this story reads like a netflix crime documentary. but according to federal court documents, every detail is real.
a 24 year old tiktok influencer with nearly half a million followers. a custody dispute with a boy band singer. bitcoin payments. encrypted chats. a codeword. an FBI sting operation. and a nanny who warned police years before anyone was arrested.
here is everything that happened in the gabbie gonzalez murder for hire plot case and why it should have been stopped much earlier.
Who Is Gabbie Gonzalez
gabriela gonzalez known online as gabbie is a 24 year old social media influencer based in california. she has hundreds of thousands of followers across tiktok and instagram, where she posts lifestyle content and has built a significant audience over several years.
her former partner is jack avery, 26 a member of the american boy band why don’t we, a group that achieved significant popularity in the late 2010s with a teenage fanbase. gabbie and jack have a 7 year old daughter together named lavender avery.
the relationship ended. the custody dispute began. and according to prosecutors, what followed was one of the most shocking alleged crimes involving a social media personality in recent memory.
How the Gabbie Gonzalez Murder For Hire Plot Allegedly Started
according to the arrest affidavit and court documents reviewed by multiple outlets, the gabbie gonzalez murder for hire plot began with a custody dispute that investigators describe as increasingly hostile.
witnesses described the situation between gonzalez and avery as deteriorating seriously. the specifics of what escalated the dispute to the point of alleged murder planning have not been fully detailed in public court filings but investigators say the intent was clear.
gonzalez allegedly recruited a third individual identified in court documents as cordrey to arrange the killing of jack avery.
her father, francisco javier gonzalez, 59, was brought into the alleged scheme to handle the financial side.
The Bitcoin Payments and the Coded Language
the gabbie gonzalez murder for hire plot was allegedly funded through cryptocurrency transactions that prosecutors say they have traced.
in april 2021, francisco gonzalez transferred approximately $10,000 to cordrey. prosecutors allege this was payment connected to the murder for hire scheme. weeks later, cordrey requested additional funds and francisco gonzalez transferred another $4,000 to the same account.
during communications between francisco gonzalez and individuals connected to the alleged plot, investigators say he used coded language, referenced prior crypto payments, and discussed verifying the target before arranging final payment.
the use of bitcoin was not incidental. investigators say it reflects deliberate planning to obscure the money trail the same approach used in organized crime operations, not a spontaneous decision made in anger.
The FBI Sting Operation
the investigation entered a new phase in september 2021 when an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman spoke directly with cordrey about the alleged murder for hire plot.
the recorded conversation is central to the prosecution’s case.
according to prosecutors, cordrey told the undercover officer that jack avery was the target. they discussed payment. cordrey asked for in the words of the court filing “proof of death.”
in another recorded exchange, cordrey told the purported hitman that “gabriela gonzalez wanted the murder to happen” and that her father would pay for the expense.
that recorded statement directly attributing the alleged murder plot to gabbie gonzalez by name is the cornerstone of the case against her.
The Nanny Who Warned Police Years Ago
here is the detail in the gabbie gonzalez murder for hire plot that has generated the most anger online and deserves the most scrutiny.
gabbie gonzalez’s former nanny contacted law enforcement years before the may 2026 arrests. the nanny told police that gonzalez had expressed intent to harm jack avery.
that warning was not acted upon in a way that led to immediate investigation or intervention.
for years, jack avery the alleged target was walking around while law enforcement had been told, by a direct witness, that someone wanted him dead.
the reasons why that warning did not trigger faster action have not been officially explained. but the gap between the nanny’s report and the 2026 arrests represents a significant question that investigators and prosecutors will likely face as this case moves toward trial.
The Arrests and What Happens Now
gabbie gonzalez was arrested in humboldt county, california. her father francisco gonzalez was arrested separately in seminole county, florida, on a california fugitive warrant in connection with a conspiracy to commit murder charge.
gabbie was hit with three criminal charges as part of the alleged conspiracy. her bail was set at $2 million. she was also barred from going near her own 7 year old daughter lavender as a condition of her release.
she posted bail on friday and was photographed by tmz walking out of los angeles county jail.
francisco gonzalez and cordrey face separate charges in connection with the alleged scheme.
jack avery has not made a public statement since the arrests were announced. representatives for why don’t we did not respond to media requests for comment.
What This Means for Their Daughter
the most heartbreaking element of the gabbie gonzalez murder for hire plot case is lavender avery the 7 year old daughter at the center of the custody dispute that allegedly set everything in motion.
lavender’s mother is facing criminal charges that could result in significant prison time. her father was allegedly the target of a murder for hire scheme. she is now the subject of a custody situation that a court will have to navigate while criminal proceedings against her mother continue.
gabbie gonzalez is currently barred from contact with her daughter as a condition of bail. what that arrangement looks like going forward depends on how the criminal case develops.
Gabbie Gonzalez Murder For Hire Plot The Bottom Line
a custody dispute. bitcoin payments. encrypted chats. an FBI sting. a nanny who tried to warn police years ago. a $2 million bail. a 7 year old daughter caught in the middle.
the gabbie gonzalez murder for hire plot case is genuinely shocking not because it involves a social media influencer but because it allegedly began as an ordinary family dispute and escalated to federal murder for hire charges over the course of years.
jack avery is alive because an FBI undercover operation worked. whether he would have survived if that operation had not been running is a question nobody can answer.
the nanny tried to warn police. that warning sat somewhere for years.
that part of this story deserves answers.
follow this blog for updates as the gabbie gonzalez case moves toward trial.
