Tragedy struck early Thursday when Justin Fairfax, the former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, took the life of his estranged wife, Cerina, before ending his own at their Annandale residence, valued at $1 million.
According to the Fairfax County Police, Justin Fairfax, a member of the Democratic Party, fatally shot his wife, who worked as a dentist, in the unfinished basement of their home. The incident occurred in the quiet hours of the morning.
At the time of the tragic event, the couple’s children, Cameron, 16, and Carys, 14, were present in the home but fortunately remained unharmed. They are currently being cared for by family members and victim support services.
It has come to light that Cerina, aged 49, had filed for divorce from Fairfax the previous year. The divorce proceedings were still ongoing, with court dates scheduled for the following week.
Investigators suggest that the recent receipt of court documents, detailing Fairfax’s upcoming appearance dates, might have been a catalyst for this devastating act of violence.
The couple had been living together despite being separated and were understood to have separate bedrooms, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
Davis said his officers responded to the home in January this year after Fairfax alleged that Cerina assaulted him inside the home.
Investigators determined that the alleged assault never occurred and no arrests were made, police said.
Former Virginia Lt Gov Justin Fairfax murdered his wife Cerina in their $1 million Annandale early Thursday morning before turning the gun on himself, police said
Justin Fairfax and his wife Cerina, seen with their daughter Carys and son Cameron
Fairfax, a former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under then-governor Ralph Northam.
He was the state’s second most powerful lawmaker during that period.
Fairfax launched his own bid for governor in 2021, but finished fourth in the Democratic primary after his campaign was heavily overshadowed by sexual assault allegations from two women.
Fairfax adamantly denied the women’s allegations and said both encounters were entirely consensual. Cerina stood by his side throughout the scandal.
Police descended on the residence just after midnight after Cameron called 911 to say that he thought his father stabbed his mother.
When officers arrived on scene, they discovered Cerina unconscious and bleeding inside the home. Police determined she had been shot.
Cameron told responding officers he did not know where his father was.
Investigators later found Fairfax in a separate area of the home with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Justin Fairfax launched a failed bid for Virginia governor in 2021. He is seen during the last Democratic primary debate in June that year
Cerina and Justin Fairfax with Carys and Camerson in an undated photo. The children were home at the time of the deadly shooting
Fairfax at the Steelers Training Camp in July 2022. He was born in Pittsburgh but raised in DC
The circumstances leading up to the deadly shooting remain under investigation. Police say there is no ongoing threat to the community.
‘It is high profile in nature, it’s tragic in nature. Certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high profile family that seemingly had had a lot of things going in their favor,’ Davis said during a press briefing Thursday.
‘So tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred.’
The couple had been married for 20 years but were in the midst of what Davis called a seemingly ‘complicated or messy divorce.’
Cerina formally filed for divorce in July last year, but the couple had reportedly been separated since June 2024. The reason for their split was not immediately clear.
