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\n\tTikTok 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\u2019t We singer Jack Avery with a paid assassin recruited on the dark web.<\/p>\n
\n\tLos Angeles County prosecutors say the trio conspired to kill Avery amid a bitter and prolonged custody battle over Gonzalez\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYes, your honor,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn a July court filing asking that Gabbie be allowed to see her daughter while the case is pending, her lawyer argued she \u201cplayed a comparatively limited role in the alleged conduct,\u201d with the \u201cprimary operational aspects\u201d of the alleged scheme purportedly carried out by Cordrey.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cMuch 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,\u201d Zarabi argued in a May 20 court filing. He claimed prosecutors lacked \u201cdirect evidence showing that Ms. Gonzalez hired a hitman, negotiated a killing, transmitted cryptocurrency, communicated with undercover operatives, or directly engaged in operational planning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tProsecutors, meanwhile, say Gonzalez and her family viewed Avery as \u201cthe obstacle to their desired control\u201d over the child. Gabbie and her father\u2019s alleged conduct \u201cescalated 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,\u201d Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott wrote in a July 22 court filing obtained by Rolling Stone<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tLawyers for Cordrey and Francisco did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2018s requests for comment on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\tProsecutors allege that between October 2020 and May 2021, Gabbie \u201crepeatedly discussed wanting Jack Avery dead,\u201d and that she enlisted Cordrey to help. They say Gabbie and Cordrey discussed using Bitcoin on the \u201cdark web\u201d and how they hoped to make the hit \u201cappear to be an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAccording to the felony complaint, Gabbie\u2019s father allegedly sent Cordrey $10,000 in April 2021 to find and hire someone to kill Avery. Prosecutors say Cordrey moved the money into a Gemini cryptocurrency account and began communicating with a dark-web murder-for-hire account under the alias \u201cLizardKing69.\u201d On May 22, 2021, Cordrey allegedly identified Avery as the target, provided a Los Angeles address for his location, and said Avery could be killed by whatever method was easiest, including a shooting or staged incident, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe account administrator allegedly demanded another $4,000 on June 4, prompting Cordrey to go back to Francisco for more money. Days later, Cordrey allegedly pressed for Avery to be killed within a couple of days, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
\n\tProsecutors say the plot continued into September 2021, when an undercover FBI agent posing as a hit man spoke with Cordrey by phone. Cordrey allegedly identified Avery as the target and discussed payment and proof of death. In a later call, Cordrey allegedly said Gabbie wanted Avery killed and that Francisco could pay for it. Prosecutors say Francisco then contacted the undercover agent using the password \u201cBullrun\u201d and discussed a previous Bitcoin payment.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tMore than a year later, on Oct. 20, 2022, Gabbie allegedly spoke with Cordrey on a recorded call about the supposed hit man and \u201chow to respond to the threat of exposure,\u201d according to the complaint. She also allegedly said she could talk to her father because \u201che had been handling most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIf convicted as charged, all three defendants face 25 years to life in state prison, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n
\n\tA few days before the wild case was made public in May, Avery sought a civil restraining order in Los Angeles County Family Court, saying he had known about the alleged murder-for-hire plot since 2021. \u201cI was notified by the FBI that a hit man was hired to kill me,\u201d Avery wrote in a declaration.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe singer said a detective told him that Gabbie had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and was in police custody. Their daughter had been placed with a foster family, he said, and he rushed to pick her up. He claimed Gabbie\u2019s relatives had been calling and texting him \u201crelentlessly\u201d demanding to know where the child was. Two women he identified as Gonzalez\u2019s friends allegedly showed up at his Southern California home, banging on the door and ringing the bell while looking for the girl.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tHe said the FBI warned him \u201cit was not safe\u201d to be around Gabbie and that he remained \u201cvery aware of the safety risks\u201d whenever he arranged visits with his daughter.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI continued to travel to see [my daughter] and had to learn to manage my own fears and anxiety,\u201d Avery wrote in his petition for a civil restraining order against Gabbie. \u201cI did so because of how important [my daughter] is to me and out of serious concern for her safety and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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