By Scott North and Eric Stevick

Herald Writers

First there was the unexplained disappearance of Juliana Schubert a dozen years ago.

Then there was the 1995 leukemia death of Rick Blake, the detective who tried to solve the mystery.

On Monday, as a Snohomish County jury struggled to decide whether David Schubert killed his wife and hid her body in 1989, word came of another tragic twist in the case.

Schubert’s youngest son, Nickolas, 18, was found dead Sunday evening in his dorm room at a California college. No obvious cause was found, and an autopsy was planned, officials said.

It was devastating, almost incomprehensible news for Schubert, 62, of Arlington, who is on trial for first-degree murder connected to his 30-year-old wife’s disappearance, said one of his attorneys, public defender Richard Tassano.

"He’s not in our world right now, for lack of a better way of saying it," Tassano said. "He’s just one breath in, one breath out."

A tearful Schubert appeared briefly in Judge Ronald Castleberry’s courtroom on Monday afternoon, without jurors present. His shoulders shook with sobs as attorneys discussed his son’s death.

Karil Nelson, Juliana Schubert’s mother, was in the courthouse awaiting word on the trial when she heard of her grandson’s death. She took the news hard, shedding many tears of her own.

"I’m deeply grieved over my grandson, for the whole family," Nelson said.

Lawyers on both sides asked the judge to take the unusual step of sequestering the jury. They worried that if jurors learned of the death it could somehow color their verdict.

Castleberry declined to take that step after receiving assurances from all the jurors that they would avoid any newspapers, television or radio broadcasts.

The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon and spent all day behind closed doors Friday and Monday without announcing a verdict. They were to resume this morning.

Nickolas Schubert had been a student at University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. He was found dead in his bed late Sunday night by his roommate, university spokesman Russ Wylie said.

The teen lived in the Grace Covell resident hall, a facility with about 200 students living in two-person apartments, Wylie said. His roommate left for the weekend and returned to the apartment about 5 p.m. Sunday and thought Nickolas was asleep.

The roommate went out and returned at about 11 p.m. to find him still in bed and in the same position he had been in earlier, Wylie said.

The roommate tried to wake him then called a resident assistant and other students, who called 911.

There was no obvious explanation for the death, Wylie said.

The San Joaquin County, Calif., coroner’s office scheduled an autopsy today, a spokeswoman said late Monday afternoon.

Nickolas Schubert was an honor student when he graduated from Arlington High School last spring. He earned four scholarships, including one from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy along with a Washington State Honors Award, according to school district records.

He was a curious, dedicated and hard-working student at Arlington High School, said Maurene Stanton, who wrote him a letter of recommendation when she was principal at the school.

"He was a bright, bright boy," said Stanton, who now serves as principal at Weston High School, an alternative high school in the district. "He was very motivated to do well."

Nickolas was the kind who would question a school rule to understand why it was needed but he didn’t challenge authority. He was polite, sensitive and set high goals, Stanton said.

Nickolas was just 6, and his brother Andre, 8, when his mother dropped from sight in June 1989, triggering an intense investigation by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives found reasons to suspect David Schubert in the disappearance, but never located the missing woman’s body. By all reports Juliana Schubert was a devoted mother.

The suspicions that followed David Schubert also were part of his son’s lives. The boys wound up in foster care for a time in 1994 after David Schubert was charged with his wife’s killing, and jailed for 50 days awaiting trial. But the charges were dropped after detective Blake, the lead investigator, developed leukemia and died.

Nickolas Schubert testified on his father’s behalf at a civil wrongful death trial in 1998 that resulted in a jury’s verdict that David Schubert likely had killed his wife.

He was subpoenaed to testify in this murder trial, but never took the stand after defense attorneys decided to rest their case without calling any witnesses.

Nickolas Schubert supported his father, Tassano said.

"From his point of view, his dad wasn’t under suspicion. His dad was an innocent guy, had been his father and mother, and had done everything for him," Tassano said.

Another Schubert lawyer, public defender Rick Leo, said the years of suspicion had taken a toll on Nickolas Schubert, and "you could really tell how much this had weathered him when you looked in his eyes."

Leo said he and the teen hit it off, and had some good talks about college and enjoying being young. The lawyer said he and the son of the murder defendant embraced when the young Schubert headed back to school.

Leo told his client’s son to call if he needed anything.

"He was like, ‘Can I call you for money?’ " Leo recalled, a moment of humor in the midst of deadly serious business.

Deputy prosecutor Paul Stern said he, too, enjoyed Nickolas Schubert and got to know him some during a pre-trial interview last week.

"He seemed like a great kid who seemed to be in pain about what was going on," Stern said.

Although Stern was working to put Nickolas Schubert’s father behind bars, the teen talked openly about his life now and his life when his mother disappeared.

"At the end of the interview, we hugged for a moment and wished each other well," Stern said.

Did Nickolas Schubert remember his mother? Did he know she loved him?

"Yes," Stern said. "Absolutely."

Herald reporter Jim Haley contributed to this report.

You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431

or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.