[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] ... as outrageous divorce papers reveal alcohol-fueled chaos he inflicted on family
A disturbing 911 call detailed the moments immediately after Virginia's former Lieutenant Governor killed his wife and himself in a murder suicide.
Justin Fairfax, a Democrat, shot his dentist spouse Cerina dead in their $1 million Annandale home in the early hours of Thursday. He then turned the gun on himself.
Their son Cameron called 911 just after midnight after he discovered his mother's blood-covered body lying on the floor, according to audio obtained by the Daily Mail.
A dispatcher detailed how the 16-year-old had said that his dad 'might have stabbed his mom'. The dispatcher said Cameron had told them that Cerina was 'lying on the ground bleeding' and he could 'see holes in her shirt.'
Cameron added that he did not know where his father was.
Cerina, 49, filed for divorce from Fairfax in July last year, alleging that he was a 'deadbeat' father and alcoholic, according to court filings obtained by the Daily Mail.
She alleged that he defaulted on the mortgage, dodged paying household bills, and even spent money earmarked for their children's horseback riding lessons on a handgun, according to the filing.
It is unclear if that gun was the weapon used in Thursday's deadly shooting.
When officers arrived on scene, they discovered Cerina unconscious and bleeding in the unfinished basement of the home.
'The husband's not gonna be here. It's gonna look like an obvious D.O.A.,' a responding medic told dispatch, adding the victim 'doesn't have a pulse.'
Fairfax, 47, was found in his bedroom with the firearm and appeared to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Cameron and his 14-year-old sister Carys were home at the time of the murder, but unharmed. They are being tended to by relatives and victim services.
The circumstances leading up to the deadly shooting remain under investigation. Police say there is no ongoing threat to the community.
Crime scene investigators have cordoned off the residence and remain on scene as they carry out their investigation into the horrific shooting.
Officials with the Fairfax County coroner's office were seen removing bodies from the home. Autopsies will be conducted to determine the couple's exact cause of deaths.
The couple had been married for 20 years but separated in June 2024 and were in the midst of what Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis called a 'messy divorce.'
Fairfax had been drinking heavily and would lock himself in his home office, only surfacing 'long enough to get food or smoke cigarettes,' the divorce documents said.
His estranged wife described in the petition how Fairfax was living in squalor, surrounded by 'empty wine bottles, trash and piles of dirty laundry'.
In 2022, he even spent money that had been earmarked for the children's horseback riding lessons to purchase a handgun, Cerina alleged in the complaint.
She further said that Fairfax 'had chosen not to be a productive member of the family and that the dictionary definition of "deadbeat" was accurate as applied to him.'
A judge noted in the court filings that Fairfax did not dispute the claims Cerina made against him.
Fairfax was recently served paperwork indicating when he was next due to appear in court which Chief Davis said 'may have been a spark' to the deadly act of violence.
Court records show the couple were due back in court next week.
Despite their separation, the couple continued living together in the 2,000 square-foot suburban home. They were understood to have separate bedrooms, police said.
Davis said his officers responded to the home in January this year after Fairfax alleged that Cerina assaulted him inside the home.
Investigators determined that the alleged assault never occurred and no arrests were made, police said.
Fairfax, a former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, served as Virginia's lieutenant governor from 2018 to 2022 under then-governor Ralph Northam.
He was the state's second most powerful lawmaker during that period.
Fairfax launched his own bid for governor in 2021, but finished fourth in the Democratic primary after his campaign was heavily overshadowed by sexual assault allegations from two women.
The Democrat adamantly denied the women's allegations and said both encounters were entirely consensual. His wife stood by his side throughout the scandal.
Cerina ran a family dentistry practice in northern Virginia. She graduated from Duke University and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as its most outstanding alumna of the last decade.
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