Fairfax homeboy pleads guilty to manslaughter in Reston double homicide

RESTON, Va. (7News) — Juliana Perez Magalhas, the 23-year-old domestic worker charged in the February 2023 double homicide in the death of her husband in Virginia, pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to one count of involuntary manslaughter.

This comes after Magalhaes and Brendan Benfield were charged with masterminding the murders of Christine Benfield and Joseph Ryan on February 24, 2023.

Magallias’ sentencing is scheduled for March 21, 2025 at 10 a.m. The trial of Brendan Benfield.

According to sources, the Fairfax County District Attorney’s Office offered Magalies a plea deal to manslaughter in exchange for testifying against Benfield.

Magallias was initially charged with second-degree murder. The Fairfax County District Attorney said in court that if Magalhaes had gone to trial, prosecutors would have proved:

That Brendan Banfield had an affair with Magalhaes
That Banfield had created an elaborate assassination plot with Magalias
That Benfield gave Magalhaes a firearm and took her to a shooting range to teach her how to shoot
That Benfield used a sexual role-playing website to lure Ryan to Benfield’s home, where Ryan expected consensual sex with Benfield’s wife
That Magalhaes was instructed to call Benfield when Ryan entered the house to tell him that there was a stranger in the house
That Benfield was in a nearby McDonald’s when Magallias called him
That Benfield returned to his house and Magalhaes and Benfield left the child in the basement and went up to the bedroom together
That Ryan was stabbed several times and Mrs Banfield was stabbed to death. Both died from their injuries

Fairfax County Prosecutor Steve Descano sat in the courtroom gallery during the hearing and said afterward that he could not publicly release details of the deal his office reached with Magalies.

“Therefore, earlier today, Juliana Perez Magalhaes pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of Joseph Ryan on the morning of February 24, 2023. “Today’s agreement marks a significant step forward in this case and is an important milestone in our pursuit of justice for the victim and their family,” Descano told reporters outside the courthouse. “Much of the information that led to this agreement cannot be released at this time due to the upcoming criminal trial against another defendant in this case.”

Benfield’s trial is scheduled to begin on February 3. It is expected to last four weeks.

Banfield is accused of murdering his wife and another man in February 2023 during a conspiracy with his family’s nanny. He is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a crime.

Last year, police were called to a home near the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way and found Ryan, 39, of Springfield, with gunshot wounds to the upper body and Benfield’s wife, Christine, 37, in an upstairs bedroom with stab wounds. to the upper part of the body.

Officials later said the first 911 calls were made by Magalhaes and Benfield’s husband, according to police records.

Authorities later charged a family aide with second-degree murder in Ryan’s death.

Almost a year after that arrest in October 2023, authorities arrested Benfield during a traffic stop and charged him this week, 570 days after the double murder.