Cause of death revealed for missing US Assistant Attorney found dead in San Diego office

A missing US Attorney found dead in an office at a federal building in San Diego killed himself, the California Post has learned.

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Local police discovered Acting US Attorney Andrew Haden, 48, dead inside an office at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building Wednesday.

Sources familiar with the case told The Post that Haden hung himself.

The attorney was earlier reported missing. The medical examiner will determine the official cause and manner of Haden’s death.

Haden joined the US attorney’s office in 2010 and twice stepped in as acting US attorney for the Southern District of California during leadership changes, serving roughly two months in both 2023 and 2025.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

A caller who phoned San Diego Police late Wednesday evening reported that Haden was potentially missing. A short time later, he was discovered deceased by law enforcement in an office at 880 Front St. in Downtown San Diego.

“Out of an abundance of caution, SDPD investigators responded to the scene, and no foul play is suspected,” said SDPD Sargent Saum Poorsaleh.

Scott C. Carr, executive director of the San Diego County Bar Association, said the local legal community was ”devastated” by Haden’s sudden death, remembering him as a supportive boss and friendly colleague who ‘always’ had a kind word to say.

”Our legal community lost a good one,” Carr wrote in a LinkedIn tribute following Haden’s death.

Southern District US Attorney Adam Gordon mourned Haden’s death in a public statement, saying Thursday was “one of the darkest days in our office’s history, but there was nothing dark about Andrew Haden’s life.”

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Haden “was a beacon of light — full of laughter, friendship, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to serving our community,” Gordon said. “We will honor his life and legacy by carrying his light forward, today and always.”

Gordon held a meeting within the office Thursday with staff and emailed all of them to inform them of Haden’s death, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Haden was raised in San Deigo and graduated from University City High. He then went to Stanford University in the Bay Area and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

The former prosecutor then embarked on a five-year-long stint in the Navy, deploying twice overseas.

He then attended law school at the University of San Diego, and served as a court clerk for US District Judge Thomas J. Whelan in the Southern District of California.

Southern District of California Chief Judge Cynthia Bashant told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the news is a “loss for everyone,” describing him as “well loved and well respected.”

Defense attorney Jeremy Warren, who often faced off with Haden in court, told the newspaper that “the fact that we remained friends throughout is a testament to the type of guy he was,” calling his death “a huge blow to the entire federal community in San Diego.”

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