A mother allegedly shot her four-year-old daughter dead inside their gated Texas community, just hours after her former husband, a private equity lawyer, was awarded custody of the child.
Cibelle Savella, who is also known by the surname Kubala, is accused of killing the girl hours after appearing before a Harris County family court judge on Tuesday morning, Our News Outlet can reveal.
Court records show that she and her former husband, Aaron Savella, had been locked in a prolonged legal dispute since she filed for divorce in 2022.
Although the divorce was finalized in 2024, the estranged couple continued to battle in court.
Both sought protective orders against the other while also fighting over custody of their four-year-old daughter, Vivian.
Cibelle, who has not been publicly identified by police but was named as Vivian’s mother in court documents, appeared to be distressed after the judge ruled in Aaron’s favor on Tuesday.
Police said the 34-year-old went to her partner’s townhouse on Terra Reserve Place in Houston and shot Vivian shortly before 5.45pm.
Authorities said she then turned the gun on herself, shooting herself in the face. She survived the suspected suicide attempt and remains in hospital.
Cibelle Savella, also known by the last name Kubala, allegedly shot her four-year-old daughter, Vivian, dead just hours after her ex was awarded custody
Cibelle and her ex-husband, Aaron Savella, tied the knot in 2020. A relative commemorated the union by sharing this photo of the private equity lawyer with his ‘beautiful Brazilian wife’
Cibelle’s partner, Houston Chick-fil-A franchise owner Greg Kubala, and a babysitter were inside the home when the shooting occurred.
After hearing the gunshots, they went upstairs and began performing CPR on Vivian and her mother.
Houston Police Lieutenant Larry Crowson said officers and firefighters found Vivian with a single gunshot wound when they arrived. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Cibelle was transported to hospital in critical condition but is expected to survive.
‘There was a custody hearing earlier today that didn’t go well for the mother,’ Crowson said Tuesday night.
‘She came home, shot her four-year-old and then shot herself.’
Sources close to the family said Cibelle had been ordered to hand Vivian over to Aaron, 37, on Tuesday evening.
The grieving father and his family are ‘devastated’ by the alleged act of violence, his attorneys said in a statement issued to KRIV.
Cibelle was meant to hand Vivian over to Aaron Tuesday night, but instead allegedly killed the little girl in her partner’s townhouse on Terra Reserve Place in Houston
The 34-year-old then turned the gun around and shot herself in the face, police said. She was taken to hospital in critical condition but is expected to survive
‘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,’ his lawyers said.
‘On Tuesday, a judge placed Vivian in his primary care, and she was supposed to come home to him that evening. She never did.’
The statement went on to say how Vivian was ‘loved without limit by her father, Aaron, and by everyone whose life she touched.’
Homicide investigators collected evidence from the scene and conducted interviews with witnesses.
They are now working to determine exactly what happened in the moments leading up to Vivian’s death.
Crowson encouraged anyone struggling with mental health crises to seek help.
‘Unfortunately, we go to these tragedies way too often,’ he added.
Aaron is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
Aaron is ‘devastated’ by the horrific act of violence and, in a statement issued through his attorney, said he did ‘everything the law asks of a parent to protect their child’
He earned his law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 2015 and passed the New York state bar the following year, his biography said. He was admitted to the Texas bar in 2018.
He and his ‘beautiful Brazilian wife’ Cibelle tied the knot in 2020, according to a relative’s Facebook post celebrating the union.
They welcomed their daughter just a few years later.
It is unclear when exactly their marriage fell apart, but Cibelle officially filed for divorce in November 2022, court records show.
Aaron served her with a countersuit in January 2023, but the marriage was not legally dissolved until July 2024.
Cibelle has since moved on with Kubala who has owned and operated a Houston-based Chick-fil-A franchise since 1998, his social media profiles state.
It is unclear when the pair started dating, but their first publicly accessible photo was posted online in December last year.
Cibelle with her partner, Greg Kubala. Police said that he and a babysitter were home at the time of the shooting. The witnesses performed CPR on Vivian and her mother
Kubala manages a team of more than 100 employees and even ran a CPR training in the dining room of his restaurant this past June.
A LinkedIn post hailing his dedication to the restaurant said: ‘That’s him in the dining room, running a CPR training right alongside his team. Not watching from the side. Not sending a manager. Hands on the dummy, working through the same reps everyone else did.
‘Because that is who he is with his team. He does not ask them to do anything he is not willing to do himself. When his people show up to learn something, he shows up too.’
Our News Outlet has contacted attorneys for Cibelle and Aaron, and the Houston Police Department for comment.
