A social media influencer, her father and one-time boyfriend have been charged in a murder-for-hire plot to kill her musician ex.
Gabriela Gonzalez, a 24-year-old lifestyle influencer known online as Gabbie Gonzalez, was embroiled in a custody battle with Why Don’t We singer Jack Avery over their 7-year-old daughter in 2020 and 2021, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.
During those years, she allegedly asked her then-boyfriend, Kai Faron Cordrey, now 26, to help hire someone on the dark web to kill Avery.
In April 2021, Gonzalez’s father, 59-year-old Francisco Gonzalez, allegedly sent Cordrey $10,000 as front money to use in locating, hiring and paying someone to kill Avery, prosecutors said.
Cordrey asked the older Gonzalez for $4,000 extra two months later, when the alleged hit man requested more money. Soon after, Cordrey asked that Avery be killed within a couple of days, the district attorney’s office said.
According to the district attorney’s office, an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing as a hitman spoke with Cordrey about the murder-for-hire plot in September 2021. Prosecutors say Cordrey told the officer that Avery was the target — and they discussed payment and proof of death.
In another conversation, Cordrey reportedly told the hitman that Gabriela Gonzalez wanted the murder to happen and Francisco Gonzalez could pay for it, prosecutors said.
All three were charged on Tuesday with one count of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder, the district attorney’s office 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,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman. “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.”
If convicted, they each face 25 years to life in state prison.
Gonzalez is known for sharing lifestyle, travel and motherhood content on social media, where she has over 400,000 followers on both TikTok and Instagram.
She was booked into the Humboldt County jail in Eureka on Friday and later transferred to Los Angeles County, where she is being held without bond, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Meanwhile, Avery, 26, was the singer of Why Don’t We, a boy band that has been on hiatus since 2022 amidst a legal battle with their former management company, according to Billboard.
In a September 2025 interview on the Zac Sang Show podcast, Avery mentioned that FBI agents warned him that someone was allegedly trying to kill him, but he did not name any suspects.
On Tuesday, Avery filed a petition in Los Angeles court asking for a restraining order against Gabriela Gonzalez, stating that he was “notified by the FBI” of the murder plot in 2021.
“In 2025, I am informed and thereon believe the FBI turned the case over to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and identified GABRIELA, GABRIELA’s father Francisco Gonzalez, and her ex-boyfriend, Kai Cordrey as co-conspirators in a plot to have me killed,” his petition read.
The petition notes that Avery was told on Friday about Gabriela Gonzalez’s arrest — which led to their daughter being placed with a foster family. He later traveled to Northern California to pick her up.
He is requesting sole custody of their daughter with no visitation rights, according to the report. A representative for Avery declined to comment to Billboard.
Gabriela Gonzalez is expected to be arraigned on Thursday. Her father remains in custody in Florida and Cordrey’s custody status was not immediately clear.
The case is being prosecuted by Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bolt, of the major crimes division, and the investigation remains ongoing.
