TikTok Influencer Pleads Not Guilty to Dark-Web Hit Plot Against Singer Jack Avery

TikTok influencer Gabbie Gonzalez, her father, and her ex-boyfriend pleaded not guilty in a California courtroom Monday to charges they plotted to kill Why Don’t We singer Jack Avery with a paid assassin recruited on the dark web.

Los Angeles County prosecutors say the trio conspired to kill Avery amid a bitter and prolonged custody battle over Gonzalez’s 7-year-old daughter with the boy band singer. Gonzalez, 25; her father, Florida lawyer Francisco Gonzalez, 59; and Hawaii-based surf instructor Kai Faron Cordrey, 26; appeared in court while out of custody on varying conditions. Each is charged with the same three counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation of murder.

“Yes, your honor,” Gabbie told the judge when asked whether she agreed to postpone her next hearing until Nov. 18. She otherwise remained silent during the proceeding and declined to answer media questions afterward. Her lawyer, Elliot R. Zarabi, said he planned to release a statement in the coming days.

In a July court filing asking that Gabbie be allowed to see her daughter while the case is pending, her lawyer argued she “played a comparatively limited role in the alleged conduct,” with the “primary operational aspects” of the alleged scheme purportedly carried out by Cordrey.

“Much of the evidence against Ms. Gonzalez derives from statements made by Cordrey himself, a charged co-defendant, with every incentive to shift blame and minimize his own conduct,” Zarabi argued in a May 20 court filing. He claimed prosecutors lacked “direct evidence showing that Ms. Gonzalez hired a hitman, negotiated a killing, transmitted cryptocurrency, communicated with undercover operatives, or directly engaged in operational planning.”

Prosecutors, meanwhile, say Gonzalez and her family viewed Avery as “the obstacle to their desired control” over the child. Gabbie and her father’s alleged conduct “escalated from family-court litigation and efforts to discredit Jack, to surveillance and attempted third-party intimidation, and ultimately to a funded murder-for-hire plot designed to remove Jack permanently,” Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott wrote in a July 22 court filing obtained by Rolling Stone . Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

Lawyers for Cordrey and Francisco did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone ‘s requests for comment on Monday.

Prosecutors allege that between October 2020 and May 2021, Gabbie “repeatedly discussed wanting Jack Avery dead,” and that she enlisted Cordrey to help. They say Gabbie and Cordrey discussed using Bitcoin on the “dark web” and how they hoped to make the hit “appear to be an accident.”

According to the felony complaint, Gabbie’s father allegedly sent Cordrey $10,000 in April 2021 to find and hire someone to kill Avery.