She was Nevada's first female State Controller, serving from 1999 until her 2006 death, except for a brief period of suspension during her 2004 impeachment trial which led to censure but not termination from office.

As a result of the investigation, she was impeached by the Nevada Assembly in November of the same year, and temporarily relinquished office.

[9] On July 8, 2006, Augustine was found unconscious in her Reno home, and died three days later without regaining consciousness.

[10][11] Following Augustine's death Governor Kenny Guinn appointed Steve Martin, an accountant and Republican candidate in the 2006 State Controller race, to succeed her.

[12] Although early reports stated that the cause of death was a heart attack, police soon came to suspect foul play.

[13] On July 14, 2006, her husband, nurse Chaz Higgs, attempted suicide by slitting his wrists in the couple's Las Vegas home.

[14] Higgs was arrested in Hampton, Virginia on September 29, 2006, and charged with first degree murder in Augustine's death after an FBI toxicology test found traces of the paralyzing drug succinylcholine in her system.

[13] Higgs, a critical care nurse, allegedly made suspicious remarks to a co-worker about how to kill someone undetectably using succinylcholine.