Ex-IRS agent and accused killer Brendan Banfield testified Thursday that his wife told him she was “bleeding out” and that she “loved him” as she lay dying in their bed.
Banfield, 40, on his second day defending himself on the stand, described how he heard “moaning” coming from an upstairs bedroom after he had entered their Virginia house from the rear, before bursting in on stranger Joseph Ryan raping his wife.
He said he didn’t use the front door because he believed his wife, Christine, was having an affair due to seeing a stranger’s car parked outside, and didn’t want to alert her.
“I heard the sounds of, I would say, moaning, as well as [the] sound of skin-on-skin contact,” Banfield told his lawyer John Carroll, adding that he believed they were “sex” noises.
Asked why he hadn’t called 911 at this point, the former fed said he and Christine had both had affairs in the past, but admitted that it was “upsetting” to hear her having sex since he never had before.
When the sex sounds “changed” and Christine’s moaning started sounding “painful,” Banfield said he went up the stairs and drew his gun, yelling, “police!” before bursting in the bedroom door.
He described seeing his wife nude on all fours, and spotting Ryan was holding a knife.
“He [Ryan] said that she was his, and that ‘She gave herself to me,’” Banfield told the jury.
“Christine told me that she was bleeding out and that she was sorry and that she loved me,” Banfield said.
It was at this point, Banfield claimed, that he heard a shot and saw that his Brazilian au pair, Peres Magalhães, whom he had told to wait outside with his daughter, had come into the house and shot Ryan.
“I was stunned,” Banfield said, describing how he yelled at a seemingly-shocked Magalhães to call 911 at least twice.
