♪ ♪ this isline. >> tonight, deadly love triangle. >> who's the shooter? who shot who? >> the au pair. her lover. and a double murder. >> we know brandon banfield and julianna margulies. the family

au pair were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders. >> the newly released body cam showing the brazilian au pair distraught at the scene. he started stabbing her. >> brennan i think brennan shot him. >> i think they suspected there was not something right about this story. >> now the stunning reversal turning on her onetime lover, the husband of the slain wife. do you have any involvement? admitting her role. but could she walk free? plus lonely planet. i'm going to put my hands over your eyes. >> okay. >> from professional cuddlers, we can touch. >> and we don't need to be romantically involved to find a friend. >> mixer. >> it's kind of like speed dating to a real life golden girls community. >> so, another tenant's meeting i wasn't told about. what's the topic this time? how to lose the old lady. >> the unique ways people are finding connection. plus, why chronic loneliness is hazardous to your health. >> it's as risky for health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. >> and the world series champs celebrate with a stadium packed

full of dodgers fans. the player everyone wanted to hear from. >> nightline will be right back >> for muscle cramps and spasms, their works absorbs quickly for relief. so get back at it. fireworks works for fast muscle fireworks works for fast muscle relief. thorough brain health? mary, janet, hey! eddie, no. frasier, frank. frank? —fred, how are you? —fred! support up to 7 brain health indicators, including memory. check your mail for exclusive neuriva deals! >> thanks for joining us. i'm

lipof. tonight, an illicit affair allegedly taking a murderous turn rocking a

virginia suburb. christine and brendan banfield hiring a brazilian au pair to help with their daughter. christine would soon be dead, part of a brutal double murder. authorities say was an elaborately staged plot by her husband and the au pair. >> who's the shooter? who shot who? >> it was a shocking double murder, rattling this quiet community in suburban virginia. >> we're getting the ambulance here now. >> my hospital is downstairs. >> okay. >> in february of 2023, christine banfield, a young mother was stabbed to death in her bedroom. another man who was not her husband was found alongside her, shot in the head, all while the family's young daughter was in the home's basement. >> i need to talk to her. >> the scene captured on newly released body camera footage. >> there are no words to describe the horror, the sadness. >> months later, police arresting the family's brazilian au pair, juliana perez magalhaes charging her with second degree

murder. >> first, brendan was that alt. >> then, almost a year after the au pairs arrest, christine's husband brendan banfield, was also indicted and taken into custody. >> do you have any involvement? >> charged with aggravated murder in the stabbing death of his 37 year old wife and the shooting of joseph ryan, age 39? he pleaded not guilty. >> this story is crazy. >> the crime making waves. >> i'm just not sure why these husbands don't consider divorce as an option. >> the au pair and the father she worked for accused of being part of a deadly love triangle that resulted in the killing of the mother of the child. she was supposed to care for. in 2022, perez magalhaes was hired by the banfield family to care for their four year old daughter. soon after, she allegedly began a romantic relationship with brendan banfield. banfield was an agent for the criminal division of the irs. >> we know brandon banfield and julianna margulies. the family au pair were involved in a romantic relationship at the

time of the murders. >> prosecutors say that fall, banfield began plotting to kill his wife, christine. court documents stating brendan banfield expressed to perez magalhaes his desire to be rid of his wife and soon thereafter began planning to kill his wife. authorities say banfield enlisted his lover, the au pair, to help, taking the then 22 year old to a gun club where perez magalhaes told investigators he taught her how to shoot. hey, paul or jose on the day of the murders, police responding to a 911 call came across an appalling scene. the original story is sometimes extremely helpful. >> what ends up being the inconsistencies in their stories as to what actually happened at the scene? it's all really important to capture. >> initially, perez magalhaes told police an intruder stabbed christine multiple times and banfield shot him in an attempt to save his wife's life. >> he started stabbing her.

brendan, i think brendan shot him and he asked me help to shot him too, because. >> it's okay. you don't have to get it all out right now. >> i never saw it before. it's a lot of blood. okay. >> i think they suspected there was not something right about this story, but you just couldn't put your finger on it. >> in the months following the murders, perez magalhaes and banfield allegedly lived as a couple. this photo of the au pair and banfield found on her bedside table in the master bedroom that should, in effect, set off about 300 bells in your head. >> that this is clearly not what they painted it to be. this is something else. >> but the couple's tangled web now unraveling this week, perez magalhaes pleading guilty to manslaughter. >> today's agreement marks a significant step forward in this case, and it is an important development in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families. >> perez magalhaes, now saying it was banfield who stabbed his wife and that there was no

intruder. court documents stating that the two lured victim joseph ryan to the home through a fetish app, and ryan likely believed that he was meeting christine banfield to have a consensual sexual encounter. once he arrived, banfield allegedly shot him in the head before stabbing his wife to death. prosecutors say perez magalhaes then also shot ryan after she saw him moving. as part of the deal, the former au pair has to cooperate and testify against her former boss and lover. his trial is set to begin in early february. >> she can be critical in his trial because she's in the middle of every step of what happens inside that house. >> in exchange, prosecutors plan to recommend a sentence of time served for her. the maximum sentence for manslaughter is ten years. when we come back lonely, you're far from alone. meet people. finding unique ways to people. finding unique ways to reach out and touch someone.

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>> we will soon be a great nation again. >> who will be your next president? election night. this is where america turns

>> welcome back. 1 in 5 americans reports feeling daily loneliness. that's the highest level in two years. but this so-called loneliness epidemic has led some people to seek new ways to connect with each other. here's abc's ashwin singh. >> are you comfortable? >> yes. >> i'm honestly trying to fight falling asleep instantly. >> and if you fall asleep, do

you want me to wake you up? yes. okay. >> jasmine simon works as a professional cuddler, using the power of platonic touch therapy to help adults struggling with issues from intimacy to anxiety to loneliness. where are we right now? we're sitting on a bed right now. >> this is my day bed. and yeah, this is what we use when people want to actually engage in touch. we can touch and we don't need to be romantically involve. and it's still a really beautiful thing. >> jasmine is on the front lines of helping the growing number of people grappling with lonelines. according to a new gallup report, about 20% of american adults report feeling daily loneliness, the highest level in two years. the nation's surgeon general even saying we're in the midst of a loneliness epidemic and chronic loneliness can impact more than just your mental health, comes with a physical toll, too. >> it can do everything from increase rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, increased rates of dementia, and

actually decrease how long we live. it's as risky for health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. >> things that have fueled this feeling of disconnection, the pandemic, working remotely, even ironically, technology, social connection over the last two decades has really changed, and our society in many ways and technology can be a positive and a negative. >> it really depends on how you use the tool. >> now, from sounding the alarm to finding connection, how much did you feel like you needed to relearn how to just be a friend? >> everything. >> we're on the ground examining the unique ways people are finding comfort. so how does one actually go about becoming a professional cuddler? >> happy birthday to you and community. >> happy birthday to us. >> thank you. >> elliott wallace has been having cuddle therapy sessions with jasmine for a year. is loneliness something you deal with? >> yeah, i work a lot from home.

yeah, definitely loneliness is a bit of an issue. >> does the touch therapy help with addressing that? >> yeah, i found myself being nervous in certain cases whether people were very close, like moving in to close or taking up my space or even being touched. and i wanted to find a way to not have that threatening anymore. >> jasmine says there are clear boundaries and consent with her patients. so how does it work for you when someone walks through the doors, what do you do? >> i first do a consultation. i want to know what piqued their interest about touch and cuddle therapy. i want to know what their touch history is. there's clear understanding of having agency over your body in the session. at no point am i going to touch you in a way that you don't. you're not comfortable with, or that you're not curious about, and vice versa. so the boundaries are rigid boundaries. there's no touching anywhere a

bathing suit covers. >> seeing a professional cuddler isn't for everyone. experts warn that if cuddle therapy ends abruptly, there can be feelings of abandonment, rejection, loss, and even despair. jasmine acknowledges that while her job may sound strange to some, she says she has seen how her work has helped people like elliot. >> it gives me the idea of who i am and to be more open and vulnerable with people. >> when you look at the data, boys are less likely to report close friendships compared to girls. that seems to continue throughout the lifespan, and that it's been hasn't always been acceptable for men to talk openly about their feelings. >> 22 year old carrie hosler is hoping to find a spark with someone, a connection. >> i am very nervous, but i'm also excited. it takes like a lot of energy to go and talk to people that you don't know. you just kind of like socialize. it's like kind of like speed dating.

>> but carrie isn't looking for love and romance. she's looking for friends. >> you need platonic relationships in addition to romantic relationships. it's important, i think, for just like your well-being and your mental health, we're. i mean, humans are social creatures searching for ways to branch out. >> she went online and stumbled upon the girls nyc the girls is an exclusive social group for women looking to make friends in their early 20s in new york city. >> our mission is just to empower women to make intentional friendships and provide a space for them to do so. >> leah sheldon and karlyn kelly run this group, the duo meeting two years ago at one of these mixers. they're now hosting together. one rule when it comes to attending these events, you have to come alone. >> it's nice because it levels the playing field and sense of vulnerability. it pushes you out of your comfort zone like the girls, similar groups catering to finding connection are on the rise, like dinner parties, even running clubs. we spend so much time online like we end up

isolating ourselves. and it's just it's not a substitute for actual human interaction. >> for carrie, her digital and social life go hand in hand and she's not alone. across social media, people can game with one another across continents. get ready with me. videos can make you feel connected to your favorite influencer, and there's dating apps and even friend apps. but making true friendships can be tough, especially when you've recently moved to a city of 8 million people like carrie. >> when i see, like, groups of girls like sitting at the park, i'm like, oh, that looks so cute. like, i would love to, like, be sitting in like a big group. >> leading experts like the surgeon general have declared carrie's generation gen z, perhaps the loneliest generation. >> gen z has had it tough. they didn't have a traditional graduation from high school. they have also been part of this great experiment of social medi. we are learning without guardrails. >> like carrie, 38 year old quincy winston struggled to find new friends after moving to phoenix with his wife, latoya, in 2015.

>> no one wants to be alone out there. i mean, things are different when you're with your guys, right? you out by yoursel, you know? but when you got ten, 15 of your guys with you, i mean, it's a little bit, you know, different. >> you can experience loneliness at any point in your life. you can be surrounded by a beautiful home, by a loving wife or partner and kids and still feel disconnected. >> a heart to heart conversation with his wife sparked an idea in quincy. tell me a little bit about that moment when you first went to your wife and you're like, yo, i'm actually kind of struggling to make some friends now. >> i kind of realized something was off, you know, her and her girlfriends very organized, very tight knit, and a lot of my friends at the time were distant. my wife did just encourage me to say, hey, you know, well, if you can't find one, make one, because it's important for men to seek out friendship and build

camaraderie. >> quincy did just that. it's not like it's like a fake 2022 forming the professional black men's friends group, space for men to meet up locally and find new friends. what made it so hard for men to connect that you noticed? >> i think there's a term out there, emotional intelligence. guys, we have to work at that. what do i need to do in order to be a friend and make friends and have friends and keep friends? >> quincy's group now has nearly 200 members. >> for me, it's been self-discovery. it's been a journey. i thank my wife every day for kind of opening up about my own emotions and encouraging other men to support other men. >> for men supporting men, to women, supporting women. us. >> i'm sure lots of people sit around having dinner at a certain age and they think maybe sometimes i think, oh, wouldn't it be great if we all lived together at the new ground

estate in london? >> these 26 residents are making history, living at the first and only cohousing community in the united kingdom dedicated to women aged 50 and over. >> inevitably, as you get older, you feel less safe in the world. and i think here you feel safe. >> jude tisdall is 73 years old. she moved into new ground in 2018. >> i have been married, i have traveled. it was at that point i hit my mid 60s and i thought, i really want to be conscious about how i want to live moving forward. >> everyone has their own flats, but there are also communal living spaces, all run by the ladies themselves. how does it work? >> we say that we don't look after each other, but we watch out for each other. we had to learn how to balance privacy and community. >> some have likened it to a real life version of the golden girls house. >> i'll go. >> she's very brave boy. i'll say. >> i want someone to come with me. the golden girls model of health. >> it is really beneficial

because there's that sense of community. having a friend by your side during challenging times is always helpful, and i think it can also reframe how we think about aging across europe and the globe. >> cohousing has become increasingly popular, with around 2000 communities worldwide, has this opened a new light to you? >> there's a few people here like that of a certain age and are inspirational and are fit and still active and doing things. i think what has made me really, really think about is i'm going to live to the nth degree till i die, and that's what i'm going to do. >> sage advice for us all to live by? >> our thanks to austin when we come back. the world series champs in la celebration and the very rare moment for shohei very rare moment for shohei ohtani has. then i switch back to my regular shampoo. you should use it every wash,

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women denied care, unable to get pregnant again. traumatized. scarred for life. young women who didn't need to die. now, 1 in 3 women live under a trump abortion ban. and if he's elected, everyone will. . who will there has to be some form of punishment. i'm kamala harris, and i approve this message. be your next president? election night. this is wher finally tont

celebrating the world series champions and the meaningful moment on the field for father and son. celebrating the dodgers and their world series win at

dodger stadium. series mvp freddie freeman. freddie. freddie with his three year old son max, who was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease over the summer. thank you. >> from the bottom of my heart. let's go dodgers. >> and then the rarest moments from a player seldom heard from a shy shohei ohtani is so special for me. >> i'm so honored to be here and to be part of a team. >> thank you fans. >> and that's nightline. you can watch all of our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here monday. thanks for staying up with us. good night america. >> liam payne, loved by millions of fans. >> it's literally so heartbreaking. sunday night on abc. >> how did we get here? h