Va.: Democrat Ex-Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax kills wife and then himself in murder-suicide following a domestic dispute related to the couple’s ongoing divorce
OAN Staff Lillian Mann
1:24 PM – Thursday, April 16, 2026
Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax and his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, were found dead in their Annandale home early Thursday morning in what authorities are labeling a murder-suicide.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis reported that the incident occurred shortly after midnight. According to the investigation, Justin shot his wife — a local dentist — in the basement of the home before moving to the master bedroom, where he took his own life.
The couple’s two teenage children were present in the home during the shooting but remained physically unharmed. Their son placed the 911 call to report the incident.
The tragedy follows a period of domestic strain; the couple had reportedly been living separately within the home since June 2024 while undergoing a contentious divorce. Investigators noted that Fairfax had been served with new legal documents related to the proceedings shortly before the shooting occurred.
“This has been on ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” Davis told reporters shortly before the couple’s bodies were removed from the home.
“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 news conference outside the home.
“So, tragic for the children to lose both parents, extra tragic for them to actually be in the home when it occurred. So yeah, there’s a lot going on.”
The Fairfax’s, who were married for 20 years, were still sharing a residence while their divorce case was underway. Cerina filed for divorce in July 2025, one year and one day after their initial separation. Notably, under Virginia law, a member of a couple seeking a divorce must live “separate and apart without interruption” for at least one year before filing.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that there’s been a divorce proceeding that have been ongoing. From what I understand in this early stage, former Lieutenant Governor Fairfax was recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding that apparently led to this incident last night,” Davis commented.
“Our main concern is for their well-being right now, they are interacting with us,” Davis added.
Thursday was not the first time the police had responded to the Fairfax residence, earlier this year in January, Justin had accused his wife of assaulting him. However, following an investigation, officials confirmed that he was lying after they reviewed footage from cameras that Cerina had set up inside the home amidst the divorce.
Conservative columnist Sophia Nelson – a friend of the Fairfaxes – wrote on the social platform X that Justin was “deeply depressed” due to the ongoing divorce battle, but also wrote “we never saw this coming. Ever. We were all devastated.”
Justin was a well-known rising figure in the Democrat Party during the 2010s, having worked on presidential campaigns for Al Gore and John Kerry before building a legal career.
After a period as a federal prosecutor, he ran for attorney general of Virginia in 2013 but lost the Democrat primary to Mark Herring.
He was later elected Lieutenant Governor alongside Ralph Northam, but his aspirations for higher office were derailed in 2019 after several women came forward with allegations of sexual assault.
At least two women have publicly accused Justin of assault—one alleging an incident in 2000 and another in 2004.
Vanessa Tyson, an associate professor at Scripps College and fellow at Sandford University, accused him of raping her at a hotel during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston in 2004.
Justin denied the accusation, saying the encounter was consensual.
The second woman, Meredith Watson, came forward to claim he raped her in a “premeditated and aggressive” attack in 2000 when they were both studying at Duke.
He denied the allegation, stating, “I have never forced myself on anyone ever.”
The former Lieutenant Governor also claimed the accusations were premeditated and part of a broader conspiracy to force him out of office during the Virginia gubernatorial race.
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