00:00:11
The life of Dallas Augustine, daughter
00:00:14
of a connected Republican.
00:00:16
She knew what she wanted. She had her
00:00:18
eyes on the prize. She wanted national
00:00:21
office.
00:00:22
Dallas's mother would be murdered by her
00:00:24
husband.
00:00:25
Telephone 911. My wife is not breathing.
00:00:30
The tragedies just kept on coming. Her
00:00:32
sister was to die in a traffic accident.
00:00:35
Dallas Augustine found refuge in a
00:00:37
same-sex marriage with someone whose
00:00:39
carefree nature was just what she
00:00:41
needed.
00:00:42
Jesse McKascal was a very different
00:00:44
person from Dallas. She was really
00:00:46
upbeat, happy, smart.
00:00:49
Would Jesse prove the perfect match? or
00:00:52
were the lives of a couple whose love
00:00:53
was born out of despair heading for a
00:00:56
double tragedy.
00:00:57
There was infidelity allegations and
00:01:00
they had been involved in a couple of
00:01:02
physical fights.
00:01:04
It's a real life story that seems too
00:01:06
tragic to be true. The lives and loves
00:01:10
of Jesse McKascal and Dallas Augustine.
00:01:14
[Music]
00:01:34
[Music]
00:01:45
August 27, 2012 Phoenix, Arizona, a
00:01:49
lakeside condo shared by Dallas
00:01:51
Augustine and her wife Jesse McKascal.
00:01:54
Phoenix Police officers responded to a
00:01:56
residence in the area of 11th Place in
00:01:58
Greenway. Uh family members and friends
00:02:00
had called the Phoenix Police Department
00:02:02
because they were concerned that they
00:02:03
had not seen Dallas or Jesse for a few
00:02:05
days.
00:02:06
Neighbors had noticed troubling signs
00:02:08
the previous week, but things had been
00:02:10
quiet for days. What was going on? A
00:02:13
kidnapping? Maybe there was an innocent
00:02:16
explanation.
00:02:17
When officers arrived, they approached
00:02:19
the residents. They did see a couple of
00:02:21
friends and neighbors that were outside.
00:02:26
The door was open. It was unlocked. The
00:02:29
officers went inside and that's when
00:02:30
they saw Dallas and Jesse.
00:02:32
Police had arrived with questions. Some
00:02:35
were answered on stepping into the
00:02:36
house.
00:02:37
Both of them were inside the residence
00:02:38
and they were deceased. And it loo it
00:02:42
appeared to them that it had been a
00:02:43
couple of days that they had been in
00:02:45
that uh state.
00:02:46
There was blood just everywhere around
00:02:48
them.
00:02:49
Something extraordinary had taken place
00:02:51
in an ordinary home in Maricopa County,
00:02:54
Arizona.
00:02:55
It was a very impulsive thing that
00:02:57
happened, but at the same time, I think
00:02:58
it was inevitable.
00:03:00
Dallas and Jesse. Wedding day
00:03:02
photographs from 5 years earlier showed
00:03:04
a seemingly blissful relationship. How
00:03:07
had things ended in a suburban blood
00:03:09
bath?
00:03:12
Dallas Augustine was born in 1979 in
00:03:15
Orange County, California. By the time
00:03:17
she was a young adult, she'd seen more
00:03:20
than her fair share of tragedy.
00:03:22
Dallas really had a tough life. She'd
00:03:23
had a background um marked by tragedy.
00:03:26
Dallas Augustine's life included seeing
00:03:28
her parents' divorce. She then grew up
00:03:30
fond of her stepfather, Charles, known
00:03:33
as Chuck. He'd been an airline pilot and
00:03:35
a Vietnam veteran. She was uh said to be
00:03:38
pretty close to her father, Charles.
00:03:41
The same could not be said for Dallas's
00:03:43
relationship with her mother. Kathy
00:03:44
Augustine had forged a career as a
00:03:46
Republican lawmaker in Nevada where the
00:03:49
family lived. Her life was very much
00:03:51
about attention seeking.
00:03:53
I'm Victoria Campbell. I worked as a
00:03:55
television reporter in Reno, Nevada for
00:03:57
almost 25 years, assigned primarily to
00:04:00
the crime and courtbeat.
00:04:02
Reporter Campbell got to know Dallas's
00:04:04
mom
00:04:04
in 1992. She had been elected to a
00:04:08
two-year term in the state assembly. In
00:04:10
1994, she had been elected to the state
00:04:12
senate. And in 1998, she became the
00:04:15
first female to become the Nevada state
00:04:18
controller.
00:04:18
Dallas Augustine would have been raised
00:04:20
in a lifestyle that was very much sort
00:04:22
of put on for the public.
00:04:24
She wasn't um terribly close to her
00:04:26
mother. They kind of had a rocky
00:04:28
relationship, but then Dallas had a
00:04:31
difficult relationship with her whole
00:04:32
family. Her mother being in politics
00:04:34
must have really cared about
00:04:35
appearances. It's just part of the job
00:04:37
of a politician.
00:04:38
Kathy was known as a very uh tough boss
00:04:40
to work for, she was very strong. She
00:04:43
took no prisoners. She took no guff from
00:04:47
anybody in what she did. While some
00:04:49
people said you could hear her laughing
00:04:51
all around the state capital building,
00:04:53
uh you could also hear her shouting at
00:04:54
her employees.
00:04:57
Did her mother's strong personality get
00:04:59
in the way of Dallas's relationship with
00:05:01
her mother? A question considered by
00:05:03
psychologist Judy Hoe.
00:05:05
She probably just never felt accepted by
00:05:07
her mother and she probably felt because
00:05:09
of her mother's life in the public eye
00:05:10
that the public was more important than
00:05:12
she was.
00:05:13
She was tough there. There was really no
00:05:15
other word for it. Um she she knew what
00:05:18
she wanted. She had her eyes on the
00:05:20
prize. She wanted national office. I
00:05:24
think she had great aspirations and
00:05:25
ambitions uh in politics. Would it have
00:05:28
helped Dallas's mom's political career
00:05:30
back in the '90s for her daughter to
00:05:32
reveal something to the world that she
00:05:34
was a lesbian?
00:05:35
I wonder how open she was able to be
00:05:37
with her mother about her own interest,
00:05:40
her sexual preference, all of those
00:05:42
self-doubts really played Dallas for
00:05:45
much of her life.
00:05:46
Indeed, the emotional side of her life
00:05:48
was never easy for Dallas Augustine. It
00:05:50
was early in her 20s when her stepfather
00:05:52
Chuck suffered a massive stroke.
00:05:53
They said it was natural causes. uh but
00:05:56
he was only 63 years old so that was
00:05:59
really hard on her.
00:06:00
Friends said Chuck's death left her
00:06:02
bereft. Her confidence never high took a
00:06:04
knock. The woman who would become her
00:06:06
partner, Jesse McKascal, appeared to
00:06:08
have no confidence issues. She was 18
00:06:11
years older than Dallas and had come
00:06:12
into her life not long after the death
00:06:14
of Chuck.
00:06:15
Jesse McKascal was a very different
00:06:18
person from Dallas. She was said to be
00:06:20
just really upbeat, happy, smart. Um,
00:06:24
people loved being around her. She was
00:06:26
fiercely loyal of her friends. Uh, she
00:06:29
loved to travel and to write and and um
00:06:32
to entertain. She was one of those
00:06:34
really optimistic, hopeful people.
00:06:38
Jesse was someone who would share the
00:06:39
ups and downs of Dallas's life, which at
00:06:42
times appeared almost like a soap opera.
00:06:44
3 weeks after Chuck died, Kathy
00:06:47
Augustine married again to the very man
00:06:49
who had nursed her husband, Chuck,
00:06:52
while he was being treated. and was
00:06:54
seriously ill. One of his nurses was
00:06:57
Chaz Higgs and he made Kathy Augustine's
00:07:00
acquaintance while she was there uh
00:07:03
tending to her husband. They were
00:07:05
estranged at that point. Uh Charles and
00:07:07
Kathy Augustine were estranged and
00:07:09
heading toward divorce um when he fell
00:07:12
ill. Um Charles Augustine died in summer
00:07:17
of 2003. Three weeks later, Kathy
00:07:20
Augustine and Chaz Higgs were married in
00:07:23
Hawaii, three weeks after Charles
00:07:25
Augustine died.
00:07:27
Kathy Augustine's family and friends, I
00:07:29
think, were uh taken by surprise, would
00:07:31
probably be an understatement when she
00:07:34
um married him so quickly after Charles
00:07:36
Augustine had passed away.
00:07:38
Dallas's life story just kept on getting
00:07:40
complicated. Kathy, when just 50, also
00:07:44
died. A murder mystery begins.
00:07:47
prosecuting attorney Tom Barb
00:07:49
went to the autopsy, watched that from
00:07:52
beginning to end. Nothing was found in
00:07:55
the sense of a cause of death. Found
00:07:58
that her heart was in good shape, that
00:08:01
her lungs were in good shape. Uh there
00:08:04
was no evidence of of a brain bleed or
00:08:07
anything like that. Um so the cause of
00:08:10
death was hanging until the toxicology
00:08:14
reports came back. Kathy Augustine's
00:08:16
death just didn't add up.
00:08:18
She just died. It's kind of like sudden
00:08:20
infant death syndrome where the the baby
00:08:23
just dies and there's really no
00:08:25
explanation, but this would have been an
00:08:28
adult case.
00:08:29
Months later, the toxicology report
00:08:31
suggested that Dallas's mom had died
00:08:33
because she had been injected with a
00:08:35
drug called suinal coline. Dallas had
00:08:38
more to cope with than just Chuck's
00:08:40
death. Kathy Augustine, Dallas's mother,
00:08:43
is murdered by her husband, um, Chaz.
00:08:46
And he killed Kathy by poisoning her
00:08:49
with a an overdose of a powerful muscle
00:08:52
relaxant.
00:08:53
Can't have people going around sticking
00:08:55
people with needles full of suinal
00:08:57
choline. Just can't have it.
00:08:59
Chaz Higgs was sentenced to life in
00:09:02
prison in 2007.
00:09:04
After the death of both of her parents,
00:09:06
Dallas Augustine struggled to build a
00:09:08
new life for herself. Dallas must have
00:09:10
felt abandoned. They died and she was
00:09:14
alone. She was effectively an orphan.
00:09:16
And she had something else to handle.
00:09:19
Chuck was relatively young when he died.
00:09:22
Were Chaz Higgs and his lover Dallas's
00:09:25
mom Kathy possibly involved in his
00:09:27
death.
00:09:27
After Cathy's death, people start
00:09:29
speculating, wait a minute, could
00:09:32
Charles Austinine's death maybe have
00:09:35
been caused by Chaz and Kathy. It became
00:09:38
clear that suinal choline was going to
00:09:40
play a role in the prosecution into her
00:09:43
death. Uh the adult children of Charles
00:09:46
Augustine asked to have his body exumed
00:09:49
to see if there was any trace of suinal
00:09:51
choline in his body because they were
00:09:53
not sure and they suspected but were not
00:09:56
sure if Chaz Higgs may have paid played
00:09:58
a role in their father's death.
00:10:00
Now Dallas is sort of trying to defend
00:10:02
her her mother's name.
00:10:04
The body was exumed. uh tests were run,
00:10:07
there was no evidence of suinal choline
00:10:09
found in his body.
00:10:11
They turn up no evidence to indicate
00:10:12
that there was any foul play there.
00:10:14
So it seemed Dallas had lost one parent
00:10:16
to a suspicious but ultimately natural
00:10:19
death and another to murder. That was
00:10:21
the context of the life of Dallas
00:10:23
Augustine in 2007 as she tried married
00:10:26
life with Jesse McCascal. Dallas is not
00:10:29
somebody who hasn't suffered grief,
00:10:33
dealt with loss, and processed probably
00:10:35
very little of it. I think she tried to
00:10:37
strongarm her way through the sadness in
00:10:39
her life and just try to move on. But
00:10:42
that grief can cut so deeply, especially
00:10:44
when you lose both parents.
00:10:51
[Music]
00:11:02
Kathy Augustine's murder in 2006,
00:11:05
devastating though it was for Dallas,
00:11:07
removed any last obstacle to her
00:11:09
developing relationship with Jesse
00:11:10
McKascal.
00:11:11
I think she saw Jesse as her saving
00:11:13
grace. She had lost both parents. She
00:11:15
had nothing to tether to, and Jesse was
00:11:18
going to be her new safe haven and her
00:11:20
stability and her rock. From the
00:11:22
outside, they seemed to get along pretty
00:11:24
well.
00:11:25
So well, in fact, that the relationship
00:11:27
moved on quickly in the months that
00:11:28
followed.
00:11:29
About a year after Dallas's mother died,
00:11:33
she and her girlfriend decide to get
00:11:35
married.
00:11:36
The date is set for a small private
00:11:38
ceremony in California.
00:11:39
September 22nd, 2007, Dallas Augustine
00:11:43
marries her girlfriend, Jesse McKascal.
00:11:45
They'd been dating for 3 years. Dallas
00:11:48
was 28 years old. Jesse McKascal was 45,
00:11:52
but the two of them were just very much
00:11:54
in love.
00:11:55
Just how much in love they were could be
00:11:57
seen from the sunny photos showing
00:11:58
Dallas and Jesse in a wedding gown in
00:12:01
front of a well-known tourist landmark.
00:12:03
They get married at this um sort of
00:12:05
famous uh hotel, the hotel de Coronado
00:12:08
on Coronado Island in Southern
00:12:10
California. And it's just beautiful
00:12:11
there.
00:12:12
We believe Dallas wore the tuxedo and
00:12:14
Jesse wore a white dress. You know, some
00:12:17
might see this as sort of them taking
00:12:19
roles in their relationship.
00:12:21
It was a brief moment of happiness in
00:12:23
two lives that would seldom be far from
00:12:25
tragedy.
00:12:26
To look at this picture of them on their
00:12:28
wedding day, this happy couple, you
00:12:30
know, her in the tuxedo, the other one
00:12:31
in in the white dress. Um, you know,
00:12:34
they look like a very loving couple, but
00:12:35
the reality of it was they they fought
00:12:38
like cats and dogs.
00:12:39
It was a beautiful way to start the
00:12:41
marriage, but as it turns out, the
00:12:43
relationship wasn't quite so
00:12:44
picturesque.
00:12:46
Wed bliss for Dallas Augustine and her
00:12:48
new wife Jesse McKascal was not to last
00:12:50
long.
00:12:51
Dallas and Jesse were married in 2007.
00:12:54
They had a big, beautiful, lavish
00:12:55
wedding. By 2010, they started having
00:12:58
problems.
00:13:00
In a poignant post on her Facebook page,
00:13:02
Jesse wrote,
00:13:03
"I have achieved one really huge
00:13:05
lifelong dream. Be careful with those.
00:13:08
Once you're done with that, regular life
00:13:11
kind of pales for a while."
00:13:14
was one of the reasons Jesse and Dallas
00:13:16
were not hitting it off to do with a big
00:13:18
decision taken by Dallas just a year
00:13:20
after the sunshine ceremony in
00:13:22
California.
00:13:23
In 2008, she decides to run for her
00:13:26
mother's old assembly seat. That was the
00:13:29
first political job that Kathy Augustine
00:13:31
held.
00:13:35
Dallas actually followed in her mother's
00:13:37
legislative footsteps and she ran for
00:13:40
office. And I think it was a way for her
00:13:41
to maybe honor her mother despite the
00:13:44
relationship problems they had with one
00:13:45
another.
00:13:46
Even though she wasn't close to her
00:13:47
mother, she says, "You know, I really
00:13:49
had never intended to do this, but I I
00:13:52
think my mom would be proud of me. This
00:13:54
was a very, very important election to
00:13:56
Dallas." And Jesse, by all appearances,
00:13:58
was very supportive of all of her career
00:14:01
pursuits.
00:14:02
Dallas's conservative upbringing and her
00:14:04
mother's political career meant there
00:14:05
was only one direction she could take.
00:14:07
Dallas was going to try to go for office
00:14:09
as a Republican.
00:14:10
She probably had many regrets about how
00:14:12
she treated her mother, how certain
00:14:14
arguments went down. And in some ways,
00:14:16
this was her making repairs on that
00:14:19
relationship. And perhaps if she won
00:14:21
this election, if she was able to take
00:14:23
office and she can do some good and she
00:14:25
can finish the good work that her mother
00:14:26
started.
00:14:27
For Dallas, the election didn't go
00:14:29
according to plan.
00:14:30
She winds up losing by over 6,000 votes.
00:14:34
So, there's another setback there. Jesse
00:14:37
may have supported Dallas's political
00:14:38
ambitions in public, but behind closed
00:14:41
doors, the couple's relationship was
00:14:43
constantly volatile.
00:14:45
They were together for 8 years, and that
00:14:47
entire 8-year relationship was very
00:14:49
rocky for both of them.
00:14:51
Jesse's friends and family pointed the
00:14:52
finger at Dallas, the much younger wife
00:14:55
with a troubled background.
00:14:56
I can imagine that people thought twice
00:14:58
about getting to know Dallas. You know,
00:15:01
she was sort of a poison pill, if you
00:15:03
will. They said she seemed to be pretty
00:15:05
unstable, mentally unstable, and she had
00:15:08
um uh substance abuse issues. She was uh
00:15:12
appeared to be an alcoholic. Um she had
00:15:15
a lot of problems.
00:15:16
Jesse's sister would eventually reveal
00:15:20
that she believed Dallas to be an
00:15:22
alcoholic with mental issues and a lot
00:15:26
of emotional instability going on.
00:15:28
But police heard both women could be
00:15:30
difficult. There was one prior incident
00:15:32
that involved both Jesse and Dallas, and
00:15:34
that incident is the one that was
00:15:35
documented with the Phoenix Police
00:15:37
Department.
00:15:38
Dallas was not the only one drinking
00:15:40
heavily in this relationship.
00:15:41
Based on some of the information that
00:15:43
was received from family and friends
00:15:44
that were close to both Jesse and
00:15:46
Dallas, there was allegations that there
00:15:49
was alcohol consumption and that there
00:15:51
was recent uh problems within that
00:15:53
relationship, which was causing a lot of
00:15:54
the drinking um from both Dallas and
00:15:56
Jesse. had Dallas perhaps seen a a
00:16:01
therapist or a counselor or gone gone to
00:16:04
someone and asked for help in dealing
00:16:06
with sort of her her early life
00:16:08
tragedies. You know, there might have
00:16:09
been hope for her.
00:16:11
Instead of seeking professional help,
00:16:13
Dallas took out her insecurities on her
00:16:15
wife, Jesse.
00:16:16
Dallas and Jesse's relationship was very
00:16:19
difficult, and most people that knew
00:16:20
them knew of the shouting, the fighting,
00:16:23
and the difficulties that they had. For
00:16:26
a campaigner against domestic abuse,
00:16:28
Karen Jarmach, violence between partners
00:16:30
is not contained to heterosexual
00:16:32
relationships.
00:16:34
Domestic violence between two
00:16:36
individuals, we often also
00:16:37
interchangeably refer to it as intimate
00:16:40
partner violence. And so when we say
00:16:42
that, we mean it's between two
00:16:44
individuals who are in an intimate
00:16:45
relationship. They're they're partners.
00:16:48
And so, uh, one individual in that
00:16:50
relationship seeks to have control over
00:16:53
the other. And in the case of Dallas and
00:16:55
Jesse, that battle for control escalated
00:16:58
to ugly times. Both drank, Jesse in
00:17:02
particular.
00:17:02
For victims of domestic violence,
00:17:04
there's uh serious and ongoing trauma
00:17:07
associated with being treated in this
00:17:10
way by your partner. Uh often on a daily
00:17:13
basis, um on a yearly or over time, they
00:17:18
can become fearful to just exist in
00:17:21
their world. They can uh develop
00:17:24
substance use issues, uh mental health
00:17:26
challenges.
00:17:28
All of those factors seem to exist
00:17:30
inside the home of Dallas and Jesse.
00:17:32
We're talking some some loud arguments.
00:17:34
The neighbors would would remark about
00:17:36
how loud the arguments were. You'd hear
00:17:38
a lot of yelling. You'd hear the sound
00:17:40
of things smashing or breaking. It
00:17:42
sounded like someone was throwing
00:17:43
something.
00:17:44
Did those arguments stem from Dallas's
00:17:46
turbulent life experiences? what she
00:17:48
chose to do with her, you know, troubled
00:17:51
emotions or her mental health was act
00:17:54
out in ways um that were very unhealthy.
00:17:56
Even though Dallas and Jesse are
00:17:59
married, uh Dallas, it appears, is
00:18:01
acting like a single woman. She's out
00:18:03
there bar hopping, looking for some
00:18:05
fresh catch.
00:18:07
Dallas had began to cheat on Jesse.
00:18:11
She would go out to lesbian bars. She
00:18:13
would meet and date and involve herself
00:18:18
with other people.
00:18:19
Dr. Judy Hoe believes it was Dallas's
00:18:21
unconventional way of holding things
00:18:23
together.
00:18:24
Her trolling these bars and having an
00:18:26
affair was her saying, "I still have
00:18:29
control. I don't need you." And it was a
00:18:32
message she had to tell herself to just
00:18:33
survive.
00:18:35
[Music]
00:18:38
She really didn't pick a very healthy
00:18:39
way of dealing with her her her issues.
00:18:43
[Music]
00:18:49
[Applause]
00:18:51
[Music]
00:18:53
It appeared Dallas, the younger woman,
00:18:55
was the married partner ready to stray,
00:18:58
hitting the bar scene.
00:18:59
When they fought and when they argued,
00:19:02
Dallas was the person who had her foot
00:19:04
out the door always. She was the one who
00:19:06
would be trolling bars, flirting with
00:19:08
other women, picking them up, basically
00:19:11
telling Jesse, "I don't need you." But
00:19:13
then at the same time, never leaving
00:19:14
Jesse. And that must have been very,
00:19:15
very confusing dynamic in their
00:19:17
relationship.
00:19:18
By 2010, just 3 years after their fairy
00:19:20
tale wedding, that relationship had
00:19:22
taken a new disturbing turn.
00:19:24
They were all very pleasant outside, but
00:19:26
once they got indoors, all hell broke
00:19:28
loose. So, um, this this fighting was
00:19:31
pretty constant. And what many people
00:19:34
didn't know is that sometimes the fights
00:19:36
would get physical.
00:19:37
There was a documented incident where
00:19:39
there was a history of domestic
00:19:41
violence. Dallas ended up beating Jesse
00:19:46
in public.
00:19:51
She physically beat Jesse outside of a
00:19:53
bowling alley in Henderson, Nevada.
00:19:55
Their arguments had just risen to such a
00:19:57
level that they couldn't keep it
00:19:58
contained in the home. They she was so
00:20:00
upset and she was so overcome with fury
00:20:02
that she couldn't control her impulses
00:20:04
to basically act out.
00:20:06
The assault would have far-reaching
00:20:08
consequences for both of them.
00:20:09
Dallas was charged with domestic
00:20:12
violence and she was convicted.
00:20:14
Domestic violence is something that our
00:20:15
department takes very seriously.
00:20:17
Jesse did not want her family to know
00:20:19
this. Like a lot of domestic abuse
00:20:21
victims, she wanted to keep it a secret,
00:20:23
so she did.
00:20:24
Dallas Augustine's life, a father figure
00:20:26
who had died in mysterious
00:20:28
circumstances. a mother who had been
00:20:30
murdered was coming apart at the seams.
00:20:32
The fact that Dallas was already
00:20:34
experiencing mental health issues
00:20:36
coupled with her substance misuse issues
00:20:39
and then all of this extra added sort of
00:20:41
stress. Um I think it was just too much
00:20:43
for her to bear.
00:20:44
That wasn't all. There was the question
00:20:46
of the considerable amount of money
00:20:48
Father Chuck had left behind for Cathy.
00:20:50
The money that she had um received as a
00:20:54
result of Charles Augustine's death was
00:20:56
a significant amount of money. that
00:20:58
money was going to go to her daughter,
00:20:59
Dallas Augustine.
00:21:01
She had inherited a pretty large trust.
00:21:04
Kathy had left her um some real estate
00:21:07
that was worth uh about half a million
00:21:09
dollars along with about $150,000 in a
00:21:12
money market account. Uh along with
00:21:15
that, she had $4,600 in her father's
00:21:19
monthly annuity. And uh then there was
00:21:22
about $100,000 worth of jewelry.
00:21:24
She inherited quite a lot of wealth. She
00:21:27
had property. She had annuities. She had
00:21:30
jewelry and large sums of money.
00:21:33
Where did all that money go?
00:21:35
Nobody seemed to know, least of all the
00:21:37
government who were pursuing Dallas for
00:21:38
a hefty tax bill.
00:21:40
She was now uh having some pretty severe
00:21:42
financial problems. She was $80,000 in
00:21:45
debt. The IRS was coming after her. They
00:21:47
were going to seize her all of her
00:21:49
assets.
00:21:50
Dallas continued to spend a lot on drink
00:21:52
and drugs. When substances are involved,
00:21:55
almost always impulsiveness is a factor.
00:21:58
And something that you might not have
00:22:00
done when you were sober, you'll do when
00:22:02
you're intoxicated.
00:22:03
We know that she had substance misuse
00:22:05
issues um and other things going on in
00:22:08
her life. We're probably all ways of
00:22:11
trying to cope with all of this tragedy.
00:22:13
It was the latest worrying sign to add
00:22:15
to a dangerous cocktail of behavioral
00:22:17
issues from Dallas.
00:22:18
There's a lot of arguing. There's
00:22:20
substance misuse. um some violence.
00:22:24
These are all red flags that something
00:22:27
is going wrong.
00:22:28
Things came to a head in 2012 where
00:22:30
Dallas went beyond trolling lesbian bars
00:22:32
for casual sex.
00:22:33
Dallas has an affair with a woman she
00:22:35
meets in a gay bar.
00:22:37
Dallas trolled these bars and eventually
00:22:39
had an affair because she was trying to
00:22:41
assert that she was still in control,
00:22:43
that she still had power in this
00:22:45
relationship. When in fact, I bet she
00:22:46
felt out of control all the time. Every
00:22:49
single time that Dallas and Jesse
00:22:51
argued, I bet Dallas felt like she was
00:22:53
going to lose Jesse. Even though Jesse
00:22:55
had been very steadfast and very loyal
00:22:58
to Dallas this entire time,
00:23:00
hers was a relationship web of
00:23:02
complications.
00:23:03
That woman at some point may have
00:23:06
threatened Dallas, that she was going to
00:23:08
tell Jesse about the affair.
00:23:10
Dallas was attracted to a certain type
00:23:12
of woman, someone who would stand up to
00:23:14
her. Now she had two to deal with and
00:23:17
one of them had to go. For the woman
00:23:18
Dallas was seeing on the side, the
00:23:20
threat to expose their affair backfired
00:23:23
badly.
00:23:24
This black melon actually caused Dallas
00:23:26
to just confess it to Jesse.
00:23:29
Dallas finally comes clean to Jesse and
00:23:31
tells her about this affair she's been
00:23:33
having.
00:23:34
It was crunch time for the couple's
00:23:35
already creaking marriage.
00:23:37
They were definitely on the rocks.
00:23:38
That caused some serious problems in her
00:23:41
relationship, resulting in Jesse asking
00:23:43
her to leave. Jesse is just she's just
00:23:45
devastated and she's she she tells
00:23:48
Dallas to just get out.
00:23:50
For those who've researched the factors
00:23:52
in deteriorating relationships, a
00:23:54
decision to end it can actually
00:23:55
kickstart a tragic end game. Both Dallas
00:23:58
and Jesse were out of control.
00:24:00
That's a really really critical
00:24:02
dangerous time because things begin to
00:24:04
unravel. So, we always know uh and
00:24:07
that's I think what's so tragic and sad
00:24:10
uh when a domestic violence homicide
00:24:12
occurs because there are always these
00:24:14
red flags that aren't always uh as
00:24:18
noticeable to the victim andor to those
00:24:21
individuals around them. Um but when we
00:24:24
look back, we we see them there.
00:24:26
After all the flings, fights, and
00:24:28
confrontations, Dallas's confession was
00:24:31
a step too far for Jesse. Dallas goes to
00:24:34
stay at a hotel and Jesse burns their
00:24:37
wedding photos.
00:24:38
If either or both of the women had
00:24:41
visited one of the domestic abuse
00:24:42
advocates available in most states in
00:24:44
America, they could have been
00:24:46
counseledled.
00:24:47
Everyone's story is different. Uh,
00:24:49
everyone's experience and their
00:24:51
relationship is different. And so that's
00:24:55
why an advocate exists. um they are
00:24:58
certified and skilled around talking
00:25:01
through everyone's unique circumstance
00:25:04
and supporting them and also talking
00:25:08
about their safety.
00:25:10
But rather than talk about what they
00:25:12
were both feeling, Dallas and Jesse
00:25:14
asked no one for help. Still hiding the
00:25:17
fact that she was the victim of domestic
00:25:18
abuse, Jesse now took to social media to
00:25:22
embarrass her unfaithful wife. She posts
00:25:24
the confession that her wife had just
00:25:26
given her that she's been having this
00:25:28
affair with this other woman.
00:25:29
Could life get any more tortured for
00:25:31
Dallas Augustine? Yes.
00:25:35
In 2012, her sister Andrea Walsh was
00:25:37
killed in a car smash in Fresno County,
00:25:39
California. She was 43. Within a decade,
00:25:43
Dallas Augustine had lost her
00:25:45
stepfather, her mother, and her sister
00:25:47
in tragic violent circumstances. The
00:25:50
Augustines seemed a family cursed.
00:25:52
Here's Dallas with really no family
00:25:56
other than Jesse,
00:25:59
a married couple at war, two women who
00:26:01
had shared a series of traumas and the
00:26:03
curse of the Augustine family.
00:26:05
I can imagine people probably avoided
00:26:07
the Augustines.
00:26:08
A tragic story was set to continue.
00:26:11
there had been recent uh issues and
00:26:13
problems in that relationship that there
00:26:16
was infidelity um allegations and that
00:26:19
they had been involved in a couple of
00:26:22
physical fights amongst themselves.
00:26:24
The neighbors used to say that they
00:26:26
heard um fighting about up to four times
00:26:28
a month.
00:26:32
Jesse McKascal had been shot multiple
00:26:34
times, including one shot that was fatal
00:26:36
to the top of her head.
00:26:51
[Music]
00:26:56
Sometime in late 2011, Jesse and Dallas
00:26:59
Augustine separated. There had been an
00:27:02
escalation of violence in their home.
00:27:04
Despite her life falling apart, Dallas
00:27:06
made the decision to turn her life
00:27:08
around. First on her priority list,
00:27:10
finding a job. She sets her sights on
00:27:13
one with authority. She wanted a job as
00:27:16
a prison officer.
00:27:17
When Dallas Augustine applies for a job
00:27:20
with the Department of Public Services,
00:27:23
she is rejected, at least at first.
00:27:26
Dallas had originally been rejected by
00:27:29
the Arizona Department of Corrections
00:27:30
for this domestic violence charge. She
00:27:34
should not have been hired.
00:27:36
Dallas would not give up. After applying
00:27:39
again and again, she was hired.
00:27:42
She actually got the job despite her
00:27:43
conviction.
00:27:44
And that wasn't the only red flag that
00:27:46
she had on her record. I mean, uh there
00:27:49
was the substance abuse problems there.
00:27:51
She'd had drunk driving issues. Uh, and
00:27:54
she also had uh financial instability.
00:27:57
She was very financially unstable
00:28:00
because probably because she's mentally
00:28:01
unstable.
00:28:02
Even though Arizona state officials knew
00:28:04
of her troubled background, Dallas was
00:28:06
duly trained as a prison officer. By
00:28:08
August 2012, she was about to start her
00:28:10
new job in the town of Florence, across
00:28:12
the desert, and about an hour outside
00:28:15
Phoenix.
00:28:16
It was kind of an exciting time in
00:28:17
Dallas's life professionally. She had
00:28:19
just graduated and was able to move on
00:28:22
in her career.
00:28:24
Dallas had graduated from Prison Guard
00:28:26
Academy uh and was scheduled to be
00:28:28
assigned to uh to a prison in in
00:28:31
Arizona.
00:28:32
She was to report to the Florence
00:28:34
Maximum Security Prison to begin her
00:28:36
career.
00:28:37
As part of her preparation for her role,
00:28:39
Dallas acquired some key new skills.
00:28:44
Dallas's training as a prison guard
00:28:46
would have involved firearms training,
00:28:48
weapons training.
00:28:49
How that happened when she has a
00:28:50
domestic violence conviction? We'll
00:28:53
never know.
00:28:54
With a state job under her belt and a
00:28:56
newfound confidence from her training,
00:28:58
Dallas worked on building bridges with
00:28:59
her wife, Jesse. They once again lived
00:29:02
under the same roof.
00:29:03
I think perhaps there was a a sense of a
00:29:05
will to still stay in this unhappy
00:29:07
relationship and try their best to make
00:29:09
it work. The couple talked about
00:29:11
reconciliation, maybe getting things
00:29:12
back together.
00:29:13
Certainly for both Jesse and Dallas,
00:29:16
there may have been this feeling of
00:29:18
stronger commitment to try their best to
00:29:20
make it work. Even if they were terribly
00:29:22
unhappy because they really wanted to
00:29:25
show the world that they could make it.
00:29:28
It seems that some things hadn't
00:29:30
changed.
00:29:31
The neighbors still heard the
00:29:33
disruptions and the the fights and the
00:29:36
the violence behind the closed doors. It
00:29:38
almost seemed like their 8-year
00:29:39
relationship was just stuck in the same
00:29:41
place and they were repeating the same
00:29:42
pattern over and over again.
00:29:44
Wasn't long before they started arguing
00:29:46
constantly. The neighbors said up to
00:29:48
four times a month they could hear
00:29:50
things breaking.
00:29:51
It appeared both gave as good as they
00:29:53
got, but that's probably not a correct
00:29:56
assessment.
00:29:57
Domestic violence is really complicated.
00:29:59
Often victims have strategies of trying
00:30:04
to stay safe or protect themselves or
00:30:08
react uh and it might be on its face
00:30:11
looking like they're trying to
00:30:12
perpetrate violence also or engage in it
00:30:16
also but in fact uh they are simply
00:30:19
trying to survive dayto-day.
00:30:22
As the fights with Jesse intensified,
00:30:24
Dallas faced the prospect of losing her
00:30:26
wife for good. Jesse was the only real
00:30:28
family Dallas believed she had.
00:30:30
They try to work things out, but it's
00:30:33
it's pretty touchandgo. It it isn't
00:30:35
going well. They're still fighting just
00:30:37
nonstop.
00:30:40
Another split was on the cards. One way
00:30:42
or another, Dallas wasn't going to let
00:30:44
that happen. She had a job. She was
00:30:46
getting clean. Why would Jesse leave her
00:30:49
now? But on August the 23rd, 2012, in
00:30:51
the dusty streets of southern Phoenix,
00:30:54
Jesse McKascal was packing a bag in the
00:30:56
house that she shared with Dallas
00:30:58
Augustine. Dallas saw that her life was
00:31:00
finally coming together. She was finally
00:31:02
going to get some self-esteem, some
00:31:04
meaning and purpose in her life. And
00:31:06
during this time where she should have
00:31:07
been feeling as high as a kite, her
00:31:10
partner, her lover, her wife says, "I
00:31:14
don't love you."
00:31:15
Jesse had packed an overnight bag. And
00:31:18
in that bag, she had her favorite jeans
00:31:19
and some other personal items.
00:31:21
Was Jesse packing to leave Dallas for
00:31:24
good, or was Jesse just going away for
00:31:27
the weekend? Jesse had been loyal this
00:31:30
entire time, but Jesse finally had
00:31:31
enough and threatened to leave. It felt
00:31:33
like a very concrete declaration that
00:31:35
this relationship is over. Jesse may
00:31:37
have just said, "Look, I've had it. This
00:31:39
isn't working. Um, it it's it's time to
00:31:43
just admit that this marriage isn't
00:31:44
working. I'm I'm leaving you." The idea
00:31:47
is that Jesse is hers. In some ways,
00:31:50
there may have been a very possessive
00:31:52
side to Dallas. And when Jesse says she
00:31:55
was leaving, in Dallas's mind, she's
00:31:59
thinking, "No, I'm the person who gets
00:32:01
to step out of our marriage. I'm the
00:32:02
person who gets to troll the bars and
00:32:04
have affairs, but you don't get to
00:32:06
leave. You don't get to have that say."
00:32:08
Sergeant Mercedes Fortune was one of the
00:32:10
Phoenix police officers involved in what
00:32:12
happened next.
00:32:12
It's a quiet neighborhood. It's a
00:32:14
residential area and the neighbors hear
00:32:18
screaming.
00:32:18
They heard a bunch of arguing and
00:32:20
screaming, but that was not out of the
00:32:22
ordinary.
00:32:23
Shouting, screaming, the sound of things
00:32:25
being broken.
00:32:26
But after the 23rd, that's the last they
00:32:29
hear of either of them.
00:32:31
For 4 days, suddenly, the home of the
00:32:33
constantly arguing women in 11th place
00:32:36
Phoenix had strangely fallen silent.
00:32:39
with Dallas's black Dodge Ram truck
00:32:41
still parked outside.
00:32:43
It was odd, but the truck was in the
00:32:45
driveway and the neighbors didn't really
00:32:47
think a whole lot about it.
00:32:48
They do see that Dallas's truck is
00:32:50
parked in the driveway and the days go
00:32:53
by and they don't see or hear from
00:32:56
either of them.
00:32:57
There was something else strange, too.
00:32:59
Over the next few days, Jesse made no
00:33:01
contact with her family.
00:33:03
Four days pass
00:33:06
and the neighbors have been suspicious
00:33:08
and the family's gotten worried.
00:33:13
They were concerned because they had not
00:33:15
talked to or seen Jesse or Dallas in a
00:33:18
couple of days.
00:33:19
The neighbors have for for days now have
00:33:22
not heard or seen the couple, but their
00:33:26
dogs are barking, which is unusual.
00:33:28
They're just constantly barking. So,
00:33:31
they're thinking something is odd with
00:33:34
that.
00:33:34
Finally, on August 27th, Jesse's worried
00:33:37
family dialed 911.
00:33:41
911, what's your emergency?
00:33:43
Jesse's family hasn't heard from her,
00:33:45
and she usually they usually do. And um
00:33:48
so they call police to do a welfare
00:33:51
check. officers responded to a check
00:33:54
welfare when neighbors and family were
00:33:57
concerned about the uh just the
00:33:59
whereabouts of the two people um that
00:34:01
were uh living at that residence.
00:34:03
A welfare check is is done probably on a
00:34:06
case-byase basis, but typically um a
00:34:10
family member may be concerned about
00:34:12
someone or loved one and police will go
00:34:14
to the home.
00:34:15
The police made their inquiries,
00:34:17
telephoned the home and cell phones of
00:34:19
those missing. No replies. Time to pitch
00:34:22
up at their shared home.
00:34:23
On August 27th, uh, 2012, at about 8:30
00:34:26
in the evening, Phoenix police officers
00:34:29
were called to a house in the area of
00:34:31
11th Place in Greenway. Uh, they spoke
00:34:34
to several people that met them out
00:34:35
front of that residence and were
00:34:37
informed that they were concerned
00:34:38
because they had not talked to or seen
00:34:41
Jesse or Dallas in a couple of days.
00:34:43
They were concerned. um they hadn't
00:34:46
heard from Jesse since the previous
00:34:48
Thursday and this was a Monday.
00:34:50
The initial call was uh was received
00:34:52
from both family and friends and
00:34:54
neighbors of Jesse and Dallas.
00:34:56
Everyone wanted to know where were Jesse
00:34:59
and Dallas missing? Could it be presumed
00:35:02
they were dead? And if so, how? After
00:35:05
all, despite the fighting, they had
00:35:07
stuck together.
00:35:09
They seemed tethered to each other no
00:35:10
matter what.
00:35:13
Once the officers went inside that
00:35:14
residence, that's when they located
00:35:15
Jesse in Dallas.
00:35:26
At 8:30 that Monday evening, officers
00:35:28
pulled up outside the condo.
00:35:30
Typically, officers would have gone up
00:35:31
to the to the residence, knocked to see
00:35:33
if anybody came to the door, and at some
00:35:36
point, no one came to the door, and
00:35:37
that's when they tried to see if the
00:35:39
door was unlocked. the door was unlocked
00:35:42
and that's when a decision was made to
00:35:43
go inside that home to make sure that uh
00:35:46
there was nobody e either inside or if
00:35:48
there was someone inside if they needed
00:35:49
help.
00:35:50
Not knowing what to expect, officers
00:35:52
trod carefully.
00:35:53
There were no signs of a struggle other
00:35:55
than a broken plate.
00:35:57
There was no uh reports of uh any
00:35:59
suspicious activity or any type of
00:36:01
gunfire that was heard from that night.
00:36:03
The officers went from room to room and
00:36:05
found a scene of carnage.
00:36:07
The crime scene was bloody. They go
00:36:10
inside and in the living room they find
00:36:13
the decomposing bodies of Dallas
00:36:16
Austinine and Jesse McKascal.
00:36:18
Based on the status of uh the injuries
00:36:22
and based on what they were seeing from
00:36:23
the bodies uh they they believe that
00:36:26
that body the bodies had been uh
00:36:27
deceased for a couple of days.
00:36:29
There there's blood just everywhere
00:36:32
around them.
00:36:33
Jesse in particular had suffered
00:36:34
horrific injuries. Jesse McKascal has
00:36:38
been shot multiple times, including one
00:36:41
shot directly to the head.
00:36:43
She was slumped over and all the blood
00:36:46
by gravity was forced to her face,
00:36:48
causing advanced decomposition.
00:36:51
That really disturbed the family.
00:36:53
One of the bullets went straight through
00:36:55
her head and exited her jaw. So, her
00:36:58
beautiful face was was just destroyed
00:37:01
and unrecognizable. She had to be
00:37:03
identified by dental records.
00:37:05
Nearby, Dallas Augustine's body was
00:37:07
sitting upright.
00:37:09
Dallas had been shot with just a single
00:37:11
gunshot wound to the temple. The gun
00:37:14
used to kill them is lying between the
00:37:16
two women.
00:37:18
What had gone on? Detectives had to
00:37:20
build a picture of the turbulent world
00:37:21
of Jesse McKascal and Dallas Augustine.
00:37:24
Had both women been killed by an
00:37:25
intruder, or was this a case of a murder
00:37:27
and then a suicide? Those living nearby
00:37:30
were about to recount what they had seen
00:37:32
and heard from the home of Jesse and
00:37:34
Dallas.
00:37:36
Our homicide unit responded to that
00:37:38
location. More in-depth interviews need
00:37:40
to be done with the witnesses and um
00:37:42
anybody that's actually going to be
00:37:44
involved in the in the case itself.
00:37:46
Careful about drawing conclusions,
00:37:48
officers took their findings to the
00:37:50
medical examiner's office in Maricopa
00:37:52
County.
00:37:52
Every homicide is complex. Every
00:37:54
homicide has different elements to it.
00:37:56
And so detectives must work through that
00:37:58
evidence and must work with the medical
00:38:00
examiner's office to kind of gain uh
00:38:02
exact facts on what led to each
00:38:05
incident. So each each investigation is
00:38:07
is stands on its own merits and they are
00:38:10
complex.
00:38:11
The telltale signs that this would be a
00:38:13
murder suicide is that one person was
00:38:15
shot numerous times and the other shot
00:38:17
once.
00:38:18
They would look at the trajectory. They
00:38:19
look at the obviously evidence on that
00:38:21
weapon. They look and to see if uh you
00:38:24
know what the medical examiner found as
00:38:26
well and based on the statements um
00:38:29
that's what that's that's what led them
00:38:31
to believe that this was a murder
00:38:32
suicide.
00:38:33
The fact that one person was shot in the
00:38:34
side of the head or the temple would
00:38:37
show that that person is probably the
00:38:39
the person who pulled the trigger.
00:38:42
The physical evidence appeared to
00:38:44
suggest that Dallas Augustine had killed
00:38:45
her wife firing from close range. The
00:38:48
way the projectile traversed through the
00:38:51
top of her head into her face destroyed
00:38:53
most of her face.
00:38:55
And then the woman who had lost a father
00:38:57
figure when she was young, seen her
00:38:59
mother marry the nurse she had met when
00:39:00
he worked at her stepfather's deathbed,
00:39:02
only to see that nurse murder her
00:39:04
mother, and who had then lost a sister
00:39:06
in a car accident, was facing the end of
00:39:09
her marriage and could take no more.
00:39:11
Having killed, she turned the gun on
00:39:14
herself.
00:39:18
I think Dallas was desperate. I think
00:39:20
she was desperate for an end to whatever
00:39:22
pain she was experiencing.
00:39:24
This is one of those cases, those
00:39:25
classic cases where if I can't have you,
00:39:28
no one will. And I think that in some
00:39:31
ways that murder suicide was her
00:39:35
bringing to fruition what she had
00:39:37
believed all along about herself and her
00:39:39
life, that she was just destined to have
00:39:41
a tragic life and she didn't deserve
00:39:42
happiness. Dallas had had intended to
00:39:45
commit suicide. We know that where um
00:39:49
there's an abuse of power and control
00:39:50
relationship and the perpetrator
00:39:53
threatens suicide, it usually means
00:39:56
you're going to die first and then I'm
00:39:58
going to kill myself.
00:40:00
In a chilling irony, the gun Dallas used
00:40:02
for the killings was the same type that
00:40:04
she had been trained how to handle for
00:40:05
her new job, due to start on the same
00:40:08
day their bodies were discovered.
00:40:12
When she underwent training at the
00:40:15
academy, she was trained in the use of
00:40:19
firearms.
00:40:20
And yet, as a convicted felon, she never
00:40:24
should have had a firearm.
00:40:26
Not only did they hire her, they trained
00:40:28
her how to use the very weapon she went
00:40:30
on to kill Jesse with. If the state had
00:40:33
never hired her, if they had never
00:40:36
trained her in the use of firearms,
00:40:39
would she and her wife Jesse still be
00:40:42
alive today?
00:40:43
The killings didn't just rob Jesse's
00:40:45
family of their loved one by taking her
00:40:47
own life. Dallas Augustine also denied
00:40:49
them any chance of seeing justice done
00:40:51
to Jesse's killer.
00:40:53
Dallas was the person that took the life
00:40:55
of Jesse. Uh, obviously that's that's
00:40:58
ruled as a homicide and then she took
00:41:00
her own life. Uh, so obviously that's
00:41:02
where the suicide comes, but there is no
00:41:05
a judicial process since the suspect has
00:41:07
deceased.
00:41:08
Had Dallas Augustine, the troubled wife
00:41:10
with a tragic backstory, tried to
00:41:12
exercise the family curse with her final
00:41:15
act of violence.
00:41:17
This is a case where, you know, you
00:41:20
might be forgiven for feeling some
00:41:21
sympathy for um for Dallas. She did have
00:41:25
a really hard life. Um
00:41:28
she just couldn't get a fair break. I
00:41:30
think she always felt a little bit like
00:41:31
she was a tragic figure. The impulses,
00:41:34
the worst parts of yourself that you
00:41:36
might consider when you're sober but not
00:41:39
act on. Dallas did.
00:41:40
She had had a very troubled life. She
00:41:43
had finally found her perfect woman. She
00:41:47
had got a good job.
00:41:49
But uh at the end of the day, it didn't
00:41:51
save her from herself.
00:41:56
Heat. Heat.
00:42:00
[Music]
00:42:15
[Applause]
00:42:21
[Music]
00:42:26
[Applause]
