The Expert Who Got It Wrong — Or The One They Silenced? | Brendan Banfield Murder Case

Officer Brendan Miller spent months analyzing 60 devices connected to the Brendan Banfield double murder investigation. His conclusion didn't match what Fairfax County Police wanted to hear. According to court testimony, he was told he'd never work another digital forensics case in the bureau again.

Prosecutors say Brendan Banfield — an IRS criminal investigator — created a fake profile on FetLife using his wife Christine's photo to lure a stranger named Joseph Ryan to their Herndon, Virginia home on February 24, 2023. The alleged plan: stage a home invasion, kill Christine, and blame Ryan for the whole thing. Ryan and Christine both ended up dead. Prosecutors say the au pair Banfield was sleeping with helped him execute it.

There's just one problem. The guy they assigned to prove the catfishing scheme found the opposite.

Miller's executive summary concluded that Christine Banfield appeared to control the FetLife account herself. Her husband's devices showed no connection to it. She was actively communicating with multiple people on the site — not just Ryan. The findings were peer-reviewed by the University of Alabama. They held up.

What happened next is now part of the court record. Deputy Chief Patrick Brusch allegedly told Miller his career in digital forensics was over. Miller was transferred. Detective Kyle Bryant, the lead homicide investigator who also pushed back on the department's theory, was reassigned too. Judge Penney Azcarate found the circumstances troubling enough to order prosecutors to turn over all communications related to Miller's transfer.

The state's case now depends almost entirely on Juliana Peres Magalhaes — the au pair who changed her story after a year in jail and accepted a plea deal that sends her home to Brazil. In a letter to her mother, she wrote she was "heartbroken" for what she was doing to Brendan, but she wanted to be with her family again.

The defense says the evidence tells one story. The prosecution says their star witness tells another. Somebody's wrong.

#BrendanBanfield #HiddenKillers #AuPairMurder #ChristineBanfield #JosephRyan #FairfaxCounty #TrueCrimePodcast #DigitalForensics #BuriedEvidence #CriminalJustice

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