by Gary C. King
In the autumn of 1990, Higgs had received a transfer to San Diego, California, where he was to report for duty on a medical ship. His second wife had opted to get out of the navy so that she could be a full-time mother to her child. While on their way to San Diego, Higgs left his wife in Las Vegas, a 5½-hour drive to his duty station. She found work as an apartment manager near the Strip, and the two seldom saw each other afterward. They were divorced in the summer of 1992, and Higgs was ordered to pay $400 per month in child support for his adopted child.
For the next few years, Higgs remained single, until he was transferred for duty in Manama, Bahrain, where he remained from July 1993 to February 1997. While stationed in Bahrain, however, Higgs met the woman who would eventually become his third wife. She was the mother of a two-year-old child. While it wasn’t clear where the marriage occurred, public records show that Higgs and his third wife filed for bankruptcy on October 29, 1998, in Alexandria, Virginia, a year and a half after returning from overseas.
Higgs was discharged from the navy on March 1, 1999, after sixteen years of service. At the time of his discharge, he was an E-6, the rank of a medical corpsman. After his discharge, Higgs and his third wife relocated to Louisville, Tennessee. They didn’t remain there long. That same year, they moved to Las Vegas. Possessing an associate’s degree in nursing, Higgs continued his education by taking courses from the University of Phoenix via the Internet, where he reportedly received a bachelor of science and a doctoral degree. Higgs and his third wife divorced at some point during the time that they lived in Las Vegas, where both remained afterward.
Armed with his degrees, Higgs took the examination for his nursing license in Nevada in 2002, passed it, and went to work a short time later at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where he met Kathy Augustine, who would become wife number four.
At some point, Higgs changed his birth name, William Charles Higgs, to Chaz Higgs, because he thought that Chaz was a more fashionable name and sounded trendier. Because there were no public records documenting a legal name change, it could not be determined when or where the name change occurred, or if it had actually been done legally.
In the midst of all of the questions and uncertainties about his past, one thing stood at the forefront: Chaz Higgs was a real piece of work.
Chapter 9
As the aura of mystery surrounding Kathy Augustine’s death grew in intensity, the story began to shift gears to quickly become one of political intrigue that served to cast doubt on why the Nevada State Police found it necessary to bring in its investigative arm to assist the Reno Police Department with their investigation. The official story, of course, was that the Reno Police Department had asked for their help with the case, but as the story continued to unfold, it caused many people, including investigative journalists for national television news programs, to begin asking questions. While it is no secret that corruption has always run high at all levels of government in Nevada, it appeared that, just prior to Kathy’s death, the Nevada controller was preparing to blow the whistle on alleged significant dishonesty at the state level. Some people believed that it may not have been a coincidence that Kathy had become the target of the state’s first impeachment proceeding against one of its elected officials. After all, it was no secret that people in high places at the state level of government wanted her out of the way—most of the state’s politicians did not want to sit idly by and see her win yet another position of elected office. What better way was there to get her out of the picture than by disgracing her politically?
According to Barbara Woollen, a Nevada businesswoman who was running for lieutenant governor in the 2006 Republican primary election, Kathy Augustine approached her one day, after she had announced her run for state treasurer, and confided in her that she had initiated an investigation into corruption in the state. Woollen explained the situation briefly to CBS News 48 Hours when reporters for that program came to Nevada to cover Kathy Augustine’s suspicious death.
“She told me that she had information that she thought I needed to know about,” Woollen said. “It involved political corruption. Misappropriation of funds, slush funds.”
Woollen told reporters that Kathy was aware that her politically volatile investigation into political corruption and financial transgressions had placed her life in danger.
“She said that a prominent Republican figure had thrown her against a wall,” Woollen recalled, “and said the following to her: ‘What are you doing? You’re going to “F” it all up. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll drop out of this race and go away. Otherwise, you better watch your back.’”
According to Las Vegas political analyst Jon Ralston, the Republican leadership in Nevada were staggered and taken aback, not only by her investigation into corruption, but also by her announcement that she was going to run for state treasurer right after being impeached while state controller. They also felt that she had betrayed the party.
“I think they were flabbergasted,” Ralston said. “I think they were upset. I think they didn’t know exactly what to do because some thought, ‘You know what? She might have a chance.’”
Despite the threats and other tactics that were being used against her, allegedly by her colleagues inside her own political party, Kathy rejected their attempts to get her to quit. At one point, she appeared on Ralston’s television show to defend herself, and he had asked her on the air if she had ever thought about resigning.
“When you know that what you did, did not rise to the level of impeachment,” she replied, “then it was a matter of staying there and fighting for something you truly believed in.”
Ralston recounted some of Kathy’s political misdeeds, and made comments about the ruthless politician that lay beneath her on-camera smile.
“I think people really, really despised Kathy Augustine because of the tactics she used,” Ralston said to 48 Hours correspondent Troy Roberts. “She really hit people below the belt. And she really used the most divisive wedge, personal, emotional, inflammatory issues to get ahead.”
But was it her political persona that had upset people so much? Or was it the fact that she had launched an investigation that had the potential to not only embarrass some of the state’s elected officials but to possibly bring them down as well? Given the mystery surrounding how Kathy had died, the questions really needed answering—but the police did not seem to have an interest.
Some people hinted that Kathy’s political problems began after her state colleagues realized that she was being considered for the position of U.S. treasurer. One of her close friends, Nancy Vinnik, had been vocal about it.
“She was being looked at for a position in the U.S. Treasury,” Vinnik said. “And I think there were some good ole boys that didn’t like that. That’s when all the troubles in her life really, really started to happen—politically.”
But had it really been the U.S. Treasury position that she was being considered for that had upset people in her party? Or was it fear of her perfectionist ways that bothered them, knowing that someone as thorough as Kathy might actually get to the bottom of the purported political corruption involving slush funds that she was attempting to bring out into the open? Were the alleged wrongdoers really that fearful that she might actually expose them?
“Everything in her whole life was organized,” Vinnik recalled as she explained how Kathy possessed an emblematic type A character trait. “That was just Kathy. All of her clothes were color coordinated. All of her suits were in order. She was a perfectionist to a T in everything that she did.”
Interestingly, according to 48 Hours, the threat against Kathy was never taken seriously by the police and was not investigated. Neither were a number of other alleged serious threats against Kathy’s health and safety—they were all apparently ignored by the police as they investigated her death.
Phil Alfano, Kathy’s brother, told 48 Hours a similar account. He said that Kathy had told him that there were several people who had tr
ied to scare her to keep her from running for state treasurer.
“She did tell me that several people had warned her to be careful,” Alfano told CBS correspondent Troy Roberts. “There were threats made to her.”
But there was another troubling aspect surrounding the involvement of the Nevada State Police being so active in the investigation of Kathy’s death. According to the Las Vegas Sun, while the Reno Police Department was still referring to their case as a death investigation and proclaiming that Chaz Higgs was neither a suspect nor a person of interest, the state police were apparently closely monitoring all of the media reports, print and broadcast, that came out about Kathy’s death. At one point, the Sun had launched its own investigation and had reporters scrambling to try and learn as much about Chaz Higgs as possible. During the course of their efforts, they spoke to each of Higgs’s ex-wives in an attempt to develop a profile of the newly widowed man, and at least in one instance that the Sun documented, the Nevada Division of Investigation had been there afterward advising the source not to speak with the news media.
The big question on the minds of many people was “why?” Since there hadn’t been any gag orders issued in the case, what made the state police think that it was their responsibility to advise people not to speak with the news media? And even if a gag order had been issued, it would seem that a violation of such would become an issue for the court and not a police agency. Were there larger issues behind the actions of the state police? Had those in power at the highest levels of state government given orders for the state police to monitor the news media reports and, wherever possible, put a lid on the flow of information? If so, why? If it is the job of the investigative arm of a police agency to determine the truth behind criminal activities, what was there to hide?
When the Sun brought the matter up to the Reno Police Department, the response that the newspaper received was that the Reno Police Department had not asked the state police to instruct people not to talk about the case.
“They probably did it thinking they were helping us,” Lieutenant Jon Catalano told the Sun.
Helping them do what? Find the truth? Or cover up the corruption that Kathy Augustine had purportedly been trying to expose?
Like the circumstances of Kathy’s death, their action was a mystery that might never be solved because no one, it seemed, wanted to ask the questions needed to arrive at the answers. After the Las Vegas Sun article about Chaz Higgs came out—with the information buried deep inside about the state police advising people not to speak with the media—no one, it seemed, had been interested in pursuing the issue any further.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Chaz Higgs’s name had first shown up in news media accounts as early as March 2005, right after he had filed a complaint with the Nevada Ethics Commission against Senator Steven Horsford, a Democrat who represented north Las Vegas. Higgs alleged in his complaint that there were irregularities that pertained to some of the senator’s campaign contributions. According to published reports, Horsford claimed that Higgs’s complaint had been filed purely for retribution for criticism he had voiced during Kathy Augustine’s impeachment proceedings. Nonetheless, Horsford later filed amendments to some of his campaign reports, and the matter seemed to go away. Questions, such as whether Higgs had filed the complaint at the behest of his wife, or whether he had done it on his own, or whether Horsford had been a part of Kathy’s larger corruption investigation, were never adequately answered.
Chapter 10
As the summer of 2006 passed quickly for most people, it seemed to drag on forever for Kathy Augustine’s family as they anxiously awaited the results of toxicology tests that were being performed on Kathy’s blood and urine by the FBI’s crime laboratory. As July came to a close and moved into August, her family and friends recalled her laughter, the fact that she was an accomplished pianist, as well as a swimmer in school, and an upbeat person who was fond of collecting elephant figurines and throwing birthday bashes for members of her staff. Although many people had known her as tough and abrasive, there were just as many people, perhaps more, who had seen and recognized the funny, kind, and caring side of Kathy Augustine. Her brother Phil pointed out that her favorite singer had been Barbra Streisand, a liberal Democrat.
On the other side of the coin, there were those who would always remember the Kathy Augustine who seemed to make waves wherever she went. Nevada Republican Party chairman Paul Adams, who had worked hard to get her ostracized from her party, was one of those people. About two months before her death, Adams had introduced a motion at the state GOP convention that would effectively change the party’s bylaws to prevent party support, financial or otherwise, for candidates who had been impeached and found guilty. His motion was approved, and many people, both from within and outside the party, had viewed his actions as an unswerving political assault against Kathy.
Adams had also made the remark after her death, published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “My goal was for her to live a long and productive life, just not as a Republican candidate.” Kathy’s family, including her mother, had read Adams’s statement and had taken offense to it. Phil Alfano indicated that he was going to “make sure her reputation doesn’t get trashed.” After taking considerable heat over making the remark, Adams apologized.
“I understand all of it has been difficult for them (Kathy’s family),” Adams said. “I would apologize for any difficulty I caused for the family, and from now on, I will have no more comments.”
Nonetheless, as cruel and mean-spirited as such comments may be perceived, they do go with the territory of being a politician.
At another point during the summer, Kathy’s brother announced that a scholarship fund had been established in Kathy Augustine’s name. It was designed for students who wanted careers in public service.
“It is one way for her spirit to live on,” Phil Alfano said.
Recounting an episode depicting the marital lives of Kathy and Higgs, Winifred Cindy Baker, a nurse and a witness on behalf of the state, who had been mentored by Higgs at Washoe Medical South, related an incident in which Kathy had brought Higgs into the hospital’s emergency room for treatment of what was termed a “severe allergic reaction.” Higgs was obviously having a difficult time breathing. While hospital personnel were attempting to obtain information about Higgs and his condition, Kathy was purportedly talking about herself and an unspecified project that she was currently working on. At one point, Baker interjected and explained to Kathy that the hospital staff was not there for her at that time, and that they were there for Chaz, who presently wasn’t doing too well. Baker’s remarks clearly hadn’t won Kathy over as a friend, and Kathy, regardless of Chaz or his condition, hadn’t hesitated to let her know it.
“I can have your job by the end of the day,” Kathy reportedly said to Baker.
There were other incidents of unpleasant exchanges, usually over the phone when Kathy would call to speak with Higgs.
The next time Baker saw Kathy Augustine was on the morning of July 8, 2006, when paramedics brought her into the emergency room. Although Kathy was being treated by Marlene Swanbeck and Chris McCabe, Baker was on duty that morning. Curiosity took her into the area where Swanbeck and McCabe were working on Kathy, but only for a brief moment. Baker saw Higgs when he showed up at the hospital, and she spoke to him as any employee would to another.
Because it had been determined that Kathy needed a heart catheter, not to mention the fact that she was critically ill due to an as-yet-unknown cause, the decision was made to move her from Washoe Medical South to the ICU at Washoe Medical Main. According to Baker, she made the decision to visit Kathy and Higgs later that day, at about 8:00 P.M., thinking that Higgs might need some help or support from his coworkers. After passing a little time in the ICU waiting room, Baker was allowed to enter the area where Higgs and Kathy were to be found.
While Higgs was talking to a nurse with a chart in her hand, presumably about Kathy’s condition, treatment, and
prognosis, and going over lab reports, Baker walked up to Kathy’s bedside. Kathy appeared to be conscious, but she wasn’t. Her eyes twitched uncontrollably, and a nurse later said that the reason her eyes were twitching was because she was having seizures. Baker held Kathy’s hand at one point and said, “I’m so sorry” before leaving.
Baker said that her actions in the ICU room with Kathy that evening were the result of compassion due to the fact that Kathy was her coworker’s wife—despite the fact that Kathy had shown her unpleasant side by threatening to have Baker fired from her job.
The Nevada primary election, with Kathy’s name on the ballot for state treasurer, occurred while everyone waited to find out once and for all whether Kathy had died of natural causes or whether she had been murdered. Not surprisingly, she collected 26,000 posthumous votes. It wasn’t enough votes to get past the primary election, but her family took solace in the fact that there were so many people who had voted for her even though she was dead. It was an impressive number of votes for a dead person, made all the more remarkable because state law requires that notices be posted in every polling location in the state explaining that her name was on the ballot even though she was deceased.
