ELAINE QUIJANO:
00:00:19
The day Brendan Banfield was told his wife had been killed, body cam footage captured his reaction at a Virginia hospital. It's not a survivable injury. [SOBBING]
ELAINE QUIJANO:
00:00:30
Banfield says in February 2023, he came home to find a man, Joe Ryan, stabbing his wife, Christine. Banfield, an IRS agent at the time, carried a gun. He says he tried to save her life by shooting Ryan. He was a threat to Christine and that was the best way to stop his actions.
ELAINE QUIJANO:
00:00:52
Prosecutors, though, say Banfield killed her. They argue he devised a plot with his nanny, Juliana Peres Magalhaes. Brendan revealed his desire to get rid of Christine.
ELAINE QUIJANO:
00:01:03
Prosecutors allege the pair concocted a catfishing scheme on an adult website and lured Ryan to the Banfield home for what he thought would be a sexual encounter with Christine. Banfield denies that, but admits he and the nanny were having an affair. I would say that it was a relationship, but it is an affair. But I wouldn't categorize it as serious.
PROSECUTOR:
00:01:26
Not serious, OK. Did you love her? There was points that I told her that I loved her.
ELAINE QUIJANO:
00:01:32
The key witness, the nanny, Peres Magalhaes, pled guilty to manslaughter and made a deal with prosecutors to testify against Banfield. After October, when he first mentioned the plan, that was just, at that point, it was just get rid of Christine.
ELAINE QUIJANO:
00:01:48
Banfield says both he and Christine had affairs but says he still loved his wife. I think that it's an absurd line of questioning for something that is not serious, that a plan was made to get rid of my wife. The Banfields' then four-year-old daughter was in the basement at the time of the murders. Banfield could face life in prison if convicted. Tony?
TONY DOKOUPIL:
00:02:16
Wow. Elaine, thank you very much.
