Jaquoya Wix was fatally attacked behind the downtown Chipotle where she worked, leaving a teenage daughter and grieving relatives.
DETROIT, Mich. — Jaquoya Wix had stepped away from her job at a downtown Chipotle for an ordinary Sunday break when, authorities say, a stranger approached her in an alley and fatally attacked her, abruptly ending the life of a 34-year-old mother whose family says she had been working toward a better future.
In the weeks since the Sept. 20 killing, Wix’s relatives have tried to make sure the case is remembered for more than the violence that took her life. They have described a talkative, funny and compassionate woman who was proud of her work, loved her teenage daughter and believed she was moving forward. At the same time, prosecutors have charged a Detroit man with first-degree premeditated murder, and a judge has ordered that defendant to undergo a competency examination before the criminal case proceeds further.
Wix had been working a regular shift at the Chipotle in the 600 block of Woodward Avenue when she went outside on her break, according to police, prosecutors and her family. Authorities say she was sitting in the alley behind the restaurant when Devon Jason Watson approached her. The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office alleges Watson attacked Wix with a knife and then fled. Investigators and prosecutors have said the two did not know each other, and officials have characterized the encounter as apparently random.
People working nearby became part of the emergency response almost immediately. Witnesses told local news organizations they heard Wix scream and saw her trying to get back toward the business after she was wounded. Employees from a nearby pub came outside, tried to help and called 911. Another nearby worker followed the fleeing man while communicating with police. Wix received emergency treatment and was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her sister later said she was grateful that strangers had been near Wix and tried to help her in her final moments.
Police also relied on downtown surveillance cameras as officers searched for the fleeing suspect. Investigators tracked Watson toward Woodward Avenue and State Street, where he was arrested a short time after the attack. Detroit police said early in the investigation that they believed they had recovered the weapon involved and were processing it as evidence. The arrest occurred roughly 20 minutes after the stabbing, according to accounts from police and local media, allowing authorities to move quickly from an active search to a homicide investigation centered on a single suspect.
For Wix’s family, however, the hours that followed were about learning that she would not be coming home. Her sister, Alicya Wix, told local reporters that a coworker called the family to say Jaquoya had been stabbed and that the situation looked serious. Relatives rushed to confront a loss they had not expected when the day began. Jaquoya Wix was the mother of a 15-year-old daughter. Her family said the girl’s father had died when she was very young and that she had been living with her grandmother.
Relatives said Wix had worked at the Woodward Avenue restaurant for about a year and a half. Her aunt, Anna Solis, told CBS Detroit that Wix was proud of the job and believed she might soon be promoted to a management position. Her family also described quieter ways in which she helped the people around her, including watching relatives’ children and helping with household tasks when she could. Those details became a central part of the family’s public remembrance as attention around the case expanded far beyond the downtown restaurant.
A candlelight vigil held near the Chipotle drew relatives, friends, restaurant workers and other community members. The gathering moved from Woodward Avenue toward the alley where Wix had been attacked. Family members spoke about her personality, her daughter and the shock of losing her during a routine workday. Alicya Wix said the scale of the turnout showed how many people had been touched by her sister. The family also established an online fundraiser intended to help pay funeral expenses and support the future needs of Wix’s daughter.
Three days after the killing, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that Watson, 42, had been charged with one count of first-degree premeditated murder. Prosecutors allege he approached Wix, attacked her and fled. Worthy acknowledged that the encounter appeared random because Watson and Wix did not know each other, but she said prosecutors believe they can prove that the killing was premeditated. Watson was arraigned Sept. 23 and ordered held without bond. He is presumed innocent unless and until the charge is proven in court.
The case then took another turn as records about Watson’s mental health history became public. Court documents obtained by Detroit news organizations show that a petition seeking psychiatric treatment had been filed in July after Watson was taken to an emergency room. Medical professionals described acute psychosis, and a judge granted an order allowing hospitalization followed by assisted outpatient treatment. Watson was released from the hospital in August. Subsequent reporting found questions about whether the court received the paperwork needed to monitor the outpatient portion of that order.
Retired Wayne County Probate Judge Milton Mack, a consultant to the court’s behavioral health unit, said the provider assigned to Watson did not file a required treatment plan with the probate court. That missing document meant court officials did not have the usual information needed to track whether ordered services were being delivered, according to Mack. The Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network said it would examine what happened. The provider identified in later reporting, Central City Health, had not publicly explained what care Watson received. No official finding has established that the paperwork problem caused the attack.
Those revelations prompted Wix’s family to ask how a person who had recently been subject to a court-ordered mental health process came to be in the circumstances surrounding her death. The questions have also produced a broader countywide review. WXYZ later reported that required treatment-plan notices were missing in about 66% of granted mental health petitions in Wayne County during 2025. The probate court sent notices to multiple providers instructing them to comply with filing requirements. Officials said the review was intended to improve oversight, but the criminal case against Watson remains separate from that administrative examination.
Watson’s defense attorney later requested a competency evaluation, citing interactions with his client. At a Sept. 30 hearing, Judge Shawn Jacque ordered that evaluation and scheduled a review for December. Competency concerns whether a defendant currently understands the proceedings and can assist counsel; it does not itself decide whether a defendant committed an offense or was legally responsible at the time. A separate examination of criminal responsibility was not ordered at that stage. First-degree premeditated murder can carry life imprisonment without parole upon conviction.
Chipotle said after Wix’s death that the company was deeply saddened and was cooperating with investigators. Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield called the killing an unprovoked attack and expressed condolences to Wix’s daughter and relatives. Police Chief Todd Bettison later said officers would pay additional attention to alleys and other areas downtown where people might be vulnerable. Those official responses have unfolded alongside a family’s effort to keep Wix’s life, rather than only the circumstances of her death, at the center of public attention.
The criminal case is awaiting further competency proceedings, with Watson still accused of first-degree murder and presumed innocent. Separate inquiries into the treatment system that handled his earlier case also remain open. For Wix’s family, the court calendar and institutional reviews now run beside a more personal measure of time: a daughter growing up without her mother and relatives continuing to remember the woman they say was working hard to build the next part of her life.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 7, 2026.