Inset: Jayla Brown (Harris County Jail). Background: The area in Texas where Brown allegedly killed her boyfriend with a screwdriver (Google Maps).
A 22-year-old woman from Texas faces accusations of fatally stabbing her 21-year-old boyfriend with a screwdriver during a heated late-night dispute.
Jayla Brown has been formally charged with murder in connection with the December 2025 death of Keylan Foreman, as per court documents.
The Houston Police Department detailed in a press release that officers responded around 11:55 p.m. on December 27, 2025, to reports of a stabbing incident at the junction of 8800 Lockwood Drive and 4900 Laura Koppe Road.
Upon arrival, emergency personnel discovered Foreman “seated in the rear of a vehicle,” unconscious and suffering from numerous stab wounds to his face and head.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital by Houston Fire Department medics but tragically succumbed to his injuries the next day.
Authorities traced the vehicle to Brown, who was found and questioned by officers at a location on Eastex Freeway.
Brown and several other witnesses at the location initially told police “there had been an altercation in a parking lot at 8800 Lockwood” after which they found Foreman “lying on the ground bleeding,” the release states.
However, several days later, Brown went to the department”s Northeast Patrol Station and provided police with a written statement saying “she had been the one who stabbed the male, identified as her boyfriend, Mr. Foreman, with a screwdriver after they had argued,” the release said.
Police included additional details about the argument in a probable cause affidavit. Brown said she and Foreman were both in the car when the argument began. She then got out of the car, walked around to the driver’s side door, opened it, and told Foreman to “get out.” Brown noted that she opened the door for Foreman because he “was on crutches from a previous injury.”
“[Brown] said she and the [Foreman] were both standing by the right front door of her vehicle continuing to argue,” the affidavit states. “She stated that the [Foreman] struck her in the face with his hands and she reacted by hitting him with a screwdriver that she had in her hand. [Brown] then said that she blacked out. [Brown] stated that the next thing she saw was [Foreman] bleeding badly.”
Brown allegedly added, “I hit him after he jacked me up.”
Surveillance footage from a nearby store allegedly showed Brown attacking Foreman. In the clip, police say Brown “quickly lunges” at Foreman and “swings her arm in a punching motion” at Foreman’s head. Brown can allegedly be seen “continuing to make physical contact” with Foreman as he stumbles and soon falls to the ground. At no point in the footage does Foreman appear to “swing at or hit” Brown, police said.
An autopsy conducted by Dr. Doyle of the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Foreman suffered a traumatic brain bleed and skull fracture. The manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was “injuries consistent with the statement provided by Brown.”
“Dr. Doyle said that, based on the autopsy, there was a clear path of injury within [Foreman’s] nasal cavity, which was caused by an instrument consistent with a screwdriver, as was stated by [Brown],” the affidavit states. “She said that this injury caused the above stated [skull] fracture injury.”
Brown is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
