Babysitter pleads guilty to manslaughter in double homicide and agrees to cooperate against ex-lover

Juliana Perez Magalhas, 24, was initially charged with second-degree murder for her alleged role in the double murders

A Brazilian housewife accused of killing her ex-lover’s wife and another man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in one of the murders.

A plea agreement between prosecutors in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Juliana Perez MagalhasThe 24-year-old was the latest development in a strange double-murder case.

Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano said Tuesday, Oct. 29, that Perez Magalhas’ plea agreement in the killing of 39-year-old Joseph Ryan marked “a significant step forward in this case and is an important milestone in our search.” justice for the victims and their families”.

In September, a Fairfax County grand jury indicted Perez Magalhas’ ex-lover, Brendan Benfield, on four counts of aggravated murder and one count of using a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the deaths of Ryan and 37-year-old Benfield. -old wife Christine Benfield.

Christine Benfield was found fatally wounded after being stabbed in her home in Herndon, Virginia on February 23, 2023. She later died in hospital. Ryan was found dead nearby with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

Prosecutors say Perez Magallias and Brendan, a former Internal Revenue Service criminal agent, began an affair in August 2022 after she moved into Brendan’s Herndon, Va., home with Christine, a pediatric intensive care nurse, and their then 4-year-old daughter.

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According to remarks made by Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Klingan in Fairfax County District Court at an Oct. 29 plea hearing, Brendan “expressed his desire to get rid of his wife” shortly thereafter.

A month before the murders, Brendan allegedly created a profile on the website Fetlife.com and began dating Ryan, a mixed martial arts enthusiast who enjoyed role-playing games.

Brendan then allegedly ordered Perez Magalhaes to call Ryan, posing as Christine, using an encrypted messaging app called Telegram to confirm the details “that both parties were willing to participate.”

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Klingan said Brendan “lured” Ryan to the house on the morning of February 24, 2023, claiming that “Ryan likely believed he was meeting Christine Banfield to have a consenting sexual relationship involving restraints on her, her clothing cut off the knife he brought and other violent sexual role plays.”

Brendan allegedly gave Perez Magalhaes a gun he had bought a month earlier and told her to call Christine’s phone when Ryan entered the house and then call Brendan “so there was a stranger in the house and she was scared,” Klingan said.

A call to Christine’s phone went straight to voicemail because Brendan allegedly turned off her phone and put it in the kitchen drawer before leaving the house that morning.

Brendan received a call from Perez Magalhas while he was at a nearby McDonald’s, “waiting for him to come back quickly,” Klingan said.

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Prosecutors say Brendan then drove home, where he shot Ryan in the head and stabbed his wife to death.

According to Klingan, Perez Magalhas “saw Joseph Ryan moving and shot him.”

The duo then “reported the crime as if Joseph Ryan was the perpetrator who injured Christine Benfield,” Klingan said.

After serving warrants at Benfield’s home in October 2023, investigators found photos of Brendan and Perez Magalhas “in amorous poses” spread throughout the bedroom, along with the au pair’s underwear. That same month, Perez Magalhas was charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony in Ryan’s death. She was not charged in connection with Christine’s death.

After serving two years in prison and just days before she was scheduled to go on trial on Oct. 25, the former housekeeper provided a “detailed account” of the killings that “corroborated the evidence uncovered” by Fairfax County police, Klingan said.

She faces up to 10 years in prison. however, The New York Times reported that prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Perez Magalhas be released from custody with credit for time served after Brendan’s trial, provided she continues to cooperate with authorities.

The sentencing date is set for March 21, 2025. Brendan’s trial is scheduled for February 3, 2025.