Former Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax had been ordered out of the family home and stripped of primary custody of his children just days before he fatally shot his wife and then himself, newly released court records show. A Fairfax County judge on March 30 granted Cerina Fairfax primary physical custody of the couple's two children, gave her possession of their Annandale house, and directed Justin Fairfax to move out by April 30, the Washington Post reports.
The ruling followed months of mounting conflict and a contentious divorce case in which Cerina described her husband's "heavy daily alcohol" use, isolation, and erratic behavior after his term ended in 2022. She told the court he used money intended for their children's horseback-riding lessons to buy a gun that year. Police say Fairfax, 47, shot Cerina multiple times in the basement early Thursday before killing himself upstairs; their teenage son called 911, and both children were home at the time. The former Democrat rising star, once seen as a likely future governor, saw his political career collapse after he was accused of sexual assault by two women, allegations he repeatedly denied.
In court documents, the judge says Fairfax had previously bounced back from a bout of isolation and problematic drinking after a failed campaign for attorney general in 2013, but after the 2019 allegations, his mental health and participation in family life never recovered, the AP reports. In the order requiring Fairfax to move out by the end of the month, the judge wrote, "It is clear tensions in the Fairfax home have been extremely high for an extended period of time." The estranged couple was scheduled to be back in court Monday, NBC Washington reports.
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