A Houston woman is facing a murder charge after investigators say she stabbed her on-again, off-again boyfriend in the face with a screwdriver during a heated argument in a northeast Houston parking lot, leaving him mortally wounded days after Christmas.
Prosecutors allege that Jayla Brown, 22, killed 24-year-old Keylan Foreman during an altercation on Dec. 27, 2025, near the intersection of Lockwood Drive and Laura Koppe Road.
According to court documents, police were dispatched to a Chevron station on Laura Koppe Road after receiving a report of a stabbing victim. Officers found Foreman unconscious and bleeding, with lacerations to his left cheek and nose. He was rushed to Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, where doctors identified facial trauma and swelling in his brain.
At the scene, Brown initially told officers she had only noticed people arguing and then saw Foreman lying on the ground bleeding. She claimed she helped load him into her white Chevrolet Equinox to drive him to a hospital, but stopped at the gas station when she ran low on fuel and asked someone to call 911.
Investigators say Brown’s story shifted during a follow-up interview the next day with a Houston Police Department sergeant. She allegedly admitted that she and Foreman, who had been dating on and off for several years, were arguing inside her vehicle before the confrontation spilled into the parking lot. Brown told police Foreman struck her in the face and that she reacted by hitting him with a screwdriver she was holding, later saying she “blacked out” before realizing he was bleeding badly.
When confronted with inconsistencies in her earlier account, Brown allegedly acknowledged striking Foreman, telling investigators, “No, I hit him after he jacked me up.”
Surveillance footage from a nearby business captured the incident, according to investigators. The video reportedly shows Brown lunging toward Foreman and striking him, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. Detectives noted that while the camera angle does not clearly show a screwdriver at the moment of impact, Brown appears to be holding a long, thin object as she walks away. The footage does not support her claim that she lost consciousness or was seriously injured.
Foreman was unable to speak with police due to his condition. He was later transferred to Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands, where doctors documented severe injuries, including bleeding in the frontal area of his brain and a displaced fracture to a bone at the base of his skull.
On Jan. 19, 2026, Foreman was pronounced dead. The Montgomery County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide, citing a “clear path of injury” through his nasal cavity consistent with a screwdriver. The injury was determined to have caused the fatal skull fracture and brain trauma.
A Harris County assistant district attorney accepted the murder charge on Jan. 29, and the case was filed in the 337th District Court.
As of Monday, Brown remained in custody with bond set at $150,000. She is expected to appear in court later this week.
