ANNANDALE, VIRGINIA — Police found Cerina Fairfax and Justin Fairfax dead in their home in Annandale, Virginia, early Thursday in what investigators described as a murder-suicide. Justin Fairfax fatally shot Cerina Fairfax and then killed himself, according to police.

Their two teenage children were home at the time of the deaths, police said. The couple were going through a divorce and had been living in the same house with their children, though Cerina Fairfax said in court filings that the two had separated nearly two years earlier. A judge had ordered Justin Fairfax to move out of the house by the end of April. "It is clear tensions in the Fairfax home have been extremely high for an extended period of time," the divorce judge wrote.

U.S. Representative Jennifer McClellan remembered Cerina Fairfax in a written tribute. "Cerina Fairfax was a loving and dedicated mother and the rock at the center of her large family," McClellan wrote. "Their two teenaged children were the people she cherished most."

Cerina Fairfax, 49, ran a family dentistry practice in the city of Fairfax, Virginia. In 2015, she was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade by the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry. She enjoyed reading, traveling, practicing yoga, going on trail runs with her Vizsla dogs, and spending time with her family.

Cerina Fairfax and Justin Fairfax met as undergraduates at Duke University and married in 2006. Justin Fairfax unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2013 before winning the race for lieutenant governor in 2017. During his time in office, two women accused him of sexually assaulting them years before his marriage to Cerina Fairfax. He left office at the end of his term in 2022 following an unsuccessful run for governor.