Aveyia Webb was a happy, independent, and creative young woman who was just beginning to flourish in her life. The 27-year-old female worked from home for a dialysis company in Houston, Texas, and also worked as a hairstylist. Described by loved ones as a positive light, Aveyia was artistic and spiritual, loved to paint, and enjoyed good food, especially crab legs.
She had recently gotten her own apartment and car and was excited to be starting a pharmacy certification program that her employer planned to pay for. Her family was incredibly proud of her accomplishments, seeing her as a "beautiful butterfly dove girl" who was ready to take on the world. Aveyia loved driving to Galveston to be near the water and was known for her positive outlook and for enjoying her 20s in the city.
Aveyia was also a fiercely protective older sister. When her younger sister, 20-year-old Alaya Jones, said she was returning to Houston from Florida to get her life back on track, Aveyia was eager to help. She looked forward to helping her sister find a job, become financially stable, and eventually get her own place. Relatives said Aveyia would defend her sister to anyone and couldn't say a bad word about her. She was, an aunt said, "the only person that always believed her." In late September 2026, Jones arrived in Houston with her 25-year-old boyfriend, Kaleb Maglott, whom the family had never met.
On the morning of Thursday, October 1, 2026, Aveyia’s family grew concerned when she uncharacteristically stopped answering her phone. Her aunt, Beverly Hobbs, went to check on her at her apartment in the 8100 block of Richmond Avenue in west Houston. Hobbs had planned to go there anyway to bring some clothes and shoes for Jones. When she arrived, she heard a television playing inside but got no answer when she knocked. Letting herself in, she made a devastating discovery: Aveyia was on the couch, dead from a gunshot wound. Hobbs called 911, and a dispatcher instructed her to attempt CPR, but Aveyia was already cold. Paramedics from the Houston Fire Department arrived and pronounced her dead at the scene.
The Houston Police Department launched an immediate investigation. It was determined that Aveyia had been killed during a robbery, and her wallet and vehicle were missing. At the scene, investigators found a fired 9mm casing and a fixed-blade knife behind the couch. Surveillance footage from the apartment complex showed Jones driving Aveyia’s vehicle and Maglott driving another car out of the complex. Police located Aveyia’s stolen vehicle parked next to a car that had been rented by Maglott.
Later that same day, police arrested Alaya Sadae Jones and Kaleb John Maglott. Both were taken into custody, interviewed, and charged with capital murder. According to court records and family members, the investigation uncovered a horrifying plot. Text messages allegedly found on Jones’s phone revealed a plan between her and Maglott. An aunt stated the messages detailed their intent to buy a gun in Florida, travel to Houston, and, verbatim, "Kill Aveyia and take her stuff." Police said Jones admitted to her role in her sister’s death, telling investigators that Maglott gave her a gun and told her to kill Aveyia. At the time of her arrest, Jones was already out on bond in Florida for a felony child neglect case.
The family was left heartbroken and in disbelief. "She was ready to take on the world, and her light was taken out by not a stranger, but her family member, someone that she would have done anything for," her aunt Beverly Hobbs said. Another aunt, Edie Smith-Anderson, added, "We would have never thought we had to protect her from her own little sister." A close friend, Rosie Hart, remembered Aveyia’s positive energy, saying, "There was not a time that you could say anything negative about Aveyia."
A visitation and funeral service for Aveyia Webb were held on Friday, October 16, 2026, at the McCoy and Harrison Funeral Home, followed by her burial at Golden Gate Cemetery in Houston.
As of October 2026, Alaya Jones and Kaleb Maglott remained in custody, facing capital murder charges. Prosecutors sought to have both defendants held without bail as the case moved forward. Aveyia’s family, shattered by the betrayal, said they wanted the defendants prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. "We want justice for her," Hobbs said.
