The Brazilian au pair who helped murder her lover’s wife and a would-be patsy in Virginia posted cringey selfies gushing over her much-older beau killer just months before the slaying.
Juliana Peres Magalhães, 25, shared snaps of herself and married IRS agent Brendan Banfield, 40, as they shamelessly cavorted in winter 2022, with posts showing them canoodling in a bubble bath, groping each other under a table — and even shooting guns at a firing range.
“Oh my god, I’m so incredibly in love, I’ve been smitten since July of last year,” read one of the blushing selfies, shown to jurors in Banfield’s murder trial last week.
Banfield’s face was halfway covered by an enormous puppy-eyed emoji in the photo, while Magalhães lay back in his fleshy embrace with a smile on her face.
That photo was taken in Dec. 2022 — two months before Banfield’s 37-year-old wife Christine would be murdered in what Magalhães testified was a sick scheme to fake a rape and kill at the Banfields’ Herndon home.
Magalhães had become the couple’s live-in au pair — helping take care of their 4-year-old daughter — the summer before, when she and Banfield struck up a lusty affair.
But it wasn’t long before Banfield began talking about wanting to “get rid of” his wife instead of divorcing her, according to Magalhães, and they began formulating a plan to lure a twisted kinkster to their home under the guise of carrying out a rape fantasy.
They allegedly made a profile under Christine’s name on a fetish app and tricked 38-year-old Joseph Ryan into thinking he was being invited over to roleplay breaking into her home and raping her at knifepoint.
But Christine had no idea what was coming when Ryan snuck into the home in Feb. 2022, while Banfield was allegedly lying in wait to shoot him with his IRS-issued handgun and then stab his wife to death with the blade Ryan had brought — making it appear the husband had heroically tried to save his wife’s life.
With Christine dead, Magalhães moved into the home with Banfield — hanging her lingerie in Christine’s closet and sleeping each night in the very bed where the mother had been murdered.
But that shocking behavior appeared to be par for the course for the couple, who enjoyed taking partially clothed selfies with each other — and even spent time shooting handguns at a firing range.
Another photo shown to jurors — taken on New Year’s Eve 2022 — showed Banfield’s hand on Magalhães thigh as they sat at a table, which she captioned “My New Year” alongside a string of wide-eyed and heart emojis.
In a third, Magalhães unloaded a pistol — similar to the one used at the killing scene — on a target alongside a caption reading, “This handsome guy takes really good photos,” with a series of emojis that seemed to cartoonishly imitate somebody being shot in the head.
The honeymoon didn’t last long, however, as Magalhães was arrested in Oct. 2023 and charged with murder. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter a year later, a month after Banfield was arrested in Sept. 2024.
Magalhães dished on the alleged plot and their salacious affair as Banfield’s murder trial kicked off last week — but his defense insisted she’d been arrested merely to “flip her” against Banfield.
She will be sentenced after Banfield’s trial, which is expected to resume Tuesday and last three to four more weeks.
Banfield, who no longer works for the IRS, faces life in prison, if convicted.
