Former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax - murder/suicide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
For help leaving a potentially violent domestic situation: call 703-246-4573
Fairfax County Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC)

They will review different options and explain what the Virginia laws actually are. There is a lot of mis-information posted as fact in this thread.

In *crisis* situations: 911 or
"If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, please call our Domestic and Sexual Violence 24-Hour Hotline at 703-360-7273"

Ok, but it doesn't really help.

I disagree, a lot of women don’t know what their legal options are to leave these relationships, especially if there are children involved. There are also women who lack the financial means to leave. I’m not saying it is a totally perfect fix, but these hotlines are definitely needed.

What about the psychological/emotional abuse from narcissists who proud themselves for never physically abusing their wives/partners?

[Anonymous]

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lundy-Bancroft/author/B001HCTX76?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=9845d32a-d39e-49d8-8c8e-4f283c3cfdf1

This book and related videos by Lundy Bancroft is excellent at going into minds of domestic abusers.

My heart goes out to Cerina, their children, and everyone on this board who has suffered at the hands of abusers.

[Anonymous]

Book by Lundy Bancroft is called “Why Does He Do That”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Four years ago, he bought a gun with money intended for his children's horseback riding lessons and then disappeared without a word. His brother and wife's stepfather found him in the woods of a public park, insisting that he needed the gun for protection and carried it with him so the children wouldn't find it. The standoff ended when his brother arranged for a mental health professional to talk to him in a parking lot at Tyson's Corner Mall at 1 in the morning."
https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/article_8960a8ef-21ce-4918-a650-dfb9ec6ba82e.html
Hopefully his gun was removed under the red flag law he helped pass. I don't know. I do know that he shouldn't have had a gun.

Can you share a gift link for this article?

https://archive.ph/WGOuF#selection-4349.224-4349.312

Thank you

Yes - thank you for this article.

Cerina was such an accomplished woman. Now she can't watch her kids become adults and they won't have her guiding them towards adulthood. I really do hope they are surrounded by so much love right now.

I wonder if she saw any signs with Justin while they were in college? Any signs while dating? Together, they had so much.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It is reported they were in the middle of a messy divorce. So awful.

Ugh. Another layer of awful.

In Virginia, you must be separated for a year in order to get divorced and you can live in the same house while being separated (if you move you it can be seen by the court as abandoning your claim to the house, happened to my cousin). Reports are that the couple had started this process so I am not surprised they were both still living in the house.

Fairfax made an accusation against his wife earlier this year that she had physically assaulted him. Apparently she had cameras in the house and after reviewing the footage the police determined the assault claim wasn't valid and there was a scheduled upcoming court date re this incident which could be what triggered the current awful events.

There were 2 teen sons in the house. This is absolutely awful.

I hope this is a wake up call to change the law re: leaving the home. It forces women into staying in a potentially very dangerous situation.

That and the 1 year separation. What is the purpose??
Tragic.

Maryland recently shortened their one year separation requirement to six months if there are no children in the marriage. I think the rationale is that the state has an interest in wanting couples to be sure they need to get a divorce before they do? Not supporting this.

The part they need to change is about "home abandonment." Fine, make people wait, but don't penalize their assets for leaving to do so.

Can someone point me to the Virginia law(s) that make it financially risky to move out of the house before the divorce is finalized? What an insane game of gotcha for a couple in a contentious divorce. I hate everything about this story.

I don’t know the law but a friend of mine moved out of the marital home while her ex was away on a business trip and he claimed she had abandoned the home (as in abandoned her financial claim to the home) and the judge agreed, so the ex got the house and didn’t have to buy her out. This was 10 years ago in NOVA.

Seeing Virginia lawmakers posting thoughts and prayers-style messages together with a domestic violence hotline makes my blood boil. Do something meaningful. Pass legislation that facilitates a woman’s safe exit from a bad marriage without requiring her to forfeit her assets, for starters.

The ones posting as if this was a mental health issue make my blood boil. Maybe it was, but how do you know that was it?

Pass laws against coercive control. Make it a crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From WTOP.com today:


"Cerina Fairfax had testified in court that her husband drank daily, and that his living space was littered with empty wine bottles and piles of dirty laundry. He bought a handgun in 2022 with money intended for horseback riding lessons for their children, court records showed.

According to court documents, Justin Fairfax’s “mental and emotional health” suffered after two setbacks: his unsuccessful 2013 campaign for the Democratic nomination for attorney general and the 2019 sexual assault scandal that ended his political career. After both, he drank heavily and withdrew from his family, but while it took about a month to recover from the first setback, he never bounced back from the second."

Yeah - becoming an abuser because you broke your brain drinking is not the "get help for your mental health because you are suffering from depression" line all the local politicians in Northern VA are posting. That's behavior for which you should be held responsible.

And yes - his behavior with the financial abuse of not paying for their bills is abuse.

And also red flag laws only work if the person doing the reporting feels comfortable making the report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Book by Lundy Bancroft is called “Why Does He Do That”

I haven’t read the book yet, but did read other books and suffered physical abuse from a brother and other close family member. On top of that, FIL installed abusive vocabulary on his son.
Why do they do it? Unresolved issues inside them. They also feel the women who pursue their interests and speak out are to be treated like trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could there be processes that get guns temporarily confiscated during family law proceedings if there has been red flag behaviors like alcoholism and fights? Just getting rid of the easy access might help in situations like this.

Virginia has red flag laws. But someone has to feel comfortable making the report without fear of retaliation. The person responsible for half your kids' tuition and the mortgage - you comfortable reporting on them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
For help leaving a potentially violent domestic situation: call 703-246-4573
Fairfax County Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC)

They will review different options and explain what the Virginia laws actually are. There is a lot of mis-information posted as fact in this thread.

In *crisis* situations: 911 or
"If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, please call our Domestic and Sexual Violence 24-Hour Hotline at 703-360-7273"

Ok, but it doesn't really help.

I disagree, a lot of women don’t know what their legal options are to leave these relationships, especially if there are children involved. There are also women who lack the financial means to leave. I’m not saying it is a totally perfect fix, but these hotlines are definitely needed.

These lines are useful if you have zero resources - like need to go to a shelter. If you have some sort of support system and some amount of money, they really don't have a place to point you. Because it turns out - there's not a lot of recourse for escaping abuse that isn't physical (ex: financial, emotional, verbal) if you share children with someone. You can get out - eventually, after draining your bank account on the legal bills - you can make it better maybe. But you can't really get away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could there be processes that get guns temporarily confiscated during family law proceedings if there has been red flag behaviors like alcoholism and fights? Just getting rid of the easy access might help in situations like this.

Virginia has red flag laws. But someone has to feel comfortable making the report without fear of retaliation. The person responsible for half your kids' tuition and the mortgage - you comfortable reporting on them?

Police and prosecutors can report someone. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/19.2-152.13/
I wonder if any of the responding officers in January (when he called police, accusing her of assaulting him, and the video showed she didn't) contemplated it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So funny to see the libs try to soften this. Dude literally murdered his wife in front of her kids, blew his head off, left them with nothing and the media is making him out to be a victim. LOL.

Literally nobody on this thread has defended this dude, what are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Didn't he campaign on....... gun control?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't he campaign on....... gun control?

Politicians are liars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So funny to see the libs try to soften this. Dude literally murdered his wife in front of her kids, blew his head off, left them with nothing and the media is making him out to be a victim. LOL.

Literally nobody on this thread has defended this dude, what are you talking about?

DP and while no one on the thread has, I would argue everyone linking this terrible event to mental health is indeed softening it. There were definite human wrong choices / bad actions mixed in with possible mental health issues here. This isn't like a post-partum psychosis situation or something where it's pure tragedy. Someone was responsible at many points along the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't he campaign on....... gun control?

He did. And he voted for the Red Flag Law.