Au pair accused of double murder in Northern Virginia pleads guilty at trial

Juliana Perez Magalhas’ plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning, according to court records.

Au pair charged in the plot with the man who led to the death of the wife of the family she worked for and another man in a Fairfax County, Virginia home, is ready to plead guilty in the case.

Juliana Perez Magalhas’ plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning, according to court records. She was arrested eight months later of the February 2023 murders at a home on Stable Brook Way in Herndon and charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 39-year-old Joseph Nathan Ryan.

The trial of Perez Magalhas was supposed to take place in November.

Brendan Benfield was arrested in September on charges of murdering his wife Christine Benfield and Ryan. His trial is scheduled for February 2025.

At the time of the murder, Brendan and Christine Benfield were married and living in the house with their 4-year-old daughter and their 22-year-old landlady at the time.

Prosecutors said the romantic relationship between Perez Magallias and Brendan Benfield began in August 2022.

Last month, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Klingan said Perez Magalhaes and Brendan Banfield had a brief phone call in which she said, “I hope you’re not just staying with me because you’re afraid I’m going to turn against you.”

WTOP’s Neil Augenstein and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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