Diane Augat

Case background and investigation

Diane Louise Augat was 40 years old when she disappeared from Pasco County, on Florida's Gulf coast north of Tampa. According to the Charley Project, she was last seen leaving a residence at about 11 a.m. on April 10, 1998. Sources differ on the address: the Charley Project gives Chesapeake Drive in Odessa, while Pasco County detectives quoted by Patch in 2017 said she left a home on Cobblestone Drive in Hudson. Her mother reported her missing the following day.

The Charley Project states that Augat had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s, had been released from a mental health facility a few weeks earlier, and did not have her medication with her when she left. A witness reported seeing her walking north along U.S. 19 near New York Avenue in Hudson on April 11.

On April 13, according to the Charley Project, a call reached her mother's answering machine while no one was home. In the recording Augat asked for help and asked to be let out, and the call ended after what sounded like someone trying to take the phone from her. Caller ID showed the name of a business in the Odessa area; when her mother rang the number back, nobody answered.

On April 15, 1998, the severed tip of Augat's right middle finger was found on the roadside along U.S. 19 in Hudson, in the same area as the reported sighting. Fingerprint analysis confirmed it was hers, Pasco detectives told Patch. About two weeks after she was reported missing, a bag holding her neatly folded clothing was found in the outdoor freezer of a convenience store in Odessa. In 2000, a day after a local newspaper story on the case, a plastic bag labeled "Diane" and containing cosmetics and toothpaste was found at another convenience store in Pasco County; the Charley Project notes investigators could not confirm the items were hers.

No one has been charged in connection with her disappearance. The Charley Project reports that authorities believe foul play is likely. Cold-case detectives at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office renewed their appeal for information in 2017, and Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay offered a reward of up to $3,000, according to Patch. Augat has not been located and the case remains unsolved.