Virginia Ex-Lieutenant Governor Kills Wife, Self, Police Say (2)

April 16, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

The former lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, killed himself and his wife, Cerina Fairfax, at their home just after midnight on Thursday, according to the police.

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis described it as a murder-suicide, adding it was an ongoing domestic-related dispute surrounding a “messy divorce.”

Justin Fairfax in 2019
Photographer: Katherine Frey/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Fairfax, a Democrat, served as lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022. A graduate of Duke University and Columbia Law School, he was just the second Black politician elected statewide in Virginia and had a rising national profile until he faced calls to resign from his own party in 2019. ...

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