Talk of the Town
Gas prices are down 1.1 cents per gallon in Virginia, averaging $2.82 today, according to GasBuddy. That’s 5.1 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and 10.3 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.
The national average has risen 5.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.94, up 7.8 cents from a month ago, and 10.1 cents lower than a year ago.
Locally, gas is $2.72 in Patrick County, $2.74 in Henry County, and $2.78 in Martinsville.
(FAIRFAX, Va.) — Brazilian au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães, who went along with former IRS agent Brendan Banfield in a northern Virginia double murder plot, was sentenced to to 10 years in prison with two years of probation.
On Friday morning, Fairfax County Judge Penney Azcarate decided to give the 25-year-old the maximum sentence, which was up to 10 years on a manslaughter charge for which she pleaded guilty in 2024.
“Your actions were deliberate, self-serving, and demonstrated a profound disregard for human life,” Azcarate said in delivering her ruling. “So, let’s get straight: You do not deserve anything other than incarceration and a life of reflection on what you have done to the victim and this family.”
A new “20/20” episode about the case, “The Au Pair, The Affair and Murder” is scheduled to air Friday, Feb. 20, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
Magalhães and Banfield were separately arrested over their roles in the Feb. 24, 2023, murders of Joseph Ryan and Banfield’s wife, Christine Banfield, which were committed inside the Banfield home.
Early in the investigation, detectives discovered evidence suggesting that Banfield and Magalhães were having an affair — and that they had plotted to kill his 37-year-old wife.
Part of that plot, according to prosecutors and Magalhães’ testimony, involved covertly creating a profile for, and thus masquerading as, Christine on a social media site for sexual fetishes.
Ryan, 39, took the bait in what prosecutors called the “catfishing” scheme. Ryan communicated back and forth with the profile account that was allegedly posing as Christine, as they together crafted a rape fantasy scenario using a knife, chains and rope.
“I have caused pain that cannot be measured. I pray for forgiveness from the Benson family, and from the Joseph Ryan family,” Magalhães said during Friday’s sentencing hearing.
“There is nothing I could possibly do to make it up to you, for your loss. There are so many regrets, this is my biggest. It’s a tragedy I have been carrying with me, and I know I can never take back the devastation of what I have done,” she added.
Saying she lost herself in the relationship with Banfield, she has changed in jail over the past three years.
At the time, Magalhães and Banfield told police they came home to find Ryan — a stranger to them — stabbing Christine Banfield to death. Banfield and Magalhães each fired a shot, killing Ryan, they said both in their 911 call and to responding officers at the scene.
In October 2023, Magalhães was charged with the second-degree murder of Ryan, as she had admitted to firing the second, fatal shot.
One year later, Magalhães took a plea deal with prosecutors, turning on Banfield in exchange for a lesser charge of manslaughter. Prosecutors also promised to recommend to the judge upon sentencing that Magalhães only get time served.
With that agreement, Magalhães sat for nearly four hours of interviews with prosecutors, largely confirming the theory detectives had developed about their scheme.
Magalhães also took the stand in the trial against Banfield in January, as he maintained his innocence. During his three-week-long trial, Banfield even took the stand, testifying in his own defense.
After two days — nearly nine hours total — of deliberations in the trial, the jury reached a verdict on Feb. 2. The jury found Banfield guilty on all four counts, which included two counts of aggravated murder, one count of child endangerment, and possession of a firearm in commission of a felony.
Family and friends of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan filled the courtroom Friday morning for Magalhães’ sentencing.
Joining remotely online from Florida, Ryan’s mother, Deirdre Fisher, delivered her victim impact statement. She said her son was born two days before Christmas, making it a special holiday for them. Since Ryan’s murder, she has not been able to take down her Christmas tree, which sits behind the urn holding her son’s ashes.
“I say good morning to him each day when I turn on the tree’s lights, and I tell him I love him each night when I turn off the lights,” Fisher told the court.
Fisher said she has missed so many milestones now, including the chance to be a grandmother. There have been many times, Fisher said, when she’s reached for the phone to call her son, only to remember that he can’t and won’t answer.
Ryan’s aunt, Sangeeta Ryan, delivered her impact statement from the courtroom, pausing periodically between sobs.
“He was fun-loving and loved from the beginning. He was inquisitive, curious, smart, charming, and so dang talkative,” she said.
Ryan’s aunt described her nephew’s love for animals and the environment, noting that he often rescued and adopted dogs.
Sangeeta Ryan, added that he also was a dedicated member of their family, especially in taking care of his grandmother, who, she said, sold her home in wake of Ryan’s murder to “dodge memories, grief, and reporters.”
Acknowledging that Magalhães did eventually come forward with the truth, Sangeeta Ryan said that this still was not an act of heroism on Magalhães’ part.
“This could have been a very different ending where Juliana saved two lives,” she said could have been the case if Magalhães had not gone along with Banfield’s plot.
As Magalhães was charged only in Ryan’s murder, Judge Azcarate ruled that prosecutors could not include victim impact statements that Christine Banfield’s family members had prepared.
The death penalty was abolished in Virginia in 2021, meaning that, following his conviction, Banfield is facing life in prison without parole.
His sentencing hearing is set for May 8.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) – At a Mar-a-Lago news conference Saturday morning, hours after he ordered a military strike in Venezuela and the capture of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, President Donald Trump started off calling it an anti-drug law enforcement operation.
His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said “at its core, this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of American justice.”
But Trump’s framing of the issue appeared to quickly expand when he stunned observers by saying the U.S. was going to “run the country” temporarily, even if that involved troops on the ground, that American companies would soon start selling the country’s vast oil reserves, and that it was part of an overall strategy of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
While Trump said that the U.S. would “make Venezuela great again,” when asked repeatedly about the specifics of America’s role, including a possible timetable, Trump gave few specifics.
“We’re going to be running it with a group, and we’re going to make sure it’s run properly. We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which will cost billions of dollars. It will be paid for by the oil companies directly. They will be reimbursed for what they’re doing, but that’s going to be paid,” Trump said.
Later, a U.S. official told ABC News what it would look like for the U.S. to “run” Venezuela.
The official said top Trump officials will continue to diplomatically engage with those remaining in the Venezuelan government, that the administration will engage with oil executives to begin oil expansion in the country and that the U.S. military will remain postured and ready, and that the oil embargo would remain in effect.
American boots on the ground possible
The president brushed off questions about concerns about the length and logistics of the U.S. operation.
Trump was asked about whether U.S. troops would be on the ground in order to “run” Venezuela and indicated he could use the military to make sure it’s run “properly.”
“Well, you know, they always say, ‘boots on the ground, oh.’ So, we’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” he said. “We had boots on the ground last night at a very high level. Actually, we’re not afraid of it. We don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that that country is run properly.”
When pressed again later, Trump suggested that the only U.S. presence will pertain “to oil,” suggesting the presence will be American oil companies.
“We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground, and that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela, and it goes also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused by that country,” he said.
The president also suggested that U.S. forces remain “ready” to carry out a “much bigger” second-wave attack on Venezuela.
Trump faced pushback from Democrats over his announcement.
“The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans,” Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.”
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is leaving Congress Monday following a fallout with Trump, slammed the president over his actions.
“Americans disgust [sic] with our own government’s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going,” she said in a statement. “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end.”
When pressed about how taking the action in Venezuela is “America First,” Trump said that it was for the U.S. to surround itself with “good neighbors,” and “energy.”
Trump’s comments during the news conference were a far cry from his previous rhetoric in the weeks leading up to the strike in the Venezuelan capital, in which he condemned Maduro and his regime for allegedly contributing to drug trafficking, a charge Maduro has repeatedly denied..
Trump makes case using Monroe Doctrine
The president has reaffirmed and expanded his policy of a modern version of the Monroe Doctrine declared in 1823, the notion that views America as the dominant leader in the Western Hemisphere.
“All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries, and not anymore, all the way back. It dated to the Monroe Doctrine,” he said.
“And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the ‘Donroe Doctrine,'” the president added, playing off his name.
Trump’s comments Saturday came after he released a message in December that he called the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, saying that “the American people — not foreign nations nor globalist institutions — will always control their own destiny in our hemisphere.”
Foreign leaders in Russia, Cuba and Russia denounced Saturday’s strike.
“Venezuela should be guaranteed the right to determine its own fate without any destructive, especially military intervention from outside. We reaffirm our solidarity with the Venezuelan people and support for the course of their Bolivarian leadership aimed at protecting the national interests and sovereignty of the country,” the Russian foreign ministry said in statement.
Trump does not back opposition leader
When asked about whether he’d support opposition head María Corina Machado to become the country’s new leader, Trump dismissed the possibility.
“I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect,” Trump said.
Machado put out a statement Saturday praising Maduro’s removal.
“Today we are ready to take over power. We remain vigilant, active, and organized until a democratic transition is concrete. A transition that needs ALL of us,” she said. “To Venezuelans inside our country, be ready to mobilize what we will soon communicate to you through our official channels.”
Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, told reporters last month that she would return to the country “when we believe the security conditions are right, and it won’t depend on whether or not the regime leaves.”
After winning the prize, she posted a statement on X where she dedicated the prize to “to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”
When asked how soon he wanted to see Venezuela hold elections, Trump indicated that he wants to see if it happens quickly, but noted that it “takes a period of time.”
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez demanded Maduro’s return in a speech on state TV. Trump had said “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses, under false pretexts, and that the masks had fallen and it had only one objective: regime change in Venezuela — and the capture of our energy, mineral, and natural resources,” Rodriguez said in Spanish.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory until 10 a.m. for Martinsville and Henry County and west…