Comptroller passes away

[Nashyra]

Cathy Augustine, the current comptroller for the State of Nevada died tonight from a massive heart attack she suffered over the weekend. If you recall she was impeached last year but seem to overcome the odds and was running for State Treasure, she was facing a primary (Repub) She was 50 years old.

[Awsi Dooger]

1. Wow, this is the first I've heard this news

I knew about the heart attack and I saw it on the local news this afternoon, but I had no idea it would be fatal. So sad and so young.

[Broken_Hero]

2. Comptroller?

I'm at a loss, for what this is?

[JohnnyLib2]

3. What's the latest?

I hear there are ugly rumors in Vegas

[Awsi Dooger]

4. Looks like there's more to this

I haven't read all the reports but Augustine's husband or boyfriend tried to slit his wrists and commit suicide a few days ago. He was released from the hospital but didn't attend the funeral service, which everyone involved said was very strange.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. Husband charged with murder

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/sep/29/092910407.html

"The husband of the late State Controller Kathy Augustine was arrested in Virginia Friday and charged with her murder after an FBI toxicology test found a paralyzing drug in her system.

Chaz Higgs, 42, was arrested in Hampton, Va., on a warrant issued in Reno charging him with first-degree murder, Reno police said. He apparently was driving there to visit his father and stepmother, who live there, investigators said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The warrant was issued earlier this week after a coroner's autopsy and results of toxicology tests found a powerful drug in Augustine's system, succinylcholine, which police described as a "very powerful paralytic."

That warrant and test results had been kept secret until Reno police announced Higgs' arrest Friday afternoon.

Augustine, 50, died at Washoe Medical Center in Reno on July 11. That was three days after she was found unconscious in her Reno home by Higgs, a critical care nurse at Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center.

Higgs, 42, told the media she died of a massive heart attack. But police said Augustine had no history of heart problems and that the autopsy did not suggest she had heart disease."