Allysandra Blea officially pleaded guilty to amended charges of kidnapping and involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday, a development that will likely send the 20-year-old to prison for five years. Her sentencing is set for July 29, which brings a legal conclusion to the case following the death of 23-year-old Mark Santiago Gaughan. Blea had originally faced a charge of open murder after Gaughan died from a single gunshot wound on August 23, 2025.
According to Court TV, on the evening of August 22, Blea and Gaughan were at a home shared by Maverick Crafts and her boyfriend. The group spent the night drinking vodka that Gaughan provided, along with his compact Glock .40. Crafts later testified to a grand jury that after the boyfriends fell asleep, the mood shifted significantly.
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 made it clear she didn’t view their connection as a romantic one, telling Crafts, “I don’t understand why he thinks I’m his girlfriend. I don’t like him like that.”
She told police her disturbing messages were just a joke
Things escalated quickly when the bottle of vodka was finished. According to Crafts, Blea “turned around randomly and slammed it down on him when he was asleep.” Following that encounter, the two women moved to another room to dress up in costumes for a photo shoot. Gaughan eventually agreed to take pictures of them with a Polaroid camera they had located. The situation turned fatal while the women were posing with knives and guns on the hood of a truck in the driveway.
Crafts described the moment the shooting occurred, stating, “there’s another flash goes off and it’s really loud this time and Mark and the camera fell.” First responders discovered that Gaughan had been struck by a single bullet in the neck, which exited through his back left shoulder. While investigators initially treated the event as an accidental shooting, a deeper look into Blea’s digital footprint changed the trajectory of the investigation entirely.
This failed accident defense mirrors a separate disproven claim of horseplay. Homicide detective Kasey Kirkegard testified that the content found on her social media was deeply troubling. “Within several of these photos, videos and messages to other people, it was very problematic,” 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.”
The digital evidence was extensive, with the keywords “gun” and “guns” appearing more than 200 times across her accounts. One specific message Blea sent to another user stood out to detectives: “I would kill prostitutes and bury them in the New Mexico desert.” When confronted about these statements during an interview, Blea claimed they were merely a joke. However, she also revealed a bizarre detail about her family history. “And she stated that her grandfather was actually a serial killer that was previously convicted in New Mexico,” Kirkegard explained.
Investigators confirmed that her grandfather is Joseph Blea. He is considered a person of interest in the disappearances of 10 to 12 prostitutes in New Mexico and has a prior conviction for sex assault related to several prostitutes.
Published: Jun 3, 2026 11:15 pm