Episode 199 - The Multiverse Of A Workplace Crush
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Our homes are more than just physical structures. There are sanctuaries, providing safe refuge from the outside world. But imagine if someone had meticulously written a 250-page manifesto, obsessively determined to breach that sanctuary.

Someone so consumed with rage over a perceived wrongdoing from years earlier that deadbolts and alarms would do nothing to stop them from carrying out their mission to exact revenge. Mr. 911, where are you? 11 Roundhouse Road. 11 Roundhouse, what's going on there? There is a shooter.

Join me now as we explore the shocking case of the twisted mind of Adrian Loya, a violent home invasion, and a friendship that warped into obsession.

For people serving in the U.S. military, relocation is just a regular part of the job. With over 750 bases in 80 countries offering diverse deployment opportunities, Kodiak, Alaska boasts one of the largest U.S. Coast Guard bases in the world.

Its rugged terrain and harsh conditions make it especially harrowing to perform rescue missions with challenges so intense, it's inspired a four-season reality show called Coast Guard Alaska documenting the risks faced by the brave men and women in service. And this is where this case all begins, in the IT department between two co-workers on a military base in the isolated city of Kodiak, Alaska.

The word "crush" can be defined as "to destroy, subdue, or utterly suppress." So it's intriguing how the same term is also used to describe romantic infatuation. This raises the question: who is being crushed in matters of infatuation?

Is it the person who's infatuated, feeling overwhelmed by unrequited desire? Or is it the object of their adoration, crushed under the weight of awkward, unreciprocated feelings?

Beyond middle school, the workplace is one of the most common places for crushes to develop. And in September 2011, 27-year-old Adrian Loya developed exactly that, a workplace crush. Adrian was tall, 6'2", with dark hair and close-set eyes.

He'd joined the Coast Guard in 2005, but had only been stationed in Kodiak, Alaska for a couple of weeks. On the surface, he came across as your typical IT guy. A little awkward, nerdy, the kind of guy who collected action figures and kept the Starship Enterprise on full display in his living room.

It was at a Coast Guard morale event that Adrian first met Lisa Berlanga, an attractive, charming brunette. They seemed to have all the ingredients for a great friendship, or as Adrian had hoped, something more.

They both worked in the IT department and quickly bonded over the fact that they were both from the state of Texas. They also had a similar sense of humor and loved quirky comedy shows like Arrested Development and The Simpsons. Adrian had been a bit of a loner for most of his life and found himself drawn to Lisa.

They easily riffed off one another with quotes from their favorite shows and started spending time together outside of work. Lisa even invited Adrian over for Thanksgiving in 2011. This was new for Adrian, being a self-described quiet person who liked to keep to himself.

It wasn't that Adrian considered himself as antisocial, he just didn't feel the need to be around others in order to feel alright. Instead, he preferred gaming and had a preoccupation with Star Wars movies. As a child, he spent a lot of time creating vivid daydreams of being trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker himself.

His mother described him as a withdrawn child and wanted him to see a counselor because as he got older, he turned more confrontational, even volatile toward his younger siblings. But Adrian's father didn't think counseling was necessary and the matter was dropped.

In school, Adrian was the target for bullies who called him names like Mute and Lurch. And as Adrian became an adult, his introverted nature continued. In 2009, Adrian swore off romantic relationships, feeling as though women he dated didn't meet his expectations.

He believed that if relationships weren't perfect, too much effort and sacrifice was needed to keep them going. But with Lisa, he thought he'd found someone who shared his interests and made him feel good. And he confided this one day to a high school friend, Jacob Heller, filling him in on Lisa when they Skyped to play a video game together.

He told me that he met someone who was either on his same base or in his unit or who worked close to him and that he found kind of a kindred spirit and they had a lot in common.

In his journal, Adrian penned his thoughts on what he termed as the "Lisa Effect", where he couldn't help but feel that, when Lisa was around, she possessed this almost superpower-like effect on his mood, making him feel good about himself.

He wrote that he had a huge crush on her and for the first time in his life felt regret that he was alone. But what Adrian had known at the time was that he would be forever destined to stay in the friend zone when it came to Lisa. Any hopes he might have had for a romantic relationship would just never happen. Because Lisa was already engaged to another Coast Guard reservist, Anna Trebnikova.

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Lisa was born in Midland, Texas in 1983 and grew up in a devoutly religious household, spending much of her childhood along with her siblings traveling the country doing missionary work. But what Lisa's family didn't know was that she had a secret she was hiding, something she'd known about herself from a young age. She was gay.

Eventually, Lisa would leave the church, but according to a close childhood friend, continued to be inspired by the missionary work she'd been a part of.

So it was no surprise to family and friends when Lisa decided to continue a life of service with the Coast Guard. After attending the University of Houston, Lisa joined the Coast Guard and became an IT specialist. But the new job posed certain challenges for Lisa because the military demanded a person's sexuality be kept hidden if they were gay.

The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was a U.S. military policy in effect from 1993 to 2011, prohibiting military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted gay, lesbian, or bisexual service members, but also banned openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals from serving in the military. The

The policy required service members to keep their sexual orientation a secret and not disclose it. It also prohibited military officials from asking about or investigating a service member's sexual orientation. The policy was eventually repealed in September 2011, allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals to serve openly in the US military.

But despite this policy, Lisa was open about her sexuality. She shared with Adrian that she'd recently become engaged to a woman after a whirlwind romance. The couple had met earlier that year in January 2011 at a military base in San Francisco and fell in love. After a short engagement, Anna and Lisa took a trip in 2011 and got married on December 30th.

Afterward, Lisa's wife Anna transferred to Kodiak and moved in with Lisa in late January 2012.

and although they officially lived off base, they were still only about a 10 minute drive from the base barracks. After Adrian had had Lisa all to himself for nearly five months, Adrian wasn't too thrilled about having to now share her with someone else. But Adrian seemed to come to terms with the reality that he and Lisa would be nothing more than good friends, and seemed to become preoccupied with building a friendship with Lisa's wife Anna.

Or possibly this was just a ploy to continue spending more time with Lisa. Went from I want to be her friend to I want to be her friend and I want to be her wife's friend to a point where I believe that we were getting into maybe inappropriate territory in the sense of these two people had a relationship and he seemed to be wanting to get into that relationship.

get into that relationship more closely with both of those people. Soon Anna became aware that Adrian seemed to be giving her wife special attention. The first night she met Adrian at a group outing at a bar. More or less, I mean, it was a very small bar. I would say towards the end of our hanging out, he seemed kind of interested in her just personally.

Nothing peculiar, just... And to me it wasn't because it was easy, I guess, to find her attractive, especially when you don't look very gay on the outside. So I just noticed that he would mainly talk to her. And at one point he said something because we were very close together, probably holding hands, and...

He said something along the lines of us getting married and that he doesn't believe in marriage and he doesn't think people should get married or it's not something that he believes in, which I thought was an odd thing to say to me at that time because we just got married. When Lisa and Anna went to leave, Adrian caught a ride home with them, despite the fact that the rest of the group was still partying at the bar.

Another night, Adrian invited a few people over to his place to play. He seemed friendly and a lot more accommodating to Lisa than the three, which is me and the couple. He had offered her a rock star job.

energy drink and he was playing off some inside joke that there's plenty of rock star energies for her, but he didn't offer it to anybody else. Adrian was also insistent that Lisa and Anna watch his favorite movie with him, Star Wars. He would talk about his favorite movie, Star Wars, and he was very adamant to tell us to watch it with him, that it was like the greatest movie

Anna grew wary of Adrian. It was obvious to her that Adrian was crushing badly on Lisa and had ulterior motives.

She'd had enough and demanded that Lisa stop hanging out with him outside of work. Lisa agreed. Adrian, however, wasn't happy that his supposed kindred spirit would no longer spend time with him. The self-described loner, who didn't need anyone to feel alright, would now have to go watch his quirky comedies all alone once again.

Adrian resented in his assumption he was after her wife. This sudden estrangement created a strained office environment as they returned to the clipped formal way of speaking in the military. Avoiding each other outside of work was difficult on such a small island, leading to frequent tense encounters between the two.

So in September 2012, exactly a year after Adrian and Lisa first met, Lisa called Adrian and asked if he wanted to come over and watch TV together, just like the good old days. She even told him to bring a bottle of vodka. This invitation came at a time when Anna happened to be away for a three-week training mission.

Adrian was elated. This was the very first time that Lisa had asked Adrian to hang out with just him.

It was just after midnight when Adrian got to Lisa's place. Whether he knew Lisa had been drinking when they spoke on the phone or only realized it once he got to her place is unclear. Either way, Adrian sat down on the couch next to her and joined in. The two spent some time drinking and watching TV, and Lisa became extremely inebriated. What happened next is Adrian's account of events.

He claims that while they were watching The Simpsons, Lisa began to please herself, then made a pass at Adrian and tried to kiss him. He refused. Lisa then tried to pull him in the direction of her bedroom and propositioned him. He said Lisa then got up and went to the bathroom. Adrian stayed behind in the living room and claimed he felt very disturbed by this point.

He was worried about what it would look like. After all, he helped rank over Lisa, and here he was at her place, in the middle of the night, when she was very drunk. Adrian could have left, but inexplicably, with his career flashing before his eyes, he didn't.

He then said he heard a thump in the bathroom. Concerned, he went in to check on Lisa, who exited the bathroom and said she was okay. Adrian claimed he told Lisa he was leaving, but Lisa said no and pulled him into her bedroom. Adrian then claimed he went into a frozen state.

It might be worth mentioning that the size difference between Adrian at 6'2 and Lisa at just over 5 feet was substantial. Once in the bedroom, Lisa flopped down on the bed and pulled Adrian to sit on the bed with her. Again, he said, she propositioned him, saying something along the lines of, ''Come on, dude, what's your problem? We won't tell Anna.''

Adrian remained in his frozen state, but managed to say no to Lisa yet again. Lisa then passed out, and Adrian left.

The following day, Lisa apologized to Adrian and begged him not to tell anyone, especially to keep it a secret from her wife. Adrian promised he would, but this was a promise he would break. Adrian just couldn't let it go, write it off as some drunken episode. The kind of night in which nothing really happened, but the suggestion that it could have.

Instead, he became consumed by it. His mind turned over every single detail. Adrian felt as though he'd been the victim of a sexual assault and that Lisa was his attacker.

He felt violated. An article about Adrian in Psychology Today details how he broke into tears during a routine sexual assault prevention course and told Lisa he hoped she kept notes. Adrian developed insomnia and started taking large quantities of Benadryl to sleep.

He would later say he became addicted to it. A forensic psychologist stated that Adrian held the delusional belief that he had been raped.

Interacting with Lisa in the office was now a minefield for Adrian. He felt her tone of voice had hardened and that she yelled at him all because he didn't sleep with her. Adrian wrote out his feelings in a 22-page email and sent it to Lisa, letting her know that, that night, he had never been so scared in his life. He sent the same email to Anna, informing her that she was married to a sexual predator.

Of course, this infuriated Lisa. Knowing how angry she was, Adrian was now consumed by fear of potential consequences. He felt an overwhelming need to preempt any potential accusations Lisa might make against him in some act of vengeance because he'd turned her down. Despite the fact that Lisa never once indicated she would do so,

So Adrian reported the incident to his superior. He wanted to file a sexual assault charge against Lisa, but his superior didn't take his claim seriously. Adrian still pursued his allegations to the Coast Guard Investigation Services. It was recommended Adrian get some counseling as the CGIS determined whether his allegations held any validity. Again, Lisa only touched his arm.

Fortunately, as tensions came to a boiling point, both Adrian and Lisa's postings had come to an end. Their tumultuous two years in Kodiak, Alaska were over. In June 2013, Anna and Lisa were transferred to Cape Cod and Adrian was posted in Virginia. It looked as if all parties would go their separate ways and move on with their lives. And that's exactly what Lisa and Anna did.

They moved into a condo and continued on in their respective careers in the Coast Guard. They got a dog and cat, and Adrian Loya faded into an unpleasant memory. Adrian's path, however, veered wildly into a different direction.

There are two sides to every story. It's a common enough saying that acknowledges that any single event or circumstances is open to interpretation, and that each person could experience conflicting versions of the same event. And then, sometimes, there's a person who holds a version of an event that seems completely unhinged from the agreed-upon parameters of reality.

If reality is a multiple choice questionnaire, they would choose none of the above.

For Adrian, his version of that drunken night with Lisa was a sexual assault. Worse, he became trapped there, reliving that night, his version of events, over and over in his mind, until it splintered into two very black and white sides. Just like his beloved Star Wars movies, Adrian was like a young Jedi again in his imagination. He needed to fight against his oppressor.

In his mind, he was good and Lisa was evil. This battle waged in his mind, completely unbeknownst to Lisa and Anna. Adrian wrote, Every detail encompassing this night with Lisa was burned into my mind in complete vividness. It was the first day when my mind started down a dark, lonely path.

The nightmares started soon after. Lisa would appear in my dream, and there was nothing I could do. I was struck with intense fear, and I had to wake up.

I hate that my dreams have been taken away. It was hate that was created in me that day. I was filled with hate for someone for the very first time. Just pure distilled hate. And nothing else was in me because of this one person. And I'll return to this person so she can look upon her creation and she'll be destroyed by what she's wrought. I hate Lisa Berlanga.

After leaving Kodiak, Adrian drove to his father's house to pick up his dog. Along the way, he hired a sex worker to see if his PTSD from being sexually assaulted would prevent him from performing. He would later confide that he would hire sex workers to rub his back when he played video games but just couldn't enjoy it anymore.

After arriving at his father's place, he saw his dog was not doing very well. His golden retriever, Tawny, was old, and he believed his father had neglected her. So Adrian had to put his dog down. And for this, he also blamed Lisa. It seemed as if Lisa was becoming a scapegoat for everything that was going wrong in Adrian's life.

When he arrived at his new posting in Chesapeake, Virginia, the Coast Guard made a ruling on his sexual assault allegation against Lisa. Adrian didn't get the results he'd hoped for. Instead, he was reprimanded for abusing his superiority over Lisa and received what is referred to in the Coast Guard as a Page 7, which is a disciplinary form that would be attached to his record.

He was then ordered to not contact Lisa or Hannah. Their command, Lisa's and his command, has had advice that the Coast Guard Investigative Service investigation was completed and there was no further action, but he was ordered not to contact us and this is where he's going and if he attempts to contact us to let them know right away.

Once settled in Chesapeake, Adrian holed up in his apartment. He went to work, came home, and then would spend hours playing video games. His neighbors said they'd hear incessant gunfire coming from his apartment, but otherwise, Adrian was a neighbor who'd never say hello or seemed to ever have friends or family over. When Adrian was passed over for a promotion, this became the final turning point in his mental deterioration.

In Adrian's mind, he was being punished for being the victim of a sexual assault. With his career in the Coast Guard threatened, Adrian fell further into depression and continued to take Benadryl to cope.

All the while, Lisa was out there living her life. To him, it just wasn't fair. Good should prevail over evil. That's when Adrian began crafting his manifesto, titled "The Wrath of Loya." It opens by mimicking the famous Star Wars opening a long, long time ago in an island far away.

It was important to Adrian that once he enacted his meticulously planned revenge, people would understand why he did what he did. Specifically, he wrote, every time you see the news about a deadly tragedy, it's always either considered senseless or people never find out why the killer did what he did. But here is everything for the reasons I did this. You may consider them bad reasons, but that's you.

He spent months plotting his attack on Lisa, and how in that final act, Lisa would finally see what she'd done to him. She'd know what he'd become, all because of her, as he plunged a knife deep into her heart.

In preparation for his attack, he amassed other weapons, expecting to go down in a blaze of gunfire with police after the attack on Lisa. Even the final decision on the rifle he would use was based on the fact it looked like one from the video game Halo.

First, Adrian had to find out where Lisa and Anna lived. To do this, he used the Coast Guard database to figure out their address in Cape Cod. In October 2014, he drove to their home and set up game cameras used for hunting so he could surveil Lisa and Anna's movements. On the way home, he suffered a panic attack, which he recorded as further proof of how much Lisa had damaged him.

I feel paralyzed.

I can't move. You know, it's just incredibly crazy what I've been planning to do. I want to conduct a mission to go murder a girl and then die. It's not exactly the healthiest thoughts.

With his reconnaissance mission completed and his cache of weapons hoarded in his apartment, there was only one thing left for Adrian to do: choose the date of his attack. For Adrian, it seemed especially poignant to choose his birthday, February 5th. Writing "Going out on my birthday" would be poetic.

But this was a hard decision for Adrian, because it meant he would miss the 2015 release of the newest Star Wars movie. The only other thing that bothered Adrian was that he didn't want his neat figurines and Star Wars memorabilia to go to waste. So he sent in a huge box and a note to a gaming podcast that streams on YouTube called Giant Bomb, where they sometimes open boxes sent in from their fans.

When the host of Giant Bomb began to open the box, they noticed there was a letter, which they read. Hi, Giant Bomb. Just in case you were already freaking out yourselves, I have not sent you an actual gun. Bummer. But I have sent you an airsoft rifle. Yes. Oh, is there a rifle in there too? I don't think so. And gear to go with it.

i mean there's a bunch of magazines in the front of that thing that's true that must go to a rival maybe well maybe another one here much love and beef adrian aka hyper aqua blast on the internet and purple rebel in the field of battle with his affairs now in order adrian waited for his birthday to arrive he wrote in his manifesto that he was feeling excited

For Lisa and Anna, February 5th was a typical day. Anna had done some training classes, and after work, Lisa and Anna did a bit of car shopping at local dealerships. After, they went to the mall, and then had dinner. Once back at home, they spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Never would they have predicted that for the last two days, Adrian had been staying at a local quality inn where he was ingesting laxatives so when he was shot down by police, his body wouldn't be soiled. At 2am, Lisa and Anna were woke by a strange noise. Adrian had shut open the front door of their condo and was making his way up to their bedroom.

He could easily navigate in the dark because he found a layout for their condo on a real estate website. But just before reaching their bedroom, Lisa and Anna's cat pounced. Adrian put the cat down and entered Lisa and Anna's bedroom. There, I think, was some sort of noise to where she kind of stirred in bed. So I think that woke me up and I, half asleep, kind of remember some noise. I don't know what it was.

She, I think, said something to me, which I said, it's nothing. I'm pretty sure I was half asleep, but I said it's nothing and that it might be the cats. And then I think I heard some other noise and a lot more noise.

While all this was happening, a resident in the neighborhood noticed a car on fire in the middle of the road and called 911. It was Adrian's car. He lit it on fire and placed fake bombs made out of soda bottles, skittles, and wires, all to delay police and paramedics from getting to Lisa and Anna's condo.

A stereo outside the car played the theme songs from James Bond and Batman Begins, as if Adrian was acting out a scene in a movie where he was the hero, the righter of wrongs like Batman. Tall body stormed through the door to the bedroom, which was kind of at the end of our bedroom area.

It was dark in the room. The person was dressed in all dark. And I think I remember identifying like a flashlight because it was shining in our faces. And at some point you can, I could see that it's a rifle of some sort. Because Lisa kept asking, who are you and what do you want? He did take the mask off.

In Lisa and Anna's bedroom, Adrian ripped off his mask and began shouting at Lisa. He said, "See what you've done to me? You're making me do this. This is what I've become because of you." Both Lisa and Anna apologized to Adrian for whatever they thought they'd done to him. Adrian yelled that Lisa had two years to apologize. He then threw handcuffs at them and ordered them to put them on.

And he directly spoke to her and said, in a very facetious way, you know what to do with them. But neither woman complied. The last thing I wanted to be is restricted in that situation, so I refused to do it. He noticed that and was shouting and ordering more commands, saying, put them on. I don't think Lisa...

did it. I believe she just was very defiant. Adrian paced the room, looking at the window, once going into the hallway. It was at this point Anna started to pull the mattress off the bed, and Lisa grabbed her phone and secretly dialed 911. When he approached the mattress and pulled it or tried to pull it back off of us, I realized that Lisa had grabbed her phone from her side

and was doing something with it to where when I looked at her, the screen of the phone was lit up and it was very bright. I realized that he's now approaching us and we'll see that. And I knew that's just going to make him angrier. I knocked it out of her hand, fearing that

That's only going to make him angrier. When Adrian re-entered the room and saw Lisa and Anna weren't following his orders, he opened fire toward the mattress. I heard one shot out of the rifle. I don't remember seeing it, but I remember hearing it. But that was it, and I thought maybe it's a warning. He said, what do you think you're doing? And...

Maybe seconds afterwards, there were more shots. I knew they weren't at me. I didn't feel it yet. And at some point, there were more shots. And then I finally felt getting shot myself. I didn't know anything else. Afterwards, at some point, the shot ceased. Lisa was shot 11 times. Anna was shot four times. I figured we only have seconds after that to live together.

I turned to Lisa and I said, "I love you," to which she responded, "I love you too." And we were very close. She was facing me kind of, and I just turned my head towards her and I kissed her lips. And I remember the lips going limp as if she got really weak. And right after that, I heard

a lot of gushing blood, gurgling almost, and she started choking like a wet cough and exhaled and it was a very deep exhale and I for myself knew that she was dead at that point.

Anna then realized Lisa dialed 911. With her left arm, the only part that could still move, she grabbed her phone and asked the 911 operator for help.

But because Adrian practically barricaded the street with fake bombs and lighting his car on fire, Anna had to spend an agonizing hour before police could secure the area and allow paramedics to enter the condo. After shooting Anna and Lisa, Adrian went outside to wait for police to arrive. He hid another shotgun behind Lisa and Anna's condo and some water for himself.

Again, his plan was to die in a blaze of gunfire, so he was lying in wait for a swarm of cops to show up so he could start shooting at them. But his ploy with the car and the bombs blew up in his face. Police weren't coming. Adrian grew impatient and decided to go looking for police to shoot at. That's when he came across Officer Jared McDonald and shot him in the back four times.

Adrian hid again, waiting for the police to weed him out and kill him. But as he waited in the cold night, he started to change his mind about committing suicide by cop and dumped his weapons and surrendered. At the police station, Adrian made a full confession. This woman, I was fine. I wanted a career in the future. Okay. Since then, I've lost all hope.

Okay, so prior to your arrival,

decided that you wanted to show her and you said take her out is that right yes okay when you say take her out what did you mean right you wanted to murder okay

After arresting Adrian, police obtained a search warrant for his room at the Quality Inn, where they found another backup of his manifesto and a cardboard cutout of James Bond. One had to wonder, did he drive with the James Bond cutout from Chesapeake to Cape Cod, or had it been an impulse buy when he got there? Regardless, as he was making his confession, Chesapeake police descended on his apartment with a search warrant.

Something Adrian had been well prepared for, outfitting his residents like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. He'd greased his floors with gun oil, as well as the stairs and handrail, perhaps hoping police would tumble down the stairs. He armed his Star Wars cutout with weapons as well, maybe hoping the cops would shoot at them.

Adrian placed a large Halloween spider in the attic, so when police pulled down the trapdoor, it dropped down on him. His main bedroom had a motion-detecting device that immediately started a ticking sound when police crossed the threshold, so they'd have to worry about an explosive device going off. Adrian was eventually indicted on 30 counts, including murder, multiple firearms and assault charges, and arson.

When Adrian went to trial, it was never a question as to whether or not he was guilty. He filmed the attack. He wrote a 250-page manifesto detailing how he was going to carry out the attack. What was in question was whether or not Adrian was not guilty by reason of insanity or not.

Adrian's patience and obsessive premeditation to carry out this act of violence pointed to a very organized mind. But his obsessiveness to document himself as he carried out this night of terror, all based on what he termed a "rape of the mind," put his sanity up for debate.

Four experts testified on the soundness of Adrian's mental health and whether or not he knew what he was doing during his criminal acts. The experts were divided. Two believed he was not criminally responsible, with one stating Adrian was on the autism spectrum, which resulted in his inability to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. The other expert diagnosed Adrian with "persecutory delusions."

Two other experts testified, and their diagnosis of Adrian ranged from major depressive disorder, maladaptive disorder, and borderline personality disorder. However, none of these issues would preclude him from following the rule of law. The other two experts stated that while Adrian suffered from depression and intrusive thoughts, he knew exactly what he was doing at the time of Lisa's murder.

After both the defense and prosecution rested, and the jury began shuffling out of the courtroom to begin deliberation, Adrian did the unthinkable for a man facing life in prison. He uttered a word that no defendant had likely said before in the direction of a jury about to decide his fate. Guilty.

Whether this was a premeditated attempt to result in a hung jury or the result of a guilty conscience is unknown. But after determining that the jury's deliberations would not be thrown off by this utterance, they were allowed to continue to deliberate. After about 14 hours of deliberations, the jury found Adrian guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lisa Berlanga's last moments were tragic and horrendous, her death utterly pointless. The manifestation of a sick mind, but not an insane one. In those last seconds, she knew she was loved, as Anna kissed her one last time. Lisa was laid to rest with full military honors.

Jared McDonald, the officer shot in the back by Adrian, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. While he made a full recovery, he had to retire from the police force. He now works as an electrician and made a run for a seat in the district senate. Anna continues to live with the triumph and resilience of a survivor.

Meanwhile, Adrian sits in a prison of his own making. Not on the side of good, but evil.

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