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Virginia police said Thursday that Justin Fairfax, the state’s former lieutenant-governor, shot and killed his wife and then fatally shot himself.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Thursday that both were found dead at their northern Virginia home after the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight.
Davis said his officers responded to the home in January after Justin Fairfax alleged his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax had assaulted him. After reviewing camera footage from inside the home, the police concluded the alleged assault never occurred.
“This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Davis said.
The couple were living in the same house with their two children, who were home when the shootings occurred, he said. A court filing said they had separated in 2024, with a divorce notice occurring last year.
Fairfax, a law school graduate from Columbia University in New York City, worked for various Democratic political campaigns, clerked for a federal judge and served as a staff member on the U.S. Senate’s judiciary committee before entering Virginia politics.
He was elected in November 2017 as the state’s 41st lieutenant-governor, a position second only to the governor in authority.
Officers from the Fairfax County Police Major Crimes Bureau are shown departing the home belonging to Justin and Cerina Fairfax in Annandale, Va. (Cliff Owen/The Associated Press)
In early 2019, while serving in Ralph Northam’s state government, Fairfax faced accusations of sexual assault from two women. The alleged assaults occurred in 2000 and 2004 and came to light as Northam was facing political peril himself, as a result of age-old photos of him in blackface that had been unearthed.
Fairfax characterized the allegations as a “co-ordinated smear campaign.” He defied calls from both Democrats and Republicans to resign, and the allegations made by the women were to media outlets and were never tested in a civil or criminal court.
Fairfax, 47, ran for governor in 2021, though the Democrats selected former governor Terry McAuliffe as their candidate that year.
‘Shocking and horrifying news’
Court filings show that Fairfax had financial challenges following the sexual assault allegations, which prompted his resignation as a partner at a prestigious law firm. The IRS filed a lien against the couple for more than $91,000 US in unpaid taxes that was resolved in 2021.
Cerina Fairfax, 49, ran a family dentistry practice in northern Virginia. She graduated from Duke University and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry.
A profile page on her dental practice’s website described her as an avid reader who liked to travel, practise yoga, go on trail runs with her Vizsla-breed dogs and “spend time with her wonderful family.”
The couple, who met as undergraduates at Duke University, had been married since 2006.
The state’s current lieutenant-governor called the deaths devastating.
“My thoughts are with their children, loved ones, and numerous friends,” Ghazala Hashmi said in a statement. “Along with so many in the Commonwealth, I am filled with sorrow; I await further insights from our law enforcement officials.”
U.S. senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both from Virginia, released a joint statement. Kaine served as Virginia lieutenant-governor from 2002 to 2006, the same period in which Warner was state governor.
“We are keeping Cerina and Justin Fairfax’s family — especially their two children — in our prayers as we all process this shocking and horrifying news,” said Warner and Kaine.