LOS ANGELES, CA — A TikTok star has been charged with trying to kill the father of her seven-year-old child, boy band singer Jack Avery, by hiring a hitman on the dark web, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.
Gabriela Lauren Gonzalez, 24, along with her father Francisco Gonzalez, 59 and current boyfriend Kai Faron Cordrey, 26, have been charged with one count of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder after authorities say they tried hiring a hitman to kill the former Why Dont't We bandmember.
"This is a case where the defendants are accused of going to great lengths to find someone to commit murder," Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Tuesday. "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."
Gabriela Lauren Gonzalez was arrested at an airport in Humboldt County on Friday, and her father was arrested in Florida and is awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say the defendants' attempt to get someone to kill Avery stems from a custody dispute several years ago involving the boy-band singer and Gabriela Gonzalez.
Gabriela Gonzalez and Cordrey, between 2020 and 2021, sought someone on the dark web who was willing to kill Avery during the custody dispute, with Francisco Gonzalez providing the financial backing for the potential attack, prosecutors said.
Cordrey, with more than $10,000 from Francisco Gonzalez, found someone willing to commit the hit, prosecutors said.
But that person ended up being an undercover agent posing as a hitman, prosecutors said.
Cordrey, believing the undercover agent was a real hitman, laid out the entire plot, including that Avery needed to be killed within the next few days and that they needed proof of death, prosecutors said.
During another conversation, Cordrey implicated Gabriela Gonzalez and her father in the alleged crimes, prosecutors said.
All three defendants face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the charges against them, prosecutors said.
Gabriela's travel and parenting TikTok boasts nearly half a million followers. Jack Avery, meanwhile, garnered fame and attention around 2016, when he started uploading songs to social media.
Avery was part of the boy-band Why Don't We until it split in 2022.
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