Andrew Haden, a San Diego native who twice served as acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, was found dead inside the U.S. Attorney's Office at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego. San Diego police responded to the office at 880 Front St. late Wednesday after receiving a call about a missing man, and officers located Haden deceased inside.
According to Times of San Diego, SDPD investigators responded to the scene out of an abundance of caution, given the location. The Los Angeles Times reported that SDPD spokesperson Ashley Nicholes confirmed officers found Haden with no signs of foul play, and foul play in his death is not suspected. The official cause and manner of death will be determined by the medical examiner, who has not yet released findings.
A 16-Year Climb Through the Southern District
Haden graduated from University City High School before earning a bachelor's degree from Stanford and, later, a law degree from the University of San Diego, the same account notes. Before his legal career, he served in the U.S. Navy, completing five years as a Surface Warfare Officer with two overseas deployments and a stint as Navigator on the San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
He joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California in 2010 through the Department of Justice's Attorney General's Honors Program after clerking for U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan. Over the following 16 years, per the same account, Haden worked in the general crimes section, the major crimes section, and eventually served as chief of the violent crimes and human trafficking section. He also worked part-time as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego.
Rising to the District's Top Job — Twice
Haden was appointed First Assistant U.S. Attorney, the district's second-in-command, in August 2022 by then-U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman, filling a vacancy left when David Leshner became a U.S. Magistrate Judge, the Department of Justice said at the time. He stepped up as acting U.S. attorney in 2023 following Grossman's departure, and again in 2025 after Tara McGrath stepped down, making him a two-time acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District.
During his 2023 tenure, Haden publicly addressed the vacating of felony convictions for four Navy officers in the sprawling Fat Leonard bribery scandal, saying the office disputed some claims but acknowledged errors had occurred and that it had a duty to ensure justice, the Associated Press reported at the time. The district he led oversees federal prosecutions across San Diego and Imperial counties, spanning 140 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border, according to the Department of Justice, with dockets covering immigration, drug trafficking and public corruption cases.
In 2020, Haden received the nationwide Executive Office for United States Attorneys Director's Award for Superior Performance in a Managerial or Supervisory Role, recognizing his leadership from 2016 through 2019, per the University of San Diego. Then in October 2024, the Federal Bar Association honored him with the national Peter J. Mazza Outstanding Federal Lawyer Award, named for a former San Diego prosecutor who had mentored Haden.
Office Colleagues Remember a “Beacon of Light”
Adam Gordon confirmed Haden had died and said, according to Times of San Diego, “This is one of the darkest days in our office's history, but there was nothing dark about Andrew Haden's life.” Gordon also described Haden as “a beacon of light,” the outlet reported.
A July 2025 report from Times of San Diego detailed internal restructuring and resignations within the Southern District U.S. Attorney's Office, noting that Haden had declined a section chief offer in solidarity with a reassigned colleague and instead moved to basic appeals work. That reporting cited anonymous current and former staffers describing strain on office morale in the year before his death.
Federal Complex Sits Across From Downtown Courthouse
The Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building at 880 Front Street is a 895,000-square-foot complex that Congress designated in 1994 to house the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Attorney's Office, according to Wikipedia. The complex sits across from the newer Carter-Keep Federal Courthouse in downtown San Diego. Haden's death marks a sudden loss for a legal and law enforcement community that had watched him rise from a Navy officer and entry-level federal recruit to one of the district's most senior leaders. The Times of San Diego reported that JW August contributed to its story on Haden's death.
