Justin Fairfax, who nearly became Virginia governor, killed his wife and himself, police say

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Annandale, Va. (AP) — Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a rising star in the Democratic party before his career was derailed by sexual assault allegations several years ago, killed his wife before killing himself, police said Thursday.

Fairfax and his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, were found dead at their northern Virginia home in Annandale after the couple’s teenage son called 911 shortly after midnight, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.

The couple were separated and going through a divorce but living in the same house with their two children, who were home when the shootings occurred, he said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

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Justin Fairfax was served recently with paperwork telling him when next to appear in court, Davis said. “Detectives will figure out if that led to this tragedy here," he said.

“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

Cerina Fairfax ran a family dentistry practice in northern Virginia. She graduated from Duke University and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as its most outstanding alumna of the last decade.

For a brief period in 2019, Justin Fairfax seemed poised to become governor as Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam became engulfed in a scandal over a racist photo on his medical school yearbook that led to calls for his resignation.

But then two women came forward accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. He adamantly denied the allegations.

Vanessa Tyson said Fairfax — at the time a Columbia Law School student serving as an aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards — forced her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Two days after Tyson’s statement, Meredith Watson issued her own, accusing Fairfax of raping her in 2000, when they were students at Duke University.

The Associated Press generally doesn't name people who say they are victims of sexual assault, but both women came forward publicly. Fairfax said the encounters were consensual and refused calls to resign. Fairfax later tried to run for governor in 2021, some said to clear his name, but was largely shunned by Virginia Democrats.

Fairfax said he believed voters would see through what he described as a smear campaign against him. But he was defeated in the Democratic primary.

A former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, Fairfax first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2013, then won the race for lieutenant governor in 2017.

Ghazala Hashmi, Virginia's current lieutenant governor, called the deaths devastating.

“My thoughts are with their children, loved ones, and numerous friends,” Hashmi said in a statement. “Along with so many in the Commonwealth, I am filled with sorrow; I await further insights from our law enforcement officials.”

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Biesecker reported from Fairfax County, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, Jonathan Matisse in Nashville, Tennessee, Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, and Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina contributed to this report.