Jessica Diane Aber (September 9, 1981 – March 22, 2025) was an American attorney who served as the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the

Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...

(EDVA) from 2021 to 2025. She was known for prosecuting high-profile cases involving organized crime and national security.

Early life and education

Born in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland, California, Oakland. Walnut Creek has a total population of 70,127 per t ...

, in 1981, Aber graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' with a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

in 2003. She earned her Juris Doctor from the

William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School, formally the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, is the law school of the College of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the oldest extant law school in the United States, having be ...

in 2006.

Career

After clerking for Magistrate Judge

M. Hannah Lauck Mary Hannah Lauck (born 1963) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and former United States magistrate judge of the same court. Biography Lauck received a Bachelor of Arts de ...

in the EDVA (2006–2007), Aber worked as an associate at

McGuireWoods McGuireWoods LLP is a US-based international law firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Initially founded in 1834, the firm has grown into the largest law firm in the state of Virginia, and has 21 offices across the country. Along with its Ric ...

before joining the EDVA U.S. Attorney's Office in 2009 as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gov ...

. She later served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ's Criminal Division (2015–2016) and Deputy Chief of the EDVA Criminal Division (2016–2021).

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia

Nominated by President Biden in August 2021, Aber was confirmed by the Senate on October 5, 2021, and sworn in on October 12, 2021. Her tenure included several notable cases, including the prosecution of an

MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area ...

leader for multiple murders, indictments against Russian nationals for operating illicit

cryptocurrency exchanges A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...

, historic

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

charges against Russian soldiers for actions in Ukraine, the conviction of an Israeli national for the smuggling of non-citizens into the United States, and the conviction of a former

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

analyst for leaking classified information. Aber resigned on January 20, 2025, following the presidential transition.

Illness and death

Aber was found dead in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

, on March 22, 2025, at age 43. She died in her sleep from an

epileptic seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

References

External links

Senate Judiciary Committee Questionnaire
(Public) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aber, Jessica 1981 births 2025 deaths 21st-century American women lawyers Assistant United States attorneys McGuireWoods people People from Walnut Creek, California People with epilepsy United States attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia United States Department of Justice lawyers University of Richmond alumni William & Mary Law School alumni