The family of a 27-year-old Houston woman who was found shot to death inside her west Houston apartment says she was preparing to help her younger sister get back on her feet.
Days later, that sister is now charged with capital murder in her death.
Alaya Sadae Jones, 20, and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Kaleb John Maglott, are charged with capital murder in connection with the death of 27-year-old Aveyia Webb.
Court records allege Webb was intentionally shot and killed while Jones and Maglott were committing or attempting to commit a robbery.
Webb’s aunts, Beverly Hobbs and Edie Smith-Anderson, told KPRC 2 that Webb loved her younger sister and had been looking forward to helping Jones rebuild her life after she returned to Houston from Florida.
“She couldn’t say anything bad about her little sister,” Hobbs said of Webb. “There are times when she would fall out with people because she felt like they were wronging her sister.”
Hobbs said Webb was protective of Jones, making the allegations surrounding her death even more difficult for the family to comprehend.
“She was the only person that always believed her,” Smith-Anderson said.
Houston police said officers responded to an apartment at 8155 Richmond Avenue on Oct. 1 after Webb was found with a gunshot wound. Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Hobbs told KPRC 2 she was the family member who discovered her niece.
The family had spoken with Webb and Jones the night before. When Webb stopped answering her phone, Hobbs said the family checked the Life360 location associated with Webb and saw it moving downtown.
Hobbs said she went to Webb’s apartment the following morning because she was already planning to bring Jones clothes and shoes.
She knocked but received no answer. She could hear a television playing inside.
“I opened the door and I find Aveyia on the couch, dead,” Hobbs recalled.
Hobbs called 911 and said dispatchers instructed her to attempt CPR until paramedics arrived.
“The whole time I’m trying CPR, she was cold,” Hobbs said. “The paramedics walked in and said that she was dead.”
The family said Webb’s vehicle was also missing.
Police said their investigation ultimately identified Jones and Maglott as suspects. Both were taken into custody, interviewed and charged. HPD said Jones admitted to her role in her sister’s death.
A probable cause document provides additional details about what investigators allege happened.
According to the document, officers found a fired 9mm casing and a fixed-blade knife behind a couch inside the residence.
Investigators say surveillance video showed Jones driving Webb’s vehicle and Maglott driving out of the apartment complex. Webb’s vehicle was later found parked next to a vehicle rented by Maglott.
The document says Jones told investigators that Maglott gave her a gun and told her to kill Webb.
Investigators also searched Jones’ phone with her consent and allegedly found a message from Maglott asking for proof of Webb’s death and asking which vehicle belonged to Webb.
Webb’s aunts told KPRC 2 that Jones had recently traveled from Florida to Houston.
According to the family, Jones had been talking about returning to Houston to get her life back on track. Webb offered to help.
“She just said she was coming back to get her life together,” Hobbs said.
The family said they believed that meant helping Jones find work, become financially stable and eventually get her own place.
Webb’s relatives said they knew little about Maglott and had never met him.
“We’ve never talked to him,” Hobbs said. “We’ve never even seen them together.”
Court records show Jones was already on bond in Florida in connection with a felony child neglect case when she was arrested in Houston.
Her family told KPRC 2 they had learned about the Florida case around the Fourth of July after Jones asked relatives for help bonding out of jail.
Webb’s family wants her remembered for more than the circumstances of her death.
Her aunts described her as happy, independent and creative.
Webb worked from home for a dialysis company, did hair and painted, according to her family. She had recently gotten her own apartment and car and was preparing to begin a pharmacy certification program later this month that her employer planned to pay for.
Her family said she also loved driving to Galveston to spend time near the water.
“She was really having a fun life in the city and enjoying her 20s,” Hobbs said.
Smith-Anderson described her niece as spiritual and artistic.
“She loved to paint and she was just a diamond, and we were so proud of her,” Smith-Anderson said. “She just did everything on her own and she was flourishing.”
Hobbs said she wants people to remember Webb as a “beautiful butterfly dove girl” who loved eating crab legs, going to the ocean and maintaining a positive outlook.
“She was really coming into her life,” Hobbs said. “She was about to just take off.”
Jones and Maglott remain charged with capital murder.
Prosecutors have sought to have the defendants held without bail.
The family said it now wants both defendants prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“We want justice for her,” Hobbs said.
