LAS VEGAS (Court TV) — A woman who had a self-professed “obsession” with guns was sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges in connection with her friend’s death.
Alyssandra Blea stands at her sentencing on July 28, 2026. (Court TV)
Alyssandra Blea, 20, previously pleaded guilty to kidnapping and involuntary manslaughter as part of an agreement with prosecutors that avoided a trial and saw her charges reduced from open murder.
Blea had been spending time with friends, including the victim, Mark Santiago Gaughan, 23, on Aug. 23, 2025, when the group’s gathering ended in a fatal shooting. Witnesses told the grand jury that the group had been drinking for hours when Blea decided to pose with guns and knives on the hood of a truck in the driveway while Mark Gaughan snapped photos.
As investigators began examining the defendant’s phone, they said they found disturbing images and messages depicting an obsession with guns “and wanting to shoot someone and get away with it,” Homicide Detective Kasey Kirkegard told the grand jury. A keyword search of Blea’s device revealed she had used the word “gun” or “guns” more than 200 times on social media. In an interview with detectives, Blea claimed that her grandfather was a serial killer previously convicted in New Mexico.
Mark Gaughan’s mother, Christine Gaughan, sobbed as she delivered a victim impact statement during Blea’s sentencing on Tuesday. “Mark had a beautiful heart. Very loving, caring, kind thoughtful; very friendly, funny and outgoing,” she said. Recalling the last time she saw her son alive, Christine Gaughan said, “He told me he was going out with the defendant, and I told him to be safe and enjoy the night.”
While the prosecution and the defense reached a stipulated sentence in exchange for Blea’s plea, the victim’s mother suggested no sentence would be long enough. “I hope this Court will give justice to my son, Mark, and to me, too,” Christine Gaughan said. “She is a danger to society. She will continue to live her life after sentencing, but me, I will live with a life sentence of grief, of trauma, of depression, stress, anxiety, brokenness, a nightmare I can’t escape until the day I die.”
Judge Jacqueline Bluth said she was moved by the number of letters she received on behalf of both the victim and the defendant, saying she did not know if she had ever received so many. Acknowledging the victim’s mother’s apparent disappointment with the stipulated sentence, Bluth said she would endorse the plea agreement. “This was a case that should not have gone to trial,” she said. “There was too much to risk on both sides.”
Bluth sentenced Blea to a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of life; she credited the defendant with 337 days for time served.
