Prosecutor Reveals Victims' Bodies Were Repositioned In Murder Case Involving Man, Au Pair

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Expert bloodstain-pattern and forensic analysis helped investigators pursue charges against a Virginia husband accused of killing his wife and another man at the married couple’s Fairfax County home, prosecutors said Friday.

Earlier this month, a grand jury indicted Brendan Banfield on charges of aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan. At the time of his arrest, which occurred more than a year after the incident, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said new information found in officials’ investigation was “instrumental in securing today’s indictment,” but he declined to elaborate further.

During a Friday bond hearing, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan said police received in August “two definitive reports from expert forensic investigators” who spent more than a year reviewing evidence. Clingan said the reports were foundational in supporting prosecutors’ theory that Ryan and Christine Banfield’s bodies were moved and repositioned after they were fatally wounded. Clingan also said Ryan’s arms were moved and smeared with the wife’s blood.

John F. Carroll, Brendan Banfield’s attorney, argued in court that Clingan’s narrative of what happened was not evidence of the husband killing his wife. “It just doesn’t add up, judge,” Carroll said.

At the end of the hearing, Fairfax Circuit Chief Judge Penney S. Azcarate denied Banfield bail, requiring the defendant to remain in the county jail until his trial, which is scheduled for February.

The blood-spatter evidence is one piece of officials’ sprawling investigation into Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family’s au pair who was also charged with second-degree murder in Ryan’s