Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax's Sexual Assault Allegations Resurface After He 'Killed Himself and His Wife' at $1Million Virginia Mansion
Justin Fairfax faced multiple sexual harassment allegations throughout his career.
April 16 2026, Published 2:29 p.m. ET
The ex-Virginia Lt. Gov accused of murdering his estranged wife before taking his own life on Thursday, April 16, had been embroiled in a history of sexual assault allegations, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Justin Fairfax allegedly shot Dr. Cerina Fairfax, then turned the gun on himself, amid what police called a "messy" divorce.
A 'Messy Divorce'
He allegedly shot and killed his wife before killing himself.
The bodies of Justin and Cerina were discovered inside their Fairfax County home, about 14 miles southwest of Washington.
According to police, Justin, 47, shot her "multiple times" in the basement of their home just after midnight, then ran upstairs to the home's primary bedroom and shot himself.
One of the couple’s two teenage children, who were reportedly home at the time of the shootings, alerted police.
"This has been an ongoing domestic dispute surrounding what seems to be a complicated or messy divorce," Fairfax County Police Department Chief Ken Davis told reporters outside the home. "So far, what we know is what you know. There seems to be divorce proceedings that have been ongoing."
Sexual Assault Allegations
He was Lt. Gov. of Virginia under Ralph Northam
Justin was the lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022, despite never having held public office before. He served alongside Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.
However, after his election, the second-in-command soon found himself wrapped up in scandals. In 2019, multiple women accused Fairfax of sexual assault, leading to calls for him to resign.
The first claim came from a woman named Meredith Watson, who alleged Justin raped her in 2000 when they were students at Duke University, and suggested he took advantage of her.
"He knew that the year prior, I had been raped by someone and that nothing was done about it. And he was a very good friend to me," Watson told CBS This Morning in 2019. "Which is why I never would’ve expected anything like this from him."
The Victims Confronted Him
Vanessa Tyson (L) and Meredith Watson (R) each accused him of sexual assault.
She confronted Justin about the assault and claimed he had "planned" to assault her that night.
"One night after it happened, I was at a party on campus, and he came, and so I went to leave," Watson claimed. "And he followed me out and was sort of following after me, calling after me.
"And I was just running, trying to get away, and then I finally stopped, and I turned around. And all I said to him was, 'Why? Why would you do that to me?'
"And he said, 'I knew because of what happened to you last year that if I got you in the right situation, you would be too afraid to say or do anything about it.'"
Justin's Response
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Justin denied the accusations.
Another woman named Vanessa Tyson accused him years later of forcing her to perform oral s-- when they attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.
Justin vehemently denied the accusations and claimed the encounters with the women were consensual.
"I empathize with those who have lived for a long time feeling hurt and pain," he said in a statement
"And, while the evidence will continue to demonstrate the truth that I never assaulted either Dr. Tyson or Ms. Watson, I am able to hear the pain they have expressed; a pain I hope they are able to resolve and heal from.
"However, because I never assaulted either Dr. Tyson or Ms. Watson, I know that my actions cannot be the source of that pain."
