Cerina Fairfax was shot and killed inside her Annandale home, and former Virginia Lt Gov Justin Fairfax then died by suicide, Fairfax County police said.
Police said the couple, ages 49 and 47 respectively, were found inside their house in the 8100 block of Guinevere Drive after their teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters that Justin Fairfax shot his wife several times in the basement, then ran upstairs to the primary bedroom and killed himself with the same firearm.
Authorities recovered cartridge casings and a firearm at the scene, and both were pronounced dead at the house, police said.
Davis said the events appeared to unfold quickly and that he believes the shooting may have followed service of paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will issue autopsy reports to confirm cause and manner of death, police officials said.
Background And Reactions
Police described the couple as separated while living in the same house, and a judge had ordered Justin Fairfax to move out by the end of April, according to the police account.
Davis called the divorce proceedings complicated or messy and said that in January Justin Fairfax had accused his wife of assault, an allegation police investigated and found to be untrue after reviewing cameras Mrs Fairfax had set up inside the home.
Court filings and records cited by police showed that Justin Fairfax bought a handgun in 2022 with money intended for horseback riding lessons for the children, and that the IRS had filed a lien for more than $91,000 in unpaid taxes that was resolved in 2021.
The police briefing recalled that Cerina Fairfax had testified in court about her husband’s daily drinking and about cluttered living spaces with empty wine bottles and piles of dirty laundry.
The couple met while attending Duke University and married in 2006, and Cerina Fairfax earned a doctor of dental surgery degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005 and ran a family dentistry practice, the account said.
Police noted the deaths stunned local lawmakers who shared tributes and condolences, and they described Justin Fairfax’s political trajectory as having been curtailed after 2019 sexual assault allegations that he denied.
