Death of Former US Attorney, 43, Under Investigation

Jessica Aber, a US attorney who traveled Virginia to try to build trust between law enforcement and the community before resigning in January to let the new administration fill the post, died overnight Friday. Police found Aber, 43, dead in her home in Alexandria after receiving a report that she was unresponsive. The state's chief medical examiner is investigating the death, WRC reports. Aber was nominated as US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia by President Biden in 2021, then unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

During her roughly three-year tenure, Aber had emphasized prosecutions involving terrorism, gang crimes, and classified documents, per the Washington Post. She said she put more than 50,000 miles on her car meeting with students and groups, calling improving relations difficult against the backdrop of recent police killings of unarmed Black people and political calls to "defund the police." Aber said the message she brought was: "We follow the facts and the law, trying to do it in an entirely apolitical way." Her work Ceasefire Virginia "saved more lives than we may ever realize," Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares posted on X, per WRC. (More US attorney stories.)