Trial Begins for Coast Guardsman Accused in Bourne Murder

Date Published:  Mon, 08/28/2017
 
By PATRICK FLANARY • AUG 28, 2017
 
Barnstable County Court House
 
Jury selection begins today in the trial of a former Coast Guardsman accused of killing a fellow officer at her home in Bourne two years ago.
 
Adrian Loya is accused of shooting Lisa Trubnikova to death in an orchestrated attack that also injured her wife and a responding police officer. Loya’s defense is expected to argue that he was not criminally responsible for the murder.
 
As police officer Jared MacDonald ran toward a Bourne condo on an early, frigid February morning two years ago, he could hear gunfire.
 
He didn’t know where it was coming from or who it was meant for. Then, he hit the ground. 
 
He’d been shot in the spine.
 
“I had a lack of use of my leg instantly,” MacDonald said. “But I knew what it was, I knew what I had to do.  So as soon as I hit the ground I actually pulled myself backwards with my hands to get to a safe place.”
 
Outside the home belonging to Lisa and Anna Trubnikova, a married couple who served in the Coast Guard, police found a car on fire, blocking access to the condominium community. 
 
The car belonged to Adrian Thomas Loya, also a member of the Coast Guard, who police say began shooting at MacDonald and other first responders. 
 
Now retired from police work, MacDonald recently spoke to WCAI about that night, his service dog sitting patiently by his side. For over two years now, the K-9 companion has walked virtually every step of the recovery with MacDonald. He named the dog Bullet.
 
“I’m happy where I’m at,” MacDonald said. “It’s something I continue to tell people. I don’t want people to feel bad for me. I did my job, this was the consequence, and I’m O.K. with that.”
 
The Commonwealth later awarded MacDonald the state’s top honor for bravery. 
 
And five months after the shootings, a grand jury indicted Loya on 30 charges, including the assault on Officer MacDonald and the murder of Lisa Trubnikova. 
 
Loya and Trubnikova knew each other. Almost a decade ago, they were stationed together in Anchorage, Alaska. They were friendly, until Lisa got married.
 
At trial, prosecutors will argue that a jealous Loya planned an elaborate killing. Days before, he drove 600 miles from his home in Chesapeake, Virginia—where he served as a petty officer—to a motel close to Trubnikova’s home.
 
Defense Attorney J. Drew Segadelli will argue that Loya is not criminally responsible for what he’s accused of doing that night. “I think he understands the gravity of his predicament,” Segadelli said. “So it’s not necessarily a bright and flowery future, but he’s hanging in there. He’s always been very good to work with, always been a gentleman, always been proper.” 
 
Lisa Trubnikova was the only woman working out of Joint Base Cape Cod as an Information Systems Technician when she was murdered. Now, as the state seeks justice, Trubnikova’s fellow officers recall her quick humor and unmatched work ethic.
 
“I’d take a whole shop of Lisa’s any day of the week,” said her supervisor, Chief Warrant Officer Shawn Wichelns. “The thing that stands out to me is that perseverance, that drive, that dedication. To be the consummate professional.”
 
Trubnikova was awarded for good conduct while serving with the unit that handles radio and navigation support for the Coast Guard on the Cape and Islands, and in Rhode Island.
 
Second Class Petty Officer Tanner Harman remembers training with Trubnikova several years ago in California, at what’s known as “A-School.” 
 
“She was such a good tech, she was the best of us. It was impossible to catch up with her.” 
 
It was at school in 2011 when Lisa Berlanga, who was from Texas, met Anna Trubnikova. They married later that year in New York,  moved to Cape Cod. Lisa took Anna’s last name.
 
We could not reach Anna for comment on this story. But Lisa’s friends and co-workers had only kind things to say about Lisa and what she leaves.
 
“She had the ability to motivate people without raising her voice,” said Peter Goershel, a civilian tech in the Coast Guard, who worked side-by-side with Lisa. “It’s unfortunate what happened to her. But what she left here, as a mark, will live on forever.”
 
Gruesome details about what happened that night in February, 2015, many of them not yet public, are expected to come out at trial. 
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