The former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia who killed his wife and then himself was weeks away from a court-ordered deadline to vacate the $1 million home he shared with his estranged spouse and their children.
Justin Fairfax, 47, shot his dentist wife, Cerina, 49, in their Annandale property in the early hours on Thursday before going into a separate room and shooting himself while his children, Cameron, 16, and Carys, 14, were also home.
The shooting came just weeks before the deadline Fairfax was court-ordered to move out of his marital home.
Fairfax and his wife had been separated for two years but lived together. He was court-ordered to move out of the home by the end of April, Fox 5 DC reported.
A friend told AP that the Democrat had become distant and hopeless after his wife filed for divorce last year.
He began heavily drinking, filling his room with empty wine bottles and dirty laundry and isolating himself, a judge wrote in a recent order.
The judge said Fairfax displayed 'a sense of fatalism and hopelessness.'
However, the judge still ordered Fairfax to leave his home by the end of April, due to the tensions being 'extremely high for an extended period of time.'
Justin Fairfax, 47, shot his wife, Cerina, 49, in their Virginia home before shooting himself. Their children Cameron, 16, and Carys, 14, were at home when it happened
The violence occurred just weeks before Fairfax had been court-ordered to leave his martial home
Cerina testified that Fairfax drank daily. Court records also show Fairfax bought a gun in 2022 with money he was supposed to use to pay for his children's horseback riding lessons.
Fairfax was recently served paperwork indicating when he was next due to appear in court, which investigators say 'may have been a spark' to the deadly act of violence.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said his officers responded to the home in January this year after Fairfax alleged that Cerina assaulted him inside their residence.
Investigators determined that the alleged assault never occurred and no arrests were made, police said.
Fairfax's life began unraveling after he suffered two career scandals years ago.
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 and was tipped to replace Northam after he became embroiled in
a blackface scandal.
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 and his wife had been separated for two years, but were living together with their kids
Both of the parents were pronounced dead at the scene. Cameron called police reporting he thought his father had stabbed his mother
Fairfax adamantly denied the women's allegations and said both encounters were entirely consensual. Cerina stood by his side throughout the scandal.
Two women, just days apart, accused Fairfax of sexual assault in February 2019. The allegations did not result in criminal charges.
One accused him of forcing her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.
The second accused Fairfax of raping her in 2000 while they were students at Duke University.
Fairfax denied the allegations and filed a $400 million defamation lawsuit against CBS News after the outlet broadcast interviews with his two accusers.
A federal judge threw out the lawsuit in February 2020 after Fairfax failed to prove 'actual malice.'
Both Northam and Fairfax ultimately went on to finish their terms in office.
It came after Fairfax's 2013 bid for attorney general also fell through. Court records said he managed to bounce back after the loss but struggled after the sexual assault allegations emerged some years later.
Fairfax's wife filed for divorce last year and court records indicated that the top Democrat was struggling with it and was drinking daily
Police descended on the residence just after midnight on Thursday, after Cameron called 911 to say that he thought his father stabbed his mother.
When officers arrived at the 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.
Fairfax was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but raised in Washington DC.
He studied public policy at Duke University and earned his law degree from Columbia University in 2005.
Fairfax's political career derailed after he was accused of sexual assault in 2019. He denied the allegations and his wife stood by him throughout it
He worked as a litigation partner in Northern Virginia and DC before serving as a federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Fairfax, a descendant of slaves, was elected lieutenant governor in 2017, making him the second African American person in Virginia history to win a statewide office.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or actions, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 988.