Teen charged with murder in stabbing death of neighbor

By SCOTT NORTH

Herald Writer

A 19-year-old Everett man could face the death penalty after being charged Thursday with aggravated murder in the home-invasion killing of a woman who lived in his neighborhood.

Brandon Kenneth White, 19, has admitted being present Monday when Gail Jubie, 37, was repeatedly stabbed and shot during a robbery in her home, but he claims the killing was the work of a friend, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson alleged in Superior Court papers.

Prosecutors believe White acted alone, in part because neighbors saw only one person leaving Jubie’s home after her screams alerted them to the attack. Police also found a single set of footprints leading from the killing scene to the home of White’s parents a few houses away on Sunnyside Boulevard SE in east Everett, according to court papers.

"Inside the victim’s home police located a series of footprints in blood," Matheson wrote. "Initial indications are that all these prints were left by only one pair of shoes, and that the tread on these shoes matched the bloodstained shoes that defendant was still wearing when arrested by police."

Law officers also found a blood-spattered suit jacket, trousers, gloves, hat and backpack in White’s home, documents show.

"The evidence is that contrary to what he (White) says, he was the sole actor," said Jim Townsend, the county’s chief criminal deputy prosecutor.

White has been jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned today, and prosecutors will ask that his bail be increased to $750,000, in part because he is now charged in a potential capital case.

Jubie’s sister, Marge Martin of Marysville, said she was relieved to see charges filed.

"I truly believe they have the right person," she said. "I have every confidence that the detectives and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office will do everything they can to bring him to justice."

Martin said she personally does not want to see White face a death sentence. She thinks execution would be easier than spending life in prison.

Prosecuting Attorney Jim Krider will ultimately decide whether to seek a death sentence.

Prosecutors will follow their usual policy of giving the defense an opportunity to present information that may tend to convince a jury not to vote for the death penalty, Townsend said.

Among other things, prosecutors will have to consider White’s age and lack of felony convictions, he said.

They also will consider evidence about Jubie’s death.

"The attack was vicious," Matheson wrote, "leaving Ms. Jubie with approximately 17 separate stab wounds, a single gunshot wound to the head and multiple defensive wounds to both hands."

White allegedly told detectives that he had planned the robbery for several weeks, and that it was his friend’s idea to take Jubie’s life.

The defendant allegedly said his friend knocked on Jubie’s door wearing a suit and was allowed inside to use her phone. Once inside, the intruder pulled a gun, forced Jubie to her knees and attempted to slash her throat, according to court papers.

The woman fought, managed to break free and ran out the front door, but her attacker chased her onto the front porch and shot her, prosecutors alleged.

Neighbors saw a man wearing a suit run from Jubie’s home. Police spotted a set of footprints left in the frozen grass, leading north from Jubie’s home. A police dog followed the trail to the home of White’s parents, where a bloodstained suit and other items were found, Matheson alleged.

When questioned by police, White initially denied any knowledge of the attack on Jubie. He was wearing a bloodstained baseball cap, carrying a bloodstained backpack, wearing bloodstained shoes, and had blood splatters on his right ear, according to court papers.

Jubie was the youngest of 12 children and lived in the family home where she had grown up. She spent the last few years caring for and being a companion to her mother and father. She’d only recently begun living alone following the death of her father, Martin said.

She said the family hopes some good can come from the case in reminding people to carefully guard their personal safety.

"If this can happen to our sister, it can happen to anybody’s sister, or wife or mother or child," Martin said. "Be careful."