Accused shooter was ‘disgusted’ with victim, witness to slaying tells grand jury

A woman accused of fatally shooting her model friend during a photo shoot was “disgusted” that the victim had been calling her his girlfriend, a witness to the killing told a grand jury, according to court records.

The witness, who was also a friend of the victim, told a Clark County grand jury that right before the Aug. 24 shooting, Allysandra Blea, 20, confessed to her that she did not actually consider Mark Gaughan, 23, to be her boyfriend and that she did not actually like him.

“I tell her that Mark talks about her all the time and how much he loves her,” the friend, Maverick Crafts, testified, according to grand jury transcripts. “She was disgusted to hear that he would call her his girlfriend.”

The conversation and the ensuing shooting happened at a central Las Vegas valley home where Crafts and her boyfriend, Gavin Fitzpatrick, lived.

Crafts also testified that Blea had hit Gaughan in the ribs with an empty liquor bottle while he was asleep, not long before the shooting. When Gaughan, who woke up upset, asked why she did that, Blea laughed and showed “no signs of remorse,” Crafts said.

Crafts said she had to separate the couple physically after the argument. She told the grand jury that Blea’s actions that morning were “very important information about where her mindset might have been.”

Blea and Crafts later asked Gaughan to take photos of them posing with Gaughan’s gun outside the house, according to the transcripts. Police have said that Blea pointed the weapon at Gaughan and fired right after he snapped the final photo, striking him in the neck and killing him.

When police arrived at the scene, the women and Fitzpatrick, who had been sleeping inside, admitted that they had been drinking since midnight. The shooting happened around 5 a.m., according to police.

Later, Crafts told prosecutors that Blea was not actually drunk by the time the shooting happened. Crafts also said that Blea’s behavior, including her lack of affection toward Gaughan, led her to believe that Blea was “using” him, though she did not elaborate about what for.

‘Fascination with firearms’

Blea previously told detectives that the shooting was accidental, and Crafts told the grand jury she wanted to believe that.

“It just seemed so out of the question that it would be intentional,” Crafts said. “Then, I remembered the way she was talking about him and the way she hit him while he was defenseless, and I just thought that was too inhumane.”

Police later reviewed social media accounts associated with Blea and discovered multiple photos showing her holding handguns, revolvers and rifles to her head. Investigators stated that Blea displayed a “fascination with firearms” and had expressed a desire to shoot people in the face.

She was arrested on a charge of open murder with a deadly weapon shortly after police found the posts.

Also in the grand jury transcripts, a Metropolitan Police Department detective testified that during a “noncustodial” interview, police confronted her about her online posts, including those where she said she wanted to kill prostitutes and bury them in the New Mexico desert.

“She stated that they were a joke,” the detective said. “And she stated that her grandfather was actually a serial killer who was previously convicted in New Mexico.”

Police investigated the claims and found that Blea’s grandfather, Joseph Blea, was a suspect in around a dozen missing person cases, all involving sex workers, according to the transcripts. He was convicted of sexually assaulting prostitutes but was never charged in connection with any killings, the detective said.

In court Tuesday, Allysandra Blea’s lawyer, Robert O’Brien, argued that she would not have been able to plan or act on a “fantasy” of killing people because of how intoxicated she was at the time. He also stated that it was unlikely she would target Gaughan, who was a close friend, “if not her boyfriend.”

O’Brien said the circumstances did not support the first-degree murder charge Blea faces.

Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo disagreed, alleging that Blea intended to kill Gaughan. Besides Crafts’ statements about the couple’s confusing relationship status, DiGiacomo referenced a June incident where, the prosecutor said, Gaughan expressed love for Blea, and she mocked him, DiGiacomo said.

“She writes a whole note about how she wants to silence his screams, so she’s thought about killing Mark in particular,” DiGiacomo said. “The only thing you have to know is that she intended to kill at the time she actually pulled the trigger, and there are six months of deliberation to show that.”

‘It’s hearsay’

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, defense attorney Chris Rasmussen, a close friend of Fitzpatrick’s’s parents, described the decision to charge Blea with first-degree murder as “harsh.”

A couple of days after the shooting, Fitzpatrick and Crafts, remembering additional details from the morning of the shooting, met with Rasmussen seeking advice on whether they should amend their statements about what happened that morning, according to both Rasmussen and DiGiacomo.

“When they gave the first statements, they were very rattled. I don’t think that there was any attention to deceive,” Rasmussen said. “(Crafts) told me that she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t say something. That’s a tough call for a young kid.”

Although Rasmussen is not an active attorney on the case, he said he thought the surrounding circumstances were more consistent with a second-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter charge.

“The judge will have to decide what evidence is relevant,” Rasmussen said. “All of these new details are very prejudicial. It’s hearsay.”

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.