Expert rebuffs catfishing theory in double murder trial

FAIRFAX, Va. (CN) — A forensic analyst Friday contested prosecutors’ assertions that a Virginia man and the family’s au pair used his wife’s computer and cell phone to orchestrate an elaborate double murder.

The testimony, from an expert in digital forensics, came during the eighth day in the trial of Brendan Banfield, 40, accused in the Feb. 24, 2023, killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, 37, and Joseph Ryan, 39.

Prosecutors argue that Banfield, alongside au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães, 25, concocted a catfishing plan to lure a man they didn’t know — Ryan — to the house for a fantasy rape in which Christine Banfield would be the victim. Reportedly posing as Christine Banfield, they contacted Ryan through a fetish website. As part of the ruse, prosecutors say, they used her tech devices.

But Harry A. Lidsky, a forensic private investigator and digital forensics examiner testifying for the defense, refuted that theory.

“Catfishing did not occur,” he testified. On the witness stand for much of the day, Lidsky spoke of finding evidence that an email associated with the fetish account was used at the Banfield home. At the same time, devices owned by Magalhães and Brendan Banfield were at another location.

Magalhães previously testified for the prosecution that Christine Banfield dropped her backpack by the door in the evening and didn’t touch the computer. Lidsky said that wasn’t true. “I looked backwards for about a year in time for user activity and she was frequently using her laptop well into the evening.”

Lidsky’s testimony built upon charges by defense attorney John F. Carroll that police fixated on the catfishing theory without evidence. Investigators contend that Banfield and Magalhães, who had been having an affair, lured Ryan to the home. Once he had arrived, they shot him and stabbed Christine Banfield to death.

Banfield contends he was acting in self defense after discovering Ryan in his bedroom. Ryan stabbed Christine, he claims, and Banfield shot Ryan.

Within the first week of the incident, Fairfax County Police Department detectives attended a briefing and discussed evidence that they had collected, Fairfax County Police Department Detective Leah Smith testified Thursday.

“Our supervisor at the time told us there were two theories of the case and we needed to get behind the right one,” Smith said.

Smith said she objected and spoke up. “At this point in time nobody should have a theory in the case. We are still at the very beginning and we should only be investigating and gathering facts and information.”

There was no response to her remarks. But she said the detectives in the case knew to investigate with an open mind and didn’t make an arrest until they had evidence.

But early on investigators were asking questions about the relationship between Magalhães and Banfield.

Saly Fayez, director of the Fairfax County Police Department’s Victim Services Division, testified that police naturally bounce ideas around. She remembered that on the day of the murders, her division arranged for Banfield, his daughter and Magalhães to meet at a hotel. In the lobby, she said, the child asked Magalhães, “Can I call you Mommy now?”

Magalhães said yes.

“Are you going to marry my daddy?” the girl asked.

Magalhães responded, “I wish.”