TikTok influencer accused of trying to hire hitman in custody dispute

LOS ANGELES (CN) — California authorities say a social media influencer, her father and her ex-boyfriend tried to recruit a hitman through the dark web to murder the father of her child during a custody dispute five years ago.

Gabbie Gonzalez, 24, her father Francisco Gonzalez, 59, and former boyfriend Kai Cordrey, 26, are accused of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said on Tuesday.

They face 25 years to life in state prison if they are convicted on all charges.

“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,” Hochman said in a statement.

Gonzalez, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram where she posts pictures of herself at the beach and in tropical surroundings, was in a relationship with Jack Avery, at the time a member of the now-defunct boy band Why Don’t We.

The two had a daughter, Lavender, and according to the felony complaint, they were fighting over custody of the child in 2021.

Initially Gonzalez’s father suggested they should try to recruit a former professional fighter and boxing trainer who lived on Kauai, Hawaii, to scare or threaten Avery, according to the complaint.

Then, around March and April of 2021, Gonzalez and Cordrey discussed hiring a hitman over the dark web, using Bitcoin as payment, to kill Avery in Los Angeles and make it look like an accident, prosecutors claim.

Francesco Gonzalez purportedly sent Cordrey $10,000 to pay a hitman.

Prosecutors say Cordrey used a murder-for-hire site on the dark web to solicit interest in the job, and around June 4, 2021, the site’s administrator requested another $4,000 to send an “expert” hitman to kill Avery.

Francesco Gonzalez, according to the criminal complaint, provided the additional funds, as well.

But the person who eventually got into contact with Cordrey, and later with Francisco Gonzalez, was an undercover FBI agent, with whom Cordrey discussed that Avery’s ex-girlfriend wanted him killed and that her father was paying for it, prosecutors say.

Gonzalez was to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in downtown LA, while her father was arrested in Florida and is awaiting extradition to California, according to the DA’s statement.

The prosecution is recommending $2 million bail for the defendants.

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