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A former federal prosecutor was found dead Saturday morning at a home in Alexandria, Virginia, authorities said. Officers with the Alexandria Police Department were dispatched to the home at 9:18 a.m. Eastern Time on a report of an unresponsive woman. They arrived to find 43-year-old Jessica Aber, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, dead at the scene, police reported. It was not immediately clear if the home belonged to Aber, or who had contacted police. Her cause of death will be determined by the Virginia medical examiner’s office. No further details were provided.Police said in a statement that “as a matter of protocol, an investigation is underway surrounding the circumstances of her death.”
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice on December 6, 2023, in Washington, D.C.
Samuel Corum / Getty Images
Then-President Joe Biden nominated Aber to the position in August 2021, and she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
She led the department for approximately three years, resigning in January when President Trump began his second term. “We are heartbroken beyond words to learn of the passing of our friend and former colleague, U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber,” her successor, Erik Siebert, the current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement Saturday. “She was unmatched as a leader, mentor, and prosecutor, and she is simply irreplaceable as a human being. We remain in awe of how much she accomplished in her all too brief time in this world.”In a social media post, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares praised Aber for her work with Ceasefire Virginia, a statewide initiative implemented in 2022 designed to combat violent crime. “I am saddened to learn of the passing of Jessica Aber, whose career of public service included US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and whose work with Ceasefire Virginia saved more lives than we may ever realize,” Miyares wrote.
Aber worked in private practice before joining the Eastern District of Virginia in 2009, where she held several roles, including assistant U.S. attorney and deputy chief of the department’s criminal division, according to her biography on the Justice Department’s website. As U.S. attorney, she oversaw a staff of about 300 people in a district that serves approximately six million residents. A Virginia native, Aber did her undergraduate work at the University of Richmond, and received her law degree from William & Mary Law School in 2006.
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Faris Tanyos
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
