Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Kills Wife, Then Himself, Police Say

Virginia’s former lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, a Democrat who once held statewide office and was considered a rising figure in his party, fatally shot his wife before taking his own life inside their home overnight in what authorities are describing as a domestic murder-suicide tied to a contentious divorce.

Lt. Gov Fairfax (top right) with his wife (bottom left) and children. Photo credit: Justin Fairfax For Governor campaign Facebook

Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a Thursday morning news conference that the couple’s teenage children were inside the home in Annandale, just outside Washington, D.C., when the violence occurred, and that their older son called 911 shortly after midnight.

“Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside of their home and then shot and killed himself,” Davis said.

He described the incident as stemming from a “domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce,” noting that investigators are still in the early stages of the case.

Davis also said Fairfax had recently been served paperwork informing him of an upcoming court appearance related to the ongoing divorce proceedings.

Fairfax, 47, served as Virginia’s lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under Democratic Governor Ralph Northam. During his time in office, he was viewed as a prominent Democratic figure in Virginia politics, but his career was overshadowed by serious allegations that emerged in 2019. Two women accused him of sexual assault stemming from incidents years earlier, one alleging rape in 2000 while they were students at Duke University and another alleging he forced her to perform oral sex in 2004 during the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Fairfax denied the accusations, maintaining that the encounters were consensual and calling for an FBI investigation into the claims, while resisting calls from within his own party to resign.

He later sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 2021, where he publicly argued that he had been treated unfairly in the aftermath of the allegations, at one point comparing his situation to that of George Floyd and Emmett Till during a debate, comments that drew significant backlash. Despite remaining in office through the end of his term, Fairfax’s political trajectory never fully recovered.

Authorities have not released additional details about the sequence of events inside the home, and the investigation remains ongoing, but officials have indicated that the evidence at the scene points to a murder-suicide connected to the couple’s deteriorating relationship and pending legal proceedings.