A shot in the dark?

Hoda Kotb Correspondent • Profile

RENO, NEV. -

One the fastest-growing areas of the country, the Reno-lake Tahoe-Carson City area of Nevada is full of contrasts: It is beautiful and brash. In-your-face, on the move, looking ahead and self-confident.

One woman, who wielded power at the highest levels of government, personified the place: Kathy Augustine. She called herself a "tough boss" and made her mark there. She attracted attention, right until the end.

Reno likes to call itself “The biggest little city in the world.” It actually used to be the place where Hollywood celebrities would come to get a quickie divorce.  Now, it is the setting for a bizarre saga that could have been pulled from a Hollywood screenplay.

It’s a story of money, power, ambition, and enemies. Investigators say it’s also a story of murder— what they believe could have been the perfect crime if not for one slip of the tongue.

As far as the public knew, Augustine was a prominent politician poised for an even brighter future. She posed with President Bush, with the First Lady, with the President’s father, and Vice President Cheney.  Nevada State Controller Kathy Augustine put herself front and center almost any chance she could get. 

Victoria Campbell, local reporter:  She was tough.  That was evident just upon meeting her. She had a firm handshakes and looked you straight in the eye.

KRNV-TV reporter Victoria Campbell covered Kathy Augustine’s career for years.

Hoda Kotb, Dateline correspondent: What were your impressions of her as a politician?

Campbell:  Kathy Augustine was ambitious, tenacious, and driven. She knew exactly what she wanted.  She knew exactly how she was going to do it. She put her whole heart and all her efforts into it. She never gave in. She never gave up, not ever, not once.

But in her private life, Kathy Augustine wasn’t nearly as much in control. Heidi Smith was Kathy’s friend for nearly 20 years.

Heidi Smith, Kathy Augustine's old friend: We can’t all be perfect. And she knew that her judgment in men was flawed. Kathy was lousy on relationships. She was great at politics, but not good the other way.

And the sorrow in her private life sometimes showed.

Campbell: When Kathy Augustine spoke, and she smiled, it was a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

She started life as California girl. Born Kathy Alfano in the Los Angeles area, she grew up in  the ‘60s and ‘70s, a time of change and social awareness and new opportunities for women.

Politics became her passion.  She majored in political science and won a coveted internship on Capitol Hill. But after graduation, she took a more traditional route,  a time.  She went to work for an airline in crew scheduling and briefly as a flight attendant.

She traveled across the country, but the high flying might have come with a price: one marriage failed, then another, and as she approached her 30^th birthday, she was a single mother raising a daughter on her own.

Then, in 1986, a new man entered her life—a Delta Air Lines pilot named Charles Augustine, 15 years her senior.

He had been a football standout at Notre Dame, 6’3, tough as nails, a Vietnam vet and devout Catholic.  His son, Greg:

Greg Augustine, Charles Augustine's son:  My dad was a great guy, real humble upbringing in a conservative Catholic home. He did, I think, a great job raising us.

When Kathy and Charles said “I do,” it was his second marriage and her third.  They lived in the Las Vegas area. And for a time, this marriage seemed built to last. 

Greg was a teenager then.

Kotb: What was that like for an 18-year-old dealing with a divorce and then your dad remarrying?

Greg Augustine: I think it’s always difficult.  But we fared pretty well, and I think, since there was love there in the relationship, it was something new. Seeing your dad happy was a good thing.

By the late ‘80s, though,  her passion for politics came to the fore once again.  And for Kathy Augustine’s marriage, that became a point of contention.

Greg Augustine: My dad didn’t want any part of being in the limelight politically. That was just not his thing.  He wanted to be home.  He wanted his wife at home, and that didn’t happen.

By the early ‘90s, Kathy Augustine’s friends say she was consumed by a newfound passion for the Republican party:

Smith: Kathy soon became addicted and she loved it. She loved the fight.  She loved the pushing to get ahead and she just went for it.

In 1992, she was elected to her first public office — the Nevada Assembly.  The State Senate followed.  Then in 1998 , the most powerful job yet, Nevada State Controller.

Smith: Kathy was a bill collector for the state.  That requires somebody with a steel spine. She collected a lot of bad debt.  You don’t do that by being a sweet little thing.

Greg Augustine: She was a tough lady. You don’t get as far as she did in politics and be a sweetheart.  And I don’t think anybody’s going to go on record and say Kathy was a sweetheart at work.

Indeed, while some state workers say you could hear the sound of her laughter booming through the hallways...

Campbell: I think some of her employees and people who also worked in the State Capitol building also remember too that you could hear the sound of her shouting at her employees all around that building.

If she drove her employees hard, she drove herself even harder. And before long her marriage to Charles Augustine paid the price.

Greg Augustine: I think at the end when she was the Controller, I think that was it.  That was it. That was the—

Kotb: So they were they living separate lives pretty much for a couple of years?

Greg Augustine: I wouldn’t say separate lives.  I mean they didn’t know what each other was doing every minute of the day by any stretch of the imagination.  But he was hoping for the best.

It just never worked out.  Kathy and Charles Augustine eventually decided on a divorce, but he was certainly not pushing for it.

Greg Augustine: Absolutely not.

Kotb: Why not?

Greg Augustine: Just part of his Catholic upbringing.  You don’t divorce. It just went against the grain, religiously for him. I think he just  kind of resigned himself to the fact that it has to happen. He was almost depressed about it.

And then, later in 2003, fate intervened. Charles Augustine suffered a stroke.  Kathy spent hours by his bedside.

Greg Augustine: Kathy was there.

Kotb: And what kind of state was she in?

Augustine: She was distraught.  I think she was not happy, obviously, about the stroke.  But again, at this time they were talking about divorce.  And they were really on their way to parting ways.

And when it became clear that the recovery could stretch on for months, Kathy had a frank conversation with her step-son.

Greg Augustine: Okay, here we are in this divorce, if he pulls through this, which at that time it looks like he’s going to, and he was going into rehab. Who’s going to take care of this man?  And, of course, he’s my father, I stepped up...

Kotb: So Kathy asked you, “who’s going to take care of this man?”

Greg Augustine:  Right...  right.

Kotb:   Did you feel animosity toward her knowing that she and your Dad were on the outs, you know?

Greg Augustine: I didn’t really feel any animosity then.  

Just days later though, he got a phone call from Kathy.  His father had suffered massive organ failure and died.

Greg Augustine: And this was a total shock.  Because just days before we were talking about rehabilitation and we were talking about whose going to take care of this person.

It turns out Charles Augustine would not rest in peace.  And for Kathy Augustine, Charles’ death was just the beginning of a bizarre chain of events.  She married again, but as she settled into her new life, storm clouds were gathering. Enemies—and a murder investigation were looming on the horizon—

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