were so tight-knit that when Amanda got married, Christine attended her bachelorette party, was a bridesmaid in her wedding, and even made a speech to the guests, with little Valerie as the flower girl. Which obviously makes it very clear that Amanda was such a beloved au pair for the Banfields. And Christine even spoke out against an executive order that sought to make it harder for au

pairs to come to the United States from other countries, writing on Facebook, quote, Our au pair has become a part of our family, and we share our love of America with her, and she shares her Brazilian culture with us. Now obviously, with Amanda moving to the states on her own and getting married, she left her au pair job with the Banfields and even moved out of the area altogether, which was hard for Christine and Brendan to come to terms with, knowing that the next au pair would have massive shoes to fill. Since they had such great success with Amanda from Brazil in 2022, they decided to hire another Brazilian woman through their au pair agency.

This time, it was 21 year old Juliana Perez Magalhães. Lots of practice on that Magalhães. That's actually my best friend's last name. Magalhães. Worked out for you. Now, as far as the public has been made aware, there was nothing initially threatening about Julianna's presence in the Banfield home. But soon, she would prove herself to be an integral part of the destruction of the Banfield family, after less than a year of being their au pair. On the morning of Thursday, February 23, 2023, 38, 38 year old Brendan left their family home around 7 a.m.

Which of course at this time of year was backed against a wood of barren winter trees. And presumably, Brendan was headed to work. I want to mention really quick, there's kind of a discrepancy on when Juliana was born. There are many articles that were written at the same time. Some that state she was this age, another that state she was a year older or a year younger than that. We think it about this time she was 23 years old. I know Heath just said less than a year before that she was 21, she might have been 22, but you get the the general age range here. Yeah she was in her early 20s. Yeah I'm

gonna say she's 23 right now but just so you guys aren't confused. Now, shortly after Brendan left the house, their 23-year-old au pair, Juliana, and four-year-old Valerie headed out, bound for the National Zoo, which is just north of downtown Washington, D.C., so only about 40 minutes with traffic. But when they were en route, Juliana apparently realized that she had left their lunches behind

so she had to double back. Well as she approached the Banfield house, she noticed a car out front that she didn't recognize and a man that she had never seen before entering the house. So wary, she called Christine on the phone, but her phone went right to voicemail. Juliana then called Brendan, who conveniently happened to be around the corner at a McDonald's.

So he headed back to the house to survey the scene and figure out who this guy was. According to Juliana, Brendan met her and Valerie in the driveway and walked them around to the back of the house where they entered through the basement. He told Juliana to wait with little Valerie downstairs and headed upstairs to check on his wife Christine. In their master bedroom, Brendan claims that he opened the door to find a man who appeared to be about his age,

so late 30s, holding a knife to 37-year-old Christine's throat while she was nude. By Giuliana's account, Brendan yelled, drop the knife! So au pair Giuliana then raced upstairs to help him, leaving Valerie downstairs by herself. Brendan pulled his service weapon given to him, of course, by the IRS, on this intruder. And when Juliana arrived at his side, she watched Brendan shoot the man in the head near his eyebrow, near his right eyebrow, as the man supposedly stabbed Christine. Brendan then directed Juliana to go to the safe in the bathroom closet and retrieve a Glock, giving her the code while keeping his service weapon locked on the intruder. So he's saying Juliana, go get another gun, even though he has already shot the intruder in the head.

Yes. So under his instruction, she brought out the Glock and fired a shot into the man's chest herself. Now this man has been shot twice. Brandon also struck him once, but it was the shot to his heart by Giuliana that took his life. Now obviously from first sight this seems pretty cut and dry, but unfortunately for the investigation into this whole chaotic mess, the timeline was murky from the start.

Giuliana made the first 911 call at 7.47am, so just 10 minutes after she called Brendan to tell him about this possible intruder. And though police have, you know, been tight-lipped about their findings, still to this day, the media has been rife with speculation. Like, it's possible that the shooting and stabbing took place before Juliana left the house to go to the zoo, so before she says she forgot their lunches and had to come back, making that whole portion of the story a lie. Giuliana hung up the first 911 call that she made before calling back and letting Brendan tell the operator that he had just shot the man who had stabbed his wife. So, maybe it's possible that Giuliana, you know, panicked and called too early and Brendan instructed her to hang up the first call. But, however it happened, Giuliana told first responders that her, quote, friend had been hurt. Now, when officers arrived on the scene, they separated her

from Brendan, bringing her outside with Valerie. After one officer led Valerie away from the scene, Giuliana described to another through tears and panicked gasps that Brendan walked in when the intruder was about to stab Christine in her bedroom. So not after he stabbed her. Right. Exactly. Now, she alleges that she and Brendan attempted to intervene to save Christine, but that they

had been too late. During Giuliana's interview on the scene with police about this mysterious man in the house, she explained what had happened. And here's an audio's her husband. He's over there. I go to him. I see a strange car, but I don't know who is that. I can't, please come here. I'm scared. I was just bothering the car. And then he came here and then we went inside. The guy, I don't know who it is, he was spanking her, doing s***. I was just here. Were you here when it happened or did you walk up in there and that's how they were? Yeah, he went up to the task force and then I went to see what was going on. I left Valorain in the basement.

And then when I went up to the task force, Brandon was saying, who needs to drop the knife, drop the knife. So, Brandon's a police officer? Yeah, he's an officer. Is he with Fairfax? No. Where is he an officer at? I don't know.

I think his officer is in Vienna. Vienna? Yeah. OK. Because they were yelling at each other, he was saying, drop the... I'm sorry, my first name was just... No, no, you're doing really well.

He was saying drop the... The knife or the gun? The gun. And Brendan said, no police, drop the knife. And he was saying, I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her. And I don't know if he stabbed her, he started stabbing her. I think Brendan shot him and he asked me to help him too because... It's okay. You don't have to get it all out. I never saw that before.

You didn't see the girl before either? So the guy and the girl you don't know? She's my boss. He's a ballerina. But I never seen him before. It's a lot of fun. Okay. He's a polarism, huh? But I noticed Christine before, like, I'm like, it's a lot of fun. Okay.

Now, responding officers describe the scene as horrific and appalling. Oddly enough, police found no evidence of forced entry, so there was really no answer off the bat as to how this guy got inside, who he was, what he wanted, why he was allegedly trying to kill Christine. The puzzle was totally unfinished. Now a knife and two guns were removed from the scene and because one of the guns that discharged was a service weapon, there would obviously be an internal investigation conducted

by Brendan's employer, the IRS, regarding the two deaths. So there's like extra eyes on this case, right? Well, upstairs, EMTs worked on Christine and the intruder, later claiming that Brendan seemed far more concerned with the stranger's condition, the supposed intruder, than his wife's. So why would that be? Interesting, huh? Yup, but it was too late for the man and he was declared dead at the scene.

I mean, remember, he was shot in the heart and in the head. Now, Christine was still alive, but in critical condition, which is why the officer told an EMT, still breathing in the body cam footage that we played, that is what that was about. 37 year old Christine Banfield was raced to a nearby hospital, but sadly she also succumbed to her injuries and she died.

From the outset, the scene was a puzzling one, enough to prompt an investigation by the Herndon police to verify the totally outlandish claims being made by the only two surviving witnesses, Brendan and Juliana. Like nothing they were saying was really clicking about them happening to walk in on this man killing Christine and then Brendan killing this man. It was just kind of like, that's a sort of insane thing to happen. When questioned about any sort of motive

that either she or Brendan may have to conjure this whole situation up, Giuliana was asked by investigators point blank if she had been involved in an extramarital affair with Brendan. And Giuliana said that she had not. As police struggled to connect Christine to the stranger in her bedroom, again they have no idea where this man came from, Lieutenant Aaron Weeks, who was one of the first on the

scene, announced to the public what little they knew so far, which included the identity of the so-called intruder whose name was Joseph Ryan. Aaron explained, quote, They found Christine Banfield in an upstairs bedroom. She had been stabbed multiple times in the upper body, and Joseph Ryan had been shot multiple times in the upper body. We have recovered all weapons, and we've identified all persons involved in this case. We are keeping options open. We will continue to investigate.

Our big thing is continuing to interview people, continuing to review all digital and forensic evidence, and learn how Christine Banfield was fatally stabbed. A search of Christine's computer revealed a profile on a website that advertises itself as the social network for people in the BDSM, fetishism, and kink communities, which is called FetLife. Christine's profile could be found under the name Anastasia9, which had a picture of Christine in a one-piece bathing suit. Also found in her computer's history was an email

that contained this bathing suit picture which Christine supposedly sent to her husband Brendan, who sent it to Juliana, who then sent it back to herself. So that's really strange. Yes it is. Well, based on her activity on the app, Christine was using it as a casual dating or hookup site and it was there that she met the man who had been killed in her house that day, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan, though some reports state that he was 38. Now, a friend of Joseph's who knew of his budding sexual relationship with Christine claims that Christine told Joseph that she and her husband were in somewhat of an open relationship, and that she had experimented with extramarital sexual

relationships before with her husband's knowledge. In their conversations, Christine had also shared with Joseph that she had a proclivity for rough sex, bondage, and violence during these affairs. But those who knew Christine best were skeptical of this claim. Even though, of course, a lot of people aren't very open about their sexual interests to friends and family. Some people just don't talk about that kind of stuff, but we're just mentioning this because it's important to note that no one was really buying that this whole affair with

Joseph was even real or something that Christine was even looking for. As prosecutor Eric Klingon would later state, there was not quote, one iota of evidence that she was into knife play, binding, or BDSM. Which of course is relevant to the case for sure, as you guys are gonna see. But, that version of Christine, you know, the one who was allegedly into BDSM, is who Joseph thought he was meeting up with that February morning for the first time, because someone had communicated that to him and, spoiler alert, it wasn't Christine. In their correspondence before they met in person,

they basically discussed their shared enjoyment of knife play, blood play, cutting and rough sex. And Joseph and Christine talked back and forth on the encrypted messaging app Telegram about all this kind of stuff. A friend of Joseph's later confirmed that he had been open with friends about his sexual preferences,

but that they were always done with consent, which is something that he thought he had, of course, with Christine, or at least according to their online conversations. So just saying that, obviously, because, you know, him arriving at her house to have this exchange was supposed to be consensual. He thought he was meeting up with a woman who agreed to all of this. 39-year-old Joseph Ryan hailed from Springfield, Virginia, so about 30 minutes away from Herndon, where the Banfields lived. He's described as a gentle soul who loved animals, had many friends

and close family members, and would never think of hurting anyone. At least non-consensually. Yeah, like he's not going to go into this woman's house and murder her. That's just not who he is. So little has been made known about him. Like he doesn't even have an obituary online. That's why there's even discrepancies about something as simple as his age, like Heath brought up. But his mom, Deidre, came forward to share a statement on behalf of

her son, saying, quote, I loved him so much. We spent countless hours as an adult on the phone. He would call me all the time. I can't really tell you the level of our friendship. Not everybody gets to have that. And I was blessed with that as a parent. Every day I miss him. Every day I miss him. Every day."

So in the beginning, for months, the families of Christine and Joseph were forced to accept what happened like it was some ill-fated sexual tryst gone wrong. But behind the scenes, police weren't so sure. Detectives began compiling evidence based on what had been left behind at the scene particularly in the form of the blood spatter evidence in the master bedroom where Christine and Joseph had been mortally wounded. But forensic analysis of the crime scene that the bodies left behind proved that the victims had actually been posed before they were found. Joseph's arms had been moved from how he had originally collapsed, and they had also

been manually smeared with Christine's blood. With this stunning revelation in their back pockets, detectives kept a close watch on Juliana and Brendan. Now I know obviously you guys might think that it's not so suspicious that Joseph had Christine's blood on him if they talked about blood play before, or again at least Joseph had talked to someone posing as Christine about this, but knowing that the scene was staged was huge So as police dove further into the lives of the survivors of this strange incident They found more reasons to be suspicious of them Because in the six months leading up to the deaths of Christine and Joseph

Giuliana and Brendan had traveled to New York City together for a romantic getaway, proof of which could be found in the form of pictures on their devices. I mean, there was even one picture of the couple half naked in a fucking hot tub. According to friends and family back home in Brazil, Juliana referred to Brendan as her boyfriend and fantasized about their life together. As detectives quietly searched the dark corners of Brendan's seemingly upstanding existence as an officer of a government agency, more of his indiscretions came to light. Detectives also spoke with numerous women that Brendan had engaged in romantic and sexual

affairs with during the course of his marriage. Meaning he had been cheating for years and they'd only been married for a few years. Yeah, this guy is a total cheater. Now, prosecutor Eric Klingon reported, quote, multiple credible women confirmed this fact, including one in particular who told him that during the course of her affair with this defendant a few years ago, he would constantly promise to leave his wife. Eventually, he told her quote,

"...it would be so much easier for us if she wasn't around." More damaging pictures surfaced of Brendan and Juliana visiting the Silver Eagle Shooting Range in Ashburn, Virginia, just two months prior to this incident. So this is not a good look. Not at all. Well then, on January 28th, 2023, shortly after this visit, and less than a month before the killings, Brendan returned to the same gun range and purchased a Glock. The same Glock that was used by Giuliana to shoot and kill Joseph Ryan. And on top of this, both Giuliana and Brendan had even gotten new phones

prior to the murders. Juliana eight days before, and Brendan four days before. Then another bombshell revelation came when the prosecution discovered that Brendan seemed to be preparing to leave the country. He had taken up learning Portuguese, which is obviously the official language of Brazil, and helped Juliana obtain a new passport after hers had been seized by authorities in the midst of this investigation. So it seems like their whole plan was to get rid of Christine and start a new life together in Brazil,

as if that would make this man happy, you know? And also, as if that would not make them look like the most suspicious people of all time. Though it took months of painstaking detective work, law enforcement officially reached the conclusion that Christine and Joseph had both been set up. Based on evidence pulled from their phones and online activity, detectives came to the belief that Brendan and Au pair Juliana had started their affair in August of 2022, so shortly after she started working for the family. Brendan then hatched the idea that they should trap his wife in the midst of a sexual fantasy

gone wrong in order to get rid of her, which means that Joseph Ryan really was just collateral damage. So after creating a profile on FetLife under false pretenses and connecting with Joseph, Juliana even posed as Christine so that they could speak on the phone. The prosecution maintained, quote, "'The defendant and her armed law enforcement lover did not stand by and patiently wait

to shoot Joe until after he finished stabbing Christine several times. That's just not believable. This is a story that was made up to cover a murderer. And when you think about it, this is really such a complicated plan. So they essentially made a fake profile for Christine so that she could meet up with this guy, Joseph, so that he could be lured over to their house so that Brendan could, you know, they had all these talks about knife play so that Brendan could be there when he arrives to the house to kill both of them just to make it look like he

killed the man that killed his wife. It's so complicated. So it's really no wonder they got caught because it didn't make any sense. Well, obviously he's trying to come out on the other side and look like the hero that tried to save his wife so that so as to, you know, make police not think that he was possibly involved in this. But at the end of the day, they caught him in all this, and it just, it just kept unwinding and unwinding. I definitely understand their perspective, you know, because obviously, if she had died otherwise, he would be the first person that they looked at. So if he's like, oh, I go in and I kill the guy that killed her, yeah, like you're saying, I'm the hero. At the

end of the day, I was trying to save my wife, not kill her. Don't look at me. I'm innocent. But it was still it still didn't work. Like maybe just don't murder. Yeah. Well, as I always say on this show, what do I always say? Get a divorce. Get a divorce. Don't kill your partner. Get a divorce. When police arrived back at the scene of the crime in October of 2023, so about eight months after the murders, finally prepared to arrest Giuliana. They came upon another shocking development.

So Giuliana had moved into the master bedroom that Brendan used to share with his wife, Christine. And Giuliana was now basically playing house as his wife and Valerie's mom. Even though as evidenced by the original crime scene photos, she originally lived in a guest room, obviously just like their previous au pair. On their bedside table was a framed photo of the two of them of Brendan and of Juliana together looking cozy in front of a floral background proving their relationship

even further. I mean did they really think that they were gonna get away with this with you know Christine's family seeing them? I mean obviously Christine's family is gonna see her parents are gonna see their granddaughter and they're what they're gonna walk into the house and oh There's a bunch of photos of you and Juliana everywhere like what the fuck yeah And Valerie's gonna grow up knowing that Juliana has been her stepmom for years I mean again, this is a ridiculous plan. It was just bound to fail It was bound to fail and blow up a hundred percent her clothes

Of course also were hung in his closet, and her lingerie was even laid out on the bed. 23-year-old Juliana was arrested on October 13th, 2023, on charges of using a firearm and commission of a felony and second-degree murder. When she was arrested, her first question from the back of the police car was, can I visit Brendan?

Oh my God, no, you freak. Yeah. No, also something like you were just saying about her family, Christine's family. Also freaking Juliana's family knew that they had been dating before the murder happened. So if any of them were questioned and like, what did they think? Oh, suddenly, hey fam, like the woman, sorry, that was so cringe. Hey fam, hey my family,

the woman that I au pair for who's married to my boyfriend, she died, she was murdered. Like again, bound to blow up. Well, Juliana was held without bond, but allegedly, Brendan himself paid for an attorney for her. However, there is a rumor online that says that Brendan's mom was shouldering the financial burden of those legal fees for Juliana,

and even went so far as to visit her in prison in order to persuade her to keep her mouth shut, like trying to save her own son's ass. Ooh, that's a bad look. Really bad look. Yeah. So it's like so many people know about this trickery. In the 11 months between her arrest and Brendan's, law enforcement closely monitored the phone calls between the two. And in one recorded phone call after her arrest, Juliana told Brendan,

quote, I hope you're not just staying with me because you're afraid I'm gonna turn against you. Girl, these are recorded, get real. Yeah, seriously, how stupid. But to his dismay, she did exactly that. Somehow, Brendan avoided arrest until nearly a year later, but as Juliana waited behind bars, her patience grew thin and eventually she

was offered a chance at freedom and she took it. In exchange for pleading guilty and testifying against Brendan and telling the real story, she received a lesser charge of manslaughter and the firearms charged against her was also dropped. So she was only brought up on charges in Joseph's murder and not Christine's. This is all in exchange to tell police the real story. Juliana's plea hearing revealed that after her affair with Brendan began, he expressed a desire to quote, be rid of his wife, and that the pair started plotting her murder.

Brendan himself created the FetLife profile, according to Juliana, and after they established contact with Joseph, Juliana herself posed as Christine on the phone so that they could discuss the details of their upcoming sexual affair at Christine's house. Perhaps to cover herself, Juliana claimed that she told Brendan multiple times before the murders that she didn't want to carry out with this plan. She also finally revealed to the public what actually

happened, solving many of the questions left unanswered about that chaotic day. On the morning that he murdered Christine, Brendan took Christine's phone, turning it off and putting it in a kitchen drawer. Which is why it went to voicemail when Juliana called it, even though she knew what was going on.

He and Juliana then entered the bedroom wielding their guns, and Brendan called out, Police Officer, shooting Joseph in the head near his eyebrow. Brendan then stabbed Christine until she was nearly dead. When Juliana saw that Joseph was still alive, she shot him again, striking a fatal blow to his chest with the Glock that Brendan had purchased for her. Following Juliana's plea deal, Fairfax County Commonwealth's attorney Steve Descano announced, quote, today's agreement marks a significant step forward in this case, and it's an important development in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families.

Much of the information that led to this agreement cannot be made public at this time due to the upcoming criminal trial against the other defendant in this matter. And because of everything you just said, you know, there is a really big question in my mind that still has not been answered. And that is, how did Joseph get into the house? Obviously, again, he's arriving to the house thinking Christine is this woman he has been talking to for a little while planning to have a sexual affair with. And he gets to the house.

But here's Christine on the other side of that door. She has no idea who Joseph is. She doesn't know anything about what he thinks is happening here and his reasons for being at her house. So I guess I just wonder, you know, he, uh, Brendan allegedly then went into the bedroom, like you said, and they were there. Obviously that's not it. Obviously Christine didn't say, Oh, yup. Hey, I not it. Obviously Christine didn't say, oh, yup.

Hey, I see you, come on in. Yeah, come on in, let's go to the bedroom. Like she was probably like, who the fuck are you? You know, and no, I wasn't talking to you. What do you mean? Obviously. So I wonder if, like again, how this unfolded and also can we just remember this is like 7.30

in the morning. So you're not expecting a man to knock on your door and say hey, I'm here for the hookup like What what happened? I wonder if it was something like, you know Brendan and Juliana convinced Joseph like hey the doors unlocked come on upstairs type of thing like like don't even bother Knocking on the door just come right upstairs type of thing. Like, like don't even bother knocking on the door. Just come right in type of deal. Yeah, that absolutely could have happened.

And then remember good point there because they say, you know, again, I don't know how much we can trust of them. Of course of Julianna and Brendan, they said, or Julianna said she saw him going into the front door. And she said, who is this man? Of course she knew who he was. And that they entered through the basement. Why didn't they enter through the front door and she said, who is this man? Of course she knew who he was and that they entered through the basement. Why didn't they enter through the front door?

Because they wanted it to look, you know, like- Yeah, they wanted to go through the basement, the back, so that they could kind of sneak up on the situation. Yeah, and maybe, I don't know, maybe it has something to do with fingerprints or the front door not looking a certain way. I don't know. I know that sounds kind of confusing, but I'm just trying to think of reasons why they would possibly want to leave

the front door untouched. But yeah, that's totally possible. Maybe they said, come on in. So there's so much we don't know, but that's a huge question in my mind. How did we get from point A to point B? Yeah. I mean, there's definitely a lot of unanswered questions as far as like how everything unfolded specifically, down to the small details, but you know what's important to know here is that these two people committed these murders and however it happened, it was done.

And Joseph is completely innocent of murder. He was not an intruder, he was there for a fake reason, and he had no idea that he was being tricked. I think in Brendan's mind, he probably, or in his mind, sorry, I think he probably thought that this was a genius idea, you know? Yeah. That he made it seem like this guy that's into knife play and blood play and things like that was, oh, he's trying to kill my wife and I'm the hero here. He planned it, I guess, kind of well.

You're like, he almost did it. Yeah, he almost did it, but he's obviously too stupid to actually figure the whole thing out. Well, this is also real life. Things don't go exactly as you planned. Shit happens, people react differently, nothing ever goes the way you plan it. So like you're saying, stop with this complicated BS, get a divorce, and move the hell on. Also, I just want to say, this is not the movies. You know what I mean? Like, he was planning this

like it was going to go down like some sort of like crime movie. That's not how it ever happens. That is not reality. Well, obviously, there's a lot of stuff that Heath and I don crime movie. That's not how it ever happens. That is not reality. Well, obviously there's a lot of stuff that Heath and I don't know. There's a lot of stuff that the public doesn't know. But when investigators felt like they had enough information to come after Brendan, they did just that.

And they arrested him on Tuesday, September 24th, 2024. But his attorneys immediately pushed for bail to be made available that Friday at his bond hearing his defense team argued that Brendan is not a flight risk how is that so and needs to be released in order to care for his child but of course their motion was denied hey yeah how was he not a flight risk his whole idea was to go to fucking Brazil with his mistress. Portuguese learning ass, like he is the definition of a flight risk. Well, Jennifer Coffendaffer, who is a former FBI agent, asked to lend her expertise to

the case, and she mused that the most baffling questions left behind in the case are those pertaining to Joseph, which is what Heath and I were saying. Regarding the FetLife profile, Jennifer said quote, "...What is not immediately clear is who set up the account. They're keeping the details now, I believe, because this is pretty salacious. First of all, that you will be lured by this, that you will be lured by a sex situation involving violence, which is really the premise behind why he was lured there and he came. He came there.

This is something that's going to play for the defense as well. Because the defense is going to be able to shine a bad light on the victim. That's what they always want to do. They always want to show the victim was a terrible person. I'm not saying this shows that. I'm saying the defense is going to use it for that. But it's also very important for the prosecution because they need to show the setup and who is behind the account.

They need to show why he was there. Even though it's not an element of the crime or something you don't have to prove in the court of law per se. But a jury wants to understand that. How in the world could this individual be involved in such a horrific crime? This involved a stabbing. This involved multiple guns. This involved shooting someone.

And I do think that that is why they went on FetLife and not like, hinge. I feel like they probably wanted to find somebody who had a kink or a fetish like knife play, for example, or cutting, or blood play, like Joseph. Yeah, that's what I mean when I was saying that it was actually set up kind of well, it just was executed dumb. Yeah, absolutely. And, but that is such a difficult element here, especially to a lot of average people,

of course, and people who don't understand certain kinks and fetishes and who aren't open to understanding them, is that they would look at this and say, well, that's a sadistic person and he could have absolutely killed her then because he was into this, which is why there's so many people out there that say, you know, don't kink shame and these kinks come from so many different things and people have so many different reasons to have these kinks and fetishes. Um, and a lot of people are not understanding and open to that. And that is a dangerous situation for the prosecution. Absolutely.

I, we basically knew for a fact that the defense was going to go that way, that they were going to use this kink as something to prove that Brendan was not the killer here. And they will do that in the trial. They will still try to make it seem like Joseph is behind this. Well, expert forensic investigators spent more than a year combing over DNA evidence, including blood spatter patterns. And although the prosecution has refused to detail what evidence this is, beyond maintaining that the bodies were moved and Joseph's body was painted with Christine's blood, it was damning enough to put Brendan behind bars. However, his attorney, John F. Carroll, casts doubt on these theories and will likely blame Juliana instead of taking any accountability. In Brendan's indictment hearing, John addressed Fairfax Circuit Chief Judge Penny S. Askarate,

saying quote, "'It just doesn't add up, Judge.' He pleaded for bail on behalf of his client, but bail was of course denied." When Brendan was put on the stand, he refused to answer a single question, including the most easily verifiable yes or no questions, including whether or not he was married to Christine Banfield. Just plead not fifth. Yep. The judge later mused, quote, the government may be playing two potential defendants against each other. Well, Brendan was charged with four counts

of aggravated murder, as well as use of a firearm and commission of a felony. At a press conference of the day of his arrest, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced, quote, "'I knew, I suspected, I had a feeling that there was a lot more than met the eye that morning.' And certainly it's 570 days later, and we are finally in a position to

announce that two persons are being charged and held responsible and introduced to our criminal justice system for these two murders. So I'm not going to characterize my opinions about the evidence other than to describe the evidence exists in abundance to give us probable cause to bring these charges forward and it's digital evidence, it's physical evidence, it's forensic evidence, it's circumstantial evidence. The detectives, the prosecutors have worked meticulously to ensure that every T is crossed and every I is dotted,

but the work still goes on. More information will likely be forthcoming when Brenton's trial commences on October 20th, 2025. Though it was originally set for February of this year, so it would have either already happened or be happening right now. But it's interesting, it was pushed. It's now taking place this same week as Anna Walsh's case. We covered her case a couple years ago. So that will be a busy week for marital murder justice Yeah, I mean it's crazy to think how long it takes to get justice in these cases. Like it's it's taking years. Yeah years I mean also with Anna Walsh's case that happened only a month and a half or so before Christine Bamfield's murder

So yeah for them to happen the same week. I guess we'll see what other information comes available in late October. Now, Juliana will face sentencing next month and stands to see as many as ten years in prison with credit for time served. After her death, the Banfield's first-o, Pair Amanda, posted a touching tribute to Christine on Facebook, promising to take care of her daughter. Following Brendan's arrest, Police Chief Kevin Davis was asked about Valerie's whereabouts, to which he responded, quote, out of respect for the families, she's still a little girl. We're not going to go into what life is like for her because

people who care about her are ensuring that she is taken care of. Certainly it's not an easy thing for any family to go through, but the right people are involved to make sure she's taken care of. The truest victim of all of this is that poor girl. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And hey, if you're upset with your circumstances in your marriage, get a divorce. Especially with what I was just reading about, you know, that quote from police chief Kevin

Davis talking about Valerie. Like also, he like, if you love your daughter, why would you want her to grow up without her amazing mom? Like it's utterly unimaginable and baffling. Yeah, I mean, well, that's easy to answer. He thought he was going to get away with it. He thought he was going to have this new life with Juliana and that, you know, Valerie was going to have a new mom.

But still that's so selfish. Like I think it's impossible for us to put ourselves or ourselves in someone like Brendan shoes because that is just the worst type of person on this planet. So we're glad he is where he belongs, as well as Juliana, because she was very much a part of this too. She's not innocent in this, just because she's getting a lesser sentence

because she turned on Brendan. She was a part of this. Yeah, I honestly think it's kind of bullshit that she's getting a deal here, but if that's the way it has to go for justice to be served, then I guess it is what it is. But thankfully these two people will be in prison Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in a big Thanks again to Chris for sending this case into us

If you have a case that you want to see on the show, I'm losing it Sorry, if you have a case that you want to hear on this show, you want us to cover Please send us an email goingwestpodcast at gmail.com we have hundreds if not well over a thousand cases on our list and we have so many emails that we are still actively always trying to get to but they're very appreciated we love when you guys send case recommendations in it helps us but it also helps us understand what you guys want to hear so if you want to send one in do so and we will see you on Tuesday. Alright guys so for everybody out there in the world don't be a stranger.