By Michael Biesecker and Nathan Ellgren
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story contains dialogue of suicide. When you or somebody you realize wants assist, the nationwide suicide and disaster lifeline within the U.S. is out there by calling or texting 988. There may be additionally a web-based chat at 988lifeline.org
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a rising star within the Democratic Celebration earlier than his profession was derailed by sexual assault allegations six years in the past, killed his spouse earlier than killing himself, police mentioned April 16.
Fairfax, 47, and his spouse, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, 49, have been discovered lifeless of their house within the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale after their son referred to as 911 shortly after midnight on April 16, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis mentioned.
The couple gave the impression to be going by means of a messy divorce however nonetheless residing in the identical home with their two teenage youngsters, who have been house when the deaths occurred, he mentioned.
Cerina Fairfax mentioned in courtroom filings that they separated almost two years in the past and that she filed for divorce final summer season.
Justin Fairfax was just lately served with paperwork telling him when subsequent to look in courtroom, Davis mentioned. In January, officers went to the house after Justin Fairfax alleged that his spouse had assaulted him, he mentioned.
“Apparently, Mrs. Fairfax, sooner or later throughout these divorce proceedings, arrange loads of cameras inside the house. We reviewed these cameras, and we corroborated that the alleged assault by no means occurred,” Davis mentioned.
The couple, who met as undergraduates at Duke College, married in 2006. Cerina Fairfax ran a household dentistry observe. She additionally attended the Virginia Commonwealth College Faculty of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as an excellent alumna.
A profile web page on her workplace web site described her as an avid reader who favored to journey, observe yoga, go on path runs together with her Vizsla-breed canine, and “spend time together with her fantastic household.”
“It’s very unhappy for this group,” Davis mentioned. “Lots of people who know the Fairfax household, all people’s shocked. We’re shocked.”
For a quick interval in 2019, Justin Fairfax appeared poised to change into Virginia’s second Black governor as Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam grew to become engulfed in a scandal over a racist picture in his medical faculty yearbook that led to requires his resignation. Fairfax would have mechanically change into governor if Northam had stepped down.
However then two girls got here ahead accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. He adamantly denied the allegations, saying they have been a part of a smear marketing campaign. He was by no means charged.
An aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards mentioned Fairfax sexually assaulted her through the Democratic Nationwide Conference in 2004. Two days after she got here ahead, one other lady accused him of raping her in 2000, after they have been college students at Duke.
Fairfax mentioned the encounters have been consensual and refused calls to resign. He later tried to run for governor in 2021, however was largely shunned by Virginia Democrats and defeated within the Democratic main.
Court docket filings present that Fairfax had monetary challenges following the sexual assault allegations, which prompted his resignation as a accomplice at a prestigious regulation agency. The IRS filed a lien towards the couple for greater than $91,000 in unpaid taxes that was resolved in 2021.
A former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, Fairfax first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for lawyer common in 2013, then received the race for lieutenant governor in 2017.
The deaths shocked political leaders all through the state.
“We’re maintaining Cerina and Justin Fairfax’s household — particularly their two youngsters — in our prayers as all of us course of this surprising and horrifying information,” Virginia’s Democratic U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, mentioned in a joint assertion.
Fairfax had served as co-chair for Warner’s 2014 reelection marketing campaign.
Ghazala Hashmi, Virginia’s present lieutenant governor, referred to as the deaths devastating.
“My ideas are with their youngsters, family members, and quite a few associates,” Hashmi mentioned in a press release. “Together with so many within the Commonwealth, I’m full of sorrow; I await additional insights from our regulation enforcement officers.”
Biesecker reported from Fairfax County, Virginia. Related Press reporters Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report. This text was initially printed by The Related Press.
