U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales engaged in a romantic relationship with a nurse who died last year by setting herself on fire outside her Uvalde home, according to a text message and people close to the nurse and her family.
A former employee of Gonzales’ district office who worked closely with the assistant, Regina Ann “Regi” Santos-Aviles, said she told him they had an affair in 2024 and that she fell into a depression after her husband discovered the affair and Gonzales abruptly ended it. He also shared with the San Antonio Express-News a screenshot of a text message from Santos-Aviles in which she admitted to having an “affair with our boss.”
READ MORE: The aide to Rep. Tony Gonzales, who died in the fire, set himself on fire
The employer, who asked not to be named citing fear of retaliation, blamed Gonzales’ office for failing to intervene, saying he warned the congressman’s district director months before Santos-Aviles’ death that he was concerned about her well-being. He described her as his “best friend” and said their families knew each other.
Gonzales, a Republican who represents Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, is currently seeking re-election in a contested primary. He and his staff did not respond to a list of detailed questions submitted by the Express-News.
A lawyer for Santos-Aviles’ husband said her romantic relationship with the congressman was an open secret and that he does not believe it played a role in her death. Authorities said there was no evidence of foul play in Santos-Aviles’ death. Both she and Gonzales were married to other people at the time of the alleged affair.
Santos-Aviles, 35, was Gonzales’ regional district manager in Uvalde and the mother of an 8-year-old boy. She died on September 14, 2025.
The 24-year-old former employee considered going public about the affair as early as November, but feared losing his job, he said.
He said this week that he stopped coming to work for months after Santos-Aviles’ suicide and felt he could no longer “sell (Gonzales’) message and his ideals.” He resigned last month, moved to Los Angeles and now works for two local Democratic campaigns.
He said he was not paid or promised any compensation by any of Gonzales’ main opponents.
The former employee said he was frustrated that police never contacted him during the investigation into Santos-Aviles’ death.
“common knowledge”
The former employee said the relationship became known to staffers during the 2024 election cycle. He said Gonzales stayed at the former employee’s family’s rental cabin in Concan, near Uvalde, during the primary campaign and that on two occasions in May 2024, Gonzales and Santos-Aviles went there together and stayed for one to two hours.
He said Santos-Aviles called him crying and upset two weeks later to say her husband, Adrian Aviles, had discovered text messages revealing her relationship with Gonzales. She told the employee that they had an affair. It was May 29, the day after Gonzales narrowly won the GOP primary against Brandon Herrera. He said Aviles later sent a text message to a group of Gonzales’ legislative district staffers to reveal the relationship.
Bobby Barrera, Aviles’ attorney, confirmed that the affair “wasn’t a secret among the staff.”
“It’s known,” he said in an interview. “Staff were clearly aware that this event was taking place.”
Barrera said Aviles was worried about commenting because of how it might affect the couple’s youngest son.
“For him, this is personal. For everyone else, it’s political,” Barrera said of Aviles. “This is the mother of his son and no one seems to care. They just want to burn Tony.”
Asked if the alleged relationship had anything to do with Santos-Aviles’ death, Barrera said, “I don’t think so.”
For months, the congressman has dodged questions about his relationship with Santos-Aviles. He briefly broke his silence in November during an onstage interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. Asked about the “circumstances that may have led to her death,” Gonzales said the “rumors are completely untrue.”
“People throwing stones at me, saying I’m doing bad things – I completely understand that. But the rumors are completely untrue,” he said, calling Santos-Aviles’ death a “very tragic situation.”
British tabloid Daily Mail and Current Revolt Texas, a right-wing online publication, previously reported on rumors of an affair. Neither report cited documentary evidence.
A spokesman for Gonzales was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying, “To see bottom-feeding politicians distort the circumstances surrounding her death is truly sickening. Tony Gonzales remains focused on the historic achievement for Texas and condemns any attempt to misuse this tragedy.”
In a text thread the former staff member shared with the Express-News, Santos-Aviles told her, “I had (sic) an affair with our boss and I’m fine. You’re going to be fine.”
The thread, which carried Santos-Aviles’ name and picture, was dated April 27, 2025. The Express-News verified that the messages were sent from a phone number that belonged to Santos-Aviles.
The former employee said Santos-Aviles tried to reassure him that he would not be fired for using office resources for an unsanctioned investigation.
The burden to carry
According to the former employee, operations in Gonzales’ two-person Uvalde regional office changed after Aviles texted staff about the deal. Gonzales and his district manager, Jalen Falcon, canceled meetings with local organizations that had been arranged by Santos-Aviles and the former employee. He said neither he nor Santos-Aviles accompanied Gonzales on any visits to Uvalde after that point, marking a significant change.
The former employee said Santos-Aviles’ suffering intensified in the months before her death and that she told him she had taken antidepressants in the summer of 2025.
“She talked about Tony every day,” he said. “She went from being the number one employee in the office to nothing.”
The former employee also said he alerted Falcon in June that he was aware of the deal and concerned about Santos-Aviles’ well-being. At that time, he would finish most of his work and she would be gone at least one day a week, he said.
Falcon did not respond to a request for comment.
The former employee said that in August 2025 – about a month before her death – she tried to kill herself and that the police were called to her home. The Uvalde Police Department has so far declined the Express-News’ request for records of previous 911 calls to Santos-Aviles’ home, and the newspaper has not independently confirmed the August 2025 incident.
A month later, Santos-Aviles poured gasoline over her and she was engulfed in flames, authorities said. She was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where she died the next day. Police said a home surveillance video showed she was alone when the fire started. In November, the Bexar County Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide by self-immolation.
“A Painful Chapter”
The former employee said he recently reached out to Herrera, one of Gonzales’ main challengers, about speculation about the deal. Gonzales, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, faces Herrera, Quico Canseco and Keith Barton in the March 3 primary. Four candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination.
Over the weekend, in a post on X, Trump confidant and right-wing influencer Laura Loomer foreshadowed a “career-ending” report that would answer questions about Gonzales’ alleged affair and whether it “led to (Santos-Aviles’) suicide.”
Herrera tried to use the affair rumors against his opponent. Responding to Loomer’s post on Sunday, he wrote: “Glad the truth is finally coming out.”
Santos-Aviles’ funeral was held Sept. 25 at First United Methodist Church in Uvalde.
Aviles gave an emotional eulogy, describing Santos-Aviles as a devoted mother, his soulmate, best friend and “the love of my life.”
The couple had been together for 21 years and married for seven. At the time of Santos-Aviles’ death, they had been separated for several months and shared parenting responsibilities for their 8-year-old son.
“I know that marriages have their seasons. Relationships have their seasons. There are good times and there are bad times. Alienation is a painful chapter of life,” he said. “I’ve come to believe that love, even if it’s complicated, is endless.”
Gonzales did not attend the funeral.
If you are in crisis, please call, text or talk to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
This article was originally published at Tony Gonzales had an affair with an assistant who set himself on fire, ex-employee says.