164. Smells Like A Vanishing On Route 19 - Diane Augat's Long Walk To Nowhere

Diane Louise Augat did not have an easy life.  Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her early 30s, she lost her marriage and custody of her children as she was forcibly institutionalized 32 times between 1990 and 1998.  Living the best life she could, protected and watched over by family who cared for her, Diane was living with her sister in Odessa, a tiny town located in Pasco County, just north of Tampa, Florida when, on April 10, 1998, the sister left the house briefly and returned to find Diane gone.  At least one witness reported seeing Diane wandering on U.S. Highway 19 the following day, April 11.  On April 13, Diane’s mother received a telephone call from Diane in which it sounded like her daughter was in a struggle for the phone and pleading for help – and then quickly hanging up.  Then, two days after that, on April 15, a stranger on her way home along Route 19 spotted what looked like a dismembered finger on the side of the road – and fingerprinting confirmed it had belonged to Diane.  But no blood.  No other body part.  Nothing but the tip of a finger.  Then things get really weird.  Two weeks after the disappearance, a bag containing some of Diane’s neatly-folded clothing was discovered in an outdoor freezer behind a convenience store where Diane’s sister worked.  But wait.  Get this:  TWO YEARS LATER,  a local newspaper ran a story on the continuing search for Diane – and the VERY NEXT DAY after that article was published, Diane’s brother walked into a completely random convenience store in Pasco County and there, on the counter next to the lottery tickets, with zero explanation, sat a plastic bag with the name “Diane” written on it – and inside the bag were a container of black eyeliner, a bottle of Taboo perfume, a tube of bright pink lipstick, and a tube of generic toothpaste – all things Diane’s mother said she would have been carrying.  Are you the person who can unravel this wild mystery and provide the clue that will finally lead to the truth about what happened to Diane Augat?  If so, send an email to jhatcher@pascosheriff.org or call the Pasco County Sheriff’s office at (800) 854-2862, ext. 7723.

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