A TikTok star known for her lifestyle, travel and motherhood content has been accused of enlisting her lawyer dad and her ex to kill the father of her daughter amid a custody battle.
Gabriela ‘Gabbie’ Lauren Gonzalez, 24, was taken into custody on Friday in connection with the alleged scheme to kill Jack Avery, 26, a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We and the father of Gabbie’s seven-year-old daughter, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Her father, Francisco Gonzalez, 59, a high-powered Miami attorney, was then arrested in Florida on Monday and was being held without bond.
Gabbie, Francisco and Gabbie’s ex-boyfriend, Kai Faron Cordrey, 26, have since been charged with one count each of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation for murder, according to the felony complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and obtained by Rolling Stone.
Prosecutors detail how Francisco and Gabbie allegedly escalated their attacks on Avery over the years before deciding to try to hire someone on the ‘dark web’ to kill him and make his death appear to be an accident.
In an affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, prosecutors say Francisco enlisted a private investigator to surveil the musician around his hometown in Kauai, Hawaii and gather evidence of him ‘acting in a way that could be used against him in the custody dispute’ as Gabbie sought to portray Avery as an ‘unfit’ and ‘dangerous’ parent.
By the time Gabbie allegedly ‘discussed wanting Jack Avery dead’ in March 2021, prosecutors say Francisco started asking Cordrey, a Hawaii-based surf instructor, to recruit someone to threaten or harass him.
The two settled on hiring Dustin Barca, a retired MMA fighter living in Maui, for the cause, but he was not accused of any wrongdoing, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Gabriela ‘Gabbie’ Lauren Gonzalez, 24, a TikTok star known for her lifestyle, travel and motherhood content has been accused of enlisting her lawyer dad and her ex to kill Jack Avery, 26, the father of her daughter
Avery, a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We, and Gabbie were involved in a custody dispute over their daughter at the time
When that plan fell through, Gabbie and Cordrey allegedly turned to the dark web.
The two discussed using Bitcoin to hire a hitman and expressed their desires to get the hired gun to stage Avery’s murder to look like a car accident in Los Angeles, according to the criminal complaint.
In an apparent effort to put the plan into action, Francisco was said to have sent Cordrey $10,000 on April 26, 2021 – as he allegedly said ‘it would all be cheaper if Avery were dead,’ USA Today reports.
Prosecutors claim Cordrey then transferred the money to a Gemini cryptocurrency account and ‘began using a dark-web murder-for-hire account using the alias “LizardKing69.”‘
On that site, Cordrey allegedly identified Avery as the target on May 22, 2021, provided an address in Los Angeles for the murder to be conducted and told prospective hitmen that Avery ‘should be killed by whatever method was easiest.’
A few weeks later, on June 4, 2021, an account administrator reportedly demanded an additional $4,000 for the deed, and Cordrey went back to Francisco for additional funds, which he provided through a website called Site Whisperer.
Several days later, prosecutors said, Cordrey asked that Avery be killed within a couple of days.
Francisco Gonzalez, 59, a high-powered Miami attorney, was taken into custody in Florida on Monday and was being held without bail. Prosecutors allege he provided the money to hire a hitman
But as the deed went unfinished, Cordrey started speaking with an undercover FBI agent posing as a hitman from the group on September 19, 2021.
Cordrey then allegedly identified Avery as the target of the murder-for-hire plot, discussed payment and proof of death.
In another conversation with the undercover cop, Cordrey also allegedly said Gabbie wanted the killing carried out and that Francisco could pay for it.
At that point, prosecutors said, Francisco contacted the undercover agent using the texted password ‘Bullrun’ to discuss a prior Bitcoin payment.
Then, on October 20, 2022, Gabbie allegedly spoke with Cordrey on a recorded call about the discussions with the supposed hitman and ‘how to respond to the threat of exposure.’
She allegedly told her then-boyfriend ‘that she could speak with her father… because he had been handling most of it.’
It remains unclear why the Gonzalezes and Cordrey were only arrested recently for the alleged plot, especially after Avery claimed he first learned of the murder-for-hire plot as they were planning it in 2021.
Avery (pictured right, with former band member Daniel Seavey) said he was first informed about the murder-for-hire plot in 2021
He said in a recent declaration for a restraining order against Gabbie that he ‘was notified by the FBI that a hit man was hired to kill me.’
Avery went on to claim the FBI warned him it ‘was not safe’ to be around Gabbie and that he was ‘very aware of the safety risks’ every time he scheduled a visit with his daughter.
‘I continued to travel to see [my daughter] and had to learn how to manage my own fears and anxiety,’ he wrote. ‘I did so because of how important [my daughter] is to me and out of serious concern for her safety and well-being.’
Avery also claimed in the document that a detective notified him of Gabbie’s arrest on Friday, and told him that their daughter was placed with a foster family.
He said he then rushed to pick her up on Saturday, after which, he said, Gabbie’s family members started calling and texting him ‘relentlessly, demanding to know where [the child] is.’
Two of Gabbie’s friends also allegedly showed up at his home and were ‘banging’ on his door and ringing his doorbell, also looking for the young girl.
Gabbie – whose TikTok and Instagram accounts boast nearly half a million followers each – appeared in court in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, wearing a blue hoodie and handcuffs
Gabbie – whose TikTok and Instagram accounts boast nearly half a million followers each – then appeared in court in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, wearing a blue hoodie and handcuffs, Rolling Stone reports.
She did not enter a plea as her lawyers asked for more time to review the evidence against her.
At that point, a judge postponed the arraignment to Thursday and set Gabbie’s bail at $2 million.
The judge also ordered Gabbie to stay at least 100 yards from Avery and their child.
If convicted, all three defendants face 25 years to life in state prison.
