Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Nanny’s Affair Ends in Twisted Double Murder

Episode Date: September 6, 2026

Police rush into a Virginia home after a chilling 911 call reporting a home invasion. Inside they found a startled au pair and child, alongside the husband of a nurse, Christine Banfield, who they say was attacked by the intruder. Both the accused intruder, Joseph Ryan, and Christine died. Find out what happened inside Christine Banfield’s home that day on this episode of “Prime Crime with Jesse Weber.” They can't harm you, if they can't find you! Use code PRIMECRIME at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/primecrime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's your name and what's going on? My name is Brandon Bansfield. I'm a federal agent. This is my house. There's somebody here. I shot him. He stabbed her. He told that I'm a one operator that he shot a man who was stabbing his wife

and that he didn't know who this man was. Are they coming? Yeah, they're on the way. They should see them soon. They're pulling up outside right now. Where all this blood come from, you know? I was totally... holding her neck.

From what we can tell very early on, this was not going to be a normal investigation. The police dropped the knife, dropped the knife, because he had a knife. And then he said, dropped a gun to bring them. They were a alley. I couldn't understand. They were super fast. A knife's there, guns are on the bed. They told responding police officers that they essentially interrupted a rape and a murder in progress.

So that's what we had to go on initially. It's okay. So you live here? You're an all-peer. You're an all-peer? Okay. Okay. Just make sure the . 22-year-old opair, Juliana Mogulays, has just witnessed a horrifying crime. It was...

I don't want to play. I'm like, we're seeing that. There are back county now we're here's our emergency. Hello, Fairbex County 911. There were two 911 calls for service. The first 911 call that comes in and results in a hang-up

and we don't hear back for another 13 minutes. Providence town 911, where's our emergency? I need any help. There is my friend, she just wasn't stuck in the mic, now. He was playing a lot. I don't know what to do anymore. When this call went out before I even arrived at the scene,

just the geography of this call had me wondering if there was more to it than meets the eye. The location number one was odd. It's a middle to upper middle class residential neighborhood, very quiet, virtually a non-existent crime rate. When we first were notified, the information that we were receiving initially, looked to us like it may have been a home break-in. We knew that there was an adult male who

have been declared deceased inside the residence, and there was an adult female that had been transported to a local hospital. And we began with our crime scene detectives to process the scene. At the same time that that was happening, we had detectives interviewing Juliana, the O'Pair. If you just want to tell me quickly what happened, if we... I don't know what happened. Everything happened so fast. Do you know who the first one is? I have no idea.

When the Opaire Giuliana was escorted out of the house, she was almost hyperventilating. She was waving her hands around a lot, and you can actually see on the inside of her hands, her palms look red, kind of the color of blood. Where's Brendan? I'm sure they're giving him some water and trying to help him calm down.

What's your name? Brendan. Pian. We're just going to get you a little. We're just going to get you a minute. Here's your outside in the air where you can bring your old gun, right? Brendan Banfield was a special agent for the IRS. He was a badge-wearing, gun-toting federal law enforcement officer.

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Would you like to run out to the hospital? Can we meet with her? Christine, Brendan's wife, has been taken to the hospital to treat what appear to be these multiple stamplains. Brendan was mid-30s, upper 30s. They came from New York. They met in college. And, you know, in some ways, they're like a lot of Washington, D.C. people. They had these, you know, very sort of high-octane careers that very long days.

Christine, it was an ICU nurse for pediatric. for pediatrics. She was one of those nurses that went above and beyond. She was just so kind, so friendly, so honest. She was a lovely person who loved her family, who adored her daughter. And they were the kind of couple who get an opair. These people are working 10 to 12 hours a day, typically.

When Juliana started, she came to the family from Brazil. She lived there. She did a great job. Raising this girl, Christine would talk about how great she was on social media. You guys are going to be okay, I promise. All right, the place you're going is very safe. Everyone's on the driveway. He's going to be in the same building.

But for now, Brendan's not at the police station. He's at the hospital. And he is about to receive some awful news. Hi, sir. My name is Dina. I'm one of the doctors here. Your wife has died. I think she died. So I think that she died of blood loss. Her airway was actually okay.

I'll call the medical examiner, of course, and we'll do an autopsy and make sure we know for certain. But... I was trying to apply pressure. Yeah. I mean, those were enormous wounds. All right, Mr. Bancilla? Yes.

Hi, my name is Mike Kenyoniel. I'm one of the detectives. My colleague, Detective Bryant back there. I'm so sorry to reach under these circumstances. At the hospital, Brendan Banfield declined to speak to the detectives. When Brendan exercised his right not to speak to detectives, he was just throwing up red flag after a red flag. So look, Brendan may not be talking, but over at the police station, Juliana is more than willing to tell her version of what happened that morning.

This morning I woke up for a-h-h-and-get her changed. We went out in the car to go to the zoo. And then I forgot our lunch at home. Brenda Hedway left at that point. I saw a strange car going through our driveway and parking next to two. to her car and so I I thought it was strange because I never seen that car and it was super early in the morning Juliana tells police that's when she saw this strange car parking next to Christine so it turns out was working from home that day and Juliana claims that she was taking the couple's daughter to the zoo so that Christine could focus

how far do you get when you realize you forgot lunch? Oh my car was parked in the circle. I didn't go there or anything. I tried to call Christine first to ask her like who is that or you're okay. It was voicemail and then I called Brandon to see what was if he knew something and he said okay I'm gonna try to call her I'll call you back and then he called me back and he tells me he the way back home and me in the car until he gets home. At the time, Brendan's at McDonald's, grabbing some breakfast on his way to work. When she got home, we went in the house, all three of us, I was holding by the

hand. I could hear the guy upstairs, he was hitting her with something, I don't know what was that, but was making noise like it's pain, he's like, I don't know. And then Brendan, uh, Brennan said, I'm going up to start. Keep the, in the basement. And then I went after him to see what it was going on. Juliana described Brendan Banfield bringing not only her, but the Banfield's young daughter back into the residence, to confront this unknown person.

So you go upstairs and tell me what you see when you go upstairs. I always see Brendan with the gun. And that's when I see him saying, police drop the knife, police drop the knife. Yeah, that strange guy who was saying, drop the gun, drop the gun, they were yelling each other and then he, the guy, the guy,

guy he said like drop drop the gun I'm gonna kill her did you see a knife in his hand I guess yeah and did you see Christine at that point yeah did she have clothes on or no clothes on where where's Christine in the bed in the room at this time when I came up there she was on the floor walking in the room what you saw a couple that they are if we can say that about how sex or something You thought that the man and Christine were about to have sex? What do you mean? Yeah, I think so.

Then he started tapping her with a knife. And when I saw that, I just closed my... I never seen that. So what's happening? And then I... Brendan shot him. And I was even more scared. Juliana told us other things in that initial interview on the first day that really piqued our interest as to what happened.

What happened after that? The guy was trying to fight and I went to the safe where Brendan keeps, he's gone there. And I told you I also know how to shoot the shooting. Right. We had learned Juliana had been taken to the shooting range. to the shooting range on two different occasions by Brennan Bainfield. He took his opair to the shooting range

to train her how to shoot. She told us that Brendan drew her attention to the threat and she's the one who fired the second shot. That's when Giuliana made the second, 911 phone call, the one where she handed the phone off to Brendan. Remember, the first one was 13 minutes before. This is the one where no one was saying anything.

She's not responding. Can you tell me how her breathing is? She's still, she's heart still beating. Okay. She's got a very big hole in her neck. Just keep up behind pressure, okay? And you say you don't know the individual that was shot. No, I don't know.

I was, whenever I think that, it goes, but the cousins. Okay, I have officers that are pulling up outside, okay? All right, all right. Juliana's story leaves police with more questions than answers. First of all, was this guy in the bedroom a random intruder? or was this someone that Christine invited into the home? There's no forced entry. It appears that maybe Christine knew this guy.

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Peace contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Police notice something else that doesn't really add up. The Juliana's car was parked over there by that lamp post, just approximately, like I said, about 100 yards away from the house. And then when Brendan comes up and pulls up to the residence, he's parked right where that basketball hoop is. So he stopped short significantly of that residence, which kind of always was unusual to us as we were conducting the initial investigation. Why didn't Brendan pull up right to the house?

Did he suspect that this man was his wife's lover? Did he want to catch them red-handed? And by the way, who is this man anyway? So we identified the man who was shot inside the house as Joseph Ryan. Joseph Ryan is a local resident. He's into fantasy role playing. Joe Ryan was absolutely personally engaged in fetusisist BDSM activities. I got to say something real quick.

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And with their new exposure scanner feature, you can see where your personal information is online all in one place. You get to decide what to remove with the help of Incogny's removal specials. Look, I had no idea that sites had my private information. And this is why Incogny is really the best, because they were automatically removing all of this within days. Look, they can't harm you if they can't find you. Use Code Prime Crime at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan plus a 30-day money-back guarantee incognite.com slash prime crime. We learned that Joseph Ryan was also part of a online community called FetLife, which is a fetish sexual website. where consenting adults will meet to act out very specific sexual fantasies.

Some of these fantasies involve consensual violence. The question becomes, were Joseph Ryan and Christine Bannfield engaged in some kind of fetish sex, maybe even a rape fantasy, when Brendan and Juliana showed up? Christine's life was not a fetish affair person, you know. She was a nurse for real. She was a nurse for rape victims. To then engage in some fantasy about rape, that makes no sense.

When we looked back into Christine's history, going all the way back to interviewing people that knew her since childhood, we didn't uncover anything that suggested that Christine was into violent sexual activity or any type of pornography or anything like that. I couldn't believe anything about it because this story just didn't sound right. And yet, here's the twist.

Investigators soon find out that Christine did seem to have this secret life that no one suspected. From Christine's phone, from Christine's laptop, there are messages to vet life and to all this stuff about orchestrating a rape fantasy. Space upon the messages, Joseph Ryan, believe that he was going there to meet the person who was communicating with him as Anastasia 9.

Anastasia 9 was apparently Christine's name on the FetLife website. And apparently there was even a profile picture of her. When events occur, things either make sense or they don't. And when you start seeing bits of information that are incongruent with the other information that you know is available, you start to have to question what really happened. That made us very suspicious that even though the appearance digitally makes it look like it's Christine, that it might not actually be Christine. But how did the account get on Christine's devices if she didn't create it?

Could this be a case of catfishing? So catfishing would be assuming an online presence of another person or a fictitious person to either lure or get somebody to do something. Who was the person sending the message? to Joseph Ryan that Lord him to the house that day. If Brendan had something to do with this, he's not talking. And police don't have enough to take him into custody, but they'd find something that could explain a lot.

They get a search warrant and they go to the house. They're walking around and in the bedroom, there's a picture of Juliana and Brendan on the nightstand, you know, and they were able to determine that it used to be a picture of Brendan and Christine in that place. in that place. They certainly had an affair. It lasted, I think, about six months. There was a real affair behind Christine's back. He probably started to get comfortable prematurely. He's going to move his mistress up into the bedroom

where he put up pictures, hang up her lingerie, and keep it moving. And now you have to wonder, maybe the two of them had even bigger plans for their future together. We discovered that Giuliana was a tenter. attempting to get another passport. Her original passport had been seized in the first search war. She's from Brazil, and Brazil does not have an extra distant treaty with the U.S. So a decision was made at that time to arrest Juliana. She was charged with the secondary murder of Joseph Ryan.

When Juliana was first arrested, we monitored her jail calls. We discovered that Brendan's family, family and Brendan were funding Juliana inside the jail. Initially it looked like they were doing a good job of buying her silence. She held out a lot longer than I thought she would hold out and ultimately she decided that she couldn't take it anymore. Sometime after Juliana had been arrested, we had gotten enough information. We set a date to do a proffer, which is a kind of a structured interview.

that gives the opportunity for a criminal defendant to tell us what happened. In exchange for that, the Commonwealth Attorney offered a plea agreement. Juliana wastes no time accepting the proffer. And then that's his main point besides the fact that he wanted to be with me or if you want to be with somebody else, it would be easier if she was not in the picture. Juliana finally realized that she was up against it all and the only way out for her was to tell the truth about Brendan, tell the truth about what they planned together, tell the truth about the murder of Joe Ryan and Christine Banfield. He just started saying, I didn't think if I want to hire somebody, but then they're going to see my account.

They're going to know that investigation. They want to find out that I hire somebody eventually. So Brendan decides not to hire a hitman. No, he decides, he's gonna murder his wife himself. Did he say where he intended on stabbing her, how he intended on stabbing her? Yeah, he was playing the stab her on the neck, just like he did. He was just expecting Joe to bring a pointing knife

instead of not the knife to like chop flashed balls, which would be easier. You just said that you, that Christine was talking to Brendan, where you could hear her saying something. Yeah. What did you hear her saying? saying to Brendan as he was stabbing her in the night.

She was just telling him, let me go. I'm going to die anyways. I'm going to bleed to death. She was just leave me here, let me die. And then he was telling her I can't. So it sounds like Brendan stabbed his wife to death, not Joe Ryan. So now the question is, was Joe just an innocent victim in all this? Someone who came over thinking that he was going to have this consensual sex fantasy.

with Christine when he ends up getting catfished and shot to death. I mean, on the face of it, he's on these fetish websites. And so, you know, he's like, different, you know, and who's this guy? Joe was bright, articulate, funny. I would say that he was quirky, and I would say that he was outspoken. Joe had rescue dogs. rescue dogs his whole life. He would go pick out the ugliest dog in the pound. He was somebody who lived authentically different sometimes. He was definitely an individual.

Our investigation proved that Joe Ryan's encounters with people who are engaged in BDSM fetusist lifestyles were all consensual and none of them resulted in harm. Certainly none of them resulted in death or murder. Joseph Ryan is a true victim. Joseph Ryan was set up to take the fall for a heinous, heinous crime. And he was treated as if he was nothing by Brandon and Juliana. With Giuliana's help, detectives finally punch holes in Brendan's carefully crafted digital plan. One thing that was really fascinating about this case for me is detective love digital evidence.

You know, when they get to a murder, the first thing they're doing is where are the phones? What social media is this guy on? And in this case, it was so different because all that evidence backed up his story and it allowed him to get away with it, at least for a while. Brennan Banfield was a criminal investigator for the IRS. Brennan Banfield understands computers. He understands paper trails. He knows how to make things look like something they're not. Where Brennan Banfield was lacking was in his knowledge of blood spatter, of crime scenes, violent crimes.

Those are things that IRS agents typically don't deal with. But the Fairfax Police CSIs are very well trained in forensics, and the detectives doubled down on this crime scene evidence. The blood spatter was key because the way blood existed on Brendan's clothing was indicative that it was Brendan and never Joe Ryan that was literally in front of his wife as he was stabbing her to death. We had the physical evidence to prove that Brennan Banfield was the person that killed his wife. We charged Brendan Banfield and he was arrested. Early last year, the double homicide of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan.

shook our entire community. Today I'm pleased to announce that due to the hard work of police and prosecutors, the Commonwealth Attorney's Office has secured an indictment against Brennan Bannfield for the murder of his wife Christine and the murder of Mr. Ryan. I hope that the family, friends, and loved ones of Christine and Joseph can find some solace in the knowledge that we're pursuing justice for them. I went back to my hospital and I told everyone that knew her,

they called him, yes, you know, and everybody was like, Oh my God, oh my God, you know. So there was a big sight of relief when that finally happened. And then, you know, and then you cross your fingers that there was enough evidence to convict them. A month later, Juliana does the only thing that makes sense for her. She pleads guilty to manslaughter in connection with the death of Joseph Ryan. This is a lesser count than the original charge she was facing of second degree murder. The plea deal was that the prosecutors would recommend to the judge that she gets to leave jail and go home to Brazil.

So look, it's controversial because, yes, it's going to lessen her jail time, but the state is desperate for her testimony to get a conviction against Brendan at trial. I think Giuliana's testimony was very important. So when Juliana was sentenced, it was very interesting sentencing here. You had Joe's mom, you know, just heartbreaking. My son, Joseph Nathan Ryan, my baby boy was born two days before Christmas, making that our special holiday.

His middle name was Nathan, which means gift. Since Joe's murder, I haven't been able to take down my little Christmas tree, which sits behind the urn, with his ashes. When Joe was taken from me cruelly and callously, murdered by Juliana and Brendan on February 24, 2023, I lost so very much. I lost the sound of Joe calling me the most beautiful word in the world. Mom, my son, Joseph Nathan Ryan, was not and is not disposable. Ms. Perez Maglase, if you could stand up please.

Is there anything you wish to say at this time before sentences imposed? Yeah, I like to really statement. I have caused your pain. They cannot be measured and forever changed so many lives. And look back to my younger self, a 20 years old, falling hat over hills for someone, 15 years older. They only seen his good side and clinging to someone that showed me love. I lost myself in a relationship, laying my morals and values behind.

The guilty feelings that I didn't serve to live and that I was a monster were overwhelming. I hope someday I can be forgiven as I hope to be able to forgive myself. You may not have come up with a plan, greed, and an older man, They may have groomed you to a point, but let's get straight. You do not deserve anything other than incarceration in a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim in this family. May it weigh heavily on your soul.

She knew that involuntary manslaughter carried a maximum of 10 years. So that's judge sort of had 10 years to play with, right? And so it was going to be the judge's call. So today I'm sentenced you on a manslaughter charge, because that's what's before me. Therefore, I do sentence you to 10 years in the penitentiary. After you've completed your 10 years sentence, I will order an additional two years suspended, and it will be placed on probation pursuant to Virginia Code 19.2303.

That's the law. That's all she can give her. But it's like the judge is saying, I hope that, you know, you struggle with this, your soul struggle this with the rest of your life. Of course I wanted her to get more time, but the judge stepping out of what is typical and giving her the maximum that she could get, I really have to say that I, I think that sentence was just. So it's almost a year before Brendan Banfield goes to trial. The prosecution clearly has the advantage. It was a strong case, and Juliana's testimony was key, but we also had an abundance of forensic and digital evidence that was indisputable.

When Brendan Banfield's trial begins, he faces a charge of first-degree murder. In Virginia, that carries a life sentence. We're here today because Brendan Banfield, the man seated behind me, killed his wife, Christine Vanfield, and another man named Joseph Bryan. Those two individuals had no reason to know each other but for the plotting and planning of Brendan Vanfield. Brendan revealed his desire to get rid of Christy. Divorce was not an option for him. And he convinced young Juliana, 22 years old, not from the United States living in his home in love with him that they should get rid of Christine.

So they crafted a plan. On February 24th, 2023, Brendan Vanfield's birthday, the plan was put into action. You're here all of this from Julian, but we're not asking you to believe her alone. It is the blood evidence that you can rely upon without a doubt. The blood cannot lie. With that evidence, we will ask you to find Brendan Vanfield guilty of these murders, the associated charges of neglecting his child, and of creating a danger for her in that home. Thank you.

As for the defense, they have their hands full. I think the defense attorney, John Carroll, listen, he had a very guilty client, and he had to do the best he could to defend his client under really tough circumstances. You're going to see a presentation of a horrible, tragic, awful event for everyone involved. And there's no disputing that. But there's an awful lot more to look for, ladies and gentlemen. And that's what I'm asking you to do. Thank you very much.

In what promises to be an explosive trial, Juliana takes the stand. So you began a sexual relationship with the defendant in August of 2022 when you were how old? I was 21. Did he ever talk about getting a divorce with her? No, he basically said divorce was not an option. Did he say why? Money was involved in . So he didn't want to get divorced.

Did he tell you what he wanted to do? Yes. What did he say? He mentioned his plan to get rid of her. He had heard of a website called Fat Life. He's never done anything on the website, but he heard about it. And that's what he was going to do. What is it about Joe's answers and messages that attracted Brendan to selecting Joe?

Do you ever tell you? because he seemed to be like the person would do the things that Brennan needed the person to do. They would use Christine's email accounts to create a fake profile to lure someone in who was into kinky sex, violent sex. And they would get this guy to come into the house and fake rape Christine. Brendan would be the hero of the day.

that he would show up, kill the guy, kill his wife, pretending that it had been that guy. That was the plan. Thank you. All right. Cross-examination. So what did you actually remember from that day? Well, I remember that the account was created, the email,

and that Christine was upstairs in the bedroom. That's it. So there was an account created and Christine was in the bedroom. Yes. But you don't know where you and Brendan were. I can tell you for sure. You don't know who got the laptop, which was the device that was used to create the account,

correct? You can say that? Well, I'd rather you tell me. What you're saying is that you're forgetting crucial details regarding a horrific, tragic event for many people. Yeah. And you're not able to remember this. If Juliana's testimony is shocking,

Brendan Banfield does something that no one sees coming. Mr. Banfield, you can just stand for a moment. Mr. Banfield, do you understand you have a constitutional right not to testify? Yes, ma'am. By testifying, you understand you waive this constitutional right.

Yes. All right. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Your next witness. You're all right. called Brendan Bancere. I was very surprised that Brennan Bainfield decided to testify.

When a criminal defendant takes to stand, they're opening themselves up to have to answer questions that they might not want to answer. How long were you and Christine together? About 19 and a half years. And how would you characterize your relationship with Christine? For the most part, we were pretty inseparable. We were together.

the entire time. We didn't break up at any point. Did you love your wife? Very much. Did you want to continue your marriage with your wife? Yes. Did you have a relationship with Juliana Perez, Maga Heise? Yes. Now was Christine aware of your affair? I don't believe she was aware of the affair between me and Juliana. Was she aware of your previous affairs? She was aware of at least two previous affairs.

Okay. And likewise, were you aware of her affairs? Yes, I was also aware that she had affairs. When he got on the stand and really disparaged his former wife, Christine's good name and stomped on her grave, they revealed Brendan for who he was. Let's talk about February 24th. Defense Attorney John Carroll leads Brendan Banfield through the key moments of that, like when he claims he saw this strange car in the driveway.

At the point that you saw the Silver Jeep, how did that make you feel and what were you, what were you concerned about at that point? I guess it made me very anxious. I didn't know, I didn't know what was going on. I had concerns that this was going to be, that this was going to be an affair. And please tell the ladies and gentlemen and jury exactly what you were. jury exactly what you observe with regard to his contact with Christine. Christine was, I would describe as nude and Joe Ryan was behind her. He was clothed and he was

looking directly at me as I opened the door. And why did you shoot John Ryan on February 24th. He was attacking Christine. I mean, he was causing, he was stabbing her. I mean, I wish I shot him earlier. Then prosecutor Jenna Sands starts her cross-examination. This is her opportunity to really grill the defendant. That is not something a prosecutor gets to do every day.

You indicated earlier in your test, yesterday I think that this affair with Juliana was really a nothing, right? This was just an affair. You had had others. This was not a relationship, correct? I would say that it was, that it was a relationship, but it is an affair, but I wouldn't categorize it as serious. Not serious.

Okay. Did you love her? There was points that I told her that I loved her. You told her that you loved her, but you didn't actually love her. I would say that I had feelings for her, but they weren't nearly as strong as feelings for my wife. During all of his testimony, the direct and the cross-examination, I think people got a glimpse of truly who Brennan Bannfield is. He was smirking when he was talking about his relationship with Juliana. As the testimony ends, closing arguments begin.

We know that on February 24, 2023, he executed his plan to murder his wife and an innocent stranger. They got Joe Ryan into the house and then they shot him. Brendan stabbed Christine, let her bleed out on the floor, and then dripped, smeared, and wiped her blood on Joseph Ryan's body to make it look like he had attacked Christine. Then they called the police. Brendan let Juliana take the fall, and it took a little bit of doing, but here we are, and it's his turn to be held accountable. I don't think that there can be any reasonable doubt that Mr. Banfield has committed each and every one of the offenses that we have put before you today. They're trying to sell you a story without any facts, and we have the facts, and those facts are in evidence. If you have doubts about the investigation, if you have doubts about how they've conducted this investigation, if you believe that there's something that's been held back in this investigation, that's reasonable doubt.

I ask that you find my client not guilty of all charges. Jurors deliberate for about nine hours before deciding Brendan Banfield's fate. I understand we have a verdict. Yes, Your Honor. We, the jury on the issue, join in the case of the Commonwealth of Virginia versus Brendan Robert Vanfield defendant, find the defendant guilty of aggravated murder of Joseph Ryan and Christine Vanfield. Guilty on all charges that was necessary for the family's friends and loved ones to continue to find a way to move on. Before Brendan sentencing, Christine's sister shares her feelings about her terrible loss.

I feel like a different person, like my identity has shifted in an unimaginable way. Part of who I was, who I still am, is a big sister. And in what seemed like seconds, it was taken from me, taken from us. When we were little, Christine and I would often get mistaken for twins. When I look into a mirror, I sometimes see her first. My face replaced by hers, and in a flash she's gone, and I'm left confused by my own reflection. and I will forever carry both the grief of losing her too soon and the gratitude of having loved her for 37 years

and being loved by her in return. And now, Brendan Banfield is given one last chance to speak. Sir, is there anything you wish to say at this time before cynicism posed? Yes. Okay. I'm greatly disappointed in the legal system. The system has failed not only me, but also Christine, my daughter, Bensens, and the rest of my family.

I was found guilty of a crime that I did not commit. I loved her very much, despite what you may think of my affairs. Our marriage worked for us. It wasn't something that I looked to end, but I am not responsible for her death. This is not a knife that I ever held in my hand, and I never stabbed her. Mr. Bainfield, although you haven't found guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, the court can only sentence you on one count of aggravated murder. The level of cruelty, calculation, and inhumanity in this case reflects something far deeper than anger or impulse.

It reflects evil, which is why I carry no burden and find no hesitation in sentencing you to life. Without the possibility of parole, without good conduct allowances, or any earned sentence credits or conditional release. Well, it won't be justice for Joe or Christine, but it will be the kind of justice for him to live the rest of his life. life thinking about the crime that he committed. How do you describe someone like that? Quite frankly, he's an evil guy. This was an evil crime, and he thought he was smart enough to get away with it, and he just wasn't.

This was a very challenging case, a very impactful case, and it was an honor to work this with all the detectives, all the investigators. I don't even think I can find the right words to say how much work and how much passion everybody poured in this case. I cannot stop thinking about her and her daughter. She was robbed of the opportunity to grow up with that wonderful mother who would have done anything for her. She loved that child.

There are so many innocent victims in this story, all because one man wanted to have it all. Brendan didn't care how many people he heard, only if he could live the way that he wanted. But that life is over for him now. And the memories of his victims live on. My son's legacy is one of love, of people that loved him. And it's a legacy of a man who did matter.

He's not the other guy. He's not the intruder. He's not the fetish guy. His legacy is one of living out loud and being a unique human being and that being okay.