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[Music]
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up next
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a state politician mysteriously dies
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after her impeachment trial
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experts don't know why i personally have
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not known a woman
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50 years old dropped out of a heart
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attack a microscopic
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clue points towards foul play no one
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could account
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for this puncture wound in her left hip
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were her political enemies to blame
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or was it someone closer to home
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if you're asking me my opinion he hated
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her the clean get cleaner
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and the dirty get dirtier
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kathy augustine was one of the most
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colorful politicians in nevada state
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politics
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she was the state's first female
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controller
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and she was on president bush's
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shortlist to become the secretary of the
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treasury
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whether you agreed with her politics or
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not you could not
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doubt that this woman was a force of
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nature
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but augustine's star fell as quickly as
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it rose
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not guilty madam president in 2004
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her political enemies accused her of
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violating election laws
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and her case was brought before the
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state legislature
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i think that we can finally get a fair
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and nonpartisan trial
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in the state senate but the trial didn't
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go her way
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kathy augustine was convicted of using
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state personnel and equipment for her
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campaign
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and was fined fifteen thousand dollars
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i think she felt the impeachment was a
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joke i think kathy considered leaving
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politics after the impeachment
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um but she really wanted to clear her
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name
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she was one of the top five elected
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officials in the state
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some people thought she was not very
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nice and some people thought she was
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the greatest thing since cupcakes two
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years later
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kathy augustine ran again for state
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treasurer
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but in the middle of that campaign kathy
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fell ill
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something's wrong with my wife she's not
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breathing she's not breathing at all
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not breathing at all oh i need some help
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when paramedics arrived kathy was
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barely alive they gave her two drugs to
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assist her kind of jolt her back into
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into business and
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then they loaded her into the ambulance
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and
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took her to the hospital
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doctors suspected a heart attack and
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performed an angiogram
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but it showed no blockages
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and her condition continued to
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deteriorate
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she was in a coma and completely
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unresponsive she was completely
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motionless and
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on a respirator there really was no
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no chance of her recovering
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and living after three days the family
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had to make a difficult choice
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we made the decision to withdraw life
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support it was a tough decision
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but it was a decision that was made a
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little easier by the fact that kathy had
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clearly expressed that
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in her will after kathy's death
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her husband chaz was able to provide
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some important details
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he said he awoke early that morning got
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up
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did some chores and when he returned to
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the bedroom
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realized kathy was unresponsive
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just checked her out she wasn't
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breathing she had no pulse so i started
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cpr
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chaz and other family members said that
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in the days before her death
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kathy seemed her usual self
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i saw kathy about two weeks before her
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death and
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she appeared to be in very good spirits
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in fact my wife and i commented that
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we had never seen her so happy
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unfortunately
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kathy's autopsy provided few answers
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there was no significant hardening of
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the arteries nor was there any evidence
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that a blood clot
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had clogged or occluded the arteries
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nothing was found the medical examiner
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couldn't say cause of death couldn't say
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man her death because she had no reason
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for her to die
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could she have had a brain aneurysm the
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thing was the autopsy showed nothing
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that showed any evidence
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of a cause of death right off the top so
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what
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caused kathy augustine's death
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the family wanted answers
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several days after kathy augustine died
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emergency workers were called to her
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house yet again this is
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fire dispatch okay what are we going out
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there for
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kathleen's augustine's husband's
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attempted suicide okay do you know what
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message
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no he's at his wrist he's unconscious
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we've got a call from
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a neighbor that an ambulance was outside
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kathy's home and they were
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wheeling jazz away chaz higgs left a
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suicide note saying
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he couldn't live without his wife kathy
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he blamed her political enemies for her
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death
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thank you for taking my wife away from
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me she was fighting for her life a life
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that was taken away by non-caring
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politicians
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my wife's career was ruined by you i
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want to be buried beside my wife so we
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can hold hands in the sunshine
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fortunately chas received medical
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attention in time
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and he survived
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the next day kathy's funeral went ahead
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as planned
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friends and foes alike were there
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it was a heartbreaking ceremony these
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people loved her and they missed her and
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they mourned her
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but hanging over that whole funeral were
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so many questions about
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why she had died kathy augustine and
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chaz higgs had been married for only
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three years
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and for kathy it was her fourth marriage
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her previous husband charles augustine
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was an airline pilot
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he'd suffered a stroke and was
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hospitalized
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and chas higgs was his nurse
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that's when kathy and chaz met
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they were seen together in the hospital
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having meals together in the hospital
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cafeteria
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a relative of charles augustine was
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quoted as saying he thought that was odd
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that kathy and the nurse were spending
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so much time together
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charles augustine died in the hospital
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kathy married chaz just three weeks
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later
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it was a relationship that evolved very
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quickly
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and certainly took all of kathy's
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friends and family's
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family members off guard my wife and i
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were sort of gagging you know
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it just seemed very naive and of course
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we didn't express that to her i mean we
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wished her well
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and and hoped for the best but
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uh clearly and i think we've all learned
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a lesson from that
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kathy was the beneficiary of charles
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augustine's one million dollar life
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insurance policy
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investigators learned that kathy and
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charles
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were talking about a divorce before he
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suffered the stroke
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it's unclear whether cathy would have
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remained
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the beneficiary had the two divorced
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investigators now wondered if charles
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augustine
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had been a victim of foul play
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but their immediate concern was the
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investigation of
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kathy's death
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very early in my career a very seasoned
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homicide detective shared with me
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something that's always kind of stayed
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with me
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and he said that during the course of a
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good investigation
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the clean get cleaner and the dirty get
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dirtier
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the medical examiner told police she saw
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something suspicious during
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kathy augustine's autopsy
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two small bruises on
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kathy's left buttock there was
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at least one injection if not two uh
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probable
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injection or needle puncture sites
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identified
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in an unusual location for therapy
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and the puncture sites were not ever
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accounted for
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with the record of medical therapy
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investigators now wondered if someone
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had murdered kathy augustine
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as police investigated the death of
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kathy augustine
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they had to consider the possibility
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that her husband
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chas higgs a registered nurse
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was somehow involved jazz told everyone
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who would listen
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that their three-year marriage was a
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happy one
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co-workers however disputed that he
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used to say some nasty things about his
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wife a nurse would
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see that he's busy doing something walk
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over and say
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is there anything i can do to help and
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his response
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usually was yeah get rid of my wife
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a search of chasis computer revealed
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some surprising
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emails which proved chas was having
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affairs
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chaz higgs wrote to a woman a co-worker
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and said
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i'm doing everything i can to make this
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blank
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crazy and it's working i want to be with
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you
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i don't want to be with her you have my
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heart
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investigators were also suspicious when
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they listened
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to his entire 9-1-1 call
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something's wrong with my wife she's not
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breathing i don't know what happened to
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her
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it's not trauma or anything she's been
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really stressed
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you know over the last six months or so
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hey i'm gonna do some more cpr okay yeah
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he does not sound like the panic
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stricken
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grieving husband who is surprised to
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find his otherwise healthy wife
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unconscious unresponsive and
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near death an ambulance worker said chaz
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didn't look very concerned either
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one of the things that the paramedics
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reported
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was mr higgs's being seated in the
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passenger seat of the ambulance
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reading the newspaper as his wife was
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being rushed to the hospital
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i don't care how tough you are if your
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wife's in the back end of that
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ambulance and you don't know why and
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you're not certain she's going to
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survive
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i don't think you can read the macy's
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ads
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one of kathy augustine's friends told
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police kathy called her the night before
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she died
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she said her three-year marriage to chaz
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higgs
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was over chas higgs asked for a divorce
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the night before he found his wife
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dead in their bed in reno
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kathy's estate was worth over a million
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dollars
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investigators also learned that chas
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higgs made an incriminating statement to
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a co-worker
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the night kathy was planning to end
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their marriage
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she was a nurse who worked with chaz
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higgs and she said that on the night
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before kathy augustine fell
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ill that chas had said if you really
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want to kill someone
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give them a shot of sucks they can't
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trace it post-mortem
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to this nurse sucks was a substance
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called
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succinylcholine succinylcholine is a
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drug that is used
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to paralyze people it's a paralytic drug
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it's typically used when an individual
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is under anesthesia for an operation in
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order to paralyze their muscles
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succinylcholine is usually given in very
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small doses
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it's fast acting and leaves the body
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quickly
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it has a half-life which means the time
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it takes for half of the drug to
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disappear
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of about one minute in large doses
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it's fatal and as a critical care
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nurse it's a drug chas higgs would have
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had
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access to but investigators were worried
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if chas higgs used succinyl choline
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there would be no way to prove it since
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the drug leaves the body so quickly i
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was
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concerned that that he might actually
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get away with murder
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but investigators remained hopeful that
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if higgs did commit murder
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that he left some trace persons who
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break the law fortunately for me are not
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always
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you know the brightest bulbs in the
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chandelier crooks make mistakes
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if they were smarter they wouldn't get
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caught nearly as often
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then a week after kathy's death police
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got a break
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a nurse who worked in the hospital's
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emergency room
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called police with some important
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information she said
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when kathy was first admitted to the
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hospital she and a co-worker didn't
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believe kathy was having a heart attack
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instead they suspected she had been
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poisoned so they immediately took
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samples of kathy's blood and urine
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and had them frozen if kathy had been
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poisoned with succinyl choline freezing
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these samples might give investigators
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the evidence they needed the
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succincoline
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survives longer in the urine because
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there are not enzymes in the urine
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that break it down like there are in the
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blood sample
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investigators acted quickly there's only
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two labs that i'm aware of
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in the country that
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can test for success
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one of them is the fbi lab in virginia
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it was there that kathy's urine sample
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was subjected to liquid chromatography
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mass spectrometry
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the analysis was a targeted analysis the
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instruments were set up specifically to
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look for
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succinylcholine kathy's urine tested
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positive for trace amounts of
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succinylcholine
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had the samples not been frozen
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immediately it would have been
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useless chaz higgs was arrested
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and charged with his wife's murder
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in searching his car they found a stack
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of
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three by five cards very top card told
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all of the uses and dosages for success
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investigators now wondered if kathy's
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previous husband
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charles augustine had been murdered too
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kathy augustine's death was now ruled a
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homicide
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her husband chaz higgs was arrested and
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charged with her murder
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he denied taking succinal choline from
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work
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but his access to the drug and
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his public statements about his wife
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made him
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the likely suspect everything pointed to
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suctional choline
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chas higgs had access to it that chas
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higgs was angry with his wife
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the chas higgs had mentioned using that
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particular drug on someone in order to
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kill them
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12 hours before her body was found
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prosecutors believe chaz woke up
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before kathy on the morning of the
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murder
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he filled a syringe with the succinal
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choline
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he had probably stolen from work and
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injected her as she slept
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[Music]
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he called 9-1-1 to report finding his
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wife unconscious
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to his surprise emergency technicians
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revived her
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and took her to the hospital
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there two nurses immediately suspected
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some sort of poisoning they took blood
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and urine samples
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and froze them for later analysis
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had that not been done the outcome may
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have been
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very different we're very fortunate in
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our community that those medical
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professionals had the foresight to guard
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that sample to preserve it properly it
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was quickly frozen
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and made available for forensic testing
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and those things all played our favor
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and the motive if you're asking me my
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opinion is what the motive was he hated
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her
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you know i've seen kids killed over
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tennis shoes over two or three dollars
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i've seen spouses kill each other
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over the most moronic of arguments
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for a spouse to kill another spouse
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it doesn't have to be a good motive but
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i think clearly the evidence showed that
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chaz did not want to be with kathy
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a year after kathy's murder chaz went on
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trial
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the day before he was to take the stand
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he attempted suicide yet
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again i think it was another selfish
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attempt for him to misdirect attention
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away from what he had done
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and to try and garner sympathy from the
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jury
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when he recovered he testified in his
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own defense
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because i didn't do it i wouldn't do
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that he was just as cold on the stand as
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he had been sitting in his chair
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bandages on his wrists didn't make him
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any more likeable
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to the jury another prosecution witness
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used chas's own words against him
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he said to me mary actually remember it
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because it was so vivid
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that if i didn't have a daughter in las
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vegas
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i would kill my wife and throw her down
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a mine shaft
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after a 10-day trial chas higgs
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faced the jury we the jury in the above
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entitled matter
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find the defendant chas higgs guilty
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of first degree murder chaz higgs was
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sentenced
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to life in prison he'll be eligible for
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parole after 20 years
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investigators have questioned whether
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higgs had anything to do
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with the death of kathy's previous
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husband charles augustine
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jazz higgs first met the augustines when
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charles augustine suffered a stroke
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higgs was one of his nurses at the
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hospital
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that's how he first met kathy
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according to investigators kathy and
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charles had been talking about a divorce
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before his stroke so perhaps
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it wasn't inappropriate for her to
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strike up a friendship with chaz higgs
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when charles augustine died in the
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hospital
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as his wife kathy was the beneficiary of
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his one million dollar life insurance
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policy
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three weeks later she married chaz higgs
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in 2007 charles augustine's body was
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exhumed
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and tested for succinylcholine
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they did find the metabolite of
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sectional choline
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succinyl monocholine a metabolite means
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it's a byproduct of succinylcholine
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if you don't look for it you don't find
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it and that's not
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a condescending answer that is the truth
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there has never been a documented case
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of succinal monocholine produced
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as a result of embalming fluid however
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in charles augustine's case there were
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no records
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of which embalming fluids were used
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so this possibility however remote could
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not be eliminated
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therefore the medical examiner did not
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change the manner of his death
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to homicide i'm sure that there will
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always be
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some well-placed suspicions surrounding
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mr augustine's death
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for now chas higgs is in prison
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because two emergency room nurses
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made a split-second decision that foiled
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his well-laid plans but for the
00:20:34
high-tech testing methods and the
00:20:35
forensics
00:20:36
technology available i think this case
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would have been a mystery
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forever this whole case was based on
00:20:43
forensic evidence
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and had it not been for the hard work of
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the fbi and for the diligence of the
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detectives involved and
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for the sharp eyes and ears of the
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medical professionals
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he may have gotten away with it all i
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know is what the evidence showed that
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jury
00:21:05
and the evidence showed that jury that
00:21:07
this guy
00:21:08
was a murderer
