Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax murdered his wife, Cerina, before turning the gun on himself late Wednesday night at their Annadale, VA, home.
Both of their kids were home at the time. Their son called 911.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said the couple were going through “a complicated or messy divorce” at the time. From NBC Washington:
Cerina had cameras installed inside the home at some point, police said. Detectives used them to corroborate the sequence of events.”Certainly a traumatic event for those children to live through,” Davis said. The children are now with family members.An investigation is underway, and authorities plan to get a search warrant for the home. Police said there is no threat to the community.Court records show Cerina Fairfax, who was a dentist, had filed for divorce. Davis said the couple were separated, but still living together in separate bedrooms. Fairfax had been served paperwork recently, and a court date was pending.”That may have been a spark,” Davis said. “Detectives will figure that out, what led to this tragedy here.”
Fairfax called the police on his wife earlier this year, accusing her of assault.
Cerina installed cameras inside the house at some point, which helped the police determine that an assault never took place.
The police used those same cameras to figure out what happened last night.
In February 2019, a woman accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in 2004 at the DNC convention.
Another woman came forward a few days later. The woman claimed the sexual assault happened in 2000 at Duke University.
Fairfax denied both allegations and never faced charges. He never resigned.
Fairfax jumped into the gubernatorial race a year later, but came in fourth in the Democratic primary. He returned to private practice.
***If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
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