LAS VEGAS (Court TV) — A Nevada woman faces prison after pleading guilty to killing her friend at a photo shoot.
Allysandra Blea, 20, pleaded guilty to amended charges of kidnapping and involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday, KLAS reported. The plea was part of an agreement that will likely result in her serving five years in prison after her sentencing, scheduled for next month.
Allysandra Blea appears in court on Sept. 2, 2025. (Court TV)
Blea had initially been charged with open murder in the death of Mark Santiago Gaughan, 23, who died of a single gunshot wound on Aug. 23, 2025.
Maverick Crafts, a mutual friend of the pair, had hosted Blea and Gaughan at the home Craft shared with her boyfriend on the evening of Aug. 22. The group was drinking vodka that Gaughan had brought over. Gaughan had also brought his gun, a compact Glock .40.
Crafts told the grand jury that after their boyfriends fell asleep, the women began talking. “I tell her that Mark talks about her all the time and their relationship and how much he loves her and he’s good in their relationship, and she was disgusted by that.” Blea insisted the two weren’t dating and told Craft, “I don’t understand why he thinks I’m his girlfriend. I don’t like him like that.” Crafts said she was further shocked when, after finishing the bottle of vodka, Blea “turned around randomly and slammed it down on him when he was asleep.”
Crafts took Blea into another room, where the two decided to dress up in costumes and do a photo shoot. Gaughan agreed to take pictures of the girls using a Polaroid camera they had found. The two girls found themselves posing with knives and guns on the hood of a truck in the driveway as Gaughan snapped shots. Then, Craft said, she “there’s another flash goes off and it’s really loud this time and Mark and the camera fell.”
Polaroid photos were shown to the Grand Jury. (KLAS)
First responders said that the victim was shot once in the neck; the bullet traveled through his body and exited out his back left shoulder. While officers initially believed the shooting was accidental, a review of Blea’s social media raised some red flags.
“Within several of these photos, videos and messages to other people, it was very problematic,” homicide detective Kasey Kirkegard told the Grand Jury. “Very concerning images depicting Allysandra and almost an obsession she had with guns and wanting to shoot someone and get away with it.” A keyword search revealed the words “gun” and “guns” appeared more than 200 times across her social media.
When detectives saw a message Blea sent another user on social media saying, “I would kill prostitutes and bury them in the New Mexico desert,” they brought her in for an interview. “In the middle of the interview, when we confronted her about all these statements that were made through social media, she stated they were a joke and that she has a somewhat intimate knowledge to prostitutes being buried in the New Mexico desert,” Kirkegard said. “And she stated that her grandfather was actually a serial killer that was previously convicted in New Mexico.”
Investigators determined Blea’s grandfather is Joseph Blea, who is a person of interest in the disappearance of 10 to 12 prostitutes in New Mexico; he was convicted of sex assault in reference to several prostitutes.
Blea’s sentencing is scheduled for July 29.
