HOUSTON , A Houston mother fatally shot her 4-year-old daughter and then herself hours after a family court judge awarded primary custody of the child to the girl’s father, according to police and court records.
Cibelle Savella, 35, killed Vivian Savella inside a townhouse in the 300 block of Terra Reserve Place in west Houston’s Memorial area around 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Houston Police Lt. Larry Crowson said officers found the child dead from a gunshot wound on the third floor and Savella with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Savella was taken to a hospital and died the following day, the New York Post reported.
“There was a custody hearing earlier today that didn’t go well for the mother,”
Crowson said.
“She came home, shot her 4-year-old, and then shot herself.”
Savella’s current husband, Greg Kubala, and a babysitter were downstairs when they heard the shots. They went upstairs, forced their way into the child’s room and began performing CPR until emergency responders arrived. Vivian was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said neither Kubala nor the babysitter was involved in the shootings, the Daily Mail confirmed.
Earlier that morning, Harris County Judge Audrie Lawton-Evans awarded Aaron Savella, 37, primary custody of Vivian, one of several high-profile custody disputes this year and the exclusive right to make decisions about her residence, education, medical care and mental-health treatment. Cibelle Savella was limited to continuously supervised visitation arranged through Guardians of Hope, a Houston organization that handles high-conflict custody exchanges. The order also barred her from speaking to Vivian in Portuguese unless a supervisor fluent in the language was present, prohibited her from attending school activities and performances, required her to pay child support and directed her to cover half of any out-of-pocket medical expenses, Yahoo News reported.
Aaron Savella, a private equity lawyer and partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Houston, was expected to take custody of his daughter that evening. The court order did not specify the exact logistics of the transfer, and the supervising agency had not yet been notified of the new case, according to his attorney, the Daily Mail also reported.
In a statement released through attorney Charlotte Rainwater, Aaron Savella’s family said:
“Our family is devastated. Vivian was four years old. She was loved without limit by her father, Aaron, and by everyone whose life she touched. There are no words for what has been taken from us. Aaron did everything the law asks of a parent who is trying to protect his child. He trusted the courts. He followed every order. He waited for the process to work. On Tuesday, a judge placed Vivian in his primary care, and she was supposed to come home to him that evening. She never did.”
Rainwater, a board-certified family law attorney who has practiced for nearly three decades, said she had never seen an outcome like this.
“I’ve been practicing family law for 28 years and have never experienced anything like this. I don’t think anyone in this courtroom on Tuesday contemplated this could be the outcome.”
Cibelle Savella, a Brazilian native who sometimes used the surname Kubala, married Aaron Savella in 2020. The couple had Vivian a few years later. She filed for divorce in November 2022; the divorce was finalized in 2024 after a contentious process that included mutual protective-order filings and ongoing custody disputes, mirroring other celebrity custody battles. She later began a relationship with Kubala, who owns and operates a Houston Chick-fil-A franchise.
Houston police are investigating the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide, adding to a string of child tragedies in Texas. Cibelle Savella died before any criminal charges could be filed. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences is handling official identification and further examination.
