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We're going to start things off with [music] a trigger warning. Some of the reporting is disturbing, so please
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listen and watch [music] with care. So, welcome to a special episode of the 48 Hours podcast, [music] Inside the
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Bfield trial. I'm your host, 48 Hours correspondent Ann Marie Green. And today we are taking you inside the court case
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of Brendan Banfield, the former IRS agent charged with the February 2023 stabbing murder of his wife, Christine,
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and then the fatal shooting of another man, Joseph Ryan, in the Banfields Northern Virginia home. Brandon pleaded
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not guilty to all of the charges, and he maintains that it was Joseph who stabbed
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his wife while he shot Joseph in self-defense. This is one of the most talked about uh
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trials in the country right now. It's even sort of being dubbed the Opair affair because uh Brandon had been
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having an affair with the family's Brazilian Opair. Her name is Juliana Perez Magalles. She pleaded guilty to
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involuntary manslaughter for shooting Joseph Ryan. Here's prosecutor Jenna Sans describing what she says was
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Brendan's plan to kill his wife. He wanted her out of the picture. And he convinced young Juliana, 22 years old,
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not from the United States, living in his home in love with him, that they should get rid of Christine. He talked
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about hiring a hitman, finding someone to kill her for money, but he was concerned that that would tie back to
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him, that there would be too much evidence against him and that he could end up at risk. So, they crafted a plan.
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They would use Christine's email accounts to create a fake profile to lure someone in who was into kinky sex,
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violent sex. and they would get this guy to come into the house and fake rape Christine.
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Brendan would be the hero of the day. He would show up, kill the guy, kill his wife, pretending that it had been that
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guy. >> And that guy was Joseph Ryan. So, joining me now to discuss this case is
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48 Hours producer Michelle Sigona. Michelle, it's great to see you. >> It's great to see you, Emory.
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>> So, this is one heck of a case, boy. I mean, I understand why the entire country has been watching and you've
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been following this case basically since it started. And I just want to point out
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that this trial, the uh Brendan Banfield trial is taking place in the same courthouse as the Johnny Depp Amber her
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defamation trial >> and it's the same judge. Uh cameras generally usually are not permitted.
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>> Um but like the Depp trial, there's a lot of interest in this case. So, as for
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this trial, uh, Manfield's Opair, Juliana, she's now 25 years old. Um, she was originally charged with the murder
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of Joseph Ryan, but then she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, involuntary manslaughter, and she decided to
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cooperate with the government. She is the star witness, which is why I expected her to show up maybe later on
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in the trial. I was really surprised that she was called so early in the trial. What was it like when she walked
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into the courtroom? It was um first it was very surprising. I mean openings were a little more than
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a half hour. There were some other witnesses who had testified and then they talked about the codefendant like
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on the first day. Oh my goodness. >> She walks in through a side door, has to walk past the defense table and all the
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way up um to be sworn in to sit down. And she looked drastically different. We've seen photos of Juliana throughout
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these, you know, these last few years. Um, her hair is long, blonder, different style clothing. This was a a version of
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her that we have not seen before. Her hair is now completely dark. She had glasses on. It was a um a muted version
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of her. >> Okay. So before she testifies though, we have the opening arguments and we hear
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the prosecution sort of lay out the case that they believe they have against Brendan. What What do we hear? As we
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heard earlier, the prosecutors alleged in February 2023, Brendan and Juliana were having an affair. This is inside of
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of their property. And by the way, the defense doesn't dispute this relationship at all from what we've
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heard so far. U Brendan and Christine also had a young daughter. Her name is Valerie. And Juliana said Brendan wanted
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out of this marriage. Now they weren't together at first. This was something that evolved over time. She had from
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what she testified to had spent about a year in the house and then renewed for another year in her program. And um but
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he felt a divorce was not an option. He wanted full custody of his daughter. And
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Juliana said money was also involved in part of the issue. >> Interesting. And then so how do things
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unfold? >> So the alleged catfishing scheme comes about using this website called Fetife
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and as in fetishes and they would take Christine's laptop and and phone to message the people while Christine was
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in the house. This is incredibly important um point because Christine being inside of the house, according to
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Juliana, was the reason why they would message these other men at home and from her laptop because um Brendan told her
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if there's some sort of investigation, it would always look like the messages were coming from Christine, coming from
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her phone, coming from her computer. Um, and according to Juliana, Brendan was looking for someone who would be
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aggressive and would bring restraints um, and also a knife to this meeting at the house. Um, she said they were also
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looking for someone to agree to come to the house before ever meeting Christine in public.
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>> So then, who's doing the messaging to all of these men? Are both of them? When
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the defense asked Juliana who who was doing this, there were times when she couldn't remember who was doing the
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messaging, but she did say it was both of them at different times on different days.
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>> So ultimately, after, you know, messaging several men, they finally messaged Joseph Ryan, who is open
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>> and we see the messages in the court presented to the gallery on the Telegram
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app between Joe and Christine's account. Uh, and that account used an alias as well, Anastasia.
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>> And there are exchanges between them about cuts and bruises. And Anastasia uh messaged that quote, "Some marks are
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okay." I said, "As long as they are covered by my clothes, I have a few days to heal up."
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>> Yeah. And this character is sort of in encouraging a certain level of violence.
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and she I don't know if she asked for a photo of the knife, but he eventually sends a photo of a knife, too, right?
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>> Yes, Joe did share an image of a knife. >> Um, so it's one thing to have this
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communication online, but this is part of a bigger plot. Can you tell us how things were supposed to unfold in the
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house when Joseph Ryan shows up? I still cannot get over the level of detail that went into this alleged plot
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according again according to to Juliana. And here's the prosecutor explaining how
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this day started. >> On February 24th, 2023, Brendan Banfield's birthday, the plan was put
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into action. Knowing that Christine had the day off, Brendan and Juliana arranged a fake
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outing for the zoo with sorry, a fake outing at the zoo for Valerie. Juliana and Valerie packed a lunch, prepared for
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this fake outing. Christine, still in bed, asleep at 6:00 a.m. Brendan takes her phone and Valerie
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downstairs. He chats with Joe to confirm a 720 arrival for the execution of the fake
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rape. And Brendan then disables the door lock, preventing it from automatically locking, turns off Christine's phone,
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and puts it in a drawer in the kitchen where she couldn't possibly find it to call for help when she finds an intruder
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in her home. Brendan leaves the house, followed shortly by Juliana. Brendan drives to a nearby McDonald's.
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Juliana waits in the culde-sac. The plan to give a call out to Brendan as soon as
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she sees Joe. Valerie's in the back seat and Juliana has a gun in her pocket. When Joe arrives, Juliana calls
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Christine's cell phone first to create a record of a fake warning. even knowing that the phone is turned off.
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She then calls Brendan to let him know that Joe is in the house. Brendan leaves the McDonald's, drives
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directly to the home, meets up with Juliana, and with Valerie and tow, they reenter the house through the basement.
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Okay. So, just to make it sort of clear to everyone, the plan, and it's unfolding exactly as Brendan had
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planned, is to have uh Joe come into the house. Christine has no idea what's going on.
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And so, you know, she's still in bed. Juliana is supposed to be taking care of Valerie. Valerie did re from what we
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learned from Juliana's testimony on the stand, she remained downstairs while Brendan first went upstairs to the
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bedroom. A few minutes later, Juliana said she also went upstairs and told Valerie, "Look, stay behind." And here
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is Juliana on the witness stand. >> When I got um to the bedroom, Brendan said um he yelled, "Police officer."
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And Christine's first reaction. That was the first time I heard she say anything at
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that point. Then she yelled back at Brendan saying, "Brendon, he has a knife." And
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yeah, that's um that's when Brenda first shot Joe. So Brendan shoots Joe. This is part of
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his plot, right? He's going to sort of come in and save her, but Christine is still alive. she is alive. And
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allegedly, she tells Juliana to call 911, which Juliana did, but then hangs up quickly after. Uh Juliana claims
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Brendan gave her some sort of gesture to hang up the phone. She hangs up the phone. A period of time goes by. Um the
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911 center calls the phone back, leaves a message, and so this is where the prosecution says everything sort of
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falls apart a little bit. U because Juliana wasn't supposed to call 911 until later. Juliana said Brendan then
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got on top of Christine and told her Juliana to get a towel. Um, so she left, she came back and that's when she saw
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Brendan allegedly stabbing Christine with this knife and she testified um Juliana said she covered her ears and
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her eyes and at times um would look up and saw more of this stabbing taking place. Juliana says Brendan then told
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her to go to the safe in the closet because that was also part of his plan and but for reasons that she can't make
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sense of now when she returned and saw Joe moving um she warned Brendan >> and I just start telling him he's moving
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he's moving he's behind you and that's when I fired the the shot That's when you Could you say that
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again? >> I fired. >> And when you say you fired, you fired what? >> A gun. >> The gun that that was where?
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>> In my um that I had in my pocket. The the handgun. >> Did you hit anyone? >> Yes.
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>> Who'd you hit? >> Joe. Juliana says she shot Joe and Brendan gave her the go-ahad to call 911 this
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time for real. This is 15 minutes later. >> 911. Where's your emergency? >> I need I need help. There is
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my my friend. He just was stuck on the mic now. She's hurting my lot. I don't know what to do anymore.
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>> Then Brendan gets on the phone. >> My name is My name is Brendan Banfield. I'm a I'm a f I'm a federal agent. This
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is my house. There's somebody There's somebody here. Uh I I shot I shot him. Um but he stabbed her.
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She ble She's bleeding. She got several several marks on her neck. What do I do?
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What do I do? >> And again, Valerie is in the basement while all of this is happening. I mean,
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she must be hearing it. >> It's It's hard to tell what she heard. I'm a mom to three young children and I
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can't even imagine this child being in this house in this particular situation. And just so you know, in addition to the
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aggravated murder charges, Brendan Banfield was also charged with one count of felony child abuse and neglect
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[music] and one count of felony child cruelty related to everything that transpired [music] that day.
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And so the investigation begins and unfolds. But before police go after Brandon, they actually arrest Juliana in
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October of 2023. Why did they arrest her first and not Brendan? >> That's a great question. They may have
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been building this case behind the scenes against Brendan. Investigators like to take their time. They like to
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build their case and be able to to do this just the once. That's it. That's all you get. And
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>> so by the time Juliana was arrested, she was not only living in the marital home,
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um a place that she was supposed to be an employee, but she had moved directly into the bedroom with Brendan Banfield.
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>> You've got to be kidding me. I mean, I it's hard to say how people should behave, but that certainly raises some
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eyebrows. That behavior is going to make people very suspicious. Look, I've been doing this for 25 years
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and I have seen cases across this country of all different magnitudes. And this is the level of
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detail and the things that have happened and the things that have come out in this courtroom about what went on
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allegedly behind those, you know, behind those walls of that house. It's it is it's really hard to understand. It
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really is. It's almost like she sort of slipped right into Christine's place. >> It's exactly what it seems like. And
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then not only does she do that, but according to Juliana, this relationship continues after her arrest.
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>> His mom apparently uh according to Juliana is paying for her defense attorney at this point.
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>> Wow. And so, but then when is Brendan arrested? >> So, Brendan is then arrested in
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September 2024. and Juliana decides to cooperate with authorities in October 2024. She had
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some sort of medical emergency. She was in the hospital for a number of days. When she came out a couple of days
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later, she decided to sign this paperwork. That's what she testified to. And she said that's when the financial
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support from Brendan's family ceased. >> So, this to me is a challenge for the defense. What is the defense's response?
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Well, the defense attorney, John Carroll, questioned her decision to take this plea, the timing of it all um
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months after her arrest, and there were letters that were read inside of the courtroom this week. Um, and that she
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had written to Brendan and other people while she was in custody. She wrote about how she couldn't live without
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Brendan, but she also wrote that she had given up hope and this was torture for her. um she's in ter she was in terrible
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pain, saying um in part that it was killing her while she was incarcerated and she was considering taking her own
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life. Juliana said she began medication while she was in jail. This was for depression and anxiety to help her. And
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later she writes to Brendan saying that she knew the Commonwealth wanted her to cooperate against him. Um, she wrote to
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Brendan's mother that she'd give her life for him and that she would never do anything to hurt him. Going on to say,
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quote, "I'll take the blame for both of us." Okay, so that is an intense type of
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connection. I don't know if I call it love, whatever. I I can see how, you know, as she's sitting in jail, though,
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like her commitment is starting to weaken. Um, but but when do things go from I'm willing to take the blame for
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everything to I'm going to I got, you know, there's a plea deal on the table. I'm taking it. Well, remember Brendan is
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arrested in September 2024, and Juliana took the plea in October, the very next month, the end of the very next month.
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She messages that she's scared and she later talks about being disheartened. Then there's a set of days in October
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when Juliana is in the hospital. We spoke about that briefly. just days before the plea. That's, you know, when
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all of this has sort of taken place. The defense asks if this was just a coincidence, and she said it was.
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There's also a message from Juliana's mother to Juliana saying, quote, "Please tell her not to cut you off from your
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mom. Please tell her it was all Brendan." Seeming to be referring to Brendan's mother not cutting off this
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support. because, >> you know, not only was she apparently funding this defense attorney, but she
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was also funding her account to be able so she could have communication with her
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mom and other people and buy extra food from the commissary and things of that nature.
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>> Um, Juliana had mentioned uh to her earlier that she was thinking about taking the plea and that this message
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was written around the time she actually did it. >> Okay, so this is kind of a standard
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thing for the defense to do, right? like question the motives and the motivation
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of a witness. >> Um, so we that's fine, but what is the defense saying about this plot that
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Juliana alleges that she was involved in with Brendan? >> Brendan Banfield's defense attorney, uh,
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John Carroll, disputed this whole catfishing story. This was in his openings. Uh during the cross-
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examination, he tried to get Juliana to share exact details from setting up that
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account in Christine's name, but she said she wasn't able to uh remember a lot of the details. Oftentimes, you
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would hear her say, "I don't know. I don't recall. I things like that." Or, "I've I told you that before." And there
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was clearly tension between her and Mr. Carol. >> Yeah. In fact, the defense attorney sort
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of asks her about that, about her sort of weak memory. I want to play some sound from that.
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>> I mean, with all due respect, you don't remember a lot of details. >> Yeah. >> And that's what's um really concerning
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about this. >> Well, if you were in my shoes, you don't remember either. You know, your brain
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has a way to defense mechanism it's called. >> Okay. And it protects you from losing your mind, losing yourself and
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many things our brain blocks out. And I guess everybody can relate to that at some point.
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>> Okay. Um I I mean it's reasonable. It's been a number of years and so if she doesn't remember details, it's also
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something conveniently that witnesses often seem to forget in crucial details >> sometime. Yes. And I and you know I
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think sometimes in I know if I'm messaging you know there's a lot of things going on with work or messages
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and things like that I may not remember certain you know certain dates and things of that nature but when there's
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something um as important as what happened here on that day um you would probably I would venture to say possibly
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be able to remember some of those things leading up to it and after >> absolutely and and the Other thing that
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the defense sort of tried to do as well is kind of, you know, be critical of her
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character. And they bring up the fact that, you know, she needs money. She's dependent on Brendan's mother for money,
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but she's looking for money elsewhere, too. >> And he dissects all of her messages and
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but obviously pulls out the ones that are most important to what he wants to bring forward. And there's talk about
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how Juliana could profit from all of this. and the defense asks her about this, you know, exchanges that she's had
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over this time of incarceration with the media specifically. Now, full disclosure, a 48 hours producer was
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mentioned during this trial since we are covering the case um and seeking an interview, but we made it clear that CBS
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News does not pay for access ever. It's also important to note when we're working these cases and stories,
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especially over long periods of time, um, sometimes we don't do them, sometimes we do move forward with them.
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We reach out to everyone. It's very important. We want to be we want to be accurate. Um, and that's just it's what
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we do. It's what we've always done at 48 hours and it's what we'll continue to do.
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>> Yeah, I think that's underline and highlight that. So, this case is starting off with, you know, well,
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fireworks for sure. Um, what can we expect now in the coming weeks? >> Well, the defense attorney, John
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Carroll, in his opening statement referenced the fact that detectives who didn't agree with this catfishing theory
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were transferred. So, we may hear more about that. I also have a witness list here. This is from the Commonwealth. It
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was filed with the court. I was in the clerk's office earlier this week going through some of the the filings, some of
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the old ones, some of the new ones. I don't have a defense witness list right now. This trial is slated for 4 weeks.
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Whether it will go four weeks or not, it's anyone's guess, but we will be tracking this and we will be keeping a
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very close eye on this case. >> So, we don't know if we'll see Brendan uh on the stand, but boy, things are
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starting off really, really [music] interesting. Thank you so much, Michelle, for joining us.
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>> Thank you so much for for having me here [music] with you today.