Gabbie Gonzalez, a prominent lifestyle influencer, has been taken into police custody in California following stunning allegations of a murder-for-hire scheme. Federal and local authorities intervened after uncovering an alleged plot targeting her former partner, Why Don't We boy band star Jack Avery, amid an ongoing legal battle.
The high-stakes investigation has sent shockwaves through social media as details emerged of how a private domestic dispute escalated into a terrifying security threat.
Sharing a seven-year-old daughter with 26-year-old Avery, Gonzalez, 24, reportedly turned to extreme measures over their child. To end a fierce custody dispute with the singer, prosecutors claim she actively participated in orchestrating a contract killing scheme.
Custody Dispute Escalates to Courtroom Detention
Following her arrest last week in Northern California, legal documents show Gonzalez made a Tuesday appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. Seated inside a plexiglass holding pen in handcuffs and a blue hoodie, her signature long, curly hair was instantly recognisable to the nearly half a million people who track her TikTok and Instagram profiles. No plea was entered during the session.
Her legal representative requested additional time to examine the evidence, prompting the judge to postpone the formal arraignment until Thursday. In the meantime, the court fixed bail at $2 million (about £1.5 million) and imposed a strict restraining order, forbidding Gonzalez from making any contact or coming within 100 yards of Avery and their daughter.
The Polish of a Rising Digital Presence
The disturbing criminal charges mark a stark contrast to the polished online persona that first thrust Gonzalez into the public eye years ago.
The internet personality built a massive digital footprint, drawing in over 470,000 followers on her Instagram account by sharing snapshots of her daily routines, travel adventures, and beach trips with friends. This online popularity extended to TikTok, where she amassed more than 460,000 fans who regularly tuned in for her short clips filmed out in the ocean.
Long before finding her audience online, she spent her school years playing soccer for Lake Mary High School. Her initial step into the broader industry came in 2015 while attending the Orlando Surf Expo, a convention where she first crossed paths with representatives from the apparel brand Roark.
An accomplished surfer, she once shared an image alongside sports legend Kelly Slater on her main Instagram feed. Beyond her personal profile, she has utilised a separate account, under the handle 'gabbievideography,' to showcase her professional creative work capturing couples and weddings.
Early Life and High-Profile Relationships
According to biographical details from Famous Birthdays, the Florida native was born on 6 September 2001, growing up in a family with three siblings: an older brother, Alex, a younger brother, Sam, and a sister, Rachel. Her path crossed with Avery in 2018, and the couple welcomed their daughter, Lavender, the following year.
Though her relationship with Avery eventually ended, the pair continued to share parenting duties for their daughter. She later revealed her engagement to Cody Clayburn in January 2022, with the couple marrying just weeks later on 22 February. However, the marriage ultimately dissolved, ending in divorce in 2024.
Allegations of a Dark Web Assassination Plot
This turbulent personal history has now been entirely overshadowed by the severe criminal allegations threatening her freedom.
A felony complaint from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, obtained by Rolling Stone, reveals that Gabbie Gonzalez, her 59-year-old father Francisco Gonzalez, and 26-year-old Kai Faron Cordrey were jointly charged on Tuesday.
The trio faces individual counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder. Jail records indicate that Francisco was taken into custody on Monday in Seminole County, Florida, where he remains detained without bond.
🚨 BREAKING: TikTok star Gabbie Gonzalez was hit with three criminal charges as part of an alleged conspiracy to kill her famous baby daddy singer, her bail was set at $2 million and she's barred from going near her 7-year-old daughter. pic.twitter.com/SuHTrFhGR5
— TMZ (@TMZ) May 19, 2026
The prosecution alleges that over a period stretching from October 2020 to May 2021, Gabbie 'repeatedly discussed wanting Jack Avery dead,' eventually recruiting Cordrey, her boyfriend at the time, to help locate a hitman. Authorities state the couple looked into using Bitcoin on the 'dark web' as they planned on 'making the killing appear to be an accident.'
The felony complaint details that Gabbie's father sent Cordrey a $10,000 (about £7,500) upfront payment to fund the operation on 26 April 2021. According to prosecutors, Cordrey moved these funds into a Gemini cryptocurrency account and 'began using a dark-web murder-for-hire account using the alias 'LizardKing69.' By 22 May 2021, Cordrey had pinpointed Jack Avery as the intended target, supplying a Los Angeles address and informing the platform's users that Avery 'should be killed by whatever method was easiest.'
Undercover FBI Operation Leads to Serious Charges
The situation escalated on 4 June 2021, when the site's administrator requested a further $4,000 (about £3,000), prompting Cordrey to return to Francisco for the extra cash. According to the prosecution's timeline, Cordrey followed up just a few days later with an explicit demand, asking that the hitman execute Avery within a 48-hour window.
According to prosecutors, the conspiracy unravelled on 19 September 2021, when an undercover FBI agent masquerading as an operative from the hitman network spoke to Cordrey over the phone. During this call, Cordrey allegedly named Avery as the intended victim while negotiating financial terms and validation of the hit.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Federal agents tore through Gabbie Gonzalez's home to search phones, SD cards, and Apple devices during an raid connected to the alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill Jack Avery -- and TMZ has obtained video and documents from the operation. pic.twitter.com/7scBh2qQkc
— TMZ (@TMZ) May 20, 2026
In a subsequent exchange, Cordrey reportedly clarified that Gabbie wanted the assassination carried out and that Francisco would provide the funding. The prosecution further claims that Francisco later initiated contact with the undercover operative, using the texted password 'Bullrun' to verify his identity and review a previous Bitcoin transaction.
The complaint further alleges that on 20 October 2022, Gabbie spoke with Cordrey during a recorded telephone call to discuss their interactions with the supposed contract killer and 'how to respond to the threat of exposure.' During this wiretapped conversation, Gabbie also reportedly informed Cordrey 'that she could speak with her father...because he had been handling most of it.' According to the District Attorney's office, if the three co-defendants are ultimately convicted on all counts, they each face a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.
