Diane Louise Augat was last seen leaving her home in Odessa, Florida, in the 1000 block of Chesapeake Drive at around 11 a.m. on April 10, 1998. On April 11, the day after Augat left her home, a witness saw her heading north on U.S. 19 near New York Avenue in Hudson, Florida. No one has ever heard from her again. Augat didn’t take her medicine with her when she left her house.
Augat’s daughter called her mother on the phone on April 13, three days after she went missing. When the call came in, no one was home, so the answering machine took the message.
Augat yelled, “Help, help, let me out!” as she heard noises that sounded like someone was trying to take the phone away from her. Before the call ended, Augat was heard stating, “Hey, give that to me.” Caller ID showed that the call came from an Odessa area business called Starlight. The number was called by Augat’s mother, but no one responded.
On April 15, 1998, the sliced tip of Augat’s right middle finger, just above the knuckle, was found on the side of the road at U.S. 19 and New York Avenue. The nail was painted red. Her finger was found in the same place where a witness said he or she saw Augat on April 11. Police also heard about a second finger, but they were only able to find one of them. Two weeks after Augat went missing, a bag of her nicely folded clothes was found in the outdoor freezer of a convenience store in Odessa.
In 2000, one day after a Florida newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, wrote about Augat’s disappearance, another bag was located at a Circle K in Pasco, Florida. It was found by the girlfriend of Augat’s brother. In black marker, “Diane” was written on the clear plastic bag with a zip-top. Inside, there was black eyeliner, Taboo perfume, a tube of bright pink lipstick, and a box of generic toothpaste.
Augat’s mom believes that her daughter would have had the makeup and perfume, and that she was given a similar container of toothpaste when she got out of a mental institution a few weeks before she went missing. Investigators haven’t been able to prove that the bag or the things inside it were Augat’s, though.
Augat’s mother said that during the 1970s and early 1980s, her daughter was a stay-at-home mom. She was told she had bipolar disorder in the late 1980s, but she rarely took her medicine. In 1988, her three children were taken away from her. In 1991, she and her spouse split up.
Over the next few years, Augat was arrested multiple times for small crimes. Her mother reported that Augat had been taken into custody at least 32 times under Florida’s Baker Act. This statute lets a doctor, court, or law enforcement official decide if a person has to be transported to the hospital against their will for a medical exam.
Gary Robert Evers and his fiancée ran the Coral Sands Motel, which was one of the final locations Augat was seen before she went missing. Evers was accused with murder in 2001. He was said to have shot and killed a guy during a fight. He has never been in trouble with the law in the state of Florida. Evers is thought to be a suspect in Augat’s disappearance, but he hasn’t been charged yet.
Augat had been in a mental health facility for a few weeks before she went missing in April 1998. Her mother thought that she shouldn’t have been let out since Augat ought to be in an institution. Her case hasn’t been solved yet. The police think it’s likely that she was taken by someone else.
Some organizations say that in 1998, Augat lived on the 12000 block of Cobblestone Drive in Hudson, Florida.
If you have any information regarding to this disappearance feel free contact with Pasco County Sheriff’s Office 800-854-2862