A US attorney appointed by Biden, who stepped down on President Donald Trump’s first day in office, had a history of epilepsy prior to her passing in her sleep, according to her family.

Jessica Aber, 43, once the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, was found unresponsive in her Washington DC home on Saturday.

Police have said she most likely died of natural causes, noting that she had ‘a longstanding medical issue.’

Aber’s case, though, will remain open until the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia rules on the manner and cause of death. 

In the meantime, Aber’s family has told ABC News she suffered from epilepsy and epileptic seizures for many years.

Such a condition could cause fatal asphyxiation or heart problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, a rare but serious risk for those with epilepsy, can result in fatal seizures. 

Those episodes most often occur when the victims are asleep, as Aber was. 

In a statement, Aber’s family said they ‘expect more information from the medical examiner in the coming weeks.

‘Our family is in deep distress and mourning profoundly. We kindly ask for privacy as we try to cope with this indescribable loss,’ they stated. 

Her former colleagues are also grappling with the enormity of the loss.

‘Jess was brilliant, but far more important was her sense for justice, her humanity, and her ability to change the world in a positive way even during her brief time with us,’ said US District Judge M. Hannah Lauck, for whom Aber once clerked.

‘My clerk family has lost its rock, and I have lost a friend. She was a gold soul and I am proud to have known her.’

‘She was unmatched as a leader, mentor, and prosecutor,’ said Erik S. Siebert, her interim successor.

‘She is simply irreplaceable as a human being. We remain in awe of how much she accomplished in her all too brief time in this world. She loved EDVA and EDVA loved her back.’

Aber had risen through the ranks of the Justice Department before she was eventually appointed by former President Joe Biden to serve as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, or EDVA, in 2021 – becoming one of the few women to ever lead the department.

The district encompasses Northern Virginia, the Pentagon, Langley, the Port of Norfolk and the corridors of federal power in Richmond.

It is also a nerve center of legal activity involving terrorism, espionage, public corruption, and corporate crime. 

In fact, during her time in the post, Aber led a team of roughly 300 lawyers and staff, prosecuting some of the nation’s most sensitive and consequential cases.

Aber worked in the investigation of former CIA analyst Asif Rahman, who pleaded guilty to leaking Israel’s plan to strike Iran last year.

She was also part of several probes into illegal activities by Russia-tied individuals. 

But when Trump re-entered the White House on January 20, Aber stepped down, saying she felt the incoming administration expected her to resign as a Biden-appointee.

‘It’s a political job,’ she said during the Richmond Police Department’s year-end crime briefing, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

‘President Trump hasn’t indicated explicitly how long, if it all, he would keep the Biden U.S. attorneys, but I decided that I would leave at the end of President Biden’s time.’  

In her resignation letter, Aber said working as a U.S. attorney was ‘an honor beyond measure.’

‘I am deeply grateful to senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and to President Biden for the opportunity to lead this office and to Attorney General Garland for his steadfast leadership,’ Aber said in January.

‘I am proud of the work we have done with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to enforce the law and build community trust.’