Where this was said
Identifying Joe and the Anastasia9 Connection
At 25:19 · chapter starts 20:15
From his car and phones, investigators identify the deceased as Joseph Ryan, 39, from nearby Springfield, Virginia. On his phone, they find extensive messages with a FetLife account called Anastasia9, whose profile photo was a bathing suit selfie of Christine's body. Anastasia9 described herself as a married woman craving violent rough roleplay — and had arranged a detailed scenario for that Friday morning, with instructions for Joe to park in the driveway, find the front door unlocked, come upstairs, and pin her down. The instructions even specified a knife. Everything fit neatly: Christine was living a dangerous double life and invited the wrong man. Except both Joe and Christine's real histories shattered this narrative. Joe was a compassionate family caregiver who practiced BDSM responsibly, even contacting former partners during MeToo to check in. Christine had no history of infidelity, no interest in BDSM in any of her digital records, and had previously worked as a sexual assault nurse examiner — making the assault fantasy deeply implausible.
Someone created a fake FetLife profile in Christine Banfield's name, using her bathing suit selfie, portraying her as a married woman craving violent sexual assault roleplay. Christine was a pediatric ICU nurse and former sexual assault nurse examiner with no history of infidelity or BDSM interests — detectives say the account was never hers.
At first, Brendan Banfield looked like the tragic hero: a federal agent who walked in on his wife being attacked and fought to save her. But for every part of the story that made sense, Ashley Flowers says, there were ten that didn't.
Joseph Ryan cared for his elderly grandparents, supported his mother through cancer, and even reached out to former partners during MeToo to check they were okay. He was lured to the Banfield home believing he was attending a prearranged consensual encounter — and walked into an execution.
Christine Banfield had previously worked as a sexual assault nurse examiner, making the defense narrative that she arranged a violent sexual assault fantasy deeply implausible to investigators.
