The casket containing the body of Charles Augustine, the third husband of the late Nevada Controller Kathy Augustine, is exhumed Tuesday. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy takes what appears to be dried roses from the top of Charles Augustine’s casket after it was lifted from a concrete vault Tuesday morning at Paradise Memorial Gardens. Augustine died in 2003 at age 63. Photo by Isaac Brekken/Review-Journal.

Although Charles Augustine had been in the grave for three years, his body was found to be well-preserved when it was exhumed by authorities Tuesday.

His condition was good news for investigators who will be looking for injection sites on the body as they try to determine whether the retired pilot was slain with a hard-to-detect drug while under the care of critical care nurse Chaz Higgs in 2003.

Authorities expect to deliver Higgs to the Washoe County Jail in Reno late tonight. The 42-year-old was arrested Sept. 29 in Virginia on a charge of murder in connection with the death of state Controller Kathy Augustine. She had married Higgs in Hawaii three weeks after the death of Charles Augustine, who had been her third husband.

Police allege that Higgs killed the 50-year-old state official in July by injecting her with a paralytic drug. They said that in light of their conclusions regarding her death, Charles Augustine's death had to be re-examined.

In 2003, Charles Augustine was recovering from a stroke when he suddenly died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center at the age of 63, while under Higgs' care.

No autopsy was performed at that time because a doctor said complications from the stroke were to blame.

Charles Augustine's son, Greg Augustine, supported the decision to exhume his father's body.

"The reason we are doing the exhumation is to see if there is any foul play," he said. "I'm completely convinced they (Las Vegas authorities) are doing their job in a very, very professional manner."

Higgs welcomed the exhumation, too, said his defense attorney, Alan Baum. Higgs had nothing to do with Charles Augustine's death, and the exhumation will prove it, Baum said.

The exhumation "is unusual, but if it will help in the pursuit for the truth, we've got no problem with that," Baum said. "Chaz is not responsible in any way for Charles Augustine's death, and we are not afraid of the results. It's morbid, but lets clear the air."

Baum said Higgs didn't kill Kathy Augustine either.

But according to authorities, Higgs injected her with succinylcholine at the couple's home in Northern Nevada, causing her to stop breathing.

She died three days after being rushed to a Reno hospital.

Succinylcholine is a powerful muscle relaxant is often used in emergency rooms to help doctors insert breathing tubes into patients.

It causes paralysis and is considered an ideal drug for murders because it is notoriously difficult to detect and also occurs naturally in the human body after death, experts said.

Although Kathy Augustine died in July, it was not until the last week of September that the FBI confirmed the presence of succinylcholine in a sample of her urine that had been frozen by doctors at the Reno hospital where she spent her last days.

If Charles Augustine was poisoned with succinylcholine, the hope is that it was injected into his tissue.

If it was injected into a vein, it will be much more difficult to detect, experts said.

The condition of Charles Augustine's tissue made authorities hopeful Tuesday.

"Our initial examination has indicated the body is in remarkable condition," Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said Tuesday afternoon. "The casket was contained in a concrete vault to seal it off from the elements ... and it obviously did its job."

Dr. Robert Middleberg, director of NMS Labs in Pennsylvania, said this week that if authorities were able to find an injection site on a disinterred corpse, then they could still find the drug in the remains.

NMS Labs is one of the few laboratories in the nation capable of performing the tests to determine whether succinylcholine is present in tissue and blood samples.

"You wouldn't normally expect to find succinylcholine in an exhumed body, but if there is an injection site found, the succinylcholine will stay in that area," Middleberg said.

Murphy said investigators also will be looking for evidence of poisoning of any other kind.

Experts say the fact that Charles Augustine was embalmed could make that difficult, however, because embalming fluids can make it hard to find certain poisons in a body.

Even if a suspicious level of some drug is found in the body, that alone will not necessarily make a homicide case, Middleberg said.

Instead, it should be viewed as a piece of a puzzle in a criminal inquiry.

"If they find it in a needle site, it's a good inference," Middleberg said. "Keep in mind, though, toxicology is only a piece of information. There has to be more to a case than toxicology."

On Tuesday, the attitude among investigators seemed to be: So far, so good.

The exhumation went as planned.

Under the supervision of Murphy, Las Vegas homicide detectives and the Police Department's most senior crime scene analysts, officials used a backhoe to break ground on Charles Augustine's grave site at Paradise Memorial Gardens on Eastern Avenue just before 7 a.m.

The dirt on top of the vault containing Charles Augustine's casket was shoveled out by hand, and a backhoe operator from Davis Funeral Home used the backhoe to pry off the concrete lid to the vault.

Authorities used the backhoe, straps and chains to lift Charles Augustine's grayish-blue casket above ground.

The dirt on the casket was scrubbed off with towels, and authorities then transported the casket to the Clark County coroner's office for a day-long autopsy.

Murphy said it should take two to three months for the completion of toxicology tests and a determination as to the cause and manner of Charles Augustine's death.

Las Vegas police Lt. Lew Roberts said homicide detectives are conducting their inquiry in conjunction with the coroner's office.

"The whole case obviously hinges on the toxicology (tests) from the exhumation," Roberts said.

"In addition to that, we are gathering up some background facts, some medical information. We'll go from there, after we see what they (the coroner's office staff members) come up with."