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A Virginia judge expressed concern over the mental state of former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax while ruling on a child custody case involving two teenage children, commenting on his behavior and isolation.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McEvoy detailed these concerns in a March 30 court order involving Fairfax, his estranged wife, and their two children, writing that Fairfax’s “isolation, drinking and lack of participation in family life are manifestations of what seems to be a sense of fatalism and hopelessness,” WTOP reported.
Fairfax killed his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, and then himself in a shocking murder-suicide early Thursday morning. The two were living under the same roof during ongoing divorce proceedings.
The split followed sexual assault allegations made against Fairfax in 2019.
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Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax gestures during a debate at Virginia Sate University in Petersburg, Va., Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
“At that time, [Fairfax] was the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and was an ascendant political figure who was eyeing a run for Governor. The assault allegations deeply affected [him] and appear to have put an end to those plans,” court documents state.
Fairfax served as lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022. In 2019, two women accused him of sexually assaulting them while they were students at Duke University.
The killing occurred just days before an April 21 divorce hearing and an April 30 court-ordered deadline for Fairfax to move out of the couple’s home. Authorities confirmed that Fairfax had recently been served with paperwork related to the upcoming court hearing.
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Then- Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and his wife, Cerina, attend Gov. Ralph Northam’s inauguration at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., on Sept. 13, 2018. Fairfax fatally shot his wife before taking his own life on Thursday amid a contentious divorce, authorities said. (Kevin Morley/AP)
McEvoy’s order detailed a 2022 incident in which Fairfax purchased a handgun, which he possessed during a “kind of adverse psychological event.” The gun was allegedly purchased with money intended for his children’s horseback riding lessons.
At one point, he left his home with the weapon and was found by relatives in a nearby public park “after frantic searching.” Fairfax’s brother eventually called a mental health professional after being “unable to calm him down over the course of several hours,” the judge wrote.
According to the New York Post, Fairfax was drinking so heavily that he would lock himself in his home office, living among “empty wine bottles, trash and piles of dirty laundry.” The documents allege he would only emerge “long enough to get food or smoke cigarettes.”
McEvoy noted there was no evidence that Fairfax had sought professional help, but did not order psychological therapy.
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Fairfax County coroners prepare to leave the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax in Annandale, Va., with two bodies in a van on April 16, 2026. (Cliff Owen/AP)
The judge described the tension in the couple’s home life as “extremely high for an extended period of time,” noting that their living arrangements were exacerbating the situation. He had ordered Fairfax to move out of the home in Annandale, located outside Washington, D.C.
Authorities believe the acrimonious divorce likely played a role in Fairfax’s decision to kill his wife before taking his own life.
