Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, before killing himself, police said Thursday. Fairfax, according to the Associated Press, was a rising star in the Democratic Party before sexual assault allegations derailed his career several years ago.
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More Details About The Murder-Suicide
Justin Fairfax, 47, and his wife, Dr. Fairfax, 49, were found dead in their home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale. Their teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. He and his sibling were both home when the murder-suicide occurred.
Justin Fairfax & His Wife Were Getting Divorced
The couple was separated and going through a divorce. A court filing said the couple separated in 2024 and filed for divorce last year. The couple had been married since 2006. Despite the pending divorce, they were still living in the same house with their two children. Justin Fairfax was served recently with paperwork telling him when to appear in court next, Chief Davis said.
In January, officers went to the home after Justin Fairfax alleged that his wife had assaulted him, per police. However, when police reviewed home footage, they found that to be a lie.
“Apparently, Mrs. Fairfax, at some point during these divorce proceedings, set up a lot of cameras inside the home. We reviewed those cameras, and we corroborated that the alleged assault never occurred,” Davis said.
Dr. Cerina Fairfax ran a family dentistry practice. She graduated from Duke University and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as its most outstanding alumna of the last decade.
“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”
A former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, Fairfax first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2013. Then, he won the race for lieutenant governor in 2017.
Justin Fairfax’s Reputation & Pockets Impacted By Sexual Allegations
For a brief period in 2019, Justin Fairfax seemed poised to become Virginia’s second Black governor. At the time, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam faced calls for his resignation after a racist photo in his medical school yearbook resurfaced.
But then two women came forward accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. Vanessa Tyson said Justin Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. At the time, he was a Columbia Law School student serving as an aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards. Two days after Tyson’s statement, Meredith Watson issued her own. Watson accused Fairfax of raping her in 2000, when they were students at Duke University.
In response, Justin Fairfax adamantly denied the allegations. Also, officials never charged him. He had said the encounters were consensual and refused calls to resign. Fairfax later tried to run for governor in 2021, some said to clear his name, but Virginia Democrats largely shunned him. Fairfax said he believed voters would see through what he described as a smear campaign against him. But he was defeated in the Democratic primary.
Court filings show that Fairfax had financial challenges following the sexual assault allegations. Those allegations prompted his resignation as a partner at a prestigious law firm. The IRS filed a lien against the couple for more than $91,000 in unpaid taxes, which was resolved in 2021.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Biesecker, Nathan Ellgren, Sarah Brumfield, Jonathan Mattise, Alanna Durkin Richer, Allen G. Breed, and John Seewer contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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