Blueprint for murder: Serviceman executes detailed plot for revenge

Beautiful and athletic Lisa Berlanga grew up in a tight-knit religious family in Midland, Texas.

From a young age Lisa knew two things: One, that she wanted to serve others; the other, that she was gay.

Lisa would eventually find happiness in both areas of her life, enlisting in the United States Coast Guard, and falling in love with fellow Petty Officer Anna Trubnikova, her soon-to-be wife.

But being gay in the military came with its challenges.

"At that time, it was still 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' So to a particular degree, they kept the fact hidden," attorney Drew Segadelli tells Crime Watch Daily.

After serving in California and Louisiana, Lisa is sent to a very different climate: the frozen tundra of Kodiak, Alaska. Her new boss is a man named Adrian Loya.

"Adrian Loya grew up in Texas, where he attended high school before enlisting in the Coast Guard as an information-technology specialist," said Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, a former reporter with the Cape Cod Times.

"He was a Coast Guardsman through and through, he did a fine job at it," said Segadelli.

Lisa and Loya become fast friends.

"They did things together, whether it be watching televisions shows, playing video games," said Segadelli.

They even spent a holiday together.

"The Thanksgiving before Lisa marries Anna, Lisa invites Adrian to join them at Thanksgiving dinner," said Segadelli. "So Adrian met the family, broke bread with them, had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner."

Months later, the happy couple tied the knot. But Anna makes clear not she's keen on sharing her new wife with Adrian Loya.

"Anna couldn't really accept their friendship," said Segadelli.

But despite Anna's feelings about Adrian Loya, he and Lisa remain co-workers and friends. And one night while Anna is out of town, Lisa invites Loya over to watch TV -- and a bit more.

"When Loya arrived, he realized that Lisa had been drinking," said Orecchio-Egresitz. "She made a move on him and tried to kiss him. It made him very uncomfortable. She eventually went into her bedroom and he heard a thump. He went to check on her, and she again made a sexual advance at him."

Lisa sits down on the bed and says to her buddy:

"'Why don't you come to bed with me, Adrian?' And I believe she even reached out and touched him on the arm," said attorney Drew Segadelli. "From that point on he believed that he was sexually assaulted by her."

Sexually assaulted? A misunderstanding, right? Or an awkwardly drunken night between friends? Not for Adrian Loya.

"A month or two passes and he writes her a long email saying what she had inflicted on him, I believe it was 26 pages," said Segadelli. "She doesn't immediately respond, but what does he do? He sends the email to poor Anna. Lisa tells Adrian, 'Stay away from us, we don't want you anywhere near our lives.'"

Loya takes it even a step further.

"He goes to the authorities and tells the Coast Guard investigators of what had transpired that night," said Segadelli.

"The Coast Guard found that he shouldn't have been in that situation because he was Lisa's superior, and both of them were reprimanded," said Orecchio-Egresitz.

Months later, Loya is transferred to a base in Portsmouth, Virginia. Lisa and Anna eventually relocate to near Bourne, Massachusetts. All have gotten on with their lives -- or have they?

Turns out, while the women have put Loya in their rearview mirror, Loya's issues surrounding Lisa and the alleged sexual assault seem to be following him into the future.

"A disciplinary letter was put in his file when he transferred to Virginia," said Orecchio-Egresitz. "His new boss brought up the incident, and he felt that it caused him to lose a promotion."

Feeling violated and defamed, Loya's now on a mission, needing to right a wrong, dedicating himself to one thing.

"Taking out the evil that had infiltrated his life," said Drew Segadelli.

The evil? Lisa Trubnikova.

"She must receive her day like he did. He was victimized, it was time for her to be victimized," said Segadelli.

Not just victimized -- dead.

"Revenge was the motivating factor," said Segadelli.

United States Coast Guardsman Adrian Loya is out for blood: Lisa Trubnikova's blood.

"He wanted Lisa to die, and it was based on the alleged sexual assault," said Haven Orecchio-Egresitz.

Loya writes about his obsessive thoughts and feelings about Lisa. It's a blueprint for murder. He calls it "Loya Wars."

"'Loya Wars' is a 250-page manifesto describing Loya's relationship with Lisa and why he wanted to kill her," said Haven Orecchio-Egresitz.

In the last chapter, entitled "Operation: Purple Rebel," Loya writes a 13-point plan of how he'll get his final revenge, detailing: " ... The mission is a basic assassination mission. Confront Lisa anyway I can and terminate her... Make sure Lisa knows that it is I taking her life and why. This should be very interesting how it actually plays out. I am excited!"

"The plan that he had written out in his manifesto really started taking shape in that October," said Segadelli.

As the autumn leaves are falling, Loya, armed with Lisa and Anna's home address, drives 10 hours from his home in Chesapeake, Virginia to their home in Bourne, Massachusetts. He's doing a dry run.

"So October he does reconnaissance," said Segadelli. "He even set up these cameras outside, 'hunting cameras,' some refer to them as, to verify that the two women lived there."

They do. In one video, Lisa is seen taking their dog out for a walk. And in two others, Lisa and Anna are seen leaving the house together. But for Loya, there's still more to do, including casing the women's neighborhood, recording it all on video.

"He needed to see where he was going to be fighting, his vantage points," said Segadelli.

While driving, Loya has a panic attack. He turns the camera around to record it in real time.

"Uh, all right, pull over on the side of the road. I'm having like a panic attack. I started hyperventilating. I feel paralyzed. I can't move," Loya says on the video.

Then he pulls over to say more.

"It was bad. My whole body was tingling, a weird tingling sensation and I realized I was getting into an accident, so I wasn't able to totally control the car anymore, so I slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road, turned on the hazards, and then that's when I started the video because I knew this was big and people need to know about it," Loya says on the recording. "I guess also for my records so I can see what happens. This helped out a lot, walked out, it's really pretty out here, looking gorgeous this time of year. I'm going to start heading to the car, so yeah, this is for myself, this is for the investigators. No more secrets like this. Thank you for listening."

Loya goes home after that. But just four months later, he is back in Bourne, ready to carry out his savage mission. "Loya Wars" will come to fruition. He's chosen his 31st birthday as the day. But first, under cover of darkness, Loya sets up a camera again. He needs confirmation Lisa and Anna are home. Then, hours later:

"He took the camera down, went out to his car, played it on his laptop, verified they were in the home," said Segadelli.

Lisa and Anna are there, oblivious to what's happening right outside their door. Oblivious to the horror that's about to come. It's now 2 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2015. Adrian Loya is prepared for battle.

"He was dressed in black tactical gear with a mask over his face," said Haven Orecchio-Egresitz.

First, he employs several diversionary tactics, starting with a fire.

"Loya set his car on fire to block the entry to the condominium complex," said Orecchio-Egresitz.

"So now the car is on fire, he sets up the boombox or stereo system outside of the vehicle," said Segadelli.

The music playing is the theme from Star Wars. Loya's just getting started.

"Next to that he made what had appeared to be an explosive device with a cellphone connected," said Segadelli. "He sets up another device a bit up the road."

As the neighborhood sleeps, a nightmare is unfolding.

Now advancing on the condominium, Loya walks down the snowy street armed with four guns, a knife, two pairs of handcuffs, and he's wearing a body-camera. Loya wants to record everything that's about to happen. He places a .22-caliber rifle in the snow banks near the house, then walks up to Lisa and Anna's front door. Two shots fired and the door is breached.

"He made his way in. There's no lights on. He went up the stairs," said Segadelli.

And he bursts into Lisa and Anna's bedroom. Moments later multiple shots are fired. Then there's silence. The audio recording of the 911 call is graphic and disturbing, and includes gunfire.

Adrian Loya called his ultimate mission of revenge against a female Coast Guardsman who he blamed for ruining his life "Operation: Purple Rebel." It was a deadly plot that he detailed in a bizarre 250-page manuscript. The one chapter that was missing: How would it all end?

Heavily armed United States Coast Guardsman Adrian Loya is carrying out his mission to kill. He's just burst into married fellow officers Lisa and Anna Trubnikova's house, shooting them both.

Anna had been on the phone with 911 in Barnstable, Mass. for almost 20 minutes, desperate for help to arrive.

Not far away from Anna and Lisa is Bourne Police Patrolman Jared MacDonald. With Adrian Loya's whereabouts unknown, getting to the women is difficult.

"I really had no idea where a shooter was," Jared MacDonald tells Crime Watch Daily. "I was concerned of an ambush."

Then moments later, gunshots. Officer MacDonald on the radio tells his fellow officers he's been hit by gunfire.

"I knew I had been shot almost instantaneously," said MacDonald. "I heard the gunshots, I recognized the sound. For a split-second I lost track of everything, but regained it quickly enough that I felt myself hit the ground. My right leg didn't work at all, and I had a strange feeling throughout my body, so as quickly as possible I pulled myself with my hands back behind the car for cover."

"Once the shooting stopped I remember trying to process everything and remembering how quiet everything was," said MacDonald.

In that silence, MacDonald holsters his gun. But Officer Andrew Lieberwirth, who has taken cover next to him, says:

"'Take your gun back out, you're still in the battle, it's not over,'" said MacDonald.

By now, Anna Trubnikova has been on the phone an excruciating 36 minutes.

Lisa Trubnikova, Adrian Loya's original target, has been shot 11 times and is dead. And as Anna is fighting for her life lying next to her wife's bullet-riddled body, she's petrified Loya will return to finish the job.

Just minutes later, Adrian Loya appears.

"He came walking down and that's when I heard them giving him commands," said Jared MacDonald.

Loya lays his guns and body-camera down and surrenders.

"That's when they were able to take him into custody," said MacDonald.

The rescue missions can resume. Officer Nathan Monteiro jumps in to get his comrade to safety.

"He just immediately grabbed me and put me over his shoulder and ran up to the ambulance," said MacDonald.

Police are now just steps away from Anna, who has been on the phone with 911 for an unimaginable 53 minutes. Her condition is getting more dire by the second.

Then just in time, after 56 minutes, help arrives.

Anna Trubnikova and Officer MacDonald are rushed to the hospital. Anna has been shot four times.

"Anna was shot in both arms, her thigh and her chest," said Haven Orecchio-Egresitz.

Officer Jared MacDonald was shot once in the back.

"The round struck just below my vest right next to my spine. It struck my kidney and my liver and stopped just under my skin in my stomach," MacDonald tells Crime Watch Daily.

As Anna and Officer MacDonald are being treated for their wounds, Adrian Loya is at the police department, and he's ready to talk -- not only ready, but willing.

Adrian Loya: "I just want to let you guys all know I am not gonna lie at any point, I'm gonna tell all the truth. So I can go through point to point to point. Because I know i'm already a dead man on this stuff."

Detective: "Do you have an idea of what you did tonight?"

Loya: "Yes, sir."

Detective: "What was it that you did?"

Loya: "I murdered a woman."

Detective: "OK, and the way that you were going to murder her was how?"

Loya: "Initial plan was to do the breach with the shotgun and through that during the middle of the night that should scare them, provide the fear that I had during that night at her house. Then go up there. I didn't want to touch Anna at all. Anna, I considered total innocent. I had a knife on me on the belt and I wanted to do some kind of quick -- I didn't want anything gruesome, but, as far as I knew, straight to the heart."

Detective: "So you were going to take the knife and put it into her chest?"

Loya: "Correct."

Detective: "And you just said put it into her heart?"

Loya: "Correct. But that didn't happen."

Detective: "OK, what did happen?"

Adrian Loya is about to tell Bourne Police what really happened after he entered Lisa and Anna Trubnikova's house, the end game to his sadistic scheme detailed in his manifesto "Loya Wars."

Detective: "What happened once you stepped inside?"

Adrian Loya: "I went up the stairs to my right, I knew that's where the bedroom would be."

Loya knew which bedroom, because during his meticulous preparation, he found a real estate website that showed the exact layout of their place.

Loya says on the landing outside their room:

Loya: "The cat actually, actually kind of a big cat, the cat came and pounced on me. And that's when I opened the door to the room and they were there."

Detective: "What happened when you opened the door up to the bedroom?"

Loya: "Well, I yelled how you guys would yell: 'Get down, get down, get down, face down. Hands up.'"

Detective: "OK, and what are they doing?"

Loya: "Screaming. Did not comply."

Loya says he ripped the sheets off Lisa and Anna and told them to separate.

Loya: "They wanted to know who this was. Who is this thief trying to steal their stuff, but then that's, I had a mask on and pulled it off. Well, Lisa said my name. She asked me why I was there. I told her why. I told her 'Here I am, this is what you did to me two years ago, you raped me, even though it's not a physical rape, it was the, basically a rape of a mind, from a sexual attack.' She just kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' I told her 'You had over two years to say you're sorry.'"

Loya says after that, he turned around for a moment.

Loya: "That's when they threw the mattress up."

Detective: "What was the thought process then?"

Loya: "I knew I had to complete the mission, which was terminate Lisa."

Detective: "You discharged the firearm? And where did you discharge it to?"

Loya: "In the direction that I knew Lisa was underneath the mattress."

Detective: "OK, and did the discharging the firearm, did it strike her?"

Loya: "I heard the gurgling noises."

Detective: "And what was Anna saying during this time?"

Loya: "I don't think it was words. I think it was screams."

Anna had been shot too. Loya says after completing his mission inside, he says he went outside to conclude his "Loya Wars" plan, to engage in a "firefight with officers only" and "keep fighting until I am stopped."

But something he hadn't counted on: Bourne Police never fired a shot.

Detective: "OK, how do you feel right now about everything?"

Loya: "I didn't see the aftermath, I just know I took a life, but it was a life I wanted to take. The job's done."

Adrian Loya was arrested and charged with 30 counts, including murder. Attorney Drew Segadelli agreed to represent him. In one of Segadelli's many meetings with his client, he learns, tragically, there was something that almost prevented that deadly day from happening.

"There was a Star Wars movie about to come out, and he actually had second thoughts about committing this crime so he could see the new movie," said Segadelli.

After his arrest, police get a warrant to search Loya's Virginia home. They need to proceed cautiously. Even though the explosive devices he placed near his burning car turned out to be hoaxes, cops can't be too sure. And it turns out, Loya was expecting them.

"The place was essentially bare. He had spread oil on the floor, oil on the handrails to the stairs, upstairs, and oil on the stairs so one would slip," said Segadelli.

Two and a half years later, the case goes to trial.

"This wasn't a quote 'Whodunnit?' Simply wasn't, so how else do you explain it. How do you explain a man who has no criminal record, who is not a bad guy, to commit such a heinous, awful act?" said Drew Segadelli.

Adrian Loya's defense was not guilty by reason of mental defect.

"All of the mental health experts agreed that Loya suffered from some kind of mental-health defect," said reporter Haven Orecchio-Egresitz. "They didn't agree on what defect, and they also didn't agree that the defect interfered with his ability to conform with the law."

On day six of the trial, an emotional Anna Trubnikova takes the stand. She described in detail the horror of being awakened by an armed intruder and the moment that madman revealed his identity.

"She yelled out his name in shock," Anna Trubnikova testified. "It was Adrian Loya. He mostly spoke to her. He's like 'See what you've done to me? You're making me do this.' 'This is what I have become because of you,' and she was asking 'What did I do?' or 'Sorry.' And he said 'It's too late.'"

Anna says Loya fired one shot.

"Maybe seconds afterwards there were more shots," Anna testified. "I knew they weren't at me, I didn't feel it yet. The sound also went to my left, and at some point there were more shots and then I finally felt getting shot myself, at some point the shots ceased. I figured we only have seconds to live, I turned to Lisa, 'I love you,' to which she responded 'I love you too,' and right after that I heard a lot of gushing blood. Gurgling, almost. She started choking, exhaled and I for myself knew that she was dead at that point."

Anna says it was then in the darkness she heard a voice.

"I was laying there after I figured she died, so I'm next. I heard a man saying '911, What's your emergency?' I realized that at some point she must have dialed 911 and perhaps the phone was on the whole time," Anna testified.

That call to 911 placed by Lisa ended up saving Anna's life.

Crime Watch Daily reached out to Anna Trubnikova, but never heard back. Her mother told us that Anna's not doing interviews and is trying to put this tragedy behind her.

Just before the case went to the jury, and while lawyers are having a sidebar with the judge, Adrian Loya does something shocking caught on camera.

"He looked at the jurors and said 'I am guilty,'" said Segadelli. "I was never so upset. I told him do not sabotage his defense."

The judge wasn't happy either.

"Mr. Loya, behavior of the sort that I have seen on the film clip is absolutely inappropriate," the judge said. "If there is any repeat conduct on your part, I will consider removing you from the trial process."

After two weeks of testimony and three days of deliberations, the jury comes back with the verdict: Guilty of first-degree murder.

"Adrian Loya was sentenced to life in prison without parole on the first-degree murder charge," said reporter Haven Orecchio-Egresitz. "He was also convicted on firearms charges, assault charges, burglary and many others."

"He knows what he did, he doesn't necessarily see it as criminal, or bad," said Drew Segadelli. "He was avenging the evil that was brought upon him, and that's how he justifies it in his mind."

Many have been deeply affected by Adrian Loya's sick obsession and his barbaric acts that day. Kerry MacDonald says her husband Officer Jared MacDonald's life is changed forever. MacDonald, who's now retired from the police department, still suffers from severe pain and nerve damage. He now has a service dog who helps him get around.

And as MacDonald struggles every day, a poignant moment he shared in the hospital with Lisa's devastated family will stay with him forever.

"A very sweet family, a very loving family," said MacDonald. "When Lisa's mom hugged me, I wasn't quite sure that she was going to let go. You could just feel her heart was broken."