The mother of an aide to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas who died last month after apparently setting herself on fire is pushing back against claims that her daughter had an affair with the congressman.
Regina Santos-Aviles died on Sept. 13 after reportedly dousing herself in gasoline and setting herself on fire at her Uvalde, Texas, home.
This week, the U.K.’s Daily Mail claimed that Santos-Aviles, who had one child and was separated from her husband, had been having an affair with Gonzales, who is married with six children, since 2021, when she came to work for him.
Regina Santos-Aviles, a staffer for Congressman Tony Gonzales, from Uvalde, Texas, caught fire and later died from burns on Sept. 13, 2025. https://t.co/0vRzyFHE2p
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) September 30, 2025
The Mail report relied entire upon sources it did not name.
“I don’t think it has any merit,” said Nora Gonzales, Santos-Aviles’s mother, according to the New York Post, calling the report “completely false.”
Nora Gonzales had come to her daughter’s home to find her badly burned. Santos-Aviles had earlier poured gasoline on herself, according to police and surveillance footage.
Nora Gonzales said at the time her daughter was distraught because her 8-year-old son was spending the weekend with her estranged husband but said she does not know why her daughter poured gasoline on herself.
“The last thing she said is, ‘I don’t want to die,” Nora Gonzales said then, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
The Daily Mail report emphasized that a representative of Gonzales did not deny the affair, which it said went on “for some time.”
“Regina Aviles was a kind soul who had a lasting impact on her community, which she continued to serve until her untimely death,” a Gonzales representative said.
“To see political bottom feeders distort the circumstances around her passing is truly sickening. Tony Gonzales remains laser-focused on delivering historic achievements for Texas and condemns any attempts to misuse this tragedy.”
The report said Santos-Aviles and her husband separated because of the affair but noted that her husband did not speak to the Daily Mail.
🚨Report: Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales allegedly had an affair with a senior aide who died after dousing herself with gasoline and setting herself on fire, multiple sources tell the Daily Mail
A Gonzales’s spokesman has refused to deny the affair to the Daily Mail pic.twitter.com/pGgM3uG4st
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) October 20, 2025
The Mail report also noted that the congressman did not attend his aide’s funeral.
“Regina Santos-Aviles was alone in her backyard when the fire began, which ultimately caused significant injuries and required her transport to the emergency room,” Uvalde Police said in a statement. “At this stage of the investigation, we do not have any information to suggest that anyone else was involved.”
No official cause of death has been issued.
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