A TikTok influencer has been charged with conspiring with her dad and ex to kill her pop star baby daddy.
Gabbie Gonzalez and former Why Don’t We singer Jack Avery, 26, have a seven-year-old daughter together, but became locked in a bitter visitation and custody dispute.
Felony complaint filings from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, seen by Rolling Stone, claim 24-year-old Gonzalez allegedly tried to buy a dark web assassin in a murder-for-hire plot.
She was arrested in Humboldt County in Northern California last week, while her attorney father, Francisco Gonzalez, 59, was arrested on Monday in Seminole County, Florida.
She was charged on Tuesday along with Francisco, and her surf instructor ex-boyfriend, Kai Faron Cordrey, 26, each with a count of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. Prosecutors claim that, if found guilty, they could face 25 years to life in state prison.
In an affidavit, investigators cited a witness who claimed Francisco had become deeply involved in the custody of the child, wanted to cut Avery out of the picture, and said words “to the effect that it would be cheaper if Avery were dead,” according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Prosecutors allege that the trio plotted between October 2020 and May 2021, saying they “repeatedly discussed wanting Jack Avery dead,” and “making the killing appear to be an accident,” using cryptocurrency to purchase a hitman online.
On April 26, 2021, Francisco sent Cordrey—his daughter’s boyfriend at the time—$10,000, using him as an intermediary in the deal.
According to the complaint, prosecutors allege Cordrey “began using a dark-web murder-for-hire account using the alias ‘LizardKing69.’ Cordrey identified the target as Jack Avery on May 22, 2021, provided an address in Los Angeles, and instructed the account’s participants that Avery ‘should be killed by whatever method was easiest.’”
Prosecutors then said that in June, an extra $4,000 was demanded by the operator of the anonymous account Cordrey had been in contact with.
Cordrey then allegedly liaised between the two parties and, a few days later, asked the administrators to proceed.
In September 2021, an undercover FBI agent posing as an assassin spoke with Cordrey on the phone, where the suspect allegedly talked about payment and proof of death. And, in a later call, said that Gonzalez, who has nearly half a million followers on Instagram, wanted it carried out.
The California Post reports that Avery filed a restraining order in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.
He declared he learned of the plot in 2021, writing in the lead-up to the hearing that “I was notified by the FBI that a hit man was hired to kill me,” and that the bureau had informed him “it was not safe” to be around Gonzalez.
Last year, he did an interview where he revealed agents had appeared at his home, saying someone wanted to have him killed, although TMZ reports that he seemingly didn’t know who it was at the time.
In the declaration, he claimed that friends of the accused had been showing up at his home in Southern California, demanding to know where the child, called Lavender, was, and he had received calls and texts to the same effect from her friends and family.
He is now asking for sole custody, and said that his child had been placed in temporary foster care.
“The acts of abuse described in the attached declaration have taken place in front of the minor child. Gabriela attempted to kill me by hiring a hit man. Gabriela is not stable and not able to act in the best interest of our daughter,” he said.
Gonzalez has not entered a plea, and her lawyers have asked for more time to review evidence.
Online jail records show her father is being held without bond, while bail for the TikToker has been set at $2 million. She appeared in court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, where a judge continued her arraignment until Thursday.
In a press release on Tuesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said, “This was a lengthy investigation that was initiated by the FBI and eventually turned over to our office, resulting in criminal charges being filed today.
“This is a case where the defendants are accused of going to great lengths to find someone to commit murder. Most fathers raise their children to respect the law, but here we have a dad who allegedly helped his daughter and her boyfriend break the law in the most sinister way imaginable.”
