Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, wife found dead in murder-suicide

Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, and then turned the same gun on himself inside their Annandale home, leaving two teenage children in the house as police investigated the deaths as a domestic-related murder-suicide.

Fairfax County police said officers were called shortly after midnight on April 16, 2026, to the 8100 block of Guinevere Drive. When they entered the home, they found a man and a woman dead inside. Police later identified the victims as Justin Fairfax and his wife, Cerina Fairfax, who local reporting identified as a dentist.

Police Chief Kevin Davis said the violence unfolded amid a “complicated or messy divorce.” Investigators said Justin Fairfax shot his wife several times in the partially finished basement, then went upstairs to the primary bedroom and killed himself with the same firearm. Davis also said the case was especially tragic because the couple’s children were home during the shooting.

One of the teenagers called 911. Both children were physically unharmed, but police described the emotional toll on the family as devastating. Victim services staff were working with relatives after the deaths, as the home and the family’s history quickly drew intense attention across Fairfax County and beyond.

The killing landed with particular force because Justin Fairfax was not just another local figure. He served as Virginia lieutenant governor from January 13, 2018, to January 15, 2022, and was the second African-American elected statewide in Virginia. His political career had already been badly damaged in 2019 after sexual assault allegations surfaced; he denied the accusations and later released polygraph-related material in his defense.

Police said Fairfax had contacted them in January and accused his wife of assaulting him, but surveillance footage contradicted that claim and no arrest followed. That earlier dispute, the ongoing divorce, and the presence of surveillance cameras around the house now sit at the center of a case that has become one of the most high-profile domestic violence killings Virginia has seen in years.

The broader numbers show why investigators and advocates treat cases like this as a public-safety emergency, not a private family collapse. Virginia’s domestic-violence support network fielded 68,640 hotline contacts in 2024, and agencies provided in-person and online counseling and services to more than 27,600 adults and children. This case joined the worst of both worlds: a violent domestic ending and the public unspooling of a once-powerful political life.