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Double-murder accomplice nanny calls employer ‘her husband’ in police footage
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Double-murder accomplice nanny calls employer ‘her husband’ in police footage

Juliana Peres Magalhães, the nanny for a suburban Virginia family who pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month in a double homicide case, can be seen hyperventilating in new body cam footage Fairfax County Police Department.

Magalhães, a Brazilian national, reportedly fell in love with her employer, former IRS agent Brendan Banfield, and the two were accused of setting up a complex plot to kill Banfield’s wife, Christine Banfield, mother of her 4-year-old daughter, in February 2023.

A man named Joe Ryan was also killed in the alleged scheme after prosecutors said he was contacted on a sex fetish website and lured to the Banfield home with the promise of sex.

In the February 2023 video, Magalhães can be heard telling police that her “husband” is downstairs.

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Juliana Peres Magalhaes in the video

Juliana Peres Magalhães in new police body cam footage where she calls Brendan Banfield her ‘husband’. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP)

“He started stabbing her,” Magalhães told police in the video, referring to Ryan. “I think Brendan shot him and he asked me for help shooting him… I never saw him again.”

She was 22 when police initially arrested her in October 2023, around eight months after the murders, when authorities charged her with aggravated murder and use of a weapon in the commission of a felony.

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Photo by Brandon Banfield

Brendan Banfield is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. (Fairfax County Police Department)

At the time of her arrest, she had moved into the master bedroom of the Banfields of Herndon, with a photo of her and Brendan together on a bedside table, according to authorities.

Fairfax County police arrested Banfield, a 39-year-old IRS employee, in September, more than a year after the murders. He is charged with four counts aggravated murder and use of a weapon when committing a crime.

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This image provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and taken Oct. 13, 2023, was filed as evidence in the murder case against Brendan Banfield, shows a framed photo of Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on a bedside table in Herndon, Virginia.

This image provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and taken on October 13, 2023, was entered into evidence in the murder case against Brendan Banfield. It shows a framed photo of Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on the bedside table in Herndon, Virginia. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP)

Banfield faces up to life in prison for the alleged crimes, while Magalhães faces a maximum sentence of 10 years on the manslaughter charge, according to FOX 5.

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When police responded to a 911 call at the Banfield residence on February 24, 2023, they found Christine with stab wounds to the neck and Ryan with fatal gunshot wounds in the home’s upstairs bedroom. Authorities took Christine to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Christine Banfield

Christine Banfield was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her home in Fairfax County, Virginia. (Facebook)

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Authorities recovered a knife and two guns from the home.

It remains unclear exactly what happened inside the house that Friday morning, but Magalhães and Brendan both reportedly admitted to shooting Ryan while the man held a knife for Christine.

Juliana Peres Magalhaes

Magalhães is charged with second-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. (Instagram)

Viviane Magalhães, Juliana’s stepmother, told The Associated Press that she hoped her stepdaughter would return home to Brazil soon.

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“We still can’t figure it out. I think she was tricked by this guy. He brainwashed her,” Viviane Magalhães told the AP in Portuguese, referring to Banfield. “There was never a gold digger in Brazil. For many years, she dated a man who was as humble as she was. We could never think that he lives in such a situation”.

Banfield is no longer employed by the IRS.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.