A restaurateur’s wife faced sweeping custody restrictions just hours before she shot and killed her four-year-old daughter, then fatally wounded herself.
Court documents obtained exclusively by the Daily Mail show that Cibelle Savella, 35, was told on Tuesday morning that she could see her daughter, Vivian, only during supervised visits arranged through Guardians of Hope.
The Houston-based organization provides supervised visitation and child exchanges for families involved in high-conflict custody disputes, domestic violence cases or substance-abuse concerns.
Hours after the custody hearing, Savella shot Vivian dead inside her $824,000 townhouse in a gated Houston community before shooting herself in the head. She was taken to hospital and initially expected to survive her injuries, but died on Thursday afternoon.
Houston Police Lieutenant Larry Crowson said on Wednesday that Savella killed her daughter just hours after her ex-husband, private equity lawyer Aaron Savella, was awarded full custody of Vivian.
Savella died before she could be charged with a crime.
According to a court docket entry, Tuesday’s custody hearing was overseen by Harris County Judge Audrie Lawton-Evans, who gave Aaron exclusive authority to make decisions about Vivian’s care.
Savella, whose new husband Greg Kubala owns a successful Chick-fil-A franchise, was permitted to spend time with Vivian only under the supervision of Guardians of Hope, the judge ruled.
Cibelle Savella, 35, lost custody of her daughter Vivian, pictured together, on Tuesday morning. Hours later, she killed the little girl at her Houston townhouse and shot herself. Savella survived her injuries until Thursday afternoon, when she died in hospital.
Savella with her ex-husband Aaron Savella at their 2020 wedding. They split in 2022. Aaron, a private equity lawyer, was given complete control over his daughter’s upbringing during a custody hearing held just hours before Tuesday’s killing.
Savella, who was Brazilian, was also prohibited from speaking to Vivian in Portuguese unless the Guardians of Hope supervisor was fluent in the language, the filing said.
Earlier court filings said Savella and Aaron were forbidden from disparaging each other in front of Vivian. They were also barred from allowing the child to spend time with friends who made such comments in her presence.
The docket entry states that Savella and Aaron, 37, appeared before the judge at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Judge Lawton-Evans ordered that Vivian would primarily live with Aaron, who would have sole authority over decisions involving her schooling, doctors and mental-health treatment, according to the filing.
The judge also ordered Savella to pay child support to Aaron and cover half of Vivian’s out-of-pocket medical expenses, the docket entry said.
Savella was further denied the right to attend Vivian’s school activities, including lunches, performances and field trips.
She also could not authorize emergency medical, dental or surgical treatment for the child, according to the filing.
Both parents retained all other rights set out under Chapter 153 of the Texas Family Code, which establishes the basic rights and duties of parents.
Vivian Savella, pictured in a photograph released by her father, Aaron. Houston Police say the child was killed by her mother, who also shot herself and died from her injuries two days later.
Savella was expected to hand Vivian over to Aaron on Tuesday night. Instead, she killed the child inside her partner’s $824,000 townhouse on Terra Reserve Place in Houston.
Aaron Savella and his daughter pictured in an undated photograph. Cibelle Savella was initially reported as likely to survive her injuries but died on Thusday afternoon
Savella was ordered to turn Vivian over to Aaron on Tuesday evening, but instead she shot her dead on an upstairs floor of the townhouse, the Lieutenant Crowson told reporters.
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Her husband, Greg Kubala, and a babysitter had been inside the residence at the time of the deadly shooting, police said. There is no suggestion they were in any way involved in the shootings.
Cibelle Savella went by the surname Kubala on social media and in some court documents.
Greg Kubala and the babysitter heard shots ring out as Vivian was killed, cops say. They went upstairs and started performing CPR on Vivian and her mother, according to Houston Police.
When officers and firefighters arrived at the home around 5.45pm, they found Vivian suffering from a single gunshot wound, Houston Police Lieutenant Larry Crowson said. She died at the scene, with her mother succumbing to her injuries less than 48 hours later.
‘There was a custody hearing earlier today that didn’t go well for the mother,’ Lt Crowson said Tuesday night.
‘She came home, shot her four-year-old and then shot herself.’
Cibelle Savella pictured in a social media photo. Originally from Brazil, Tuesday’s court hearing banned her from speaking Portuguese with Vivian unless a court-appointed ‘Guardian of Hope’ mediator who could also speak the language was present too
Savella with her partner, Greg Kubala. Police said that he and a babysitter were home at the time of the shooting, but that neither were in any way connected to the horror that unfolded
Cibelle Savella and Vivien in a social media photo. The youngster was just four-years-old at the time of her death
Aaron and his family are ‘devastated’ by the horrific act of violence, his attorneys said in a statement issued to the media Wednesday afternoon.
‘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.’
Aaron and Savella tied the knot in 2020, according to a social media post celebrating the union. They welcomed Vivian just a few years later.
The estranged couple have been in a lengthy legal battle since November 2022, when Savella served him with divorce papers, according to court records.
Although their divorce was finalized in 2024, the pair continued to face off in court and both filed protective orders against each other, records showed.
Aaron Savella released a slew of heartbreaking photos of himself with his late daughter in the wake of her killing
Savella later 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.
Homicide detectives were investigating Vivian’s murder. It is unclear if that probe will continue in the wake of her mother’s suicide.
An attorney for Cibelle Savella did not respond to comment prior to her death. A spokesperson for Aaron Savella was contacted for comment.