A man who held a woman and a young boy hostage for 29 hours at a Las Vegas motel in May 2021 has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, resolving a case that spanned two separate killings and a tense standoff with SWAT officers. Antonio Barry-Edwards now faces an aggregate sentence of 50 years to life in the Nevada Department of Corrections.
According to KSNV, court records show Barry-Edwards entered the guilty plea agreement in August 2026, with the parties agreeing to 25 years to life in prison on each count, to be served consecutively. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 15, 2026. The plea follows a chain of violence that began in May 2021, when police say Barry-Edwards was fleeing officers after fighting with them over a stolen motorcycle and SUV.
Two Killings Days Apart
The first of the two murders happened on May 9, 2021, when 31-year-old Eric Mosley was found dead inside a trailer on the 2900 block of Las Vegas Boulevard North. Police believe Mosley was fatally shot over an $800 unpaid debt tied to a stolen car, according to an arrest report relayed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Barry-Edwards is charged in Mosley's murder, though the seed reporting on the case provides no further detail on that particular killing.
That same day, Sandra Marie Cruz-Lopez was found dead in a burnt-out truck off Lake Mead Boulevard near the east valley, on Bureau of Land Management land near Frenchman Mountain. She died from multiple gunshot wounds, and her death was ruled a homicide. A witness told investigators that Barry-Edwards instructed his girlfriend, Jordan Monahan, to shoot Cruz-Lopez inside the stolen truck before the vehicle was set ablaze, the Review-Journal's arrest report detailed. Fingerprints recovered from a stolen Chevrolet Silverado allowed North Las Vegas police and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to jointly link both Barry-Edwards and Monahan to the two homicides, which occurred across North Las Vegas and unincorporated Clark County.
The 29-Hour Standoff on Dean Martin Drive
Roughly two weeks later, on May 26, 2021, the case became a citywide spectacle. Per Law & Crime, the standoff began when a Metro officer spotted a stolen SUV in the parking lot of a motel near Dean Martin Drive and Blue Diamond Road and tried to detain Barry-Edwards. A physical fight broke out, and the officer reportedly kicked Barry-Edwards twice in the head after he allegedly reached into his vest for a firearm. Barry-Edwards then ran into Room 113 of the Highland Inn Motel at 8025 Dean Martin Drive, according to police, before cutting through the wall into Room 114 with a saw.
Inside that adjacent room, a 4-year-old boy managed to escape after two hours by crawling through the hole Barry-Edwards had cut, the Review-Journal's reporting noted. A woman was held for 21 hours before Barry-Edwards fired five gunshots at SWAT officers during the ordeal. Both hostages were ultimately rescued during negotiations, and Barry-Edwards surrendered peacefully after the 29-hour standoff came to an end.
Charges That Piled Up Over Five Months
Barry-Edwards was originally charged with 14 felony counts stemming from the motel incident, including kidnapping and attempted murder of police officers, according to the Review-Journal's account of the case. Murder charges tied to Mosley's and Cruz-Lopez's deaths were formally added five months later, while he remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center following his May 2021 arrest.
Jordan Monahan, identified by investigators as Barry-Edwards' girlfriend, was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, first-degree arson, and first-degree kidnapping in connection with Cruz-Lopez's death, per the Review-Journal's reporting. Court records now show Monahan has also pleaded guilty in the Cruz-Lopez murder case, though the exact charges she is pleading guilty to remain unclear.
Statutory Stakes Behind the Deal
Under Nevada Revised Statutes Section 200.030, a first-degree murder conviction in Nevada carries penalties ranging from a definite 50-year prison sentence with parole eligibility after 20 years to life without parole or death, according to Justia Law. Separately, Nevada Revised Statutes Section 193.165 requires an additional consecutive sentence enhancement of 1 to 20 years for felonies committed with a deadly weapon, one that cannot run concurrently with the underlying conviction, according to a legal analysis published by 702 Defense. By pleading guilty, Barry-Edwards resolves years of pending litigation across multiple jurisdictions without risking the harsher end of that statutory range.
Cruz-Lopez's mother, Jacquelina Anzalone-Rien, spoke publicly after the October 2021 murder charges were filed, calling her daughter's killing “a mother's worst nightmare” in an interview relayed by Law & Crime and urging prosecutors to secure justice. With Barry-Edwards now set to be sentenced next month, that case moves toward its final chapter more than five years after Cruz-Lopez and Mosley were killed within the same 24-hour span.
