Episode Details

The Brendan Banfield murder case has all the elements of a true crime nightmare — an alleged affair, a sex fetish website, a double homicide, and an au pair who flipped on her former lover. But the defense is pointing to something prosecutors would rather you ignore: the investigators who said the evidence didn't support the theory were removed from the case.

Banfield, a former IRS special agent, faces four counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at their Herndon, Virginia home in February 2023. Prosecutors allege Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhaes created a fake FetLife profile pretending to be Christine, lured Ryan to the home for a staged sexual encounter, then killed them both.

But Fairfax County's own digital forensics expert, Officer Brendan Miller, analyzed 60 devices and concluded Christine appeared to be the one running the account. His report stated there was "no indication that Christine lost control of her devices" and that she was communicating with multiple people on the site. The University of Alabama peer-reviewed his findings and confirmed them.

Miller was transferred out of digital forensics. The lead homicide detective who reportedly disagreed with command staff was moved off the case too. Defense attorney John Carroll called the prosecution's case "a theory in search of facts."

Now everything rides on Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who changed her story after a year facing murder charges and took a plea deal for time served. In a jailhouse letter, she wrote she was "heartbroken" to be doing this to Brendan but wanted to go home to Brazil.

Today we examine the defense perspective — and ask whether this investigation followed the evidence or forced the evidence to follow a theory.

#TrueCrimeToday #BrendanBanfield #AuPairMurder #ChristineBanfield #HerndonVirginia #MurderTrial #JulianaMagalhaes #FetLifeMurder #TrueCrimeNews #ColdCase

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