Hubert Cross: A Life Cut Short

By Jondi Gumz

Hubert Cross found his soulmate and got a job he loved in Scotts Valley and a place to live so close he could walk home to eat lunch with his wife and his two young children.

After growing up in poverty, he earned a degree in computer engineering, taught himself to play the guitar, traveled to a number of countries and learned multiple languages. He had started his career in Nicaragua, where his family still lives, and followed political events, sharing long conversations with his wife and friends.

“He was living the American dream,” said his sister Rachel.

That dream was shattered March 21 when he was fatally stabbed while coming to the aid of a friend. He was 35.

Asked what happened, Rachel said she did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

Santa Cruz County sheriff’s office arrested Leif Ames, a co-worker of Hubert at Universal Audio, for murder; he is being held on $750,000 bail. He was in front of the home in Live Oak where Hubert succumbed to multiple stab wounds despite life-saving measures by deputies.

When a family needs help, people often turn to GoFundMe.com. For Hubert, 300 people have given a total of $47,000 in two separate campaigns to support his widow Otilia and their children Emma 5, and Hubert Jr., 1.

“I didn’t know he had such a network of friends,” said Rachel, who called the Times from Nicaragua where she lives.

She said their parents had left Nicaragua in the ‘70s, political refugees who came to San Jose where she and Hubert were born.

Their father is a computer programmer, and Hubert is the one who got the IT gene. At 20, he moved back to Nicaragua.

“He worked for my father’s company and he ended up head of the IT department,” Rachel said.

Plan B

When the university didn’t have the major he wanted, Hubert returned to the U.S. He traveled back and forth, and visited Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Norway, Germany and France. He learned Spanish and English, Mandarin and German.

When Hubert met his wife-to-be, he was ready to be a family man. They married 10 years ago, and were living happily in Managua, Nicaragua, with daughter Emma, when the political turmoil began. Otilia was pregnant, and masked gunmen patrolled the streets in pickup trucks, so they left, renting an AirBnB for a couple months in Costa Rica while Otilia gave birth to Hubert Jr.

“My brother always had a plan B,” Rachel said.

When returning to Nicaragua was not an option, they returned to the U.S. and moved to Scotts Valley.

“It’s the most beautiful place to raise children,” Rachel said. “Pine trees everywhere.”

She is in shock that her only brother is gone.

“It has destroyed my family,” she said. “My niece and nephew will grow up without their father. My brother will not know his children.”

Hubert and his wife had escaped the civil war and come to America to build a new life, and now that life was over.

Best Friend

The first GoFundMe drive for Hubert’s family was set up by Marius-Paul Dumitrean, 37, his friend since middle school. He’s a UC Santa Cruz computer science graduate, a tech entrepreneur and father of a 2-and-1/2 year old.

So far, more than 170 people have given $31,000.

The second GoFundMe drive was set up by Irina Gaysina, a friend of Otilia’s. More than 130 people have given $16,000.

Dumitrean can’t believe his best friend is gone. He was with Otilia when she got the news.

Dumitrean immigrated at age 10 to San Jose with his family from Eastern Europe. His younger brother was Hubert’s best friend at first but as they grew up, Dumitrean spent more time with Hubert.

“We always connected,” he said. “We worked together, we played together.”

They were roommates, then business partners who shared a passion for freedom and justice. They shared their love of music, classic rock, Pink Floyd, Beatles.

Dumitrean called the Times while driving across country. He’s relocating to the North Carolina “Research Triangle” to work in tech. He had hoped Hubert would move there, too.

“I wish we had gotten together,” he said.

The name Hubert means “bright heart.”