Power, Passion And Poison

An Ambitious Politician Meets A Suspicious Death

(CBS)  Kathy Augustine was a rising star in the Nevada Republican party, known for both her ambition and controversial tactics, when she mysteriously died in 2006.

Correspondent Troy Roberts reports on the investigation into Augustine's sudden death.

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In the days after Kathy's death, her husband Chaz Higgs says he was so despondent, he locked himself in the bedroom of their Las Vegas home and slashed his wrists. "I actually did it over and over, because I wanted to make sure," he tells 48 Hours. "I laid down and said, 'Good, now I can be with my wife.' And that was the last thing I remember."

Higgs was rescued the next morning by Kathy's adult daughter, who found him unconscious and called paramedics. "I was hurting. I just couldn't handle the pain anymore," he says. "I loved my wife. And I just couldn’t believe that she was taken away from me."

For Kathy's parents, Kay and Phil Alfano, the loss of their only daughter is, at times, too much to bear. "I keep thinking of Kathy as my angel in heaven looking down at me," her mother says.

Kathy's passion for politics began in high school, when she won a coveted internship in Washington, D.C. When she came back, Kathy's mother says her daughter was hooked.

She was a typical "Type A" personality, according to close friend Nancy Vinnick. "Everything in her whole life was organized," Vinnick remembers. "That was just Kathy. All of her clothes were all color coordinated. All of her suits were in order. She was a perfectionist to the T in everything that she did."

A perfectionist in everything, except picking her husbands: there were two brief marriages, and a child before she was 30 years old. "She was so intelligent. So smart. But when it came to men she had a soft spot. She could not make good decisions," her mother Kay explains. "Except for Charles."

Charles Augustine, Kathy's third husband, was an airline pilot 16 years her senior. "He used to refer to her as 'She who must be obeyed.' And, you know, had a sense of humor about it. And, so I think that made the relationship work very well," remembers Kathy's brother Phil.

But as Kathy's political career took off, winning seats in the state legislature, then becoming controller, her ambitions grew, and so did the tensions at home.

They planned to get a divorce.

But before the separation agreement was finalized, Charles suffered a stroke. He died five weeks later, with Kathy by his side.

Kathy retreated to Hawaii where, three weeks later, she stunned family and friends by getting married again. She married 39-year-old Chaz Higgs, her fourth husband. Eight years her junior, he was a registered nurse living in Nevada.

To many, they seemed an unlikely couple. "He just didn't seem like her type at all," says Kathy's friend Nancy Vinnick. "It just didn't seem like they went together."

It was three years after they fell in love, when Chaz found Kathy unconscious in their bed. In a matter of days, she was dead.

As Kathy was laid to rest, suspicion was growing about the cause of her death. In fact, the 50-year-old had just been given a complete physical, and her mother says Kathy was a picture of health.

In fact, the preliminary autopsy found no evidence of a heart attack, and no other obvious cause of death.

But the medical examiner did find an unexplained mark on her buttocks. And Reno police had received a tip suggesting Kathy may have been poisoned.

Detective Dave Jenkins launched an investigation. "It would have necessitated someone who could have access to Kathy in the moments before she lapsed into unconsciousness," Jenkins says.

But Jenkins needed evidence that a crime had been committed. Urine samples taken when Kathy arrived at the hospital were sent to the FBI. Two months later, toxicology reports confirmed the presence of a powerful paralytic drug called succinylcholine. Proof, Jenkins says, that Kathy had been murdered.

Asked who killed Kathy, Det. Jenkins tells Roberts, "I believe to the core of my being it was Chaz Higgs."

Chaz Higgs, the same man who was so distraught over his wife’s death that he attempted suicide, was immediately arrested and charged with first degree murder.

"I said, 'You've gotta be kidding me,'" Higgs remembers. "It’s just incredible what has happened."

Asked if he killed his wife, Higgs says, "No, no. I wouldn't kill anyone, it's just not in my nature. I wouldn’t do that."

Higgs believes investigators are ignoring other possible suspects. After all, Kathy was known for being a controversial politician, with a lot of enemies. But were they deadly enemies?

[sn1955]

Oh, please. This guy was guilty from the get-go. There is no one else who could have put the drug in Augustine's system but Chaz Higgs. Besides, his body language is a dead giveaway of his guilt. He's not only sorry he got caught, but he's sorry he did it. Trying to kill himself twice, the second time right in the middle of his trial, proved he was guilty. An innocent man would not do that. I have lived in Reno for 25 years, and this was a huge story, perhaps the biggest murder case in Nevada history thanks to Augustine's prominence.

[avellinomm]

I am disturbed that this episode continues to air with an innocent man in prison. How can a test, done on urine collected at 735 am reveal the presence of Succinylcholine, if the patient was dead at or about 7am. But at about 715 am, undisputedly had no succs. administered to her between 715 & 735am? Did the FBI explain that? The test that Ms. Morgan of the FBI conducted was defective. There was a power outage at the FBI lab. The urine was not refridgerated for 5 day's prior to the test. Those factors make a difference in the reliability of the results. Succs. has an extremely short half life, less than a minute, yet she supposedly found both succinycholine & succinylmonocholine in the urine? The other tests that were conducted of the tissue, blood, & organs reveal neither. Those were refridgerated. Strange.

[carolcape]

I believe that her husband killed her. She was a very domineering woman in the professional world and
I would say she had some of that tenacity in the marriage. She was just not suited to this man. She was too intelligent for him. She certainly did not wait a very long time before marrying this man. I mean just looking at them as her mom said, they just didn''t fit at all. I feel that she was intelligent, but when she got a little bit of power it went to her head. She thought she could get away with anything, which usually sinks most politicians. But she may have gone unnoticed if she was a man, but they wanted to get rid of her in office and they were going to do anything. Yes, she was threatened from someone, but also her husband had knowledge of that and he took advantage of it. He wanted to get rid of her too quickly and that didn''t work in his favor. He might have gotten away with it, but the fact that he was the only one in the area she was in was just too obvious. He even looks guilty. The coworkers were also good witnesses. He is just where he should be, behind bars.

[thefan08-2009]

its sad she had to die, but politicians like her are the reason why people dont trust politicians any more. i would have setteled for her been impeached instead of dead. but sometimes when you dedicate everything in your power to one trade(politics) you sometimes forget how to handle other things, like finding a good man.

[roscoezzz]

You know what? I thought this guy was innocent until the end when he tried to commit suicide. He was winning in that courtroom I thought. But, the suicide attempt was a sign of guilt before he was to be questioned by the prosecution.
It is sad how this politician woman used and abused the people around her. Look at the way it all ended for her. The wrong men, the wrong political ambition and the wrong way to lead a public life. Sad.