Dateline: Temptation - 5 harrowing details about the Juliana Peres Magalhaes case, revisited 

Dateline, NBC's long-running true-crime series, will be back with a new episode on April 3 titled 'Temptation', which will revisit the double murder case of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan in 2023 in Herndon, Fairfax County, Virginia.

Dubbed as the au pair murder case in the media, the upcoming Dateline episode will reinvestigate the crimes of Brendan Banfield, an Internal Revenue Service agent and his lover, a Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who murdered Brendan's wife and the mother of his child, Christine Banfield and an unrelated man, Joseph Ryan.

More on this in our story.

Dateline: Temptation - 5 harrowing details about the Juliana Peres Magalhaes case

1) Dateline: Temptation - Juliana Peres Magalhaes agreed to testify against Brendan Banfield

In 2024, Juliana Peres Magalhaes finally took the stand and confessed to the murder of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan. When asked by a prosecutor why she finally confessed, she said:

“The thought of being the right thing to do, I guess. The world deserved to know what really happened and I just couldn’t hold it – I just couldn’t keep it to myself, the feeling of shame and guilt and sadness and all those feelings.”

In reality, Peres Magalhaes was offered a lesser prison time in exchange for her testimony against Brendan Banfield, which ultimately proved to be a breakthrough in the case.

2) Dateline: Temptation - Juliana Peres Magalhaes was having an affair with her employer

According to Juliana Peres Magalhaes' testimony in court, she arrived at the Banfield home in October 2021 and started living with the family. In August 2022, the au pair began an affair with Brendan Banfield, who had expressed dissatisfaction with his wife, Christine Banfield, as she was a bad mother. After Juliana Peres Magalhaes expressed her desire to stay with Brendan, he hatched a plan to kill his wife.

Peres Magalhaes' testimony confirmed that since Brendan did not want to pay for the divorce and share custody of his four-year-old daughter with Christine, he hatched an elaborate plan to kill her.

3) Dateline: Temptation- Brendan Banfield created a fake account to kill his wife

As Judge Penney Azcarate noted, Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan's killings were the “most serious manslaughter scenario” the court had ever seen. Juliana Peres Magalhaes revealed that she and Brendan used Christine's laptop to create a fake account on a fetish website to find someone who would be willing to carry out a r*pe fantasy. After thousands of messages, the pair decided on Joseph Ryan, who was willing to carry out the fantasy on Christine.

On the fateful day, Ryan entered Christine's house but was fatally shot by Brendan, who was already waiting for his arrival. Later, Brendan stabbed his wife multiple times as Juliana Peres Magalhaes watched.

4) Dateline: Temptation- Brendan Banfield left instructions for Joseph Ryan for his wife

As the au pair revealed in her testimony, Brendan Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhaes wanted to stage Christine's murder as a home invasion gone wrong. To sell their story, Brendan left disgusting instructions for Ryan for his wife, as prosecutor Jenna Sands revealed to the court:

“Christine will be asleep in bed. Come straight upstairs. Cut off the clothing. Tie her. R*pe her. Simple and fun. That was how it was posed.''

The pair told the authorities that Ryan had broken into the Banfield house with a knife and stabbed Christine to death, following which, they shot the perpetrator in self-defense.

5) Dateline: Temptation - Juliana Peres Magalhaes apologized to Christine's daughter

After Juliana Peres Magalhaes' testimony, Brendan was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of aggravated murder, one count of using a firearm in committing a felony and child endangerment. Despite the prosecutor's plea deal (for lesser prison time for Magalhaes), the recommendation was disregarded and the Brazilian au pair was sentenced to 10 years in prison & two years suspended.

At the end of the trial, Juliana Peres Magalhaes apologized to the victims' families and Christine's daughter:

"I hope someday I can be forgiven, as I hope to be able to forgive myself.''

Dateline: Temptation will air on NBC on April 3.

Trending

For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback