A Brazilian au pair has taken the stand in a gripping murder trial, offering testimony against Brendan Banfield, who is accused of orchestrating a deadly scheme targeting his wife.

“I believed it was the right thing to do,” stated Juliana Peres Magalhães regarding her decision to accept a plea bargain and testify against Banfield, as reported by WDCW. “We all deserve to know the truth. I couldn’t keep it hidden.”

Peres Magalhães admitted guilt to a manslaughter charge in 2024, according to CrimeOnline. Initially, she informed investigators that she left the Herndon, Virginia residence of Brendan and Christine Banfield, where she worked as a live-in au pair, around 7:30 a.m. on February 24, 2023, intending to take their 4-year-old daughter to the National Zoo. However, she returned after realizing she had forgotten their lunches and noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

She attempted to contact Christine Banfield, who didn’t respond, so she reached out to Brendan Banfield, who was en route to work. He hurried back, and together they went to a second-floor suite, where they allegedly discovered a stranger attacking Christine, who had been stabbed multiple times. Brendan used his service weapon to shoot the intruder, who remained alive, prompting him to instruct Peres Magalhães to retrieve another gun from a bathroom safe to shoot him again. She complied, shooting the man, later identified as Ryan, in the chest.

However, the prosecution presents a vastly different narrative. During opening statements and Peres Magalhães’ testimony, it was revealed that she and her lover, an IRS officer, plotted to murder Christine Banfield and frame Ryan, a stranger they had lured to the house through deceit.

Peres Magalhães also talked about discussions she’s had with television streamers to sell her story, telling her family in text chats “we deserve something” not for the murder, she testify, but for “what my family and I have been through,” WDCW reported.

The au pair also answered questions about how she and Banfield created the FetLife account to lure Ryan to his death as defense attorneys challenged her for not remembering very specific details about the messages they sent him and other users on the fetish site.

If you were in my shoes you wouldn’t remember either,” she said at one point.

Peres Magalhães completed her testimony Wednesday afternoon, and the judge sent the jury home early. They will return Thursday for further testimony.