Au Pair pleads guilty to murdering lover’s wife and man lured to her home via fetish site

Benfield, 37, and Ryan, 38, were both killed in Benfield’s home in a quiet neighborhood in Northern Virginia in the early morning hours of February 24, 2023. Christine’s husband, Brendan Benfield, and her family’s mistress, Juliana Perez Magalháez, were later killed. arrested

While Magalhaes was previously charged with second-degree murder — a trial is set for next month — she agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Along with her pleas came new details about what allegedly led to Benfield and Ryan’s deaths.

According to ABC Newsciting a plea deal, Benfield allegedly said he wanted to “get rid of” his wife in the fall of 2022, shortly after he began an affair with Magalhaes in August of that year.

He allegedly continued to make his plans, even though Magalhaes said she did not believe he would carry them out and did not want to participate. The planning, however, allegedly continued, and Brendan was accused of creating a profile on a sexual fetish website where he began communicating with Ryan.

According to the deal, Brendan had Magalhaes pretend to be Christine on the phone with Ryan as they set up a time to have sex with “restrictors” at her house. trans WUSAprosecutors allege that “conversations confirmed that they were going to play a violent sexual role-playing game and that Ryan brought a knife with him.”

On the day of the murder, Magalhaes and Brendan allegedly waited for Ryan to enter the house before entering and bringing Benfield’s child into the basement. They claim they found Ryan holding Christine in the bedroom. According to the agreement, Brendan then allegedly yelled, “Police!” and shot Ryan in the head before stabbing Christine to death as Magalhaes called 911. Magalhaes also shot Ryan, prosecutors say, after seeing him move.

Brendan initially said that Ryan was the perpetrator who stabbed his wife.

According to the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter, Magalhas faces up to 10 years in prison. She will not be sentenced until after Brendan’s trial ends in February 2024, and prosecutors hope to see how cooperative she is with them in his case.

In September, after a 19-month investigation, Brendan was charged with aggravated murder of both his wife and Ryan.