U.S. News

TikToker Gabbie Gonzalez Hired a Hitman to Kill Jack Avery

By Erica Coleman · May 20, 2026

Jack Avery kept traveling to see his daughter even though the FBI had told him someone was trying to kill him. He didn’t know who. He kept going because of how important his daughter was to him. He managed his fear. Then, on Tuesday morning, he found out it was the mother of his child who had planned it.

Gabriela “Gabbie” Gonzalez, 25, was arraigned Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on conspiracy to commit murder charges. Her father, Francisco Javier Gonzalez, 59 — a civil trial lawyer based in Central Florida — was arrested Monday in Lake Mary, Florida on the same charge. A third co-conspirator, Kai Faron Cordrey, Gabbie’s former boyfriend, has also been charged. Gabbie is being held without bail. Her father is in Florida custody pending extradition to Los Angeles.

Avery, 26, is a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We and shares a seven-year-old daughter named Lavender with Gonzalez. He has publicly praised Gonzalez as a “great mom” as recently as this year — because he did not know she was the one behind the plot. The FBI warned him in September 2025 that someone was trying to kill him. He cooperated with investigators. He filed court documents saying he was “very aware of the safety risks” each time he scheduled a visit with his daughter, but continued traveling anyway.

According to prosecutors, the conspiracy began as early as October 2020 — six years ago, rooted in a bitter custody dispute over Lavender. Between October 2020 and May 2021, Gabbie “repeatedly discussed wanting Jack Avery dead,” the arrest warrant states. She and Cordrey attempted to recruit a man named Dustin Barca to threaten Avery. When Barca was unavailable, a hitman was located through the dark web. Francisco Gonzalez electronically paid $10,000 to Cordrey on April 26, 2021, which prosecutors allege was intended as payment for securing the killing.

Francisco’s own messages, reviewed by investigators, included one that read “Call Barca… never too early”. Another witness told cops Francisco had said it would be “cheaper” if Jack were dead than to continue the custody fight. Francisco was not an outsider to the dispute — he was actively involved in his daughter’s litigation strategy and had engaged in direct communications about plans to harm Avery.

Gabbie is not unknown outside the custody fight. She has more than 1 million TikTok followers. She had documented her relationship with Avery and her role as Lavender’s mother on social media. She appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday in a blue hoodie, handcuffs, and a plexiglass holding pen.

One detail that Avery emphasized in his court declaration: even after all of this, he said he never suspected Gabbie because she “praised” him publicly and appeared cooperative in the custody proceedings. The scheme, if it worked, would have looked like a random violent crime.

It didn’t work. The plot was unraveled. Both parents are in custody. The seven-year-old whose parents built this story around her is now in a situation that will define her childhood in ways neither of them could have planned.