In her younger days, Kathy Augustine possessed a face emblematic of the party to which she was espoused: sharp, cunning, pitiless—the Republicans. In her latter days, just before her mysterious death, her face had grown not only broader but also more stolid and robust. For that's her, Kathy Augustine, our state's controller and the woman who, during her 14 years in Nevada's turbulent political world, not only survived an unprecedented (among Nevada officials) impeachment, for violating campaign-ethics laws, but also continued to prevail: stolid and robust.
And iron-handed and unflagging, too. That's the way the people who knew Kathy best—not just family and friends, but even coworkers and enemies—described her in the days following her sudden and unforeseen death; and that's the reason they had been in utter shock when, on Saturday, July 8, her husband of three years, Chaz Higgs, himself a critical-care nurse, called an ambulance to take her to the Washoe Medical Center, claiming his wife had suffered a massive heart attack. Up until then Kathy had appeared to be so vivacious, always taking good care of herself. It didn't seem right—above all when Chaz, Kathy's third husband, about whom nobody knew much, suggested that the heart attack had been instigated by stress accumulated in her political affairs.
Stolid, robust, iron-handed, unflagging: Even while she lay unconscious in the intensive-care unit, Kathy's loved ones did not give up hope for her. Not for three days, anyhow; not until they surrendered instead to Kathy's own wish, to be liberated from life support if she were ever on it.
It was then, on July 11—the Tuesday Kathy Augustine, having just entered into her second century of life in apparent good health and still with many ambitions, died—that eyebrows began to lift, suspicions surfaced and the investigations commenced.
William Charles Higgs—Chaz—a former Navy officer and a nomadic man most of his adult life, stood side by side on July 11 with his stepdaughter, Dallas Augustine, Kathy's 26-year-old progeny from her first marriage, in front of the media. He dispersed news of Kathy's death and fielded relevant questions. He said that he had found Kathy unconscious in their Northern Nevada home at about 6:30 on the morning of July 8. He said that he called 911 after he tried to revive her to no avail. He said that Kathy had been complaining of heartburn and stomachaches in the weeks prior to her death, and that she, who had been abjured by her party on account of her infamous censure and impeachment in 2004 (and the bad image that shadowed), had come under grave stress that no one outside of their household could see.
To John Tsitouras, Kathy's neighbor since Dallas was 11 years old, and best friend to Kathy's late second husband, Chuck Augustine, it all sounded a bit odd. For he had seen Kathy less than 10 days before, he says, and she was as strong and upbeat as ever. Kathy would spend most of her time where she worked—Carson City—but made frequent weekend trips to her home in central Las Vegas, on Maria Elena Drive, and without fail, Tsitouras says, she would visit him and talk neighborhood stuff, talk campaign stuff, talk family stuff. And as far as he could determine, Kathy was the same resolute woman he'd known for the previous 15 years.
"Plus," he says, "anyone who knows Kathy knows that girl's made from iron."
And so Tsitouras watched when the news reported on July 12 that Reno police had launched an investigation into the death of Kathy Augustine. It's standard practice, the police said. Any time a relatively young person with no indicative signs in her medical history dies, we look into it.
But, they emphasized, they did not have any evidence that a crime had taken place. This, they said, is purely a noncriminal investigation into Mrs. Augustine's death.
"Detectives have spoken to people who were with Kathy in the days before she went unconscious, trying to learn of her activities," says Lt. Jon Catalano. "They've reviewed her medical history and her family's medical history. And two detectives watched over the coroner's autopsy."
Washoe County Coroner Vernon McCarty says that, after Kathy's body underwent the typical autopsy, no unequivocal determination could be made. But nor could much evidence supporting a natural heart attack be found. And so McCarty sent for a toxicology exam, to test for foreign chemicals in the body of the deceased.
Lt. Catalano says that the test is being conducted in an FBI laboratory, not because the investigation has turned into a criminal one, but because Washoe County's laboratory is small and already serves most of Northern Nevada and some parts of Northern California. It would take six to eight weeks to return the results. With the FBI's lab, it'll only take two.
Which is good, because the media (and thus, the consuming public) has been hounding everyone involved with Kathy's unexplained death since the moment her family pulled her off life support. And though the Reno police said that the only thing to do now is wait for the forthcoming toxicology report, that until then it would be premature to jump to any conclusions, and that, no, they have not even begun to consider potential suspects, the media began to dig into Chaz Higgs.
A man with soft features and a congenial appearance, Chaz was a veteran of two failed marriages and two filed bankruptcies, living in a trailer park on Boulder Highway, when he met Kathy Augustine in 2003. In the days prior to her death it was well-known among Kathy's friends and family that he and Kathy were having marital problems.
The Review-Journal, quoting an anonymous source, reported that Kathy had not too long ago kicked Chaz out of her house, only to soon take him back. Dallas Augustine said it was true, that things between the couple could have been better. And John Tsitouras said:
"At least once Kathy came over complaining that Chaz had drained one of their joint accounts without her knowledge. She was very frustrated."
But that wasn't the first flag of suspicion. No, that came in August of 2003, when Charles Augustine, in the throes of a deteriorating marriage with his wife, Kathy, whose divorce papers he'd been refusing to sign, died in the long-term recovery room at Sunrise Hospital. He'd had a stroke days earlier, says Tsitouras, who had been the one to drive Chuck to Sunrise Hospital. But he was getting better. In fact, Chuck was getting so much better that he had been upgraded to the long-term recovery room, where Tsitouras first laid eyes on Chaz Higgs, a nurse who had just obtained his license a year before being put in charge of Chuck's care. Then, out of the blue, septic shock seized Chuck's body, and he died of a cardiopulmonary arrest. No autopsy was conducted.
Anonymous reports—which have not been confirmed—state that Kathy received over a million dollars in insurance money upon her second husband's death, as well as the estate on Maria Elena Drive.
Three weeks later, Kathy Augustine and Chaz Higgs married under Honolulu's summer sky. It was a turn of events that struck Tsitouras, as well as other friends of the Augustines, as quite odd. And it sat unsettled in the gut of Greg Augustine, Chuck's eldest son, who listened to Chaz's explanation of Kathy's death two weeks ago—a heart attack induced by stress—with great suspicion. Greg had helped his stepmother with several campaigns in the past, he says, and had therefore seen stress roll off of her time and time again.
Up to today, the Reno police have yet to interview Chaz; for the scope of the ongoing investigation has not turned criminal, they say, and like everyone else, they are waiting for the toxicology report to come back to make their next move.
Because the truth is, states Lt. Catalano—even more assiduous on account of the scrutiny inherent in high-profile cases—that a number of things could have befallen Kathy Augustine. He's right, says Coroner McCarty. At this stage, there are still multiple possibilities for the cause of death. Dr. Sean Ameli, a Las Vegas cardiologist and president of the board for Southern Nevada's chapter of the American Heart Association, says that at least 10 percent of heart-attack victims are people who ate well, remained active and showed no symptoms, and that as women traverse their midlife years their chances of dying from a heart attack surpass those of men.
(Yet, he did also say that while stress can be a factor leading to a heart attack if other factors are in place, it alone is not likely to cause one.)
If the toxicology report comes back showing Kathy indeed died of a heart attack, Lt. Catalano says that would be it—case closed. But if it comes back looking suspicious, police will adapt the scope of the investigation accordingly.
In any case, the media continued to seek answers from Chaz Higgs, and on July 13, two days after his wife's death, he told them:
"I loved this woman who died. It's just crazy for people to assume I had something to do with it. People don't know what went on in our home."
Later that evening, John Tsitouras witnessed Kathy Augustine's brother, Phil Alfano, and his family enter the Augustine house, occupied at the time by Chaz, Dallas Augustine and Dallas' girlfriend. Soon Tsitouras heard arguing, shouting, and then the resounding bang of a slammed door. Another neighbor mistook the sound for a gunshot and reported to Metro at 5:30 a case of domestic disturbance at the Augustine household.
Tsitouras says: "Yep. That happened the night before Chaz sliced his wrists."
A half-hour past 10 on the morning of July 14, Dallas Augustine found Chaz prostrate on the ground in his room, drenched in his own blood, she would later tell George Knapp of KLAS Channel 8. Beside her stepfather were papers containing a suicide message, she said; and then, anticipating the follow-up question that had been on everyone's mind, she added: "It was not a confessional."
Chaz Higgs, 42, did not die. He was taken to the hospital. And in this way Metro became another investigating body in the case surrounding Kathy Augustine's unattributed death. (The day before, the Nevada Division of Investigations called the Reno police, offering help on the high-profile case involving a public official, and the Reno police accepted, happy to have more resources at their disposal.)
And so it was only natural that Chaz did not show up the following day—Saturday, July 15—to his wife's memorial service, where people, as they usually do with their dead, forgot about all the negatives associated with Kathy Augustine and venerated the positives. Where people remembered how tough and resilient the experienced politician had been not to back down after her impeachment, but rather to maintain her innocence, never once negotiating the stolidity of her character, and to throw herself into the race for yet another office, the state treasurer's. And where, among the mass at Guardian Angel Cathedral, those who in reality knew Kathy commemorated her with adjectives like vibrant, feisty and spunky—all fit for a woman full of life.
In one respect, it's a good thing Chaz didn't appear, for Kathy's stepson Greg ripped the seal on his silence, and his suspicions of Chaz were unmistakable.
I, too, can't wait for the toxicology reports, Greg told media present at the memorial service. Because I can't see how a healthy woman of 50 years with no family history of heart problems can suddenly die of a heart attack. If anything suspicious shows up, I'll ask authorities to exhume my father's body.
Three days later, Kathy's brother Phil spoke in a press conference held at Washoe Medical Center, and he said that Kathy Augustine's family was grateful for the investigations taking place, because truth was of the highest demand, and that they pray Kathy had indeed died of natural causes.
And then he said that he does not speak for Chaz Higgs or Dallas Augustine.
On July 20, nine days after her mother died and with the media's heat wave still hovering over Kathy's mysterious death, Dallas Augustine—to whom Kathy's estate had been bequeathed, and the only friend or family member of Kathy's who has stood by Chaz Higgs' side—spoke with George Knapp of Channel 8 News and said she does not believe Chaz is culpable in any way. She explained that Chaz had nothing to gain in the financial sense because "we already knew what my mom drew up, the paperwork, two years ago, what was entailed." And then she claimed that, if the toxicology reports indicate Kathy's death was not natural, she will spend the rest of her life trying to figure out who's responsible for her mother's sudden and unforeseen death.