Au pair, employer visited shooting range before Reston murder, witness says
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — A judge found Monday that there is probable cause in the case against an au pair who is accused of murdering a man in Reston in February 2023.
Fairfax County police arrested Juliana Peres Magalhaes months after the killing of Joseph Ryan, 39, of Springfield. Investigators said Peres Magalhaes, now 24, shot Ryan inside a home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way on Feb. 24, 2023.
The home was that of Christine Banfield, 37, and her family. Peres Magalhaes was an au pair who worked there.
Police officers found Ryan dead inside the house. Banfield, who had been stabbed, died at the hospital.
In October 2023, the month of Peres Magalhaes’ arrest, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said at the au pair’s bond hearing that Peres Magalhaes and Banfield’s husband, Brendan, had an affair. Prosecutors presented evidence in the form of pictures which showed Peres Magalhaes’ clothes in Brendan’s closet and the closet in her room empty.
At the bond hearing, Peres Magalhaes’ lawyer told the judge that Banfield had gotten Peres Magalhaes tickets to take the Banfields’ 4-year-old child to the zoo. The lawyer said Christine Banfield made plans for Ryan to meet her at the home for sex, stating that the two met on some sort of website.
Peres Magalhaes said she forgot the child’s lunch and went back to the house to get it. When she did, she said she saw Ryan pull up and go into the house. Peres Magalhaes said she called Banfield’s husband who told her to wait and he would come home.
Peres Magalhaes’ lawyer said Peres Magalhaes went into the house with Banfield’s husband and took the 4-year-old child to the basement. She supposedly dialed 911 at that point but didn’t know what to say to the emergency dispatcher, so she hung up. The lawyer said Peres Magalhaes left the basement and that she and Brendan heard some sort of interaction involving Banfield and Ryan above them. They weren’t sure if it was consensual or not. Peres Magalhaes said Brendan, who is a special agent for the IRS, pulled out his service weapon and went into the bedroom where he saw Ryan with a knife to Banfield’s throat.
Peres Magalhaes’ lawyer said Brendan told Ryan to drop the knife and that Ryan, in turn, told Brendan to drop his gun. Ryan supposedly stabbed Banfield several times in her neck. Peres Magalhaes’ lawyer said Brendan shot Ryan in his head, not killing him, but in a way the medical examiner said would have blinded Ryan. The lawyer said Brendan told Peres Magalhaes to grab his gun, which she got out of a safe in the bathroom. Peres Magalhaes said Ryan started flailing around or posed a threat of some sort, possibly moving to get up off of the ground. Her lawyer said that’s when she shot Ryan, hitting him in the heart, and killing him.
At a hearing on Monday, a judge found probable cause that Peres Magalhaes shot and killed Ryan. The charges against her were moved over to Fairfax County Circuit Court. Prosecutors will present them to a grand jury, which was set to meet on April 15. If indicted, a trial date for Peres Magalhaes will be set.
A spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said during the probably cause hearing, the manager of Silver Eagle Group shooting range testified that Peres Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield visited the shooting range twice together in the months prior to Ryan’s murder and that Brendan returned a month before the killing to buy a Glock. That gun was in the Banfields’ home the day of Ryan’s death, verified through the serial number.
The spokeswoman for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said Brendan was called to testify at the hearing. He exercised his Fifth Amendment rights, protecting himself against self incrimination, and refused to answer “a few dozen questions.”
Among those questions were inquiries about how Brendan met Peres Magalhaes and their relationship.
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