An Almost Perfect Murder (4 page)

Dr. Clark did not immediately list a cause of death. She told Jenkins that she would have to wait until all of the toxicology tests had been conducted on Kathy’s urine and blood samples to finalize her determination.

When Jenkins followed up with the hospital and examined the medical records that had been generated during Kathy’s hospital stay, he found nothing that could account for an injection that had been made by hospital staff on her left buttock, which corroborated the autopsy findings. In other words, no one at either of the hospitals had given Kathy an injection at the site of her left buttock or even in close proximity to it.

Based on what he knew so far, Jenkins had the now-frozen urine samples, which had been collected from Kathy on July 8, 2006, forwarded to the FBI’s forensic laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where it would be carefully and thoroughly analyzed for traces of succinylcholine. Jenkins also took steps to confirm the details of Higgs’s employment at the time of Kathy’s demise and found that he had access to a variety of drugs, as any nurse would, including succinylcholine, as well as the syringes and needles needed to administer them, during his tenure at Carson-Tahoe Hospital.

As the buzz circulated that Kathy’s husband was somehow involved in her death, many people began asking why Chaz Higgs would want her dead. Jenkins later publicly stated that sometimes a murder doesn’t make much sense until all of the details have been sorted out.

“Well, if you take the stand that every murder has to be rational,” Jenkins told CBS News, “I think you’ll be disappointed. All we know for sure is that there was a failing relationship, a lot of acrimony between the two of them, and some allegations of infidelity. That’s the ingredients, many times, for violence.”

At this point of the investigation, with nothing sufficient enough to rule murder in or out, Jenkins knew that he had to dig deeper. Although his nagging cop’s instinct told him that Kathy Augustine had been murdered, off icially he was still investigating only a suspicious death. Thus began Jenkins’s case of alleged first-degree murder, which would become known as Case Number CR06-2876. He had no idea yet where his investigation would take him. But he would know soon enough.

Aside from her family and closest friends, Kathy Marie Alfano Augustine was not well-liked by many people, politically or otherwise. She was known to have an abrasive personality, and it was generally known that she frequently yelled at people, particularly the employees in her office at the state capital. She also knew how to play the game of dirty tricks, and many said that she played it well—nearly as well as Richard Nixon, who likely would have been proud of her. She was known around the office as “the bitch,” a term that her husband, Chaz, was also known to use when referring to her, according to witnesses. Confident and positive despite the many obstacles that she faced in the political arena, Kathy recognized that she was tough and she was damned proud of it. Her story was one of power, ambition, and enemies. According to RPD investigators, it was also a story of murder—her own. Kathy’s murder could have been the perfect crime, had it not been for a single slip of the tongue.

At fifty, Kathy Augustine was tall and attractive, a big-boned blonde with a clear complexion and near-perfect teeth. Although she attempted to smile a lot, as most politicians do, her smile frequently seemed to be forced and, some would say, often did not show in her eyes. No one seemed to know for sure the level or degree of unhappiness that many felt she was endeavoring to mask, but speculation ran high that she was trying to cover up marital issues. Struggling to maintain the façade that her marriage to Chaz Higgs was a solid union, those on the outside looking in could see that trouble was brewing on the horizon; they thought that the marriage wouldn’t last. The stresses in her life had begun to show in the lines on her face, and through her growing impatience in dealing with even simple matters. No one, however, even in their wildest dreams, ever imagined that it would be her death that would end it.

Born Kathy Marie Alfano on May 29, 1956, a Tuesday, in Los Angeles, California, to a good, respectable Italian-American family. Kathy, the oldest of three children, was raised in the suburbs of Southern California by loving and caring parents, who taught her and her two brothers strong personal values, such as to always be honest, caring, and giving. Her parents, Phil and Kay Alfano, still reside in northern Orange County.

Tuesday’s child is full of grace
. If there’s one thing that Kathy possessed, at least from an outward, physical perspective, it was grace, and it exhibited itself in the form of poise, refinement, and beauty despite her often bullish character. Her family always seemed very proud of her, and they nearly always supported her in whatever she chose to do. In her youth, she seemed to fulfill all their hopes and dreams, and by the time she finished high school, they firmly believed that she would turn out the way most parents hope and pray their children will. She had given them no reason to believe otherwise. However, somewhere along the path of life, the values that had been encouraged by her family seemed to partially disappear as she became hardened and, some would say, ruthless in her dealings with others. It may have been the failed marriages, or it may have been the taste of political power that had caused her to take the turn at the fork in the road that led her down a different path from where she had started. Whatever it was, something had changed her and turned her into the ruthless, hard-nosed person that she had become at the time of her death.

Kathy’s passion for politics began while still in high school. Always pushing herself to her limits, while all the other kids were out having fun, Kathy took her studies seriously. Instead of partying during the weekend nights, Kathy was ambitious and driven. She spent much of her spare time studying and doing her homework, and for a high-school student, she took the word “tenacious” to a new level. She also participated in various aspects of the student body programs, and would graduate salutatorian for all of her hard work.

Prior to graduation from high school, she was awarded the much coveted Lyndon B. Johnson Internship Grant and worked in Washington, D.C., as a congressional intern for the 38th District of California. According to her mother, it was the internship that had cemented her interest in politics, hook, line, and sinker. She had become so engrossed in political affairs and principles that there was no chance of her ever shaking loose, even if she had wanted.

Following graduation from high school and after completing the short internship during her first year in college, Kathy went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from Occidental College, a small, no-nonsense private liberal arts institution conveniently tucked away about halfway between Pasadena and West Hollywood. After Occidental, she went on to earn a master’s in public administration (an MPA) from California State University at Long Beach.

After receiving her Master of Public Administration, Kathy went to work for Delta Airlines. Her first job there was in crew scheduling, but later she took a position as a flight attendant. This was back in the days when a female flight attendant was still known as a stewardess. She seemed to enjoy flying back and forth across the country, but it soon became clear that her being gone all the time had begun to take its toll on her first marriage, which was short-lived and ended in divorce. According to her brother Phil, Kathy seemed naïve in handling her relationships, particularly when they involved marriage. But she married again and, like with the first marriage, she found herself in divorce court a short time later. Those close to her seemed to think that it was the job that made it difficult for her to hang on to a husband, and while it certainly may have been a contributing factor, the problem lay deeper in reality.

Her brother Phil characterized her as being too trusting of others at times, which often ended up with her dating, and marrying, guys of questionable repute, often on impulse, only to have deep regrets later. She soon became a single mother and found herself raising a daughter, alone. Like all challenges that came her way, she took the responsibility in stride and did the best that she could.

In 1988, when Kathy was thirty-two, the job took her to Las Vegas, where she met Delta Airlines pilot Charles Augustine, sixteen years her senior. The two instantly hit it off, and after a year of dating they decided to get married. Charles, with three children of his own from two previous marriages, legally adopted Kathy’s young daughter, Dallas, and they all lived together in a large house in the upscale Huntridge Circle community in Las Vegas.

At first Kathy’s marriage to Charles Augustine seemed to be a good fit. For several years they lived the good life in Sin City and seemed truly happy, and as Las Vegas’s real estate prices began to escalate, they soon found that their beautiful home had a market value of nearly $1 million. Part of what made her and Charles’s relationship work for as long as it did could be attributed to his attitude—he frequently referred to her as “she who must be obeyed.”

But Kathy wasn’t satisfied at simply being a housewife and mother. She wanted more than that out of life, and her fiery enthusiasm for politics was soon reignited. In no time at all, it had taken center stage in her life once again. Kathy dreamed large, and it was no secret that she knew how to work a crowd, either to her own benefit or to the detriment of an opponent. Her charismatic persona, at least at her career’s outset, was difficult, if not impossible, to match.

“She would walk into a room and light it up,” said Phil Alfano, her brother, who works as an educator in Modesto, California. “She had that kind of charisma.”

Although she knew years earlier that she wanted a political career, it wasn’t until 1992 that she really managed to get things under way when she decided to run for a term in the Nevada Assembly, which is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature. It consists of forty-two members, elected to two-year terms without term limits, and each member is from his or her own respective district. Assemblymen and assemblywomen are not paid much, typically only receiving a small per diem fee for the first two months of a particular session. But it is a good place for politicians to begin a political career, particularly for those who want to effect change in their district, and is often considered a stepping-stone of sorts to bigger and better things within the political arena.

It was during Kathy Augustine’s 1992 campaign for assemblywoman of her district that she first made waves and used dirty tricks to win her first position to elected office. Trailing in popularity with the voters, she sent out a political advertisement via the mail that depicted a side-by-side comparison of the two candidates. On the left side of the mailer, Kathy appeared in a clear, bright, and well-focused photo, smiling largely, with her clear white skin accentuated. Opposite her photo was a low-quality photo of her opponent, who happened to be African-American. The mailer, in urging people to vote for Kathy, read:
There is a difference.
Kathy won the election by some seven hundred votes. Her tactic drew considerable controversy, particularly among black constituents, and many people called her a bigot.

After completing one term in the Nevada Assembly, Kathy decided that a run for a state senate seat was in order. She got her name on the ballot as a Republican against incumbent Lori Lipman Brown, a Democrat. During that 1994 campaign, she stated in a political advertisement that Brown opposed prayer because Brown had pushed for the senate to begin using a nondenominational approach for the opening prayer instead of having the prayer led by a Christian minister. Instead of participating in the opening prayer, Brown, who maintained that she was an atheist, began stepping outside the senate chambers during the prayer after her request was denied. Kathy also accused Brown, who was a schoolteacher, of being against the Pledge of Allegiance. In reality, Brown was not against prayer in principle, and she did not oppose the Pledge of Allegiance.

“Politics was a game for her,” Brown said. “Anything you had to do to win an election was all right.”

Brown fired back with a civil defamation lawsuit, which essentially forced Kathy to publicly admit that her campaign ads had been false. Although she had to apologize to Brown for the false ads, Kathy won the election.

Her associates were quick to recognize that she had all the traits of a successful, up-and-coming politician in the state’s often highly volatile political arena. Nevada politicians, long known for their “good ole boy” network in which one hand greased gets another’s back scratched, were quick to publicly criticize Kathy for her campaign tactics while offering her praise behind closed doors. Kathy became active in all of the Republican women’s clubs, serving in various roles and capacities, and generously gave of her time whenever it was needed. She was known to travel out of her way to distant, far-flung areas of the state to attend the various clubs’ functions. As a result, she soon became an idol of sorts among Republican women, and served as a high-profile example of what women can do in today’s political climate.

In 1998, Kathy made history when she became the first woman elected as the state controller, where she served until her untimely demise. Life suddenly seemed golden for Kathy after being elected controller. She enjoyed a good salary, traveled with most expenses paid, and was able to purchase a second home in Reno so that she would be close to the state capitol building and convenient to her work in Carson City. More accomplished and self-guided than many people in her chosen profession, Kathy moved faster than many of her professional peers. By now, she was all but consumed by her association with the Republican Party, not only locally but nationally as well. She proudly displayed photographs in which she had posed with President George H. W. Bush, and later, his son George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney. It is little wonder that she brimmed with self-confidence, was tough, and possessed a positive attitude, attributes that were immediately detectable by her firm handshake and the fact that she always looked the person to whom she was speaking straight in the eye. She could have been a great poker player because her opponents could never tell when she was bluffing.

Kathy’s list of accomplishments was impressive. For example, according to her official Nevada State biography, she served as a delegate to Russia and the Ukraine with the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) in 1993. Two years later, in 1995, she was selected as an executive committee member to the Biennial Assembly of the Atlantic Association of Young Political Leaders (AAYPL) in Paris, France. In addition, she took part in the Council of State Governments Henry Toll Fellowship Program and was also chosen for the Flemming Fellows Leadership Institute’s Class of 1996. In 1999, she attended the Governors Center at Duke University Strategic Leadership for State Executives, and she graduated in 2000 from the Greater Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program. In 2001, she completed the Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program.

Among her other accomplishments, Kathy was also a recipient of the American Legion Achievement Medallion, the Community Partners Family Resource Center 1998 Community Service Award of Excellence, the 1998 National Republican Legislators Association, Legislator of the Year, and Nevada Opera Theatre’s International Friendship Award, in 2003.

Kathy Augustine formerly had served as chair of the Electrical Industry Restructuring Committee for the Council of State Governments–West (CSG-WEST) and was the past chairperson of the Trade and Transportation Task Force Subcommittee for the American Legislative Exchange Council. She also served on the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Women’s NETWORK Board of Directors as representative of the group’s western region, from 1996 through 1998, and served as the Nevada State director for Women in Government, from 1997 to 1998.

At the time of her death, Kathy was serving on the Family and Child Treatment Advisory Committee, and was a member of the Government Finance Officers Association. She was also on the State Board of Finance, the Department of Transportation Board of Directors, the Executive Branch Audit Committee, and was the former chair of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT) International Committee. She was also serving as a trustee for the Center for Governmental Financial Management and was the NASACT representative for the Electronic Benefits and Services Council, where she chaired the Strategic Expansion and Advanced Technology Committee.