Virginia prosecutors are pointing to blood-splatter analysis as one key piece of evidence that led to the arrest of a former IRS employee in connection with the 2023 murders of his wife and an unknown man in the idyllic Washington, D.C., suburb of Herndon, according to local reports.

Brendan Banfield, a husband and the father of a then-4-year-old daughter, and his family’s then-22-year-old Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, are accused of killing Christine Banfield — Brendan’s wife and Fairfax County NICU employee — and Joseph Ryan, the 38-year-old man who showed up at the Banfields’ home armed with a knife, in Herndon, Virginia, in February 2023.

Ryan’s connection to the family or their au pair remains unclear.

Fairfax Commonwealth’s Deputy Attorney Eric Clingan told a courtroom on Sept. 27 that after investigators spent a year of reviewing “two definitive reports from expert forensic investigators,” prosecutors determined they had enough evidence to prove their theory that Ryan and Christine’s bodies were moved after death. Ryan’s arms were moved and had Christine’s blood on them, according to the Associated Press.

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John Carroll, an attorney for Brendan and Peres Magalhaes, argued that prosecutors’ newfound evidence does not prove Brendan killed his wife and Ryan.

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“It just doesn’t add up, judge,” he said in court on Sept. 27, as AP reported.

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Fairfax Circuit Chief Judge Penney Azcarate ultimately decided to deny bail for Brendan at the conclusion of last week’s hearing.

Brendan Banfield, who was arrested last month more than a year after the double murders took place, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

Magalhaes, who was arrested about eight months after the killings, also faces charges of aggravated murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

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“On Feb. 24, 2023, I stood in the middle of a cul-de-sac street in Fairfax County and described the deaths of two persons inside of a residential home. Now, 570 days later, we know the deaths of Joseph Ryan and Christine Banfield are, in fact, murders,” Fairfax County Police Department Chief Kevin Davis said during a September press conference.

When police initially responded to a 911 call from the residence that day, they found Christine with stab wounds to the neck and Ryan with fatal gunshot wounds in the upstairs bedroom of the home. Authorities took Christine to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, Davis said.

Officials recovered a knife and two firearms from the scene.

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“We know Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders,” Davis said during the September press conference. “I will not describe our victim, Joseph Ryan’s, involvement with anyone in the case at the moment because this investigation continues,” Davis said.

On Feb. 24, 2023, Magalhaes told police she left the Banfields’ home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way in Herndon to take their young daughter to the National Zoo. She told authorities that she had begun driving but realized she had forgotten the lunches she packed for their excursion inside the house, so she turned around and noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

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She then reportedly called Brendan, a former criminal investigative agent for the IRS who had at that point left for work, and told him about the unknown car in their driveway. The pair decided to meet at the Banfields’ home and walk inside together, as the Washington Post reported.

Initially, Magalhaes told police that when she and Brendan walked inside, they saw an unknown man, Ryan, holding Christine at knifepoint. She allegedly described him as an intruder. Ryan was apparently fully clothed while Christine was naked in the main bedroom of the house.

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It remains unclear exactly what transpired inside the home that Friday morning, but Magalhaes and Brendan apparently both admitted to shooting Ryan while the man was holding a knife to Christine.

Prosecutors allege that a computer at the Banfield home was tied to an account on a sexual fetish website, the Post reported.

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While the account on that computer appeared to show a photo of Christine in a bathing suit, it is unclear exactly who was communicating on the account. The profile also apparently did not display “one iota of evidence that she was into knife play, binding, BDSM,” Clingan previously said in court, according to the Post.

Ryan, the man who reportedly held Christine at knifepoint, also apparently had an account on the website and had been communicating with whoever was accessing the site from the Banfield computer.

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Authorities arrested Magalhaes in October 2023 after she moved in to the Banfields’ main bedroom and placed a framed photo of herself with Brendan on a nightstand beside the bed. A grand jury indicted the 23-year-old in April, and her trial is scheduled to take place in November.

Magalhaes’ attorney, Ryan Campbell, did not respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital. Brendan is no longer employed by the IRS, the agency confirmed.

Original article source: Affluent Virginia suburb rocked by love triangle murders as prosecutors highlight key evidence

The Virginia men’s basketball team held its annual Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday evening at John Paul Jones Arena, giving UVA fans their first look at this year’s roster, which features five transfers and two true freshmen, who made their first appearances at JPJ in a Virginia uniform.

If you weren’t able to make it to JPJ on Saturday evening to watch the scrimmage in person, worry not. Virginia Cavaliers On SI has you covered with five minutes of video highlights from the scrimmage. Watch the highlights from the 2024 UVA men’s basketball Blue-White Scrimmage in the video below:

Virginia divided up its roster into two teams and played three periods of 10 minutes each, making some slight variations in the personnel on each team for each of the three periods. We won’t go through and list all of the players who were playing for the Blue and White teams in each period, but we will list the starting fives each team began each period with on the floor:

Period 1
Blue: Taine Murray, Ishan Sharma, Dai Dai Ames, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson
White: Jalen Warley, Isaac McKneely, TJ Power, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan

Period 2
Blue: Christian Bliss, Jalen Warley, Andrew Rohde, TJ Power, Elijah Saunders
White: Dai Dai Ames, Isaac McKneely, Ishan Sharma, Jacob Cofie, Blake Buchanan

Period 3
Blue: Jalen Warley, Isaac McKneely, Taine Murray, Elijah Saunders, Blake Buchanan
White: Christian Bliss, Ishan Sharma, TJ Power, Jacob Cofie, Anthony Robinson

Period 1 ended with the White team defeating the Blue team 15-8. Period 2 was very closely contested with the Blue team prevailing over the White team 13-12. In the final period, the White team defeated the Blue team 16-9.

San Diego State transfer Elijah Saunders led all scorers with 12 points and he opened the scrimmage with a pair of early three-pointers. He also finished a breakaway opportunity with an athletic one-handed flush. Duke transfer TJ Power joined Saunders in double figures with 10 points, also hitting two three-pointers.

True freshman Ishan Sharma finished with nine points in his first appearance at John Paul Jones Arena, while one of the most experienced veterans of the roster, Taine Murray, also had eight points and hit two three-pointers. Isaac McKneely and Kansas State transfer Dai Dai Ames had seven points apiece.

Before the men’s basketball portion of the Blue-White Scrimmages began, there was a joint three-point shooting contest between the Virginia men’s and women’s basketball teams. Isaac McKneely and Olivia McGhee teamed up to take on Christian Bliss and Kymora Johnson. Bliss knocked down 18/25 threes to give his team an early lead, as Olivia McGhee hit 14/25 on her turn. Kymora Johnson converted 15/25 threes to try to protect her team’s lead, but Isaac McKneely was not to be denied, hitting 22/25 three-point attempts to win the contest. McKneely and McGhee hit 36 threes, while Johnson and Bliss made 33 threes.

Stay tuned to Virginia Cavaliers On SI for more content on the Blue-White Scrimmages, including observations and takeaways from both the UVA men’s and women’s basketball scrimmages.

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It’s almost game time Hokies fans! Virginia Tech is finally back in action and they are hoping to get their first ACC win of the year today when they face the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford is rolling with a new quarterback today, with ESPN’s Pete Thamel reporting earlier this afternoon that the Cardinal are going with Justin Lamson today. Stanford lost to Clemson last week, but don’t let the final score fool you. The Cardinal were able to run the ball effectively on a stout Tigers defense and that is going to be one of the big keys today for Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech has been a favorite all week and with kickoff nearly an hour away, the Hokies are 9.5 point favorites according to Fanduel Sportsbook. The total for this game is set at 48.5.

Three of the four quarterbacks that Stanford has played this year have thrown for at least 255 yards. The Cardinals rank 112th in the country in dropback success rate allowed and this could lead to a big game from quarterback Kyron Drones. Drones has not thrown for more than 200 yards this year aside from the opening game vs Vanderbilt, but the Cardinal defense could provide opportunities for Drones to have his best game of the year. While the stats won’t blow you away, there were glimpses last week of Drones having success through the air. He is a dangerous runner, but his arm might be on display this weekend.

Kickoff is less than an hour away! Be sure to stay locked in right here and refresh the page for updates from today’s game.

1st Quarter