Powerful ex-Democrat lawmaker Justin Fairfax murdered his wife and then killed himself at their $1 million Virginia home after she filed for divorce.
The former Virginia lieutenant governor, 47, shot his dentist wife Cerina dead in the unfinished basement of their home on Guinevere Drive in Annandale early Thursday morning, Fairfax County Police said.
The couple’s teenage son Cameron and daughter Carys were home at the time, but unharmed. They are being tended to by relatives and victim services.
Cerina, 49, filed filed for divorce from Fairfax last year and the proceedings were underway at the time of their deaths, with court appearances pending for next week.
Fairfax was recently served paperwork indicating when he was next due to appear in court which investigators say ‘may have been a spark’ to the deadly act of violence.
The couple had been living together despite being separated and were understood to have separate bedrooms, police said.
Officers were previously called to the residence in January this year after Fairfax alleged that Cerina assaulted them inside the home.
Investigators determined that the alleged assault never occurred, police said.
Former Virginia Lt Gov Justin Fairfax murdered his wife Cerina in their $1 million Annandale early Thursday morning before turning the gun on himself, police said
Justin Fairfax and his wife Cerina, seen with their daughter Carys and son Cameron
Fairfax, a former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under then-governor Ralph Northam.
He launched his own bid for governor in 2021, but finished fourth in the Democratic primary after his campaign was heavily overshadowed by sexual assault allegations from two women.
Fairfax adamantly denied the women’s allegations and said both encounters were entirely consensual. Cerina stood by his side throughout the scandal.
Police descended on the residence just after midnight after Cameron called 911 to say that he thought his father stabbed his mother.
When officers arrived on scene, they discovered Cerina unconscious and bleeding inside the home. Police determined she had been shot.
Cameron told responding officers he did not know where his father was.
Investigators later found Fairfax in a separate area of the home with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
The circumstances leading up to the deadly shooting remain under investigation. Police say there is no ongoing threat to the community.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
