Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his spouse, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, earlier than killing himself, police stated Thursday. Fairfax, in line with the Related Press, was a rising star within the Democratic Get together earlier than sexual assault allegations derailed his profession a number of years in the past.
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Extra Particulars About The Homicide-Suicide
Justin Fairfax, 47, and his spouse, Dr. Fairfax, 49, had been discovered lifeless of their residence within the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale. Their teenage son known as 911 shortly after midnight, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis stated. He and his sibling had been each residence when the murder-suicide occurred.
Justin Fairfax & His Spouse Have been Getting Divorced
The couple was separated and going by means of a divorce. A court docket submitting stated the couple separated in 2024 and filed for divorce final 12 months. The couple had been married since 2006. Regardless of the pending divorce, they had been nonetheless residing in the identical home with their two kids. Justin Fairfax was served lately with paperwork telling him when to look in court docket subsequent, Chief Davis stated.
In January, officers went to the house after Justin Fairfax alleged that his spouse had assaulted him, per police. Nonetheless, when police reviewed residence footage, they discovered that to be a lie.
“Apparently, Mrs. Fairfax, in some unspecified time in the future throughout these divorce proceedings, arrange a whole lot of cameras inside the house. We reviewed these cameras, and we corroborated that the alleged assault by no means occurred,” Davis stated.
Dr. Cerina Fairfax ran a household dentistry apply. She graduated from Duke College and the Virginia Commonwealth College College of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as its most excellent alumna of the final decade.
“It’s very unhappy for this group,” Davis stated. “Lots of people who know the Fairfax household, all people’s shocked. We’re shocked.”
A former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, Fairfax first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for lawyer basic in 2013. Then, he gained the race for lieutenant governor in 2017.
Justin Fairfax’s Status & Pockets Impacted By Sexual Allegations
For a quick interval in 2019, Justin Fairfax appeared poised to turn out to be Virginia’s second Black governor. On the time, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam confronted requires his resignation after a racist photograph in his medical faculty yearbook resurfaced.
However then two ladies got here ahead accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. Vanessa Tyson stated Justin Fairfax pressured her to carry out oral intercourse in his lodge room throughout the Democratic Nationwide Conference in Boston in 2004. On the time, he was a Columbia Legislation College pupil serving as an aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards. Two days after Tyson’s assertion, Meredith Watson issued her personal. Watson accused Fairfax of raping her in 2000, after they had been college students at Duke College.
In response, Justin Fairfax adamantly denied the allegations. Additionally, officers by no means charged him. He had stated the encounters had been consensual and refused calls to resign. Fairfax later tried to run for governor in 2021, some stated to clear his title, however Virginia Democrats largely shunned him. Fairfax stated he believed voters would see by means of what he described as a smear marketing campaign in opposition to him. However he was defeated within the Democratic main.
Court docket filings present that Fairfax had monetary challenges following the sexual assault allegations. These allegations prompted his resignation as a accomplice at a prestigious legislation agency. The IRS filed a lien in opposition to the couple for greater than $91,000 in unpaid taxes, which was resolved in 2021.
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Related Press reporters Michael Biesecker, Nathan Ellgren, Sarah Brumfield, Jonathan Mattise, Alanna Durkin Richer, Allen G. Breed, and John Seewer contributed to this report by way of AP Newsroom.
What Do You Suppose Roomies?
