Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden was found dead late Wednesday inside a downtown San Diego federal building that houses the U.S. Attorney’s Office, after being reported missing earlier in the day. He was 48.
The death of a man who spent 16 years in the office landed hard because Haden was not just another prosecutor moving through the system. He had twice served as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California during transitions between full-time leaders, and San Diego U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said he was “a beacon of light” whose commitment to the community never wavered.
San Diego police said they were called late Wednesday evening about a man who was potentially missing, and law enforcement later found Haden deceased in an office at 880 Front Street in Downtown San Diego. Police said they do not suspect foul play. The county Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating, and the official cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.
A person familiar with the situation said Haden is suspected to have taken his own life, but that remains unconfirmed. That is the point where the known facts stop and the waiting begins. The office can say he was found dead, and police can say no foul play is suspected; only the Medical Examiner can settle how he died.
For the people around him, the loss is already being felt in personal terms. Haden was a father of two school-aged children and a U.S. Navy veteran, and Gordon held an all-hands meeting Thursday before sending a note to staff about his death. Southern District of California Chief Judge Cynthia Bashant said the tragedy was a loss for his family, the court family and the legal community.
Defense attorney Jeremy Warren, who said he remained friends with Haden despite hard-fought courtroom battles, remembered a prosecutor who could be relentless in court and still stay human outside it. Warren called him smart, honest, honorable, fair-minded and funny. That is the shape of the absence now: a veteran federal lawyer gone from the building he served, with colleagues, judges and defense lawyers left to absorb the silence while the Medical Examiner finishes the work of naming what happened.
