TikTok Influencer And Her Father Charged With Hiring Dark Web Hitman To Kill Why Don’t We Singer

Gabbie Gonzalez, a popular lifestyle TikTok personality, has been charged alongside her father and a Hawaii surf instructor for allegedly hiring a hitman targeting Jack Avery, a former member of the defunct boyband Why Don’t We.

Gonzalez was arrested and booked in Northern California last week and later transferred to Los Angeles County jail, where she's being held without bond. On Tuesday, prosecutors charged her, her father Francisco Gonzalez, and Kai Cordrey with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, and solicitation to commit murder.

According to an affidavit, the alleged plot stemmed from a lengthy custody and visitation dispute over the young daughter Gabbie Gonzalez and Avery share. Investigators say that Fransisco Gonzalez, a lawyer based in Miami, became "deeply involved" in the custody battle, attempting to "discredit, monitor, and remove Avery" from their family. Witnesses say that Fransisco Gonzalez had insinuated "that it would be cheaper if Avery were dead."

Reports claim that around March 2021, Fransisco Gonzales reached out to Cordrey, the surf instructor, in an effort to recruit someone to threaten Avery. Both Cordrey and Avery live in Hawaii. During custody proceedings around the same time, Gabbie Gonzalez allegedly depicted Avery as an "unfit" and "dangerous" parent to their daughter, who was born in 2019, and alluded to hiring a hit man.

Investigators say Gabbie Gonzalez and Cordrey then began discussing using the dark web and Bitcoin to arrange a murder staged to look like Avery had died in a Los Angeles car crash. Per the affidavit, financial records show that in April 2021, Francisco Gonzalez sent Cordrey $10,000 through Square, allegedly disguised as payment for web development services that Cordrey denied doing.

Later, federal agents brought in an undercover agent to pose as a hit man, who then spoke with Fransisco Gonzalez over the phone. He allegedly discussed Bitcoin payments and used coded language. Gabbie Gonzalez is expected to be arraigned this week.

Why Don't We were active from their formation in 2016 until 2022, when they became embroiled in a heated legal battle with their former management company. After cancelling a tour and initially going on hiatus, they officially lost the rights to the Why Don't We name in February 2025. In September, Avery briefly spoke about the alleged hitman plot during an interview on the Zach Sang Show, saying the FBI had visited to his home to warn him that someone may have been plotting his murder. He didn't mention Gonzalez in the interview.