Juliana Peres Magalhaes: Au pair confesses to role in BDSM double murder

A Brazilian au pair has admitted her role in the shocking deaths of a nurse and a man lured to her home, telling prosecutors the double killing was all “part of the game.”

The chilling confession from 27-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes emerged in a recorded interview from October 2024, obtained by NBC4.

Prosecutors say the au pair was having an affair with her employer Brendan Banfield at the time of the murders.

It was alleged the pair lured Joseph Ryan, 38, to their Virginia home via a fetish site in 2023, killing him and Mr Banfield’s wife, Christine.

Mrs Banfield was found stabbed inside the home on February 24, 2023.

Nearby, Joseph Ryan, a mixed martial arts enthusiast, was discovered dead, shot in the head and chest.

Ms Banfield later died in hospital.

At first, investigators were told Mr Ryan was an intruder who had attacked Ms Banfield.

However, the reality was later revealed to be far more evil.

According to prosecutors, Magalhaes told investigators that months earlier, Mr Banfield, a former IRS criminal division agent, had voiced a desire to “get rid of” his wife — but not by divorce”.

“And then I asked him, ‘Are you gonna divorce her?’” Magalhaes recalled in the NBC4 video.

“And then he said, ‘That’s not what I’m thinking about.’ And then he explained that he was thinking about finding a way to just get rid of her, out of the picture.”

Court documents allege Banfield created a FetLife bondage profile and made contact with Mr Ryan, who was drawn in with the promise of an elaborate sexual role-play encounter.

The ‘game’

Prosecutors say the couple used Ms Banfield’s work computer to choreograph the disturbing fantasy.

Mr Ryan, they allege, believed he was meeting Ms Banfield for a consensual encounter involving restraints, knife play and violent sexual role-play.

“Banfield wanted somebody that sounds, like, violent … so that’s when he started talking to Joe,” Magalhaes said.

On the morning of the murders, prosecutors say Mr Banfield gave the au pair a gun and instructions: call Ms Banfield’s phone when Mr Ryan arrived, and then call him. He waited at a nearby McDonald’s until summoned.

Magalhaes told prosecutors Ms Banfield was asleep when Mr Ryan entered the bedroom.

“We told him before that it was kinda part of the game … she would just get kinda freaked out and try to resist, but it was like ‘part of the game,’” she said.

The killings

When Mr Banfield returned to the house, prosecutors allege, he shot Mr Ryan and fatally stabbed his wife. Magalhaes then shot Mr Ryan again when she saw him move.

Together, they reported the crime as a home invasion gone wrong.

Months later, in October 2023, investigators serving warrants on the Banfield home discovered photos of Banfield and the au pair “in loving poses” throughout the bedroom, along with her lingerie, which shattered the story of an intruder.

Magalhaes was charged with second-degree murder and firearm offences in Mr Ryan’s death but pleaded guilty in October 2024 to a lesser count of manslaughter.

She is expected to be released after Mr Banfield’s trial, provided she continues to cooperate.

Mr Banfield has been indicted on four counts of aggravated murder and other charges and will face trial in October.