WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

The Virginia trial of Brendan Banfield, a former IRS special agent accused of being the mastermind behind a grisly double murder to cover up an affair with his family’s au pair, kicked off Tuesday with his mistress taking the stand to provide an explosive firsthand account of the alleged killings. 

Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan inside their home in Herndon, Virginia, an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors allege Banfield spent a month impersonating his wife on a fetish website to lure Ryan to the family’s home and carry out the double murder to hide an ongoing affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair, then-22-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhães.  

“Those two individuals had no reason to know each other but for the plotting and planning of Brendan Banfield,” prosecutor Jenna Sands said in opening statements, referring to Ryan and Christine Banfield.

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However, at the time of the alleged murders, Magalhães told investigators she and Banfield discovered Ryan stabbing Christine inside the home and both opened fire to stop the intruder. 

Defense attorney John Carroll insisted in his opening statement that Magalhães was arrested in October 2023 in an effort to pit her against Banfield during his trial. 

“The whole reason she was arrested was to flip her against my client,” Carroll said. 

Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in October 2024 and will be sentenced after Banfield’s trial. 

AFFLUENT VIRGINIA HUSBAND, NANNY CHARGED WITH MURDERS IN MANSION LOVE TRIANGLE

In explosive testimony, Magalhães took the stand to detail how her relationship with Banfield went from professional to sexual. 

“We barely spoke,” Magalhães said. “My relationship was mostly with Christine and [the couple’s child].” 

Magalhães testified that the pair became intimate in August 2022, and how she first became aware of Banfield’s alleged plan to kill his wife while the pair were on a trip to New York with Banfield’s young child just two months later, with Banfield declining to file for divorce instead. 

“He mentioned his plan to get rid of [Christine],” Magalhães told the prosecution. “Initially, he didn’t know what he would do. He just mentioned that he would think about it [and] let me know when he thought about it.” 

VIRGINIA AU PAIR MURDER: FETISH PLOT, AFFAIR, GUN RANGE TIED TO DOUBLE HOMICIDE AT HOME, PROSECUTORS REVEAL

Magalhães explained on the stand that Banfield used his wife’s email and photograph to create an account on a fetish website under a fake name, while also conspiring to create an alibi in the event of a murder investigation. 

“He knew that we needed to have some alibis,” Magalhães testified. “He knew that he needed to change his routine a few weeks prior. So it wouldn’t be odd that he wasn’t, you know, just at McDonald’s on that day, specifically.” 

Prosecutors allege that Banfield and Magalhães propositioned men on the fetish website to enter the family’s home under the guise of a consensual sexual encounter, ultimately deciding on Ryan as their victim. 

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“He made Brendan feel confident enough that he would be the person to play the role, which means being aggressive and holding her down and coming over to the house and bringing stuff and all that,” Magalhães said. 

“Brendan created the narrative that Christine desperately wanted to be raped,” Sands explained in her opening statement. “Posing as Christine, he told Joe what to do: Come to the home in Reston. The door will be unlocked. Christine will be asleep in bed. Come straight upstairs, cut off her clothing, tie her, rape her. Simple and fun.” 

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Before Ryan arrived at the home, Banfield went to a nearby McDonald’s and awaited Magalhães’ call regarding an intruder at the home, the au pair testified. 

“After calling Christine, I called Brendan, and then he picked up the phone and I was telling him, ‘Stay away, there’s somebody strange and come to the house, I’m scared,’” Magalhães said. “He told me to stay there. He will be coming home, and he will try to call Christine.” 

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As the encounter unfolded, Banfield and the au pair put his young child in the basement with her iPad before entering the Banfields’ bedroom, where Banfield shot Ryan with his service weapon and stabbed his wife while Magalhães held a firearm he had purchased a month before the alleged killing, according to prosecutors. 

“When I got to the bedroom, Brendan yelled, ‘Police officer,’ and Christine’s first reaction – it was the first time I heard her say anything at that point – and she yelled back at Brendan, saying, ‘Brendan, he has a knife,’ and that’s when Brendan first shot Joe,” Magalhães said. 

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Magalhães then testified, in graphic detail, how Banfield climbed on top of his wife and stabbed her in the neck while she covered her eyes and ears on the other side of the bed.  

“I had put my hands on the carpet and as soon as I felt blood, I just removed my hands from the carpet,” Magalhães said, adding that blood also soaked into her shoes and socks.

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Banfield then allegedly staged the crime scene to appear as though it was a home invasion, with Magalhães then calling 911 to tell authorities Ryan was an intruder who had stabbed Christine, Sands added. 

Banfield’s attorney did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

If convicted, Banfield would face the possibility of life in prison. The trial is expected to last four weeks. Court sessions will begin at 10 a.m. each day and run Monday through Thursday, according to court administrators.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a redistricting effort to secure more Republican congressional seats in the state on Wednesday.

DeSantis announced the move on social media, saying he will be convening a special session for the state legislature to adjust current maps. The move comes as red and blue states across the country have pursued redistricting in a high-stakes battle to secure an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections.

“Today, I announced that I will be convening a Special Session of the Legislature focused on redistricting to ensure that Florida’s congressional maps accurately reflect the population of our state. Every Florida resident deserves to be represented fairly and constitutionally,” DeSantis wrote.

“This Special Session will take place after the regular legislative session, which will allow the Legislature to first focus on the pressing issues facing Floridians before devoting its full attention to congressional redistricting in April,” he added.

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Currently, Republicans hold 20 of Florida’s 28 congressional districts. Florida Republicans may also face challenges because of language in the state’s constitution that puts tight restrictions on gerrymandering.

Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, President Donald Trump in June first floated the idea of rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting.

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Democrats need a three-seat pick-up to win back the House majority.

Trump’s first target: Texas.

A month later, when asked by reporters about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”

The push by Trump and his political team triggered a high-stakes redistricting showdown with Democrats to shape the 2026 midterm landscape in the fight for the House majority.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map.

But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country.

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Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that will temporarily sidetrack the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.

That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.

The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California.

Right-tilting Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push.

In blows to Republicans, a Utah district judge this month rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

And Republicans in Indiana’s Senate defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House.

But Trump scored a big victory when the conservative majority on the Supreme Court late last year greenlighted Texas’ new map.

Other states that might step into the redistricting war are Democratic-dominated Illinois and Maryland and two red states with Democratic governors, Kentucky and Kansas.

Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin, responding to the news from Florida, argued in a statement that “Ron DeSantis is bending the knee to Washington Republicans once again by agreeing to rig Florida’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterms.”

Some lawmakers have warned that rampant redistricting will only lead to escalating political tensions. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said last month that it may even result in violence.

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“You know, it’s this escalation on both sides,” Paul said. “Both sides are doing it, and so is one side going to sit quietly and not do it? You can argue who started it. But I do think this, and, this is on the negative aspect of both parties doing this, I think it’s going to lead to more civil tension and possibly more violence in our country, because think about it.”

“If 35% of Texas is Democrat, solidly Democrat, and they have zero representation. Or like in my state, we’re a very Republican state, but we have one Democrat area in Louisville and we have a Democratic congressman. We could carve up Louisville and get rid of that one congressman, but how does that make Democrats feel? I think it makes them feel like they’re not represented,” he continued.

Paul did not solely blame Republicans or Democrats for the redistricting fight but expressed concerns about how far it has escalated.

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“I’m saying it’s a mistake for both parties,” Paul said. “I know exactly how we de-escalate this, because once Texas is done and changed five seats to be more Republican, California’s gonna do the same thing. And it’s back and forth, and back and forth. How do you put the genie back in the box? How do you get back to détente? How do you do something better? I think there is the potential that when people feel they have no representation, that they feel disenfranchised, that it could lead, that it might lead to violence in our country.”

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

A convicted sex offender was arrested and a missing child recovered after a routine traffic stop erupted into violence, a foot chase and a high-speed pursuit in Florida.

The incident unfolded the morning of Dec. 31 in Flagler County, where sheriff’s deputies stopped a white Ford F-150 on U.S. Highway 1 after a tip from a concerned citizen who reported suspicious behavior.

The driver, identified as 60-year-old Darnell Hairston, was traveling with two juveniles, according to a release from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies soon discovered that one of the juveniles had been reported missing in neighboring St. Johns County and quickly secured the child, 11, in a patrol vehicle.

Moments later, bodycam video shows Hairston suddenly bolting from deputies, stumbling into the road and engaging in a struggle with deputies. Authorities say Hairston attempted to grab a deputy’s firearm before being subdued and arrested.

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Hairston was charged with resisting an officer with violence, attempting to disarm a law enforcement officer, kidnapping and child abuse, officials said. In a second update, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office announced additional charges – including kidnapping and child abuse – against Hairston.

As deputies focused on Hairston, the second juvenile, 15-year-old Junior Bishop, allegedly jumped into the truck and sped away.

Dash camera video captured the teen speeding away from the traffic stop and narrowly missing a deputy standing in the road. Video showed deputies pursuing the vehicle south on U.S. Highway 1.

A high-speed chase began, with Bishop allegedly driving into oncoming traffic and weaving in between lanes before ramming into a deputy’s patrol vehicle.

Both cars were seen crashing into a wooded area and causing the suspect’s vehicle to roll over.

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Bishop was taken into custody and charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, driving without a license and resisting an officer without violence. Bishop is expected to be turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

During the pursuit, a second deputy crashed into an automotive repair building in Bunnell. Two deputies suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from a local hospital, police said. Bishop was evaluated and not seriously injured, authorities said.

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Hairston was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility without bond pending a first court appearance. According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, Hairston is a registered sexual offender and was released from the Florida Department of Corrections in 2009, where he had been serving a 12-year sentence for three counts of false imprisonment. 

He has a lengthy arrest history, including previous arrests for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary with assault or battery, cruelty toward wife, disorderly intoxication, lewd or lascivious offenses committed upon a child, property damage and sexual battery.

Authorities say that following Hairston’s arrest, deputies confirmed that the 11-year-old had been reported missing three days earlier, and he was transported to a hospital for medical treatment. 

During an interview with authorities, the child said he had been lured to a wooded campsite in Flagler Estates, where Hairston choked him until he lost consciousness. After regaining consciousness, the 11-year-old told detectives, he was threatened with a knife and a gun, tied up with shoelaces and an extension cord, and had duct tape placed over his mouth. He also told detectives that Hairston held him at the campsite for multiple days and made him travel on the floorboard of his truck covered by a blanket.

Deputies said that after the interview with the child, they returned to the campsite and recovered multiple items, including duct tape, video surveillance equipment, and weapons consistent with the child’s statements.

During an interview with Hairston, detectives determined that he knew the boy was missing and endangered, but he could not explain any reason for keeping the child from his parents when he knew that law enforcement was actively searching for him.

On Jan. 2, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Hairston for kidnapping of a child under 13, aggravated child abuse, battery by strangulation, and robbery with a deadly weapon. Detectives served the warrant at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where Hairston was already being held on a $125,000 bond for the prior arrest. He is now being held without bond.

Bishop may be facing additional charges once the investigation is concluded, officials said.

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Sheriff Rick Staly said the case remains under investigation, including how the sex offender, the teen suspect and the missing child were connected.

“This was a very suspicious incident that is still under investigation by our detectives, but I am thankful that nobody was seriously hurt and that we were able to recover a missing child from this pervert’s grasp,” he said. “I also do not understand why a pervert who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2004 was released after only five years in 2009. Clearly, he has not learned anything!”