Social media influencer charged in murder-for-hire plot to kill child's father during custody dispute
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday charged social media influencer Gabriela Gonzalez, her father and her former boyfriend with a plot to kill former boy band singer Jack Avery — the father of her 7-year-old daughter — during a 2020 custody dispute.
Gabriela Gonzalez, 24, her father Francisco Gonzalez, 59, and her former boyfriend Faron Cordrey, 26, were charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the FBI started the investigation into the allegations and ultimately handed the case over to L.A. County prosecutors.
"This is a case where the defendants are accused of going to great lengths to find someone to commit murder," Hochman said.
According to court documents obtained by CBS News, witnesses told investigators Gabriela Gonzalez repeatedly said she wanted Avery dead, and discussed hiring a hitman. Prosecutors said the alleged murder plot included staging Avery's death to look like a shooting or accident.
Prosecutors said Gabriela Gonzalez allegedly asked Cordrey to go on the dark web and find a hitman to kill Avery, a former member of the boy band Why Don't We, between 2020 and 2021. Investigators allege that Gonzalez's father initially gave Cordrey $10,000 to find and pay a hitman, who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
"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.
Gonzalez's father then allegedly sent Cordrey another $4,000 two months later after the apparent hitman asked for more money, according to the DA's office.
Prosecutors said Cordrey spoke with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman about the murder-for-hire plot in September 2021. He allegedly discussed payment, proof of death, and identified Avery as the target, according to the DA's office.
Cordrey allegedly later told the undercover officer that Gabriela Gonzalez wanted the murder to happen and that her father would pay for it, according to the DA's office.
Avery, during a podcast interview last year, recalled what the FBI told him when they showed up at his door with a warning.
"Someone hired someone to kill me," Avery said on the podcast.
If convicted as charged, the three each faces sentences of 25 years to life in state prison.