The courtroom drama surrounding a former IRS officer accused of double murder began Tuesday, featuring opening statements and compelling testimony from a key prosecution witness—a Brazilian au pair involved in an affair with the accused at the time of the tragic events.

The prosecution claims that Brendan Banfield fatally stabbed his wife before shooting Joseph Ryan, a man lured into the home by Banfield and the au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, as part of a plot to frame him for the murder of Christine Banfield, according to WDCW.

Magalhães, who admitted to manslaughter in 2024, agreed to testify against Banfield, her former lover, as reported by CrimeOnline. She recounted to investigators how she left the Banfield residence in Herndon, Virginia, on the morning of February 24, 2023, intending to take the couple’s four-year-old daughter to the National Zoo. However, she returned upon realizing she had forgotten their lunches and noticed an unfamiliar vehicle in the driveway.

Magalhães attempted to contact Christine Banfield, who did not answer, leading her to call Brendan Banfield, who was en route to work. Upon rushing back, they reportedly discovered Christine had been attacked. Brendan then shot the intruder with his service weapon but instructed Magalhães to retrieve another gun from a safe to ensure the man, later identified as Ryan, was dead. She complied, shooting Ryan in the chest.

However, the prosecution’s narrative during Tuesday’s proceedings painted a different picture, as reported by WDCW. They revealed that Banfield, using his wife’s email, crafted a profile on the fetish website FetLife, orchestrating a “stranger rape” scenario. Over a month of online conversations, he set the stage for Ryan to unwittingly step into a deadly trap.

Banfield, they said, told Ryan to come into the house through an unlocked door, tie up Christine Banfield and rape her, not stopping “even if she looks terrified,” prosecutors said.

They said Banfield used his wife’s phone to unlock the door and then hid it in a drawer on the day of the murders. Instead of heading to work, he went to a nearby McDonald’s while Peres Magalhães waited down the street with the daughter. When the two saw Ryan arrive, they went back to the home and found him with Christine Banfield in the bedroom.

Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed his wife over and over, manipulating her body to make it look like Ryan was killed while attacking her.

For their part, defense attorneys say the original story is the true one and that Peres Magalhães’s testimony is suspect because she agreed to a plea deal.

General testimony on Tuesday included the assistant chief medical examiner and police officers who responded to the 911 call at the the home. And then came Peres Magalhães, who testified that Banfield planned the murder for months and he began the process during a trip they took to New York in October 2022.

Banfield told her, she said, that divorce wasn’t an option because Christine Banfield “wasn’t good” for the couple’s daughter and that she would get more money than him in any divorce. He initially thought of using a hitman but dropped that idea because he thought it would be uncovered too easily.

Then he found FetLife and set up the fake profile for his wife.

On the morning of the murder, she testified that the two of them watched from down the street until their chosen patsy entered. Banfield identified himself as a police officer, and his wife shouted that her “attacker” had a knife and to call 911. Peres Magalhães started to do that, she said, until Banfield told her to stop. Then he shot Ryan and stabbed his wife to death.

When both Ryan and Christine Banfield were dead, the pair called 911.

Peres Magalhães’s testimony will continue on Wednesday.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder and child abuse and endangerment charges. He faces a maximum of life without parole if convicted.