{"id":8746,"date":"2026-02-20T10:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=8746"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:13:25","slug":"the-investigation-into-the-tragic-death-of-a-former-aide-to-rep-tony-gonzales-has-taken-a-shocking-and-deeply-personal-turn-following-the-news-that-the-staffer-fatally-set-herself-on-fire-a-newly-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=8746","title":{"rendered":"The investigation into the tragic death of a former aide to Rep. Tony Gonzales has taken a shocking and deeply personal turn. Following the news that the staffer fatally set herself on fire, a newly revealed text message has surfaced, reportedly containing an admission of a secret affair with the Texas lawmaker."},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 An aide to Rep. Tony Gonzales admitted that she had an affair with the Texas Republican in a text message to a colleague \u2014 months before she fatally set herself on fire.<\/p>\n

Regina Santos-Aviles appeared to acknowledge the tryst early on the morning of April 28, 2025, saying: \u201cI had [an] affair with our boss and I\u2019m fine,\u201d according to a screenshot of the exchange obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Santos-Aviles\u2019 confession to her co-worker was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News, which subsequently withdrew its endorsement of Gonzales in the March 3 GOP primary, saying the congressman \u201chas questions to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Regina<\/div>
Regina Santos-Aviles, a staffer for Rep. Tony Gonzales, acknowledged in a text to a colleague that she had an affair with the congressman.\u00a0Obtained by NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\"Congressman<\/div>
Rep. Tony Gonzales speaks during a press conference on Dec. 20, 2023.\u00a0Go Nakamura for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sept. 13, 2025, Santos-Aviles covered herself in gasoline before lighting herself ablaze in the backyard of her Uvalde, Texas, home.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\"Tony<\/div>
Rep. Tony Gonzales with his wife, Angel, in an undated photo.\u00a0Facebook \/ Congressman Tony Gonzales<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 35-year-old wife and mother of one worked as a regional director for Gonzales in the Lone Star State\u2019s 23rd Congressional District, which comprises much of the area of west Texas bordering Mexico, including the western outskirts of San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Adrian<\/div>
Regina Santos-Aviles (right) in an undated photo.\u00a0Adrian Aviles \/ Facebook<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The colleague of Santos-Aviles, who provided the message to The Post and who no longer works for Gonzales, told the Express-News the affair became known among the congressman\u2019s staff members during the 2024 election cycle.<\/p>\n

That May, the person said, Santos-Aviles called them in tears because her husband, Adrian Aviles, had discovered text messages between Gonzales and Santos-Aviles confirming the affair and texted a group of local staffers to expose the relationship.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Regina<\/div>
Regina Santos-Aviles (right) took her own life by setting herself on fire.\u00a0Facebook \/ Regina Santos Aviles<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After that, in the former staffer\u2019s words, Santos-Aviles \u201cwent from the number one employee in the office to nothing.\u201d Gonzales canceled meetings arranged by his regional director and Santos-Aviles no longer accompanied him on visits to Uvalde.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Regina<\/div>
Congressional aide Regina Santos-Aviles took her own life last year.\u00a0Regina Santos Aviles \/ Facebook<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShe talked about Tony every day,\u201d the former staffer told the Express-News, recalling that he went to Gonzales district director Jalen Falcon in June 2025 with concerns about Santos-Aviles\u2019 mental well-being.<\/p>\n

Gonzales, who is running for a fourth House term this November, has said that the purported fling, which was first reported by the Daily Mail in October, was just \u201cpeople throwing rocks at me, saying I\u2019m doing nasty things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn politics, you better have thick skin,\u201d he told local station KSAT this past November. \u201cI totally get that, but the rumors are completely untruthful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"US<\/div>
US Rep. Tony Gonzales and Regina Santos-Aviles are pictured with Elon Musk during his Sept. 28, 2023, visit to a migrant processing site in Eagle Pass, Texas.\u00a0James Keivom<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Attempts to contact the married Gonzales, 45, were not immediately successful Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

This past October, Santos-Aviles\u2019 mother claimed to The Post that reports of her daughter\u2019s affair with Gonzales taking place after she split from Aviles were \u201ccompletely false.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it has any merit,\u201d she said at the time.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Santos-Aviles<\/div>
Santos-Aviles poured gasoline over herself and set herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde, Texas, home on Sept. 13, 2025.\u00a0Regina Santos Aviles \/ Facebook<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton\u2019s office decided in December to seal 911 calls, police reports and other video of the tragic suicide in response to media requests.<\/p>\n

Javier Guerra, an attorney for Adrian Aviles, has said his client had expressed concern about his late wife\u2019s private records being released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 An aide to Rep. Tony Gonzales admitted that she had an affair with the Texas Republican in a text message to a colleague \u2014 months… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8748,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8746\/revisions\/8748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}