Grand jury testimony described tension over whether Mark Gaughan and Allysandra Blea were dating before the fatal shot.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A witness told a grand jury that Allysandra Blea objected to being called Mark Gaughan’s girlfriend shortly before Blea shot him during a late-night photo shoot, court records show.
The testimony from Maverick Crafts became one of the most vivid parts of the case against Blea, 20, who later pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping and involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said the Aug. 23 shooting killed Gaughan, 23, outside a home on Nassau Drive while he was taking Polaroid pictures of Blea and Crafts. The witness account did not stand alone. It sat beside police evidence, instant photos, online gun posts and Blea’s own report to 911.
Crafts described a relationship that looked different depending on who was asked. She said Gaughan thought he and Blea were dating, while Blea did not appear to share that view. “She was just using him,” Crafts said in testimony. “He thought they were dating.” Crafts said Gaughan would call Blea his girlfriend, but the two did not act like an affectionate couple around others. She said their conduct looked more like hanging out than dating. Before the shooting, Crafts said Blea wondered how Gaughan talked about her to friends and said she did not understand why he thought she was his girlfriend.
That testimony gave prosecutors a human conflict to place against the physical evidence. Crafts said Blea was “disgusted” by Gaughan’s use of the girlfriend label. The word drew attention because it came from a witness who was present during the photo shoot and who described the moments leading up to the gunshot. Prosecutors did not have to prove a dating dispute was the only reason Gaughan died after Blea’s plea. Still, the statement helped explain why a photo shoot involving friends became part of a criminal case that first included a murder charge and later ended in convictions on other felonies.
The scene Crafts described had a staged, costume-like quality before it turned deadly. Inside the home, the group used a mounted deer head as part of a theme. Blea wore camouflage and a bloody corset, and Gaughan took Polaroid pictures of Blea and Crafts. Crafts said the idea was to make them look like hunters with the deer head. When Gaughan said only two pictures were left, they moved outside to change the background. Crafts said she watched him take a picture and saw the instant photo begin to print. Then Blea moved near her, another flash sounded louder than the camera, and Gaughan fell with the camera.
Police said the 911 call came in at about 4:47 a.m. for a male shot in the 1000 block of Nassau Drive. Officers found Gaughan on a sidewalk with an apparent gunshot wound to his neck. They rendered aid until emergency medical personnel arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Blea told the dispatcher the shooting was accidental. Homicide detectives later said Gaughan had been taking pictures of Blea posing with a firearm by a vehicle when the gun discharged. Their investigation soon widened to include who handled the firearm, what the Polaroids showed and what Blea had posted online before the shooting.
The firearm had reportedly been cleared earlier. A fourth person in the home told police he once worked at a gun store and remembered removing the magazine and clearing the chamber. He said that happened before the shooting. Court records said Blea and another woman suggested that Gaughan put the gun back together while they changed clothes for the pictures. That claim left investigators with a critical sequence to examine: a gun described as cleared, a request to reassemble it, photos with the firearm and a fatal shot moments later. Crafts said she heard the shot but did not see Blea pull the trigger.
Instant photos recovered at the scene added another layer. Investigators said one showed Blea holding a black firearm pointed near her mouth while another woman held a knife. The records said Blea’s finger appeared on the trigger in at least one image. Prosecutors also cited other pictures and online comments to argue Blea was comfortable around guns and often used them in staged poses. Police said her account showed photos with handguns, revolvers and rifles, including weapons pressed to her head and to stuffed animals’ heads. In one comment, police said, Blea wrote, “I wish I could shoot people with real guns and get away with it.”
Blea’s lawyers pushed back on the meaning of those posts before the plea. They described the material as dark humor and argued that the most striking statements could unfairly influence jurors. The defense position mattered because prosecutors had charged Blea with open murder, and any trial would have forced the judge to decide which statements and images were relevant. Those fights became less central once Blea accepted the plea. She admitted kidnapping Gaughan for the purpose of causing substantial bodily harm or death and causing his death without intending to kill him.
The plea agreement gives prosecutors a sentencing recommendation of five years to life in prison on the kidnapping count. The manslaughter count could run at the same time if the judge accepts the concurrent structure prosecutors did not oppose. The legal result is unusual on its face because the plea pairs an involuntary killing count with a kidnapping admission tied to serious harm or death. That mix leaves room for both sides to argue over how dangerous, reckless or purposeful Blea’s conduct was before the shot. The judge may also consider statements from people close to Gaughan and the effect of his death.
Crafts’ testimony remains central because it was both scene evidence and relationship evidence. She placed Blea inside the conversation before the shooting, described Gaughan as the person taking the pictures and gave a step-by-step account of the final seconds. Her words also showed what investigators could not get from a photograph: the tension she said she heard before the group went outside. The public record still leaves some unknowns, including precisely how the gun became loaded and whether every person in the group understood its condition.
Currently, Blea is scheduled to be sentenced July 29 in Clark County. The hearing will decide the punishment for the guilty pleas while the witness account remains part of the record explaining how the photo shoot ended in Gaughan’s death.
Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.