Diane Louise Augat

• Missing Since 04/10/1998
• Missing From Odessa, Florida
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 02/21/1958 (66)
• Age 40 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4, 130 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white tank top, blue shorts and white sneakers.
• Medical Conditions Augat has bipolar disorder. She is required to take medication to regulate her condition, but did not have it with her when she went missing. She has had problems with drugs and alcohol in the past.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Dark blonde hair, blue eyes. Augat may use the last name Young. Her fingernails were painted coral-colored at the time of her disappearance, and her ears are pierced. She has a scar on her abdomen and tattoos on her back and right shoulder.

Details of Disappearance

Augat was last seen leaving her residence in the 1000 block of Chesapeake Drive in Odessa, Florida at approximately 11:00 a.m. on April 10, 1998. A witness observed Augat walking north on U. S. 19 near New York Avenue in Hudson, Florida on April 11, the day after Augat left her home. She has never been heard from again. Augat did not have her medication with her when she walked away from her residence.

Augat's mother received a phone call from her daughter on April 13, three days after she disappeared. No one was home at the time the call came through and the answering machine recorded the message.

Augat said, "Help, help, let me out," while a noise consistent with someone attempting to grab the phone away from her was overheard. Augat was heard saying, "Hey, gimme that," before the call was terminated. Caller ID stated that the call was placed from a business called Starlight in the Odessa area. Augat's mother dialed the number, but no one answered.

The severed tip of Augat's right middle finger, cut off just above the knuckle with the nail painted red, was located on the roadside in the U.S. 19/New York Avenue area on April 15, 1998. Her finger was discovered in the same area where the witness reported seeing Augat on April 11. A second finger was also reported, but law enforcement was able to recover only one of them. A bag of Augat's neatly folded clothing was discovered inside a convenience store's outdoor freezer in Odessa two weeks after she was reported missing.

In 2000, just one day after the St. Petersburg Times, a Florida newspaper, ran a story on Augat's disappearance, another bag was found at a Circle K convenience store in Pasco, Florida. It was discovered by Augat's brother's girlfriend. The clear zip-top plastic bag was labeled "Diane" in black marker, and contained black eyeliner, Taboo perfume, a tube of bright pink lipstick, and a tube of generic toothpaste

Augat's mother says the makeup and perfume were items her daughter would have owned, and she was issued a similar tube of toothpaste when she was released from a mental hospital a few weeks before she disappeared. Investigators have not been able to confirm that the bag or its contents were Augat's possessions, however.

Augat's mother stated that her daughter was a stay-at-home mother in the 1970s and early 1980s. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s and only took her medication occasionally. Augat's three children were taken from her custody in 1988. She and her husband divorced in 1991.

Augat was arrested several times during the following years for minor offenses. Her mother said that Augat had been taken into custody at least 32 times under Florida's Baker Act, which allows a physician, judge or law enforcement officer to determine if an individual requires an involuntary medical exam.

One of the last places Augat was seen at before her disappearance was the Coral Sands Motel, which was managed by Gary Robert Evers and his girlfriend. In 2001, Evers was charged with murder; he allegedly shot and killed a man during an argument. He has no prior criminal record in the state Florida. Evers is considered a possible suspect in Augat's disappearance, but has not been charged in connection with it.

Augat had been treated at a mental health facility several weeks prior to her April 1998 disappearance. Her mother believed that she should not have been released, as Augat required institutionalized care. Her case remains unsolved. Authorities believe that foul play is likely in her disappearance.

Some agencies state that Augat's residence was in the 12000 block of Cobblestone Drive in Hudson, Florida in 1998.