All Concerning the Nurse Who Killed Kathy Augustine
(‘Political Thriller,’ Forensic Recordsdata)
The final submit traced Kathy Augustine’s trajectory from the fellowship she gained in school to her Nevada state political profession and at last to her dying by the hands of fourth husband Chaz Higgs.
Apart from the truth that he was a nurse who romanced Kathy as her older husband lay debilitated, little background is obtainable on Chaz within the Forensic Recordsdata episode.
I dug up a few of his private historical past, so let’s get happening half two of the “Political Thriller” recap:
William Charles Higgs was born together with twin brother Mike on June 2, 1964, to Rose Fucci Higgs and William Alexander Higgs, a profession Marine who later labored for the police division in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Sooner or later early on, William Charles determined he wanted to rebrand. He legally modified his identify to Chaz Higgs.
In 1983 on the age of 19, Chaz joined the navy and educated at a medical corps faculty.
He married 4 instances.
First up was Daybreak Renee Brown, whom he met at corpsman faculty at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. There, they realized about primary medical look after sufferers together with these harm in fight.
Daybreak would later describe Chaz as having fun with bodybuilding, browsing, and {golfing} and being “all the time into himself.” However he handled his sufferers properly and didn’t smoke, drink, or use medicine, she instructed the Las Vegas Solar.
Sadly, his virtues didn’t embrace constancy. The couple break up after Daybreak caught Chaz dishonest greater than as soon as.
Chaz reportedly felt comfy pursuing relationships with ladies who weren’t single. He started courting his second spouse, fellow corpsman Kirstin Gonzalez, earlier than her divorce was last, and married her shortly after. To his credit score, he adopted Kirstin’s child son.
However Chaz and Kirsten’s union soured shortly, in accordance with the Las Vegas Solar. After they divorced, a courtroom ordered Chaz to pay $400 a month in youngster help. Kirstin launched him of the duty six years later as a result of she had remarried and Chaz not visited the little boy.
Later in his navy profession, Chaz served in Bahrain and married Lorelei Sagmit Gueco, a Filipino lady with a daughter from a earlier relationship. They ended up in Las Vegas.
After they broke up, Chaz needed to remain near his stepdaughter, so he took a medical job close by after getting an affiliate’s diploma in nursing from Craven Group School and passing the Nationwide Council Licensure Examination check in in 2002.
Maybe it was as a result of he indulged himself in sports activities tools or salon providers — the Reno Gazette Journal described him as having hair with frosted suggestions — or perhaps as a result of he was serving to to help his son and stepdaughter, however Chaz couldn’t handle his funds correctly. He ran up bank card money owed, in accordance with the Las Vegas Solar.
Chaz filed for chapter twice.
By 2004, he was working as a vital care nurse, a job with a mean wage of round $50,000 then. Nonetheless, he couldn’t price range properly, and was dwelling in a faculty bus transformed right into a cellular house.
He met Nevada state controller Kathy Augustine when he was assigned to look after her third husband. Charles Augustine was hospitalized after a minor stroke.
Kathy and Chaz began taking meals collectively on the hospital. The 2 quickly started performing like lovebirds.
Medical doctors anticipated Charles to begin bodily remedy and get well from his stroke. However he instantly went into organ failure and died.
Did Chaz have something to do along with his demise? Years later, the authorities exhumed Charles’s physique however discovered no forensic proof implicating Chaz. Investigators’ suspicions by no means gave method to any certainty about Charles’s dying. The case was closed.
Three weeks after Charles died, Chaz and Kathy received married in Hawaii. They moved into Kathy’s big home in Las Vegas.
Kathy’s household and pals didn’t like Chaz from the beginning, her mom, Kay, instructed CBS Information.
Later, Chaz grew to become verbally abusive towards Kathy, in accordance with her brother Phil.
And Chaz’s monetary acumen hadn’t improved. He was typically broke and continuously requested Kathy for cash, Kay stated.
He was spending a whole lot of time on the gymnasium and even utilizing steroids, in accordance with the collection A Killer’s Mistake. He did, nonetheless, care sufficient about Kathy to assist her purchase a greater health regime, in accordance with her pal Heidi Smith.
Nonetheless, the wedding was doomed. Kathy had boundless vitality for political actions, whereas Chaz had little curiosity in them.
When he accompanied her to occasions, he tended to look conspicuously bored. At his urging, Kathy reportedly agreed to chop down on political outings however broke her promise.
In the meantime, Chaz was spending time on a web-based relationship website.
By 2006, it grew to become clear to Chaz’s coworkers on the hospital that he hated Kathy and needed out of the wedding.
She was fed up with him, too, however earlier than both of them filed for divorce, Kathy died and Chaz went to jail for killing her with an injection of succinylcholine.
What did he have to achieve from her dying? As talked about within the earlier submit, he knew that Kathy had created a dwelling belief that assigned her belongings, together with the home in Las Vegas and Charles’s $1 million life insurance coverage payout, to her daughter, Dallas Augustine.
However, in accordance with Homicide by Medic, Chaz was nonetheless entitled to Kathy’s $1,100-a-month pension — not an enormous sum however a pleasant complement to Chaz’s nursing wage. He went to the retirement system workplace in Carson Metropolis to begin the paperwork the day earlier than medical doctors unplugged Kathy’s life help and she or he died, Homicide by Medic stated.
And prosecutors had a number of different, extra damaging proof in opposition to Chaz, together with the invention of the highly effective drug succinylcholine in Kathy’s urine.
Nurse Kim Ramey testified that Chaz had lately talked about {that a} shot of succinylcholine — a paralytic usually used to organize sufferers for anesthesia — was one of the simplest ways to get away with homicide.
The jury convicted Chaz and off he went to a Nevada state jail. Chaz’s household caught by him.
“Twelve folks simply convicted an harmless man,” twin brother Mike Higgs wrote in an e-mail quoted within the Tahoe Every day Tribune. “There isn’t a manner in 100 years I’ll imagine my brother killed Kathy Augustine. It simply couldn’t occur. He’s one of many nicest guys on the planet and he’s getting a uncooked deal.”
At present, Chaz is in medium safety at Northern Nevada Correctional Middle. The 20-year anniversary of his sentence comes on January 8, 2027, and he will likely be eligible for parole consideration then.
Kathy’s daughter, Dallas, gained’t be on the listening to.
Like her mom, Dallas had a lifetime of twists and turns. After Kathy died, Dallas auctioned off a lot of her possessions. An image of Kathy with George H.W. Bush went for $20 and a fox fur coat nabbed $500. The occasion raised a complete of about $30,000, the Related Press reported.
Not that the sale advised any disrespect for Kathy. Between her 5,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas and a second house in Reno, there have been in all probability extra possessions than Dallas may take in.
Subsequent up, Dallas paid tribute to Kathy by making a run for her outdated state meeting seat. Though Dallas misplaced the election, she was described as having a promising future.
By 2012, she was working for the Arizona Division of Corrections and dwelling in Phoenix with spouse Jesse McCaskill, 50.
However the stability gave method to violence, and Dallas met a extra dramatic finish than her mom.
In line with investigators, Dallas had an extramarital relationship with a girl who tried to extort her by threatening to inform Jesse. Dallas got here clear to Jesse in regards to the affair, however she didn’t obtain forgiveness. Jesse needed a divorce.
On August 27, 2012, Dallas shot Jesse to dying, after which turned the gun on herself.
Dallas was 32.
The one optimistic epilogue within the wake of the Augustine/Higgs tragedies belonged to Chaz’s protection lawyer. David Houston went on to characterize wrestler Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit in opposition to Gawker Media for publishing a personal intercourse video on-line.
The Hulk acquired $31 million because of Houston’s efforts. The award impoverished Gawker, a web site identified for publishing unkind media-industry gossip. It shut down in 2016, and a later reboot failed.
David Houston died of pure causes on the age of 69 in 2021.
That’s all for this submit. Till subsequent time, cheers — RR
Learn half one among ‘Political Thriller’
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