0:01

The opinions expressed in the following

0:03

episode do not necessarily reflect those

0:05

of the Minds of Madness podcast.

0:07

listener discretion is advised. To

0:30

your northwest, you have a mainoby The Player'sGarage Convention For

0:36

more information

0:39

o Our

0:51

homes are more than just physical structures, there are

0:53

sanctuaries providing safe refuge from the outside world But

0:55

imagine if someone had meticulously written

0:58

a 250 page manifesto obsessively determined

1:00

to breach that sanctuary Someone

1:02

so consumed with rage over a

1:04

perceived wrongdoing from years earlier that

1:06

deadbolts and alarms would do nothing

1:08

to stop them From carrying out their mission

1:11

to exact revenge Join

1:14

me now as we explore the shocking case of

1:16

the twisted mind of a We

1:40

explore the shocking case of

1:42

the twisted mind of Adrian

1:45

Loya, a violent home invasion

1:47

and a friendship that warped

1:49

into obsession For

1:55

people serving in the US military, relocation

1:58

is just a regular part

2:00

of the job, with over 750

2:03

bases in 80 countries offering

2:05

diverse deployment opportunities. Kodiak

2:08

Alaska boasts one of the largest

2:10

U.S. Coast Guard bases in the

2:13

world. Its rugged

2:15

terrain and harsh conditions make

2:17

it especially harrowing to perform

2:19

rescue missions with challenges so

2:22

intense, it's inspired a

2:24

four-season reality show called Coast Guard

2:26

Alaska documenting the risks faced by

2:28

the brave men and women in

2:31

service. This is where

2:33

this case all begins, in

2:35

the IT department between two

2:37

co-workers on a military

2:39

base in the isolated city of

2:41

Kodiak, Alaska. The

2:46

word crush can be defined

2:48

as to destroy, subdue, or

2:51

utterly suppress, so it's

2:53

intriguing how the same term

2:55

is also used to describe

2:57

romantic infatuation. This

2:59

raises the question, who

3:02

is being crushed in matters

3:04

of infatuation? Is

3:06

it the person who's infatuated,

3:08

feeling overwhelmed by unrequited desire,

3:11

or is it the object

3:13

of their adoration, crushed under

3:15

the weight of awkward, unreciprocated

3:18

feelings? Beyond middle

3:20

school, the workplace is one of

3:22

the most common places for crushes

3:24

to develop, and in

3:27

September 2011, 27-year-old Adrian

3:29

Loya developed exactly that,

3:32

a workplace crush.

3:35

Adrian was tall, 6'2",

3:37

with dark hair and

3:39

close-set eyes. He

3:41

joined the Coast Guard in 2005,

3:43

but had only been stationed in

3:46

Kodiak, Alaska for a couple of

3:48

weeks. Earth

4:00

and kept the Starship Enterprise on full

4:02

display in his living room. It

4:05

was at a Coast Guard morale

4:07

event that Adrian first met Lisa

4:10

Berlanga, an attractive charming Burnett. They

4:13

seemed to have all the ingredients for

4:15

a great friendship or, as Adrian had

4:17

hoped, something more. They

4:20

both worked in the IT department and quickly

4:22

bonded over the fact that they were

4:24

both from the state of Texas. They

4:27

also had a similar sense of

4:29

humor and loved quirky comedy shows

4:31

like Arrested Development and The Simpsons.

4:35

Adrian had been a bit of a loner

4:37

for most of his life and found himself

4:39

drawn to Lisa. They

4:41

easily ripped off one another with

4:43

quotes from their favorite shows and

4:45

started spending time together outside of

4:48

work. Lisa

4:50

even invited Adrian over for Thanksgiving in

4:52

2011. This

4:56

was new for Adrian, being a

4:58

self-described, quiet person who liked to

5:00

keep to himself. It

5:02

wasn't that Adrian considered himself as anti-social,

5:05

he just didn't feel the need to

5:07

be around others in order to feel

5:09

alright. Instead, he preferred

5:12

gaming and had a preoccupation

5:14

with Star Wars movies. As

5:17

a child, he spent a lot

5:19

of time creating vivid daydreams of

5:21

being trained as a Jedi by

5:23

Luke Skywalker himself. His

5:26

mother described him as a

5:28

wisk-rawn child and wanted him

5:30

to see a counselor because

5:32

as he got older, he

5:34

turned more confrontational, even volatile

5:36

toward his younger siblings. But

5:39

Adrian's father didn't think counseling was

5:42

necessary and the matter was dropped.

5:45

In school, Adrian was a target

5:47

for bullies who called them names

5:50

like Mute and Lurch. And

5:52

as Adrian became an adult,

5:54

his introverted nature continued. In

5:57

2009, Adrian's wore

6:00

off romantic relationships, feeling

6:02

as though women he dated didn't

6:05

meet his expectations. He

6:07

believed that if relationships weren't

6:09

perfect, too much effort and

6:11

sacrifice was needed to keep

6:13

them going. But with

6:15

Lisa, he thought he'd found someone who

6:18

shared his interests and made him feel

6:20

good. And he confided this one day

6:22

to a high school friend, Jacob Haller,

6:25

filling him in on Lisa when they

6:27

skyped to play a video game together.

6:31

He told me that he met someone who

6:34

was either on his same base or

6:36

in his unit or who

6:38

worked close to him and that

6:42

he found

6:44

kind of a kindred spirit and they had a lot in common.

6:48

In his journal, Adrian penned his

6:50

thoughts on what he termed as

6:52

the Lisa Effect, where he couldn't

6:54

help but feel that when Lisa

6:57

was around, she possessed this almost

6:59

superpower-like effect on this mood, making

7:01

him feel good about himself. He

7:04

wrote that he had a huge crush on

7:07

her and for the first time in his

7:09

life felt regret that he was alone. But

7:12

what Adrian hadn't known at the time

7:14

was that he would be forever destined

7:16

to stay in the friend zone when

7:18

it came to Lisa and

7:21

he hoped he might have had for

7:23

a romantic relationship would just never happen

7:26

because Lisa was already engaged to

7:28

another Coast Guard resurfaced, Anna

7:31

Trevnikova. You

7:40

Know when you get cornered by that specific

7:42

aunt at a family gathering and you feel

7:44

like you have to bend the truth? You

7:46

Know the one who asks, when are you

7:48

getting married and what's going on with that

7:51

promotion and why haven't you moved out of

7:53

your mom and dad's basement only to have

7:55

her not really listen and just judge you?

7:57

You May have to grin and bear it

7:59

with me. The family but you shouldn't

8:01

feel that way when talking to your

8:03

doctor about of weird rash or maybe

8:06

that you eat too much ice cream

8:08

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9:11

Lisa. Was born in Midland,

9:13

Texas and Nineteen Eighty Three and

9:16

grew up in a devoutly religious

9:18

household, spending much of her childhood

9:21

along with assemblies, traveling the country,

9:23

doing missionary work, But. What

9:25

least as family didn't know was that

9:27

she had a secret. She was hiding

9:30

something she'd known a better south from

9:32

a young age. She. Was. Eventually

9:35

Lisa would leave the church, but

9:37

according to a comes childhood friend,

9:39

continued to be inspired by the

9:42

missionary work she been a part

9:44

of. So. It was

9:46

no surprise to family of

9:48

friends when least decided to

9:50

continue like service with the

9:52

coast. After attending the University

9:54

of Houston, Lisa join the

9:56

coastguard and became an I

9:58

T specialist. How.

10:02

Much as we saw because the

10:04

military demanded a person's sexuality be

10:06

captured, him if they were. Guess.

10:09

That. Don't ask, Don't Tell

10:11

policy was a Us. military

10:14

policy in effect from Nineteen

10:16

Ninety Three to Two Thousand

10:19

and Eleven prohibiting military personnel

10:21

from discriminating against or harassing

10:24

closeted gay, lesbian or bisexual

10:26

service members but also banned

10:29

openly gay, lesbian or bisexual

10:31

individuals from surf. Policy

10:35

requires service members to keep

10:37

their sexual orientation a secret

10:39

and not disclose that. He'd

10:42

also prohibited military officials

10:44

from baskin about more

10:46

investigating a service members

10:48

sexual orientation. The

10:51

policy was eventually repealed in

10:53

September two thousand and Eleven

10:55

allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual

10:58

individuals to serve openly in

11:00

the Us military. But despite

11:02

this policy, Lisa was open

11:05

and better sexuality. She.

11:07

Shared with Adrian did she

11:09

recently become engaged to a

11:11

woman after a whirlwind romance.

11:13

The. Couple met earlier that year

11:16

in January two thousand and eleven

11:18

at a military base in San

11:20

Francisco and selling off. After

11:23

a short engagement in and Lisa

11:25

took a trip in two thousand

11:27

and Eleven and got married on

11:29

December thirtieth. Afterward, leases

11:31

Why Banner transferred to Kodiak.

11:33

He moved in with Lisa

11:35

in late January. Two thousand

11:37

and twelve. And although

11:39

the officially lived off base, they

11:41

were still only about a ten

11:43

minute drive from the base barracks.

11:46

Faster. adrian had had lisa also

11:48

himself for nearly five months adrian

11:50

wasn't too thrilled about having to

11:53

know server with someone else but

11:55

a dream seem to come to

11:57

terms with the reality that he

12:00

and Lisa would be nothing more

12:02

than good friends and seem to

12:04

become preoccupied with building a friendship

12:06

with Lisa's wife Anna, or

12:08

possibly this was just a

12:10

ploy to continue spending more

12:13

time with Lisa. Went

12:15

from I want to be her friend to I want to

12:18

be her friend and I want to be her wife's friend

12:21

to a point where I believe that

12:24

we were getting into maybe

12:26

inappropriate territory in the sense

12:28

of these two people had a relationship and

12:30

he seemed to be wanting

12:33

to get

12:35

into that relationship

12:38

more closely with both of those people. Soon

12:41

Anna became aware that Adrien seemed to

12:43

be giving her wife special attention. The

12:46

first night she met Adrien had a

12:48

group outing at a bar. More

12:51

or less, I mean it was a very small bar.

12:54

I would say towards the end of our hanging out.

12:56

She seemed kind of

12:58

interested in her, just nothing

13:01

peculiar, just and to

13:03

me it wasn't because it was easy

13:05

I guess to find her attractive, especially

13:07

when you don't look

13:09

very gay on the outside. So

13:12

I just noticed that he would

13:15

mainly talk to her and at

13:17

one point he said something because

13:20

we were very close together,

13:22

probably holding hands and

13:26

he said something along the lines of

13:28

us getting married and that

13:30

he doesn't believe in marriage and

13:32

he doesn't think people should get married

13:34

or it's not something that he

13:37

believes in, which I

13:39

thought was an odd thing to say to

13:41

me at that time because we just got

13:43

married. When Lisa

13:45

and Anna went to leave, Adrien caught

13:47

a ride home with them despite the fact

13:50

that the rest of the group was

13:52

still partying at the bar. Another

13:55

night Adrien invited a few people over

13:57

to his place to play. He

14:00

seemed friendly and a

14:03

lot more accommodating to Lisa

14:05

than the three,

14:07

which is me and the couple. He had

14:10

offered her a rock

14:12

star energy drink

14:15

and he was playing off some inside

14:17

joke that there's plenty of rock star

14:19

energies for her, but he didn't offer

14:22

it to anybody else. Adrian

14:24

was also insistent that Lisa and

14:26

Anna watch his favorite movie with

14:29

them, Star Wars. He

14:31

would talk about his

14:34

favorite movie Star Wars and he's

14:37

very adamant to

14:39

tell us to watch it with

14:41

him, that it was like the greatest show

14:44

and he would often ask us

14:46

if we wanted to watch that, whether

14:49

it's at work or at his

14:51

house or wherever

14:53

we would be willing. He

14:56

would say that's his favorite and we

14:58

must be exposed to it. Anna

15:00

grew wary of Adrian. It

15:03

was obvious to her that Adrian

15:05

was crushing badly on Lisa and

15:08

had ulterior motives. She'd

15:10

had enough and demanded that Lisa

15:12

stop hanging out with him outside

15:14

of work. Lisa agreed.

15:17

Adrian, however, wasn't happy that

15:20

his supposed kindred spirit would

15:22

no longer spend time with

15:24

them. The self-described loner who

15:26

didn't need anyone to feel all

15:28

right would now have to go

15:30

watch his quirky comedies all alone.

15:33

Once again, Adrian

15:35

resented in his assumption he was

15:38

after her wife. This

15:40

sudden estrangement created a strained

15:42

office environment as they returned

15:44

to the clip, formal way

15:46

of speaking in the military.

15:49

Avoiding each other outside of work

15:51

was difficult on such a small

15:53

island, leading to frequent tense

15:56

encounters between the two. So in

15:59

September, 2012,

16:01

exactly a year after Adrienne and

16:03

Lisa first met, Lisa called Adrienne

16:05

and asked if he wanted to

16:07

come over and watch TV together,

16:09

just like the good old days.

16:12

She even told him to bring a bottle

16:14

of vodka. This invitation

16:16

came at a time when Anna happened

16:19

to be away for a three week

16:21

training mission. Adrienne was

16:24

elated. This was the

16:26

very first time that Lisa had asked

16:28

Adrienne to hang out with just him.

16:33

It was just after midnight when Adrienne

16:36

got to Lisa's place. Wethering

16:38

who Lisa had been drinking when they

16:40

spoke on the phone or only realized

16:42

that once he got to her place

16:44

is unclear. Either way,

16:46

Adrienne sat down on the couch next

16:48

to her and joined in. The

16:51

two spent some time drinking

16:53

and watching TV and Lisa

16:56

became extremely inebriated. What

16:58

happened next is Adrienne's account of

17:00

events. He claims that

17:03

while they were watching The Simpsons,

17:05

Lisa began to police herself, then

17:07

made a pass at Adrienne and

17:09

tried to kiss him. He

17:12

refused. Lisa then tried

17:14

to pull him in the direction of

17:16

her bedroom and propositioned him. He

17:19

said Lisa then got up and went

17:21

to the bathroom. Adrienne

17:23

stayed behind in the living room and

17:25

claimed he felt very disturbed by this

17:28

point. He was worried about what

17:30

it would look like. After

17:32

all, he helped rank over Lisa and

17:34

here he was at her place in

17:37

the middle of the night when she

17:39

was very drunk. Adrienne

17:42

could have left but inexplicably

17:44

with his career flashing before

17:46

his eyes, he didn't. He

17:48

then said he heard a thump in the

17:51

bathroom. Conserved, he went

17:53

in to check on Lisa who

17:55

exited the bathroom and said she

17:57

was okay. Adrienne claimed

17:59

that He told Lisa he was leaving,

18:01

but Lisa said no

18:03

and pulled him into her bedroom.

18:07

Adrian then claimed he went into

18:09

a frozen state. It

18:11

might be worth mentioning that the

18:13

size difference between Adrian at 6'2

18:15

and Lisa at

18:17

just over 5 feet was

18:20

substantial. Once in

18:22

the bedroom, Lisa flopped down on

18:24

the bed and pulled Adrian to sit on

18:26

the bed with her. Again,

18:28

he said, she propositioned him.

18:31

Seems something along the lines of,

18:33

come on dude, what's your problem?

18:35

We won't tell Hannah. Adrian

18:38

remained in his frozen state, but

18:40

managed to say no to Lisa

18:42

yet again. Lisa

18:44

then passed out and Adrian

18:46

laughed. Hair

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to Nutriful. The following

20:27

day, Lisa apologized to Adrian

20:29

and begged him not to

20:31

tell anyone, especially to keep

20:33

it a secret from her wife. Adrian

20:36

promised he would, but this was a

20:38

promise he would break. Adrian

20:41

just couldn't let it go, writing

20:43

off as some drunken episode, the

20:45

kind of night in which nothing

20:47

really happened, but the suggestion that

20:49

it could have. Instead,

20:52

he became consumed by it.

20:55

His mind turned over every

20:57

single detail. Adrian

20:59

felt as though he'd been the victim

21:01

of a sexual assault and that Lisa

21:03

was his attacker.

21:06

He felt violated. An

21:08

article about Adrian in Psychology

21:10

Today details how he broke

21:12

into tears during a routine

21:14

sexual assault prevention course and

21:16

told Lisa he hoped she

21:18

kept notes. Adrian

21:21

developed insomnia and started taking

21:23

large quantities of Benadryl to

21:25

sleep. He would later say

21:27

he became addicted to it. A

21:30

forensic psychologist stated that Adrian held

21:33

the delusional belief that he had

21:35

been raped. Interacting

21:37

with Lisa in the office was now

21:40

a minefield for Adrian. He

21:42

felt her tone of voice at heart and

21:44

that she yelled at him all because he

21:46

didn't sleep with her. Adrian

21:49

wrote out his feelings in a

21:51

22-page email and sent it to

21:53

Lisa, letting her know that that

21:55

night he had never been so scared

21:57

in his life. sent

22:00

the same email to Anna, informing

22:02

her that she was married to

22:04

a sexual predator. Of

22:07

course, this infuriated Lisa.

22:09

Knowing how angry she was,

22:12

Adrian was now consumed by

22:14

fear of potential consequences. He

22:17

felt an overwhelming need to preempt

22:19

any potential accusations Lisa might make

22:22

against him in some act of

22:24

vengeance because he'd turned her down,

22:27

despite the fact that Lisa

22:30

never once indicated she would do so.

22:33

So Adrian reported the incident to

22:35

his superior. He wanted

22:37

to file a sexual assault charge

22:39

against Lisa, but his superior didn't

22:42

take his claim seriously. Adrian

22:44

still pursued his allegations to

22:46

the Coast Guard investigation services.

22:48

It was recommended

22:51

Adrian get some counseling as

22:53

the CGIS determined whether his

22:55

allegations held any validity. Again,

22:59

Lisa only touched his arm. Fortunately,

23:02

as tensions came to a boiling

23:04

point, both Adrian and Lisa's postings

23:06

had come to an end. Their

23:09

tumultuous two years in Kodiak,

23:12

Alaska were over. In

23:14

June 2013, Anna and Lisa

23:16

were transferred to Cape Cod,

23:18

and Adrian was posted in

23:20

Virginia. It looked as

23:22

if all parties would go their separate ways

23:24

and move on with their lives. And

23:27

that's exactly what Lisa and Anna

23:29

did. They moved into a condo

23:31

and continued on in their respective careers

23:34

in the Coast Guard. They

23:36

got a dogging cat, and

23:38

Adrian Loya faded into an

23:41

unpleasant memory. Adrian's path, however,

23:43

veered wildly into a different

23:45

direction. There

23:49

are two sides to every story. It's

23:52

a common enough saying that

23:54

acknowledges that any single event

23:56

or circumstances is open to

23:59

interpretation. and that each

24:01

person could experience conflicting versions

24:03

of the same event. And

24:06

then, sometimes, there's a person

24:08

who holds a version of

24:10

an event that seems completely

24:13

unhinged from the agreed upon

24:15

parameters of reality. If

24:17

reality is a multiple choice questionnaire,

24:19

they would choose none of the

24:22

above. For Adrian,

24:24

his version of that drunken knight

24:26

with Lisa was a sexual assault.

24:29

Of course, he became trapped

24:31

there, reliving that knight, his

24:34

version of events, over

24:36

and over in his mind, until

24:38

it splintered into two very black

24:40

and white sides. Just

24:43

like his beloved Star Wars movies,

24:45

Adrian was like a young Jedi

24:47

again in his imagination. He

24:50

needed to fight against his oppressor. In

24:53

his mind, he was good and

24:55

Lisa was evil. This

24:58

battle waged in his mind

25:00

completely unbeknownst to Lisa and

25:02

Anna. Adrian wrote,

25:04

every detail encompassing this knight

25:06

with Lisa was burned into

25:08

my mind in complete vividness.

25:11

It was the first day when my

25:13

mind started down a dark lonely path.

25:16

The nightmare started soon after. Lisa

25:20

would appear in my dream and there was nothing

25:22

I could do. I was struck

25:24

with intense fear and I had to

25:26

wake up. I hate that

25:28

my dreams have been taken away. It

25:31

was hate that was created in me that day.

25:33

I was filled with hate for

25:36

someone for the very first time,

25:38

just pure distilled hate. And

25:40

nothing else was in me because of this

25:42

one person. And I'll return

25:44

to this person so she can

25:47

look upon her creation and she'll

25:49

be destroyed by what she's wrought.

25:52

I hate Lisa Berlanga. to

26:00

his father's house to pick up his dog.

26:03

Along the way, he hired

26:05

a sex worker to see

26:07

if his PTSD from being

26:09

sexually assaulted would prevent him

26:11

from performing. He would later

26:13

confide that he would hire sex

26:15

workers to rub his back when

26:17

he played video games but just

26:19

couldn't enjoy it anymore. After

26:22

arriving at his father's place, he

26:24

saw his dog was not doing

26:26

very well. His golden retriever, Tawny,

26:29

was old and he believed his

26:31

father had neglected her, so Adrian

26:33

had to put his dog down.

26:36

And for this, he also blamed

26:38

Lisa. It seemed as

26:40

if Lisa was becoming a scapegoat

26:42

for everything that was going wrong

26:45

in Adrian's life. When

26:47

he arrived at his new posting

26:49

in Chesapeake, Virginia, the Coast Guard

26:51

made a ruling on his sexual

26:54

assault allegation against Lisa. Adrian

26:56

didn't get the results he'd hoped for.

26:59

Instead, he was reprimanded for abusing

27:02

his superiority over Lisa and received

27:04

what is referred to in the

27:06

Coast Guard as a page seven,

27:08

which is a disciplinary form that

27:11

would be attached to his record.

27:14

He was then ordered to not contact

27:16

Lisa or Anna. Their

27:18

commands, Lisa and his command,

27:22

had advised us that the

27:24

Coast Guard Investigative Service investigation

27:27

was completed and there was

27:29

no further action but he

27:32

was ordered not to contact

27:34

us and this is where

27:36

he's going and if he attempts to contact us

27:38

to let them know right away. Never

28:00

say hello or seemed ever have

28:02

friends or family over. When.

28:04

A dream was passed over

28:06

for promotion. This became the

28:09

final turning point in his

28:11

mental deterioration. In adrian

28:13

mind she was being punished

28:15

for been the victim of

28:17

sexual assault. With. His career

28:19

in the Coast or threatened, Adrian

28:22

fell further into depression and continued

28:24

to take Benadryl to cope. All

28:27

the while least was out there

28:29

living her life. To him, it

28:31

just wasn't fair. Good. Should

28:34

prevail over evil. That's

28:36

when Adrian began craftiness

28:38

manifesto titled the Wrath

28:40

of Lawyer. It

28:42

opens by mimicking the famous Star

28:44

Wars opening a long, long time

28:47

ago in an island far away.

28:49

It was important daydream that

28:52

once he inherited his meticulously

28:54

planned revenge, people would understand

28:56

why he did what he.

28:59

Specifically. Wrote every time

29:01

you see the news about deadly

29:03

tragedy it's always either consider senseless

29:05

or people never find out what

29:07

a killer tape what he dead.

29:09

But here's everything for the reasons

29:12

I did this: You may

29:14

consider them bad reasons, but that's

29:16

U P. Spent months plodding his

29:19

attacker, Lisa and how in that

29:21

final act, Lisa would finally see

29:23

what she'd done to us. She'd

29:26

know what he'd become, all because

29:28

our As he plunged in a

29:31

deep into her heart. in

29:33

preparation for us attack he amassed

29:36

other weapons expecting to go down

29:38

in a blaze of gunfire with

29:40

police after the attack on lisa

29:42

even the final decision on the

29:44

rifle he would use was based

29:47

on the fact it looked like

29:49

one from the video game halo

29:51

first adrian had to find out

29:53

where lisa ann anna left to

29:56

do this to use the coastguard

29:58

database to figure it address

30:00

in Cape Cod. In

30:02

October 2014, he drove

30:05

to their home and set up

30:07

game cameras used for hunting so

30:09

he could surveil Lisa and Anna's

30:11

movements. On the way

30:13

home, he suffered a panic attack,

30:15

which he recorded as further proof

30:17

of how much Lisa had damaged

30:19

him. Alright,

30:22

I'm just... Oh,

30:25

uh, pull over... Oh,

30:27

I'm in the roof. Oh, I'm a...

30:31

Oh, I'm a... Oh,

30:33

I'm a... Uh...

30:37

Uh... I started a

30:39

hyperbarrel lady. I

30:43

feel paralyzed. I

30:45

can't move. You know, it's

30:47

incredibly crazy what I was fighting

30:49

to do, that I want you

30:51

to cut the mission to go

30:53

murder a girl. And

30:55

then, you know, then die. It's

31:00

not exactly the healthiest stuff. With

31:05

his reconnaissance mission completed and his

31:07

cache of weapons hoarded in his

31:09

apartment, there was only one thing

31:11

left for Adrian to do. Choose

31:13

the date of his attack. For

31:15

Adrian, it seemed especially

31:18

poignant to choose his birthday,

31:20

February 5th, writing, going

31:23

out on my birthday would be

31:25

poetic. But this was

31:27

a hard decision for Adrian, because

31:29

it meant he would miss the

31:31

2015 release of the new Star

31:34

Wars movie. The only other thing

31:36

that bothered Adrian was that he didn't

31:38

want his neat figurines and Star Wars

31:40

memorabilia to go to waste. So he

31:42

sent in a huge box and a

31:45

note to a gaming podcast that streams

31:47

on YouTube called Giant

31:49

Bomb, where they sometimes open

31:51

boxes sending from their fans.

31:54

When the host of Giant Bomb began to open

31:56

the box, they noticed there was a ladder, which

32:00

that rad. Hi,

32:02

Giant Bomb! Just in case you were

32:04

already freaking out yourselves, I have not sent you an

32:06

actual gun. But I have sent

32:08

you an airsoft rifle. Yes. Oh, is

32:10

there a rifle there, dude? I don't think so. Uh,

32:12

and you're to go with it. I

32:15

mean, there's a bunch of magazines in the front of that

32:17

thing. That's true. That must go to a rifle.

32:19

Maybe, well maybe, I've got another one here. Much

32:22

love and beef, Adrian, aka

32:25

Hyper Aqua Blast on the internet,

32:27

and Purple Rebel in the field

32:29

of battle. With his

32:31

affairs now in order, Adrian waited for

32:34

his birthday to arrive. He

32:36

wrote in his manifesto that he

32:38

was feeling excited. For

32:43

Lisa and Anna, February 5th was

32:46

a typical day. Anna

32:48

had done some training classes, and after

32:50

work, Lisa and Anna did a bit

32:52

of car shopping at local dealerships. After

32:56

they went to the mall, and then

32:58

had dinner, once back at

33:00

home, they spent the rest of the evening

33:02

watching TV. Never

33:04

would they have predicted that for the last

33:06

two days, Adrian had been

33:08

staying at a local Quality Inn, where

33:11

he was ingesting laxatives, so when he

33:13

was shot down by police, his

33:15

body wouldn't be soiled. At

33:18

2am, Lisa and Anna were woken

33:20

by a strange noise. Adrian

33:23

had shot open the front door of their

33:25

condo and was making his way up to

33:27

their bedroom. He could easily

33:29

navigate in the dark because he found

33:32

a layout for the condo on a

33:34

real estate website, but just

33:36

before reaching their bedroom, Lisa and

33:38

Anna's cat pounced. Adrian

33:41

put the cat down and entered Lisa

33:43

and Anna's bedroom. I

33:46

think there was some sort of noise to where

33:49

she kind of stirred in bed,

33:51

so I think that woke me up and I half

33:54

asleep kind of remember some noise, I don't

33:56

know what it was. said

34:00

something to me which I

34:02

said it's nothing. I'm pretty sure

34:04

I was half asleep but I said it's

34:07

nothing and that it might be

34:09

the cats and then I think

34:11

I heard some other noise and a

34:13

lot more pronounced

34:16

I guess and then I just

34:18

heard very heavy stomping like someone

34:20

is approaching up the stairs. While

34:22

all this was happening a resident

34:25

in the neighborhood noticed a car on

34:27

fire in the middle of the road

34:29

and called 911. It was

34:32

Adrian's car. He lit

34:34

it on fire and placed fake

34:36

bombs made out of soda bottles,

34:38

skittles and wires all to delay

34:40

police and paramedics from getting to

34:42

Lisa and Hannah's condo. A

34:44

stereo outside the car played the

34:46

theme songs from James Bond and

34:48

Batman Begins as if Adrian was

34:50

acting on a scene in a

34:52

movie where he was the hero,

34:54

the writer of wrongs like Batman.

35:24

Lisa kept asking who are you and what

35:26

do you want. He

35:29

did take the mask off. In

35:31

Lisa and Hannah's bedroom, Adrian ripped

35:34

off his mask and began shouting

35:36

at Lisa. He

35:38

said, see what you've done to me. You're

35:40

making me do this. This is what I've

35:43

become because of you. Both

35:46

Lisa and Hannah apologized to Adrian for

35:48

whatever they thought they'd done to him.

35:51

Adrian yelled that Lisa had

35:53

two years to apologize. He

35:56

then threw handcuffs at them and

35:58

ordered them to put them on. And

36:01

he directly spoke to her

36:03

and said in a very

36:05

facetious way, you know what to

36:07

do with them. But neither woman

36:09

complied. The last

36:12

thing I wanted to be is restricted in

36:14

that situation. So I refused

36:16

to do it. He noticed

36:18

that and was shouting and

36:20

ordering more commands saying, put

36:22

them on. I

36:25

don't think Lisa did

36:27

it. I believe

36:29

she just was very defiant. Adrian

36:31

paced the room, looking at the

36:34

window, once going into the

36:36

hallway. It was at this

36:38

point, Ana started to pull the mattress

36:40

off the bed and Lisa grabbed her

36:42

phone and secretly dialed 911. When

36:46

he approached the mattress and pulled it or tried

36:48

to pull it back off of us, I realized

36:51

that Lisa had grabbed her

36:53

phone from her side and

36:56

was doing something with it to where

36:58

when I looked at her, the screen

37:00

of the phone was lit up and

37:03

it was very bright. I

37:05

realized that he's

37:08

not approaching us and we'll see that. And

37:13

I knew that's just going to make

37:15

him angrier. I knocked it

37:17

out of her hand, fearing that

37:20

that's only going to make him

37:22

angrier. When Adrian reentered the

37:24

room and saw Lisa and Ana

37:26

weren't following his orders, he opened

37:28

fire toward the mattress. I

37:31

heard one shot out of

37:33

the rifle. I don't remember

37:35

seeing it, but I remember hearing it. But

37:38

that was it. And I thought

37:41

maybe it's a warning. He said, what

37:43

do you think you're doing? And

37:47

maybe seconds afterwards, there

37:49

were more shots. I knew

37:51

they weren't at me. I didn't

37:53

feel it yet. And

37:56

at some point there were more shots. And

37:58

then I finally felt... getting

38:00

shot myself. I

38:02

didn't know anything else. Afterwards, at

38:05

some point, they shot C's. Lisa

38:08

was shot 11 times. Anna

38:10

was shot 4 times. I

38:13

figured we only have seconds after

38:15

that to live. I turned

38:18

to Lisa and I said, I

38:21

love you, to which she responded,

38:23

I love you too. And

38:26

we were very

38:28

close. She

38:30

was facing me kind

38:32

of and I just turned my head

38:34

towards her and I kissed her lips

38:37

and I remember the lips

38:39

going limp as

38:41

if she got really weak. And

38:45

right after that, I heard

38:48

a lot of gushing

38:51

blood, gurgling almost,

38:54

and she

38:57

started choking like

38:59

a wet cough and exhaled

39:01

and it was a very

39:03

deep exhale and I

39:06

for myself knew that she was dead at

39:08

that point. Anna

39:17

then realized Lisa dialed 911

39:20

with her left arm, the only part

39:22

that could still move. She

39:24

grabbed her phone and asked the

39:26

911 operator for help. But

39:28

because Adrian practically barricaded the street

39:30

with fake bombs and lighting his

39:33

car on fire, Anna had to

39:35

spend an agonizing hour before police

39:37

could secure the area and allow

39:39

paramedics to enter the condo. After

39:42

shooting Anna and Lisa, Adrian went

39:44

outside to wait for police to

39:47

arrive. He hid another shotgun

39:49

behind Lisa and Anna's condo and some

39:51

water for himself. Again,

39:53

his plan was to die in a

39:55

blaze of gunfire, so he was lying

39:57

in wait for a swarm of guns.

40:00

to show up so he could start shooting

40:02

at them. But his poi with

40:04

the car and the bombs blew up in his

40:06

face. Police weren't coming. Adrian

40:09

grew impatient and decided to go looking

40:11

for police to shoot at. That's

40:14

when he came across Officer Jared

40:16

McDonald and shot him in the

40:18

back four times. Adrian

40:20

hid again, waiting for the police to

40:22

weed him out and kill him. But

40:25

as he waited in the cold

40:28

night, he started to change his

40:30

mind about permitting suicide by cop

40:32

and dumped his weapons and surrendered.

40:36

At the police station, Adrian made

40:38

a full confession. I

40:59

watched him. She

41:02

told her what he created.

41:09

OK, so surprise to

41:11

your arrival. Decided

41:14

that you wanted to show her what it

41:17

was. Like, you said take her out, is that right? Yes. OK,

41:20

when you say take her out, what did you mean? Where you

41:22

wanted to find her? I don't know. OK. After

41:26

arresting Adrian, police obtained a

41:28

search warrant for his room at the Quality Inn,

41:31

where they found another backup of his manifesto and

41:34

a cardboard cutout of James Bond. One

41:38

had to wonder, did he drive with the

41:40

James Bond cutout from Chesapeake to Cape Cod?

41:43

Or had it been an impulse by when

41:45

he got there? Regardless,

41:47

as he was making his

41:49

confession, Chesapeake police descended on the man

41:52

Chesapeake police descended on his apartment

41:55

with a search warrant, something

41:57

Adrian had been well prepared for. outfitting

42:00

his residents like Macaulay Culkin in

42:03

Home Alone. He'd greased

42:05

his floors with gun oil, as

42:07

well as the stairs and handrail,

42:10

perhaps hoping police would tumble down

42:12

the stairs. He armed

42:14

his Star Wars cutout with weapons as

42:16

well, maybe hoping the cops would shoot

42:18

at them. Adrian placed

42:20

a large Halloween spider in the attic,

42:22

so when police pulled down the trap

42:25

door, it dropped down on him. His

42:28

main bedroom had a motion-detecting device

42:30

that immediately started a taking sound

42:32

when police crossed the threshold, so

42:35

they'd have to worry about an

42:37

explosive device going off. Adrian

42:40

was eventually indicted on 30 counts, including

42:44

murder, multiple firearms and assault

42:46

charges, and arson. When

42:50

Adrian went to trial, it was

42:52

never a question as to whether

42:55

or not he was guilty. He

42:57

filmed the attack. He wrote a

42:59

250-page manifesto detailing how he was

43:01

going to carry out the attack.

43:04

What was in question was whether

43:06

or not Adrian was not guilty

43:08

by reason of insanity or not.

43:11

Adrian's patience and obsessive premeditation

43:13

to carry out this act

43:16

of violence pointed to a

43:18

very organized mind, but his

43:20

obsessiveness to document himself as he

43:23

carried out this night of terror,

43:25

all based on what he termed

43:27

a rape of the mind, put

43:29

his sanity up for debate. Four

43:32

experts testified on the soundness of Adrian's

43:34

mental health and whether or not he

43:37

knew what he was doing during his

43:39

criminal acts. The experts

43:41

were divided. Two believed he

43:44

was not criminally responsible, with one

43:46

stating Adrian was on the autism

43:48

spectrum, which resulted in his inability

43:51

to conform his conduct to the

43:53

requirements of the law. The

43:56

other expert diagnosed Adrian with

43:59

persecutory delusion. Two

44:01

other experts testified and their

44:03

diagnosis of Adrian ranged from

44:06

major depressive disorder, maladaptive

44:08

disorder, and borderline personality

44:11

disorder. However, none

44:13

of these issues would preclude him from

44:15

following the rule of law. The

44:18

other two experts stated that while

44:20

Adrian suffered from depression and intrusive

44:23

thoughts, he knew exactly what he

44:25

was doing at the time of

44:27

Lisa's murder. After

44:31

both the defense and prosecution rested

44:34

and the jury began shuffling out

44:36

of the courtroom to begin deliberation,

44:39

Adrian did the unthinkable for

44:41

a man facing life in

44:43

prison. He uttered a

44:45

word that no defendant had likely

44:47

said before in the direction of

44:49

a jury about to decide his

44:52

fate. Guilty. Whether

44:55

this was a premeditated attempt to

44:57

result in a hung jury or

44:59

the result of a guilty conscience

45:01

is unknown. But after

45:03

determining that the jury's deliberations would not

45:06

be thrown off by this utterance, they

45:09

were allowed to continue to deliberate.

45:12

After about 14 hours of deliberations,

45:14

the jury found Adrian guilty of

45:16

first degree murder and was sentenced

45:19

to life in prison without the

45:21

possibility of parole. Lisa

45:25

Berlanga's last moments were tragic

45:27

and horrendous. Her

45:29

death utterly pointless. The

45:32

manifestation of a sick mind, but

45:34

not an insane one. In

45:37

those last seconds, she

45:39

knew she was loved as Anna

45:41

kissed her one last time. Lisa

45:45

was laid to rest with full

45:47

military honors. Chaired McDonald,

45:49

the officer shot in the back

45:51

by Adrian was awarded the Medal

45:53

of Honor for his actions. While

45:56

he made a full recovery, he had

45:58

to retire from the police. He

46:01

now works as an electrician and made a

46:03

run for a seat in the district senate.

46:06

Anna continues to live with the triumph

46:08

and resilience of a survivor. Meanwhile,

46:12

Adrian sits in a prison of his own

46:14

making, not on the side

46:16

of good, but evil. Call

46:27

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