What Tony Gonzales aide said the night she set herself on fire

Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, the congressional staffer who died in September after setting herself on fire in her backyard in Uvalde, told responding police officers she did it because she had discovered her estranged husband was romantically involved with her best friend, newly disclosed records show.

Santos-Aviles, 35, was director of U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales' regional office in Uvalde, and she had had an affair with the married congressman in 2024, text messages and interviews show. News reports on the liaison have become fodder for partisan attacks in the closely contested March 3 Republican primary in Texas' 23d Congressional District. Gonzales, 45, is running for a fourth term.

In responding to demands that he resign over the affair, Gonzales demanded last week that authorities release police reports on Santos-Aviles' suicide. Uvalde officials released the records this morning.

They show that police received a call from Santos-Aviles' home around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2025, and that she could be heard screaming in pain: "Please send help. It hurts so bad." When the dispatcher asked for her address, Santos-Aviles cried out, "Oh my God, I don't want to die," according to a report by a Uvalde detective who listened to a recording of the 911 call.

Police reviewed footage from a home security system, which captured the suicide. According to the newly released records, the video shows Santos-Aviles pouring gasoline from a canister all over her body and setting herself aflame with a handheld lighter. Santos-Aviles then rolled on the ground in an effort to smother the flames and then crawled to a faucet, turned it on and poured water on herself, the records show.

She told responding police officers that "she discovered her husband was cheating on her with her best friend, and a result, she poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire," according to an incident report by one of the first officers on the scene.

Santos-Aviles was flown to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where she died the next morning.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.