Ex-girlfriend charged in alleged plot to hire hitman to kill Jack Avery
Prosecutors say a custody fight over a 7-year-old spiraled into a murder plot built on dark-web contacts, Bitcoin and an undercover sting.
Los Angeles County prosecutors say a bitter custody dispute over Jack Avery’s 7-year-old daughter escalated into a murder-for-hire scheme that moved through the dark web, Bitcoin payments and an undercover law enforcement sting.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Gabriela Lauren Gonzalez, Francisco Javier Gonzalez and Kai Faron Cordrey with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation of murder. If convicted as charged, each faces 25 years to life in state prison. Prosecutors say the conspiracy stretched from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2022, in Los Angeles County.
According to prosecutors, Gabriela Gonzalez sought Cordrey’s help to find a hitman online and discussed having Avery killed in Los Angeles in a way that would make the death look like a car accident. The case, investigators say, was fueled by a long-running custody battle and a desire to exclude Avery from his daughter’s life.
The district attorney’s office alleges Francisco Gonzalez supplied the money for the plot, first sending $10,000 in April 2021 as front money and then another $4,000 two months later after the supposed hitman asked for more funds. Local reporting says investigators also traced alleged use of Bitcoin, a private investigator and the code word Bullrun, underscoring how modern murder-for-hire cases can hinge on digital communication, financial trails and coded language rather than any single dramatic act.
Prosecutors say the scheme advanced far enough that an undercover officer posing as a hitman spoke with Cordrey in September 2021 about payment and proof of death. That kind of exchange often marks the point at which investigators believe intent has crossed into criminal solicitation, with planning, money and explicit discussion of the killing becoming central evidence.
Avery, 26, is identified in court filings as a former member of the boy band Why Don’t We. Local reporting says he is seeking a domestic violence restraining order against Gabriela Gonzalez and sole legal and physical custody of their daughter. Avery also said in a filing that the FBI notified him in 2021 that a hitman had been hired to kill him.
Francisco Gonzalez was arrested in Florida and is awaiting extradition to California. Gabriela Gonzalez was scheduled for arraignment in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Authorities say the allegations remain unproven, but the case has already become a stark example of how personal conflict, online anonymity and criminal intent can collide with deadly consequences.
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