A desperate voice pleads from an answering machine: "Help, help, help, let me out!" For Mildred Young, this haunting recording of her daughter Diane would become the soundtrack to decades of anguish and unanswered questions.

Diane Augat's story reveals how mental illness creates vulnerability that predators exploit with devastating consequences. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the late 1980s, Diane experienced a cascading series of losses—her children, her marriage, and ultimately her freedom through 32 involuntary commitments to mental health facilities. When she disappeared from Hudson, Florida in April 1998, few could have predicted the macabre discoveries that would follow.

What distinguishes this case is the apparent psychological game played by whoever took Diane. First came the desperate phone call to her mother's answering machine, then the discovery of Diane's severed finger along a highway, followed by her neatly folded clothes in a convenience store freezer. Two years later, a bag with her name containing personal items appeared at another store. These weren't just clues—they were taunts, deliberately placed to torment her family and baffle investigators.

The investigation revealed potential connections to Gary Roberts Evers, a local motel manager later imprisoned for murder, along with reports that troubled juveniles had taken advantage of Diane's trust. Witness sightings flooded in but led nowhere. Now cold for two decades, Diane's case exemplifies how those battling mental illness can fall through society's cracks, becoming perfect targets for those with the darkest intentions.

Do you have theories about what happened to Diane? We'd love to hear them. Subscribe to hear more stories of mysterious disappearances and help us bring attention to cases that deserve resolution.

Sources:

https://unresolved.me/diane-augat

https://charleyproject.org/case/diane-louise-augat

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2000/11/24/mother-clings-to-hope-for-missing-daughter/

https://morbidology.com/the-severed-finger-the-disappearance-of-diane-augat/

Music:

Crime Trap by Muza Production

Tense Dark Atmosphere by Universfield

Dark Ambient Emotions Music by Deus Lower

Gone in a Blink is created by Heather Hicks and Danielle E.
Written and produced by Heather Hicks and hosted by Danielle E. and Heather Hicks.
Gone in a Blink theme: Crime Trap created and produced by Muzaproduction

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