Name: Diane Louise Augat
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: April 10, 1998
Location Last Seen: Hudson, Pasco County, Florida
Date of Birth: January 21, 1958
Age: 40 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde/red
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Ginny L. Augat, Diana Laura Augat, Diane Young Augat, Diane Young, Denise Augat, Jackee L. Yaugat, Diana Louise Augat, Madonna Augat, Diana Young
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Tattoos on her back and right shoulder. Scar abdomen. Orthopedic plate. Missing appendix. Pierced ears. Medical: Augat is bipolar and was not taking her medication. Drug addiction and alcoholism.
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: She was wearing a white tank top, blue shorts, white tennis shoes and coral nail polish.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Diane Augat was last seen on April 10, 1998 at the Coral Sands Motel on US 19 in Hudson.
On April 16, 1998 a finger was found on US 19 and was later identified as belonging to Augat.The severed finger removed just above the knuckle was found beside the roadway near the intersection of US Highway 19 and New York Avenue in Hudson, Florida. A second finger was also observed, but when law enforcement arrived only one was recovered. A week after that, a bag of her neatly folded clothes was found in an Odessa convenience store's outdoor freezer case.
Less than a week after her family reported her missing, the phone at her mother's house rang. Since no one was inside at the time, the answering machine clicked on. Her mother heard Augat saying "Help, help," Then, a scuffling sound, as though someone was grabbing the phone from her hands. "Hey, gimme that," Augat said. Then the call ended. The number on the Caller ID box said the call came from something called Starlight. When the family tried to call the number back, no one answered.
Augat has three children. In the late 1980s, she was diagnosed as being manic-depressive and sporadically took medication that kept the disorder under control.
In 1988, the children were removed from her custody, and Augat and her husband divorced in 1991.
She was arrested several times for petty crimes and was taken into custody under the state's Baker Act. The Baker Act is the state's involuntary commitment law. A judge, police officer or doctor decides whether a person is potentially ill enough to require an involuntary medical exam.
A few weeks before her disappearance, she was treated for her manic-depression at a local mental health facility.
She was seen in two local restaurants around the time she was reported missing. A bartender at the Hay Loft Tavern at Little Road and State Road 52 reported seeing Augat on April 10. And on the day that she called her family asking for help, a waitress at the Inn on the Gulf in Hudson saw Augat eating lunch.
Agency Name: Pasco County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Detective Sgt. Michael Rosa
Agency Phone Number: 800-854-2862
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 98-15054
NamUs Case Number: 10727
Namus
FDLE
Pasco County Sheriff's Office
St. Petersburg Times
Added: 3-27-2007; Last Updated: 05-18-2022 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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