Temptation

This month, Demi Lavato is my guest.

“The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now.”

But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage, and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook.

The drink is always about the journey to the top, and this was an honest conversation about

what that takes. Hope you'll listen and follow the drink wherever you get your podcast. I'm Craig Melff. Cheers, cheers. Cheers.

I've always been a glass half-full kind of guy, and now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that we too. It's really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, their challenges,

“their stories, their funny, and my candy.”

So I hope you'll join me each week, and who knows, you might just come away with your own glass half-full, search glass half-full with Craig Melff and from today on YouTube

and wherever you get your podcasts.

Tonight on Dave Live. She was like Christine's dad, and I was speechless, complete shock. She was a truly good human, loving mother, a nurse's nurse. What's the gun? The officers, they're met by Giuliana the affair.

They come upon a scene that's sheer chaos. Absolutely. There's somebody shot and a woman that's been stabbed. What's bothering you, right? Did you skip?

Did you just... the scene? You can see Brennan Banfield, he's kneeling over his wife. The deceased male, we later identify as Joe Ryan. They find this fetish website, where Christine's profile is communicating with Joseph Ryan's profile.

They're having an in-depth correspondence regarding this violent sexual fantasy. I was like, "What if the fantasy was a setup?" We start to get these juicy details about this so-called catfish theory. The whole plot is just violent. Very few people see that kind of evil.

Man, it shakes you. A double murder as elaborate as it was brutal inside the case that riveted the country. I'm lester-holt, this is daydlong. Here's Blaine Alexander with "Temptation." What a perfect day it was supposed to be.

For the four-year-old little girl anyway, she was going on an adventure with her live-in nanny. I bought tickets a few days prior, she's making packed lunches. They're going to go to the zoo as a type of play date with other old pairs in the neighborhood they're also bringing the kids that they watch.

Very typical. Very typical. But instead of visiting the lions, tigers and bears that Friday, February 24th, 2023, the little girl found herself in her family's basement in northern Virginia. Alone.

It's difficult to watch the body camera footage.

“And you just know that when you see the images of that little girl that her life is never”

going to be the same, it's never going to be the same.

And she was inside the house while whatever horrific thing went on upstairs. She was right there. Yeah. It was just after 8 a.m. The girl's father, Brendan Bandfield, told a 911 operator he'd shot a stranger in

his home. The person that she shot, where it's he. Brendan said he fired because the man was stabbing his wife Christine. Within minutes, first responders were at the house, guns drawn. They meet a woman and this woman turns telling the officers upstairs, come upstairs to

the master bedroom. Fairfax County Homicide Detective Thomas Gadell. You can see Brendan Bandfield and he's kneeling over his wife and she's not moving. He has one arm out stretched and touching the area of her neck on the side of her neck. And he has blood on his hands.

He's touching her as he tried to perform life-saving measures.

So he was kneeling, she was laying on her side on one of her sides and he had the hand, one of his hands on her neck.

“Christine had been stabbed multiple times.”

Behind where they're situated, deeper in the corner of the bedroom, laying on top of a dogbed is another man fully clothed and he's face is covered with cloth and he's not moving. It was the man Brendan shot. You have these two victims there, now you have medics on the scene.

Patrick Ruish, now retired, was a police captain at the time. You see two people that are critically injured, a firearm and playing view, a man covered in blood, a woman that's let you in the house and what we later find out a four-year-old girl in a basement. Wow.

That's quite a scene. That's a lot.

It was soon clear there was nothing first responders could do for the man who'd been

shot. He was deceased. He was deceased. But Christine, despite repeated, stabs to her neck, was miraculously still alive and was rushed to the ER.

Officers then coaxed the bandfields four-year-old daughter from the basement. "Do you want to go outside with us?" "You need to know how to tie a guy." Officers guided both out of the house, the child's and the woman with her. And that would be who we later identify as Julie on a deal pair.

That left Brendan, his hands still covered in Christine's blood. Can you check him out? Yeah. I got more units to it, but we'll check him out." What's his demeanor at this time?

It's sort of consistent with someone who's experienced a critical incident, levels of shock,

not really saying too much, you know, making some utterances but very small. And that's part of the challenge for their spine officers. It's they're trying to get at least it more information. But this is somebody who has shot a stranger in his bedroom sounds like a home invasion.

“For all intensive purposes, that's what you would have to initially classify it as.”

Yet even in those early hours, investigators wondered, "What in on time of day for a home invasion early on a Friday morning when neighbors, potential witnesses, were bustling to school, to work, and almost sure to see something? Was there something else going on here?" Well, yes.

There was a lot more. There was just something about it all that compelled me to catch my words at that unseen press conference. He had sent a photograph in advance, these are the things that I'm going to bring, zip ties and chains and whips and you know, whatever rubber belts. You hear about this fetish website?

Did that sound like anything that was even remotely fascinating? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. God knows. These details that take the public interest from here through the roof.

Because what he was doing, what? If there is such a thing as a perfect place to raise a family, the band feels community was probably it. This is a really nice place to live, earned in Virginia, all of Fairfax County is fairly suburban.

Drew Wilder covers the area for NBC 4 Washington. Great schools, great place to live, beautiful, quiet neighborhoods. But on Friday, February 24th, 2023, this neighborhood was chaos. Patrick Roosh was a member of police senior command.

“So you get here, I mean, what is this street like when you first get to the scene?”

So from here as far as you're, I can see it's fire apparatus, it's police cars, it's lights. There is a clear path to the residents and that's just so anyone of the ambulances. We're talking about issues response, just flashing lights up and down that street. Absolutely as far as you can see.

I get notified right away. Kevin Davis is chief of the Fairfax County Police Department. We know what our 911 caller, the husband told us. I spend a lot of time as a local reporter when we would go to crime scenes, if the chief came out and spoke to reporters, we're automatically thinking, okay, this is a big deal.

People were out of their homes, they were curious. And I knew based on the geography of the crime, based on the nature of the crime, that this was going to go in a lot of attention. They quickly learned the man on the 911 call was Brendan Bayon Field, a 38-year-old special agent for the IRS and its criminal investigation division.

He is a sworn officer.

He does carry a firearm and he basically enforces federal crimes as a pertain to IRS and

tax issues. So he has a lot of powers of a law enforcement official.

He, Christine and their four-year-old daughter were fairly new to the area. They'd moved here from their native long island in 2019 after the IRS promoted Brendan to Special Agent. When they were looking at houses, we all went out and grabbed dinner together. Brian Jayre had already knew Brendan through online gaming.

They often teamed up. We just seemed to vibe right away, both competitive, both good at what we did. And we were having a lot of success together and constantly winning and enjoying yourself you know. I don't think like, okay.

This is fun. Let's see, let's see, let's keep going and see where this goes. Brian says Brendan and Christine were a fun couple who loved to work out and compete in mud races. He and Brendan became close friends.

We did a tough mud together, sometimes we'd go on hikes or we'd go to concerts together or, you know, sometimes just like watch like a football game or something like that. We'd also talk about just like individual investing.

But he always said his goal was to create generational wealth for his daughter.

For everything I'd heard, they accumulated a lot and were extremely well off had very nice house. Christine was an accomplished nurse who took on the tough jobs, like working with victims of sexual assault. Her specialty though was pediatric intensive care.

She's like, I'm kind of like the unit mother hen, like I take in all the new grads. Nurses Katie Janice and Marissa Monkio worked alongside her in the ICU. So you're already take a very busy environment which can be very, very stressful and then you add on trying to educate a new person and a new nurse coming on. So I think it takes us special and breed of person to be able to do that.

“They'll never forget how Christine volunteered to work the adult ICU ward during those”

terrifying first days of COVID. I mean, that was a very scary time, especially to be in the health care system. Yeah, I think being in the health care mode of that time was hard because in the beginning we didn't know what COVID was, what it looked like. And I think initially as health care workers, we were all super, super scared, like, am I

going to get this? It was like running into a building that's on fire and she was like, okay, there's people in that burning building, I need to go see them that's exactly what she did. Katie and Marissa say the only thing Christine prized more than her work was her family, especially their young daughter.

Super, super proud, super beaming, like all she did was talk about her daughter, constantly pulling out her phone, and showing pictures. Yes.

As a working mom, child care was always top of mind, especially if you're working difficult

hours, how are you going to make it all work?

“Yeah, because I think all of us had different schedules on the unit.”

It was one of the reasons Christine turned to the O'Pare program, hosting young living nannies from abroad. For busy parents, the O'Pare program can be a godsend. Yeah. I've done it.

It's been amazing. Did it seem like Christine had kind of found the perfect child care solution? Yeah. I think she talked about that way, and it wasn't just like, I have no pair in this fits my family's lifestyle.

It was like, I have no pair, and I'm helping somebody come to our country, and I'm giving them a chance to live here and see what our country is like, like she really promoted the role. Yeah.

They say Christine became close with her first opair.

When that woman left, Christine found a replacement in Juliana Perez-Magliais from Brazil. I think that the reason that she had liked her is because the new O'Pare had mentioned that she had worked in health care a while.

“So I think that they had like that common bond, and that's why she was like, oh, this”

would be a great fit. Now, more than a year later, Christine was fighting for her life. As officers led, the trauma ties to O'Pare out of the house. It's okay. It's okay.

Just breathe O'Pare. As they're escorting around in the house, by the driveway, they stop for a period of time. And as they're doing that, she starts making statements. Barely audible at first, but officers got the gist. The breathless woman from Brazil wanted to share what she'd witnessed in that upstairs bedroom.

Every heart-pounding moment of it. Here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast on this week's episode, I get together with Stand Up Comedy Superstar, Nate Bargetzzi in front of a live audience at New York City Winery, to talk about his rise from small clubs to sold out arenas around the world.

You can get my conversation with Nate for free wherever you download your podcasts. He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together. Then one night, the Marine died.

I'm Josh Maykowitz, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all-new podcast from Nate Line.

“Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion Now, wherever you get your podcasts.”

[Music] It was a horrifying scene. Way too much for 22-year-old Obhair, Juliana Perez-Mackel-Yahees, to handle. Take a minute, okay? Who needs some water? Yeah, officers are trying to walk her through deep breaths to try and calm her down.

And while at the same time, trying to get the preliminary information of what happened inside this residence. Okay, she's so upset, she can't even really speak. Not, not, she's making more utterances, more phrases. I don't know what happened, I've already happened too fast. In fits and starts, a story started to take shape.

[Music]

Juliana said she was headed to the National Zoo for that outing with the bandfield's four-year-old daughter.

She was with a little girl in a car across the street, when she sees a unfamiliar car. And SUV, and it pulls right into the bandfield's driveway. What if I see her? And I don't know where he is. And a man gets out of the car and goes directly in the front door.

She then called Brennan. Brennan had stopped for breakfast at a nearby McDonald's on his way to work. I've got him, I see a strange car, but I don't know where he's at. He's coming and scared, and then he came here and then we went inside. They actually brought the little girl with them, the four-year-old girl, which had the house inside the house.

That she had secured the little girl in the basement. Juliana set up a tablet for the girl to watch and followed Brennan upstairs. And what she hears is sounds consistent with sex noises or slapping. It's playing in her, I don't know what it's playing in her. When they entered the bedroom, she said Christine was on the floor, a man with a knife above her.

Brennan identifies himself as a police officer, there's some sort of verbal exchange. And then he said, "No police are on the duct in life and then he was in, but a cure and a cure." And he started stabbing her. I think he should have. As Juliana tried to compose herself, officers escorted Brennan out of the house, took him to an ambulance and headed to the hospital. An officer asked about two guns they found in the bedroom.

Sir, was yours the clock 19 with the Taylor? My, that's the light, yeah. My other gun is my personal weapon. But that's the 43X? Yeah.

So both of those are yours? Both of them are mine. Brennan had some questions of his own.

First about his wife, who had already been rushed to the hospital.

Can we be with her? Uh, they're going to work on her when they get there. You wouldn't be able to see her immediately anyway. I would be able to be with her. Okay.

He also wanted to know about his daughter. She's there with other officers. They're still on scene. I think we need to tell her. I mean, as right now, I don't think they're going to tell her.

I don't think they're going to tell her anything. He's found the delicate matter. And I don't think anybody wants to, uh,

“Of the center of current, what is it going to be for?”

Yes, sir, understand that. Just moments after arriving at the hospital, a doctor approached him with the worst possible news. Sir, my name is Stephen. I'm in the doctor's here.

Your wife has died. I'm in the hospital. Christine Banfield was just 37 years old. A hospital chaplain asked if she could do anything for Brendan. They're in the hospital room.

They recited the Lord's Prayer. She is not in meditation. Back at the house, forensic texts collected evidence. To send to the crime lab for DNA testing and blood pattern analysis. The Banfield's daughter was shepherded down the block away from the chaos,

where she was reunited with Juliana. It's difficult to watch the body camera footage. And you just know that when you see the images of that little girl,

“that her life is never going to be the same.”

And she was inside the house while whatever horrific thing went on upstairs. She was right there. Yeah. Yeah. Our later at police headquarters, Juliana was still unsettled,

pacing back and forth, non-stop.

What's going on? Yeah.

“She told them she had a good professional relationship with the Banfields.”

They're like the traditional family can tell dad, mom, daughter, dog,

and he's super nice. She also gave a more detailed version of the moment, Brendan, confronted the stranger in the bedroom. And Brendan said, "Drop the knife. Please drop the knife."

That's what I heard. And that strange guy was saying, "Drop the gun." "Drop the gun." And they were yelling each other. I called her my years.

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see her here. I didn't think because they were getting serious. I guess Brendan shot him. And I wasn't even more scared.

She said after he shot the stranger, Brendan went to help Christine, who was bleeding badly. And the other man was still moving. He was reacting, so he was going to do something with Brendan also. And then I shot him also.

I did. That's an notable. That's significant. Julianne met with detectives for almost nine hours. Brendan declined to give a statement.

And then Officer involved shooting, and whether or not he was in an official capacity or not. He was involved in a shooting.

And so, oftentimes, officers are coached to talk to an attorney first

of a form making a statement. And it had been a tragic and bewildering day with so much loss to absorb. Some random guy had pretty much just come off the street and broken into their home and killed Christine.

How did something like this happen? Katie, how did you find out that she died? I was at home. Marissa texted me. And she was like, Christine, being filled.

Who was killed in her home this morning. And I was like, "Speechless." Marissa, how did you find out? So somebody had texted me and then they told me. And I was just in complete shock.

In those early hours, it was a complicated scene for detectives with so many unanswered questions. At the top of their list, who was the man killed in the bandfield's house? And what was he doing in Christine's bedroom?

Joseph Ryan had accounts on a adult fetish dating site. So kind of like a Tinder meets BDSM. Yes. It was a flash of violence that left two people dead. Christine banned field, attacked in her own bedroom,

and a stranger shot dead just feet away. This was a very complicated crime scene. We maintained custody of that crime scene for days.

“That's how thorough these crime scenes detectives are.”

They don't let any stone go unturned, and they process the entire house and collect anything that they think might be pertinent to the investigation, even if it isn't overwhelming at the time. Their search included the stranger's collar.

We had the car that was parked in the driveway that he came in, which gave us our first lead to his identity. But we also confirmed that a couple other ways. Joseph Ryan is his name. Yes, his name is Joseph. Joseph Ryan.

Joseph Ryan, Joe, to his friends and family, was 39 years old and lived with his grandmother about 20 miles from the bandfields. We learned a lot about Joseph Ryan in his background where he lived, to his friends were what his hobbies

and his activities were. We learned that he was in two things like live action role-playing or larking.

Explain this, I've never heard larking before.

People will dress up in costumes and things like that and they will engage in non-sexual fantasy role-play, like Dungeons & Dragons type of things. It's like theater.

“Often times, I think it's centered more around”

like Pugelistic combat with foam swords and things like that. So play fighting in costumes. Yes. Cell phones collected from his car revealed a more private side of Joe Ryan.

We learned that Joseph Ryan also had accounts on a website known as "FetLife." What kind of a website is that? It is a place where people who have a very specific fetishes or sexual

proclivities will connect with each other on a consensual basis. So kind of like a Tinder meets BDSM.

We learned that Joseph Ryan had several encounters

with people on that website.

“Joe's most recent conversation on the site”

was with someone with a profile name and a stage of nine. They're having a very in-depth correspondence regarding this violent sexual fantasy, which anesthesia is indicating she wished to explore.

What is the sexual fantasy? The sexual fantasy is essentially a rape fantasy where a stranger comes into the residence and violently attacks anesthesia. The plan took shape on a secure messaging app.

This is what anesthesia wrote to Joe. I'm looking for someone aggressive, dominant, and experienced. There are specific things about clothing being cut off. There are discussions about certain sexual acts and positions that were violent in nature.

The script was planned to achieve

anesthesia would be a sleep at home

and leave the front door unlocked. Joe would go to her bedroom and carry out the plan even if she resist it. You have this trove of information about Joseph Ryan and his activity on this website.

“What did you find when you looked at Christine Banfield's devices?”

So when we looked at Christine's devices, we found that they were connected to the anesthesia in nine account that had been communicating with Joe Ryan's family account. I mean, that had to have been a huge moment.

It was. A huge moment that helped explain so much like a strange piece of evidence discovered in Christine's bedroom. There was a backpack that was filled with

items that would be consisted with things used in BDSM style, the sexual encounters. Oh gosh. The very items Joe said he would bring to the house. The items that were in that backpack

were actually sent in a photograph to Christine's devices. So he took pictures and sent them to anesthesia nine. Yes. Are you starting to get a picture

in your mind of what possibly happened here? Yes.

“Then instead of this being a random home break in,”

you're not looking at this and saying, this is something that appears to be planned. Yes. Now it looked like Joe Ryan was no burglar. He had been invited into the house.

The idea that this was a home break in gone wrong that did not appear to be a viable lead anymore. The evidence suggested Christine Banfield, a devoted mother, wife, and nurse,

was living a secret life. But if that meeting was consensual, why did they both end up dead? If it looks like a duck, it talks like a duck, walks like a duck, it's a duck.

And that's what this was. It was a catfish. On its face, the online conversation between Joe Ryan and Christine Banfield unlocked the mystery of what was happening in her bedroom

before things went tragically wrong. But there were still so many questions. As an investigator, everything is possible until it's not. Do you all are looking at everything? At everything.

We're looking at Joseph Ryan. We're looking at Christine's background. The texts setting up their rendezvous were written in the days before Christine was killed. The detectives followed up with a more comprehensive search

looking at years of activity on her devices. Are you seeing a history of her communicating with sexual partners or engaging on these fetish websites? None at all.

No indication of being on these sort of fetish websites. Sexual website, no footprint of adulterous behavior, promissuous behavior, or any engagement in sexual fetish fantasies. You hear about this fetish website.

Did that sound like anything that was even remotely? Absolutely not. Why? Because she was just a person.

She was a sexual assault nurse examiner who advocated for rape victims. Like there's no way that she would be working as an advocate for that. But then on the side,

engaging in that kind of fantasy. Yeah, we need a purpose thing. Correct. Jo Ryan did have a history of meeting women. He found on the fetish website.

Detective spoke with them and learned something. We learned that there are parameters and consent is a very large part of what goes on. And great care is taken to ensure that consent is there.

He was kind of described as an easy-going individual respected people's boundaries.

And they also, hey, he never crossed the line.

We got violent. Never.

We need to set boundaries

“and make sure we will do the right things.”

And again, it goes back to who was Jo Ryan and what was his pattern in life. And not a violent individual. And it goes back to who was Christine Banfield and what was her pattern in life.

And this shows just completely out of the ordinary. It just didn't add up. Christine simply wasn't the kind of person to engage in that kind of fetish. And by all accounts, Jo was not a violent person.

Captain Bruce concluded it had to be the work of someone else posing as Christine online, lowering Jo to the house. This was a catfish. The fact that this was not Christine Banfield

was apparently obvious to several of us. But it wasn't obvious to everyone working the case. There were serious disagreements about the catfish theory. You had forensic detectives who were professionals at analyzing computers and cell phones.

“And they came to a very different conclusion.”

We don't see a catfish. We see Christine, probably, using these devices. So immediately, we see that there is a substantial problem surrounding the catfish theory. Captain Bruce held firm.

He believed the circumstantial evidence and, common sense, supported only one theory. If it looks like a duck, it talks like a duck, walks like a duck. It's a duck. And that's what this was.

It was a catfish. Christine Banfield was set up. Berman's a guy expert spent months analyzing their devices, but could not find evidence of a catfishing scheme. But there was other evidence from the crime scene

that demanded a closer look.

Like the way first responders found Jo Ryan

after he'd been shot. His arms were in what we kind of call it. I've looked like a funeral pose. Like a body pose in a casket. One hand was over top of the other.

It's like crossover's chest. One hand crossed over the other hand. Oh gosh.

“If Jo was right next to Christine when he was shot,”

how did he end up on his back? Hands neatly crossed. Several feet away. It was a very odd body positioning. And you sort of work backwards from that.

Eric Klingen was a Fairfax County prosecutor at the time. He says that positioning alone was enough to suggest the crime scene had been manipulated. We have a stage scene here. Now the question becomes how did it get staged?

Who staged it? And we had Juliana's initial statement. Let's look at Juliana's story. With her holes in her initial story that she was telling police. Yeah.

Runden said drop-to-knife, please drop-to-knife. That's what I heard. And that's what I was saying. Drop-to-knife. This claim that Brendan says drop-to-knife.

And Jo says drop-to-knife. That makes no logical sense. Because if you're Jo, you're still having knife. And he has a gun. You don't win.

You're not going to win. So we knew that that conversation could not have taken place that way. Cling and also zeroed in on the 911 calls made that morning. Juliana actually called twice. There's no explanation that was satisfactory as far as why there were multiple calls

to 911 with a 13-minute gap between them. And on the initial call, we have clearly a person moaning in the background.

Cling and says it was a male voice and must have been Jo Ryan moaning on that first 911 call,

which lasted only a few seconds before Juliana hung up. So clearly a person was in an injured state. And yet it still took 13 or more and more minutes for the second call to come in to the maid no sense. And that was a big flag immediately. That was a big flag.

Cling and was convinced Juliana's story was riddled with lies, but one thing did ring true. What we had was a man was prone on the ground not to threat to anybody in that room and Juliana confessed to shooting him. And then I shot him also.

I did. Detectives were about to discover another big flag and this one would give them a possible motive for the crime. She has basically moved into this bedroom. Christine's old bedroom.

I would say that she replaced Christine in that bedroom. It was like she was erased. Hey guys, Willie Guys Tier. We're celebrating 10 years of Sunday today by hosting a very special Sunday sit-down live event

in our guest as one of the biggest stars on the planet. Ryan Reynolds, we're taking our conversation to the stage

at city winery in New York on April 7th and intimate in-person evening. I promise he won't want to miss tickets are limited so grab yours now at today.com. In the months after the killings, Brendan continued to live in the house that had once been a crime scene.

He ultimately made the decision to

God is bedroom, completely ripped everything out. It seemed like he was almost using that whole project as a way to occupy himself and get over it. Brian says his friend, now a single father, was struggling to cope.

He really had this whole situation weighing on him heavily

“and he would even ask me what's the best way to deal with this.”

Also still living in the home, Giuliana. She had told police her relationship with Brendan was purely professional. A chuck of his work and personal phones seemed to back that up. But by this point, detectives already suspected Giuliana had lied to them. This is the thing called Instagram.

And Giuliana posted pictures on Instagram a lot. Pictures of her with a man whose identity was concealed in a rather unusual way. emojis? emojis. Like the way you would protect a child's face?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. She's posting pictures of them out dancing together out drinking together, going to dinner. Detectives believed that man could be Brendan.

But prosecutor Clingan faced a new more pressing development. There was some concern over her status here in the US. Yes, so her visa had it was going to expire, had expired at the end of September. And so Brazil is a non-extreditable country. And the concern that the police had is that if she were to go back to Brazil,

we're never going to get her and we're never going to find out what happened in that room.

It was a risk the prosecutor wasn't prepared to take. Particularly since Giuliana had already confessed to shooting Joe Ryan. We had all the elements we needed to prosecute her based on just that. In October 2023, nearly eight months into the investigation, the police swooped in on the now 23-year-old O'Pare and arrested her for Joe Ryan's murder.

What is that for? What are you going to be? That same day, detectives executed a warrant for a second search of the home.

“What do officers find when they get there and go inside that house?”

The first thing that I noticed and I think every detective and every investigator noticed was we didn't see any pictures of Christine. They were gone. They used to be there, now it appeared that they had been taken down. Yes, we didn't see any.

But the real surprise came upstairs in the bedroom. On the nightstand, on another countertop, there's pictures of Giuliana. Giuliana and Brandon together in romantic kind of embrace. Like a couple. Absolutely like a couple.

And that wasn't all. Giuliana's clothing was now in the shared walking closet, often master bathroom with Brandon's clothing and her lingerie and other items like that were in the bedroom.

So she is basically moved into the bedroom.

Christine's old bedroom. I would say that she replaced Christine in that better. It was like she was erased. It was a hairy go moment. This investigation is taken a turn.

This was a major shift. Absolutely. It became obvious to us that our suspicions about their relationship were absolutely on point. To chief Davis and investigators, the bedroom photos confirmed in a fair. And from the timestamps on Giuliana's Instagram posts, it was clear she and Brandon

began that affair months before the murders. All while Christine was so alive. Absolutely. Without her even knowing. Yeah, she's working shifts at the hospital.

And these shifts, you know, sometimes night shifts, sometimes day shifts, sometimes she's subbing in for somebody. You come home. You're just looking to breathe. I don't think that Christine had any idea that this was going on in her house.

And having this. Yeah. Is emotive. Yes. Showing this relationship between the two.

Absolutely. Giuliana pleaded not guilty and was denied bail. The prosecutor was sure she would try to cut a deal. How long did you give her?

“How long did you think she would last before flipping?”

I thought she would flip the day that we arrested her. But Giuliana wasn't talking. She said nothing. She wasn't interested in having a conversation with us. Wow.

Yeah. As you're seeing all of that, what did you think?

Brendan's friends didn't know what to think.

He'd always seemed like someone very trustworthy and of high integrity.

“But if this is something that he would've been hiding, what was he actually capable of then?”

And how well did I really know him? And in the months ahead, investigators too would wonder just what Brendan Bayonfield was capable of. That had to have just been shocking for you to just listen to. Yeah. My wife will tell you I didn't sleep that weekend.

That was a crucial piece of evidence for you. That was a massive piece of evidence in this case. He was involved. He couldn't say 100% in how he was involved. But it was just so off from day one.

You got to wonder what's going through somebody's head to come up with a scheme like that. She'd come to America from Brazil, an pair excited to explore a new country, a new culture. Now, Juliana sat in a Virginia jail, awaiting trial for the murder of Joe Ryan. Prosecutor Clingan figured she'd talk, but when almost another year passed, we couldn't understand it.

“If she's thinking clearly, she wants to get back to Brazil.”

Let's find a way to get her to tell us what happened. Clingan believed that whatever happened in that bedroom also involved Brendan Banfield. You haven't arrest for the death of Joseph Ryan, but still there's no arrest, no charges, in the death of this woman, this wife, this mother, who would brutally stab to death in her own bedroom. Is there a sense of pressure at this point?

Yeah, definitely. So you were just waiting for her to tell the truth. Yes. And you knew that that truth would very likely implicate Brendan. With the way the evidence was pointing is.

In fact, detective Gdell suspected it wasn't Juliana, but Brendan, who was the mastermind behind the scheme. Brendan, in the course of his law enforcement training, knows how investigations work. And in addition to that, he knows about computers. So in a sense, this staging of the crime, the digital footprint, knowing how investigation works, all of that, was within his area of expertise. Yes.

But they had a problem. How to prove it was not Christine on her devices talking to Joe Ryan.

As we started digging into who's home at the time of these messages are sent, we can never say that it wasn't her.

We can look at this data and this information. And it gives the appearance that it's Christine. Though Brendan and Juliana were not talking to police, investigators would eventually learn they were talking and writing. And writing to each other. At one point, Brendan writes her this 14-page letter.

That seemed almost as though he was trying to convince her, "Hey, I'm here with you. Nobody else matters. I'm here on your side." Yeah. Almost love bombing.

It looked like he was trying to hold on to her. Brendan wrote, "You are my family. You are my dream girl. You are everything. I don't think anyone will love each other like we do.

You are unique. Wonderful, beautiful, loving. And everything I need." His love bombing seemed to be working. I can take the blame, Juliana wrote to Brendan.

I would never do anything to hurt you or against you.

What are you all thinking? Is you're watching this? Is you're monitoring this? During this time frame, we discovered that Brendan's mother was paying for everything for Juliana. Juliana would frequently ask, "I need more money on my account to make these phone calls.

I need commissary money." And we also learned that Brendan's mother was paying for Juliana's attorney. Wow.

“So I think there was a lot of loyalty purchased through those actions.”

Then, in the summer of 2024, the long delayed forensic report on the blood patterns from the crime scene was ready. And it was big. You can tell by where blood is and the shape of it as a stain, how it got there. The experts said certain stains on Brendan were tell tale signs that he had attacked Christine.

So in the way that someone who was wielding a knife would typically get blood on them. Yes, the blood spatter was consistent with Brendan being the person that was wielding a knife, attacking Christine, and not Josephar. So that was a crucial piece of evidence for you? That was a massive piece of evidence in this case. Once you had an accurate picture of the crime scene, you could then say it's time to arrest Brendan Manfield.

That's exactly what happened. We are today announcing aggravated murder charges against Brendan Manfield for the murder of his wife, Christine Manfield, and Joseph Ryan.

marching him right in front of news cameras.

“That was my idea, because I think the community deserve that.”

It's something we don't typically do. You want to people to see him? I want people to see him.

I want people to see that we never gave up on the case.

To me, that was an exclamation point moment that we got our guy. Yes. Yes. Thank you. You're thinking finally.

Finally, he was involved. We couldn't say a hundred percent in how he was involved. But it was just so off from day one. Actually, seeing him arrested, it was like all of a sudden made everything seem to feel a lot more real. Okay.

“Like they legitimately have something here.”

Brendan pleaded not guilty to the murders and was denied bail.

You're there waiting for him. Has he changed? Is he talking now? Is he ready to answer questions? No.

He exercised his right to remain silent, which is his right to do. Brendan Banfield is not talking. But not too long after that. Somebody else is talking. Yes.

That's the biggest moment of it all. He said he needed to find the right person to do what he wanted the person to do. He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together.

Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected, and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Maykowitz and this is Trace of Suspicion, an only podcast from dayline. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Willie guys here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast on this week's episode.

I get together with stand-up comedy Superstar Nate Bargetzzy in front of a live audience at New York City winery to talk about his rise from small clubs to sold out arenas around the world. You can get my conversation with Nate for free wherever you download your podcasts. [Music] Brendan Banfield was now in the same jail as Julianna Perez-Magliais, charged with the murders of his wife Christine and Joe Ryan.

About a month after he's arrested, you get a phone call from Julianna's attorney. Yeah. What does he say? Well that was the best part. He says Julianna wants to have a conversation.

She now wants to cooperate with the investigation and give us a proper of what actually happened on that day. She's ready to tell the truth. She's ready to tell the truth. Detective Gadell was there on a Friday afternoon in October 2024 when Julianna sat down with her lawyer, prosecutor Clingan and other investigators.

“Julianna Perez, how do I correct me pronounce your last name?”

Oh, over the course of a four hour statement, the opair would describe in chilling detail the plan to get rid of Christine and frame Joe Ryan for her murder. She said the seeds were planted when she and Brendan started their affair in August 2022 about six months before the murders.

He was just basically hooking up like sexual rotation. He was to go out together and date and in public places, it was never like real secret.

It was almost like fun all the time. Well, not all the time. He kind of complained that every time we were out, he was the one being for a date and stuff. And then I was down and while I get the 200 bucks a week, one of my supposed to do... Julianna confirmed that Christine seemed completely unaware of the affair.

She never asked me any questions whether or not I go, whether or not I was doing like, why? You know, you guys are always out at the same time. A couple of months later, things took a dark turn during a romantic getaway to New York. He said, "I don't want to Christina in her lives." I said, "What do you mean?"

And then he said, "She's not a good mother. She's being lazy. She's not like this. Not like that. And as a wife, she's not a good eater." It was clear to Julianna what Brendan meant. He wanted to kill Christine. More than a month before the murder, she said, "He laid out his plan." It was carefully orchestrated and cruel.

He was like, "Oh, I know. I've heard of a website called FETLIVE." They worked in concert to create this account to try to lure somebody to the house for this violent encounter,

So in the course of giving this proper, she is confirming your catfish theory.

Everything to its eat. The scheme took shape with Brendan gaining access to Christine's devices, which Julianna said was easy to do. Normally, once she had home for more, she just threw her backpack by the door. And then he, her backpack, was her work, stuff, and her laptop.

They were going to get the laptop. They go down to the bedroom in the basement, and they would open up the chat board. Posing as anesthesia 9, their next step was to find their full guy.

“He said, "You need to find a person who likes to play by blood, play with knife and stuff like that."”

"Play violent?" It didn't take long for Brendan to relain Joe Ryan. Joe was seeing all those things like dirty stuff that he likes to play with. Blood stuff and do this and that. Joe agreed to bring restraints, rope, and a knife to act out what he thought was a consensual encounter.

One of the things in this investigation that gets forgotten is Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan was baited and hunted. Yeah, complete disregard for human life. But even at this late stage of the plan, Julianna said she doubted Brendan would actually go through with it.

I used to thought, "No, he might just set back the day before.

He might just, you know, say, never mind.

And while you used to force her, whatever." Julianna said it was Brendan who picked the date for the murders. February 24, 2023.

“He knew Christine would have that day off and would be home.”

Brendan would leave for work as usual. Julianna was to follow soon after, leaving the front door unlocked for Joe. She would take the bandfields little girl, but instead of going to the zoo, they would stay in Julianna's car parked on the street, waiting for Joe to arrive. "I'm going to head and drop him in before.

As soon as he goes to his car, he'll probably call him right away." Brendan would be waiting at a nearby McDonald's. "You just said a few days before he used to start going to McDonald's before or, so then on that day, he didn't know when you were dead. Just happened to hate going to McDonald's instead of straight to work."

After the call from Julianna, Brendan was to drive back to the house. By then, Joe would be inside upstairs in the bedroom, beginning what he believed was role-playing with a willing anesthesia nine. But Christine, of course, would have no idea what was happening why a stranger was suddenly in her bedroom.

"Who is this person?" "Absolutely. I mean, it's horrific. Unbeknownst to her that this was going on. He actually thinks it's furthering the whole scenario."

Brendan and Julianna were to enter the house through the basement door with his daughter who would stay in the basement. "What it will upstairs work in the master bedroom for. And then that's when he started like, kind of the argument with Joe, because you had a knife.

But I had to be like, "Oh please, officer. Drop the knife, blah blah blah." And then he was like, "Should Joe." Then Brendan was to use Joe's own knife to murder Christine. "Tell me the words that he used in terms of how he intended on killing her."

"Like stabbing her?" "Did he say where he intended on stabbing her? How he intended on stabbing her?" "Yeah, he didn't even explain stabbing her." That had to have just been shocking for you to just listen to.

"Yeah, my wife will tell you. I didn't sleep that weekend. Very few people go through the life and see that kind of evil. The diabolical evil. It really shakes you."

Julianna agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the death of Joe Ryan and testify against Brendan at his trial. In exchange, the prosecutor would recommend the judge sentenced her to time served.

“"I think that's the biggest thing for me.”

This is somebody who was an active participant in a very cold, brutal, double murder. And who shot a guy dead?" "Right. This just seems far too lenient." "Yeah, so part of what we do as trial lawyers is Monday morning quarterback. No matter whether she served one year or 10 years, she's getting deported.

And she gives us Brendan Banfield." Months later, news outlets would learn about Julianna's disturbing statement. "The bulk of these details become public when we got a copy of Julianna's proper. We were the first to report what she told police. And now, this story is a bombshell."

Julianna had an incredible story to tell.

But after so many lies before would a jury believe her now?

Brendan Banfield's trial began. "It's going to bring the jury in." Christine's friends watched the live stream. "What are you thinking just going into this trial?" Going into it wasn't necessarily sure what to expect.

There's always like a little bit of nervousness

“because what if things don't get presented correctly and somehow he gets off?”

Steve Disgano was the Fairfax County Commonwealth's attorney. The evidence that we were able to gather told a pretty clear story and most of it and pretty much match what Julianna had told us. Including the blood patterns at the scene, the positioning of Joe's body and the cat-fishing scheme, Disgano's chief deputy, Jenna Sands, led the prosecution,

outlining Brendan's plan in her opening statement. "He would show up, kill the guy, kill his wife, pretending that it had been that guy. That was the plan." "They put it into action."

To prove her case, she put on a blood spatter expert, who testified about the drops of blood on Brendan. "I observed what appears to be small blood droplets on his arm." According to the prosecution, that meant those blood droplets had fallen from the knife

as Brendan stabbed Christine. "And the blood puts Brendan down field, standing over 15,

“stabbed him hurt in the net until he died."”

So the blood is really what told the story of this crime scene. "Absolutely." But the full story of that morning would come from the prosecutors star witness, Juliana. "She was able to put us in the room.

She was able to tell us what happened. She was able to give us the reasons why." As Juliana entered court, reporter Drew Wilder noticed Brendan's reaction. "He just watches her glide across the courtroom floor

all the way to the witness stand. He could not take his eyes off of her." Juliana told the jury how her relationship with Brendan turned sexual and how he talked about ending his marriage to Christine. "He used to say that. She didn't seem to care about what he was,

what he was doing. She didn't seem to care about him at all." "Did he ever talk about getting a divorce with her?" "No, I shouldn't."

“"He basically said divorce was not an option."”

"What did he say?" "It made him the his plan to get rid of her." And Brendan decided Juliana was going to help. According to prosecutors, he bought her a gun and taught her how to shoot it. "At the end of October of 2022,

did you visit a shooting range?" "Yes." Prosecutor showed the jury this photo Brendan took of Juliana in action. "There are any number of experiences that a host dad may have with an opair. Going to a gun range is not necessarily one of them."

No, he had never been to the range with his wife.

He himself had been to the range for months. So this was not a regular occurrence that he thought, "Hey, I'll bring my new friend along to help me with." What unfolded on that February day, Juliana said, went exactly according to plan.

Christine was in bed while Brendan got up early. He turned off Christine's phone and hit it in a drawer, so she couldn't call for help. Then he drove to McDonald's. So as Brendan waited in the bathroom of McDonald's,

he waited for Juliana to make a call. When Juliana was in the driveway with the bandfields child, ostensibly going to go to the zoo that day. But in reality, she was just waiting for Joe Ryan to show up. Once Juliana called Brendan, he returned to the house.

Then he took his daughter into the basement and headed upstairs with Juliana to find Christine and Joe. When it got to the bathroom, Brendan said, "Teal, police officer." Then she yelled back and Brendan saying,

"Bring the he has a knife."

Then he said, "Bring the first shot, Joe."

Juliana said, "Christine screamed and turned to her with a command." She said, "My name, she told me to be on a coin or one." That's when Juliana made that first brief call tonight one-one. But that wasn't part of Brendan's plan,

so he motioned to her to hang up and asked her to grab a towel from the bathroom. When I, when I was bringing him to the towel, he got on top of her. And that's when I first saw him.

Stab her with a knife. Where in her body was he stabbing her?

A mitts the chaotic bloody scene.

Juliana said she noticed something. I'm telling Brendan that Joe is moving. He's behind you. And that's when I part the shot too. Who did he? Joe.

Joe Ryan was dead.

“Juliana said, "Bring him, kept stabbing Christine."”

He was still stabbing Christine and he got hurt blood in a handful of blood. And he starts dripping on Joe's body. After he stabbed Christine seven times, Brendan staged the scene to make it look like Joe had done it.

Moving Joe's body into that strange funeral pose with his arms folded.

He then asked Juliana to call 911 the second time.

The opair had told a harrowing tail. Still, Juliana wasn't done. In fact, the fireworks were just about to begin. I was nervous for her about cross examination. You were charged with murder because you shot someone.

Am I wrong? [MUSIC]

“Brendan bandfields opair and lover had told the jury a chilling story of what happened in his bedroom that morning.”

But she wasn't off the stand just yet. Juliana was the lynch pen of the prosecution's case. Kristen Gibbons fed in his an attorney and legal analyst for NBC News.

But the defense was really effective in trying to kind of poke holes in her and really try to neutralize Juliana as a witness.

All right, cross examination. Brendan's defense attorney John Carroll zeroed in on that plea agreement. The so-called sweetheart deal meant she might walk free once the trial was over. They came to her. They went through her attorney and they offered that deal that she now stands to have taken.

The defense argued that Juliana only changed her story after a year to save her skin and avoid her own murder trial. Are you asking the ladies and gentlemen the jury to believe that you came out during that time frame? Because you wanted the truth to be known. Versus any time of the year before that. Well, the fact that I took a year to accept my plea, it does not mean that I didn't have anything to do with before.

It does not mean that. The defense attorney peppered her with questions about specific moments in her story, like when those chats on the fetish website happened and who typed them? Was it Juliana or Brendan?

“I do not remember, again, I do not remember that.”

In fact, on more than 40 occasions her memory seemed to fail her. Well, I do not remember, I said I don't remember. Paul can I tell you, I do not remember the date. I mean, with all due respect, you don't remember a lot of details. Yeah.

So her selective memory was something that the defense effectively capitalized on in order to neutralize Juliana to show the jury that she just cannot be believed. But the defense landed it's biggest blow with this. Juliana was looking to profit from her story. Streaming out, let's not the tale was made for TV.

One, even offered to pay her for an interview. The attorney had Juliana read emails she'd written to her mother in Brazil. Can you read the highlighted portion to the ladies and gentlemen the jury? Yes, yes, yes, yes. What can you buy right?

I had a bit of a call with the producer and I want to make a movie. I'll talk about my case. So that I don't think about $10,000 which would be around 55,000. And her money helps and goes on to negotiate. Well, how to think I know I can make you a more than $25,000.

So now not only does she reap the benefits of the plea agreement if she gets up here and tells whatever story that she's telling, she's also got some money waiting for her on the back end when she gets out of here. That has to tell the jury that this witness, the star witness of the prosecution, is a little tainted. How was this playing in the courtroom? Yeah, it didn't look good.

Juliana ended that letter to her mom with these words, "We do deserve something." And what is it you deserve something for? I don't think I'd be through. You're charged with murder because you shot someone.

I don't.

“And so why would you deserve something because of that?”

He was able to automatically switch the script on her.

And turn Juliana, the prosecution's witness, into a cold blooded killer. What did you think of Juliana's testimony? I think she came off callous. Yeah. Did she seem to give off any feelings of "I'm scared?"

I hate that I did this. I'm remorseful. I got caught up in this. I can't believe I was so stupid. I don't think I saw any ounce of remorse.

Once Juliana stepped down, Brenda's defense attorney attacked the core theory of the prosecution's case. Catfishing.

Catfishing is a theory that requires a conclusion that

Christine Manfield gave up her devices. Carol called Brendan Miller, the detective who originally examined Christine's laptop and phone. I was the digital forensic examiner for this case. The defense showed the jury the detective's report,

where he noted he found no evidence of catfishing in the case.

“What were your conclusions in your executive summary that you wrote?”

That based on the digital evidence I had at the time, and the facts known at the time it indicated that the device owner was responsible for the activity on the device. And that device owner, Christine Manfield. The detective said Christine's laptop and phone were often active at the same time.

One used to access the fetish site, the other to shop for things Christine had an interest in. This was a pivotal point because essentially what this means is that there was no mastermind homicide in that in fact, Joseph Ryan did come there and murdered Christine Banfield.

But the detective's report didn't sit well with leadership in the police department according to Brendan's attorney. He called former commander Patrick Bruce. What was it like being on the stand? I mean having to testify. I'd say it's highly unusual for the defense to call a deputy chief,

particularly one that didn't have direct interaction in any sort of interview or collect any evidence in a case such as this. Bruce testified that he reviewed detective Miller's report on the forensics. And so his conclusions were not agreeable to you. I wouldn't wear that that way.

How would you wear it? I would wear that his analysis was incorrect. Bruce asked that detective Miller be removed from the case. And he wasn't the only one. Carol said other detectives were taken off the case too. Important ones that were removed in part because they didn't agree with the people

that peddled with the catfish theory. John Carol said that inside Fairfax County police, if you weren't behind the catfish theory, we're getting you out of the way. He's painting a pretty bad picture of this department. It looks messy. It looks really messy.

John Carol's theme was very clear. There's cases about confirmation bias. And by confirmation bias, what he means is that the prosecutors had in mind the story that they wanted to tell. And the story that they wanted to tell was that Brendan being filled

was the mastermind behind these double homicides. The defense attorney had tried to knock down two pillars of the case against Brendan. Juliana's testimony and that catfish theory. But he had another witness up his sleeve. Here I call Brendan being filled.

“Mr. Manfield, if you want to go ahead and take this thing.”

Was that a surprise? We had a feeling Brendan was going to take this damn,

but it's always a surprise when a defendant takes the stand in their own defense.

Brendan's attorney started by asking him about Christine and their life together. Brendan said they met in college when they were both 18 and had been together ever since. For the most part, we were pretty inseparable. We didn't break up at any point. Did you love your wife? Very much.

Did you want to continue your marriage with your wife? Yes. He was able to testify about his love for Christine Banfield, which I think was very effective. Still, Brendan admitted he was no perfect husband.

He confessed to sleeping with other women during their marriage, but said Christine had been unfaithful as well. Were you aware of her affairs? Yes, I was also aware that she had affairs. Brendan said his affair with Giuliana began in August 2022

when Christine was out of town. Giuliana and Brendan were in the kitchen, he said, and she started telling him about her time on the dating apps.

she was described people that she was interested in, people that were taller, people that were older, and it appeared to me that she was along with the photos that the screenshots that she had shown me,

people that she had matched with that she was basically describing me.

Also, I guess when we were having this conversation, we were sitting at the island in the kitchen, and she scooted her seat closer to mine a couple times. And so what did you do at that point? I did not stop her advances.

She came with me into my bedroom. He effectively painted to the jury that Giuliana was someone who was overly overtly and intentionally obsessed with him. He essentially painted her as the aggressor in this relationship. He admitted their sexual relationship continued for months after that,

but he said it was just a fling, nothing more.

“Did you ever create any sort of a clam with Giuliana?”

No, there was no plan that is absolutely crazy.

What's more, he said, he'd never heard of Giuliana

or the Fettlife website until after the murders, and he insisted he was never into rough sex, but Christine was. I know that Christine had an affair where she was involved in a BDSF relationship for a month or two. And how did you know to talk to her about that?

I observed her with bruises, several of them on her body that I was unaware that she had previously. Brendan then gave his account of what happened on that February morning in 2023. He said at that point, his affair with Giuliana was the last thing on his mind. He was more focused on work, headed to a big meeting with his boss at the IRS.

That meeting was scheduled for 9/30 that day.

“This was a particularly important meeting for me.”

He said everything changed when he was at McDonald's, and Giuliana called him saying there was a strange car in the driveway. So he drove back home, secured his daughter in the basement, and headed upstairs to the bedroom. Then he heard noises. I was emotional about that point.

While Christine and I had had affairs, we had never seen each other with anyone.

Hearing what I thought was sex was upsetting. But he said as he opened the door, he saw something much more frightening. Joe Ryan was behind her looking directly at me as I opened the door. Brendan said that's when he took action and yelled police. Christine said, Brendan, he has a knife.

Brendan testified he then told Joe to drop the knife. And what was his response? He told me to drop my gun.

“What were you thinking in terms of Joe Ryan was a knife to Christine's neck?”

I was extremely terrified. I don't know that I've ever been more panic to my life. And so what were you thinking that you needed to do? I was hoping to de-escalate the situation I did not want to shoot him. Christine began moaning he said, and that's when he realized Joe had stabbed her twice.

It appeared that he did a very forceful stab towards Christine and Christine kind of spun away from him. This kind of had Joe now, like on his knees, kind of facing Christine of which I saw him do. A downward stabbing stroke and that's when I fired at him. After he shot Joe, Brendan said, he then placed his hands on Christine's neck to try and stop the bleeding.

What did you tell her?

“It was at this point that there was another shot.”

And I looked up and I saw that Juliana had my other firearm and I was stunned that Juliana had shot. With Joe dead, and Christine fighting for her life, he told Juliana to call 911.

It was a situation I was never expecting, never expected to be in, but never wanted anyone to be in.

With that, it was time for cross-examination, and prosecutors were ready. It was fantastic. We knew that he was lying. It was really quite a gift. Would it be enough to swing the jury?

Christine's friends couldn't believe what they heard coming out of Brendan's mouth at trial. When Brendan took the stand, he was on a smear campaign. I feel like a Christine. Yeah. And that his testimony was the most difficult.

I had to mute it sometimes. It was good noise too. It was very noise.

He said that Christine had had prior affairs.

He said that Christine had been involved in BDSM lifestyle. Investigators say that they found no evidence that either of those things were true. What do you think he was trying to do there? Well, he wanted to make it more plausible that Christine had solicited Joseph Ryan to come to the home for a fake rape scenario. On cross-examination, the prosecutor turned the focus back to Brendan's affairs.

One of those affairs was with a woman named Danielle who you met on a fetish site searching for sugar babies. Is that correct? I would not call it a fetish site. Okay. What would you call it?

And a range relationship? What did that tell you about him?

Well, first and foremost, that he was familiar with using the internet to find relationships,

which we did not have any evidence of his wife having done. It showed that he has a habit of going on to some sites like these. He was at least familiar with it. The prosecutor also showed the jury all those love letters, Brendan had written to Juliana after she'd been arrested.

“And this one you're discussing baby names for your future children with her?”

That is something that you wanted to talk about. What I wanted to prove through those letters was that he loved Juliana and that he loved her enough to kill for her. Do you make it clear? This is not just another random fling.

Exactly. Jenna Sands also pointed out a big problem with Brendan's account of that morning. The medical examiner identified seven stab wounds on Christine, but Brendan said he only saw Joe stab her twice. I'm only positive of the two.

Okay. So you've got two. So there's five more. When did he stab her those other five times? And then if he's inside of her hair, I can't tell the movement.

I can't tell how would that is, how that is looking at that time. Of course, prosecutors were convinced it was Brendan who stabbed his wife all seven times. After an hour of questions, Sands concluded her cross examination. Nothing further touch. But she had one more witness waiting in the wings.

Someone who could refute a key part of Brendan's story. That big work meeting he said he had the morning of the murders. On the morning after Mr. Banned Field had testified, I received a phone call from the office. Letting me know that there was an IRS agent who was not subpoenaed in the office to see me.

And I spoke with him and he said hi. I'm Mr. Smith. And I am Mr. Banned Field supervisor. And I just like you to know that there was no meeting. It's like a gift.

Oh my gosh. It was crazy.

“Did you have any plans for the morning of February 24th?”

Twenty-three? I did. I was involved more on unrelated undercover operation on that morning. Were you scheduled to meet with Mr. Banned Field? I was not.

That had to have been quite a moment for you to be able to put him on the stand and say he was lying. It was fantastic. We knew that he was lying. We didn't have any way to prove it. We had spoken to a number of people at the IRS who had given us similar information.

We didn't know that Banned Field was going to come out with the...

So when Mr. Smith showed up, it was really quite a gift.

Now, the jury would decide Brendan's fate. How did you feel when the jury got the case? It was difficult. Like, you're just literally waiting on like, on pins and needles. After nine hours of deliberations,

I understand we have a verdict. Brendan stood stoically as the clerk read the verdict. We, the jury, on the issue joined in the case of the Commonwealth of Virginia, versus Brendan, Robert Banned Field, defend it, find the defendant guilty of aggravated murder,

of Joseph Ryan, and Christine Banned Field as part of the same. So, jury comes back, guilty on all counts. It was very gratifying, but it just is a reflection of how good of a job the detectives and the trial team did getting the evidence in getting it ready to go. Chief Davis was also proud of his department's work.

He says internal disagreements over the case were overblown by the defense.

“I think the defense counsel represented it as unhealthy and dysfunctional”

because he had a very guilty client. And he was in the fourth quarter, two-minute drill of his defense, and he started to throw Hail Mary's. Even the detective who originally doubted the catfish theory changed his opinion after he heard Juliana story.

For Christine's friends, Katie and Marissa, the jury's decision brought a sigh of relief.

I'm glad they finally saw what all the rest of us had seen

thought her for the past three years. Marissa, how about you? It was surreal. It was surreal. It felt like a finality, but then again not. What? What I've told people is that at the end of the day,

Christine's still going to be gone. The daughter's going to miss all of these memories with her. It's not true, Justice. It's just as in the sense of the legal word. That's it. A few days after Brendan's conviction,

Juliana faced her own sentencing. Juliana had pleaded guilty to manslaughter for shooting Jill Ryan. Joseph Ryan was a true victim. Joseph Ryan thought that he was walking into a consensual roleplay and he didn't realize he was actually walking into his own death.

He was an unwitting pawn in all of this. They played him. That deal, Juliana struck with prosecutors, meant she might be released ahead home to Brazil right after court. Joe's mother, Deirdre Fisher, address the court via Zoom

and plead it for that to not happen.

“Do I think we're dare hope that there will be justice for Joe's death?”

For my loss as his mother, I don't believe that's possible. Then the judge spoke that plan did not work without your full involvement. Your actions were deliberate, self-serving, and demonstrated profound disregard for human life. That is the most serious manslaughter scenario that court has ever seen.

Therefore, I do send into to ten years in the penitentiary. Ten years, the maximum sentence for a manslaughter conviction in Virginia. As for Brendan, he'll get a mandatory life sentence in May for murdering both Joe and Christine. I mean, it's horrific.

It's absolutely horrific to think about what she could have possibly been thinking while that was going on when a stranger had come into her room. Given your months of research, given everything that you know about him, who was, who is Brendan Banfield? You know, I still don't know.

The first thing that came out when the trial started

in the comments was that eyes were wide open and disbelief. This guy, this is the guy. This is who Master reminded this plot. This is who this young woman fell for. If it wasn't for Brendan's monstrous crime,

he would be remarkably unremarkable. I feel like the way Brendan approached everything with Christine, it seems, like this picture that's been painted of who he is and who he's been is the ultimate betrayal. Art of neat things that Brendan did this

because she was so into better than him.

“As a person, like I think that his own insecurities”

made him feel and apt next to her. And because he's such an narcissist, there could be nobody better than him than she was in every way. What do you think Christine's legacy will be? Loving mother, a drawing mother, a nurse's nurse,

an advocate, an educator, a friend. That's all for this addition of date line. And don't forget to check out our talking date line podcast,

Available Wednesday in the date line feed,

wherever you get your podcasts.

“We'll see you again next Friday at nine, eight central.”

I'm Lester Holt, for all of us at NBC News.

Good night. I'm Craig Melvin. Cheers, cheers. Cheers.

“I've always been a glass half full kind of guy and now”

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Some really fascinating folks who share their defining moments,

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