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Remains of missing scientist found in New Mexico
The remains of Melissa Casias, a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee, were discovered in a New Mexico forest, with a handgun found nearby. This unsettling event adds to a troubling trend involving the mysterious disappearances or deaths of 11 U.S. scientists and government employees connected to nuclear programs since June 2022. Both the FBI and the House Oversight Committee have launched investigations to get to the bottom of these occurrences.
The family of Casias, whose body was found last weekend, emphatically dismisses the notion of suicide and suspects possible foul play instead. Casias, aged 54, went missing on June 26, 2025, from Taos, New Mexico, leaving her loved ones searching for answers.
Her family, particularly from her parents’ side, expressed their concerns on Facebook, noting that the area where her body was eventually found—the McGaffey Ridge area of Carson National Forest—had been searched previously without success.
It was a hiker who ultimately stumbled upon her remains, leading New Mexico State Police to publicly confirm her identity on Saturday. The presence of the handgun near her body adds an additional layer of mystery to the case, prompting further inquiry into the circumstances surrounding her death.
A hiker found her body over the weekend, according to New Mexico State Police. They publicly identified her remains Saturday. They said there was also a handgun nearby.
Melissa Casias, 53, an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, was reported missing on June 26, 2025, and her whereabouts remain unknown. (Mondragon family)
An official cause and manner of death had not been made public as of Thursday morning. News Media has reached out to the county medical examiner’s office and police for more information.
Although the post mentioned a “mound of evidence,” it was not immediately clear what the family had collected in connection with the case.
“You don’t need to be a hunter, a scientist or a cop to know that a human body is not going to be left out in the elements and be undisturbed a year later,” said Thomas McNally, an Arizona private investigator who has been working with her family.
New Mexico State Police Chief Matt Broom, center, provides updates during a news conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
He said Casias was known to conceal carry a pistol, but he couldn’t speak to the caliber or condition of the one found near her remains.
However, he distanced Casias from reports of other government lab workers who have gone missing in recent months, telling News Media she was an administrative assistant and not a scientist. Some of her duties involved scheduling government vehicles for off-site maintenance, he said.
A replica of the Los Alamos Project Main Gate, where the first atomic bombs were developed during World War II, stands at the edge of town in Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S., July 30, 2023. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
New Mexico State Police have said Casias failed to report to work the day she went missing, then visited her daughter but never came home.
According to authorities, she left behind personal belongings including her purse, driver’s license and multiple cellphones.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, about 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is one of 16 Energy Department labs around the country. There are currently about 14,000 people working there.
It was established in 1943 in connection with the Manhattan Project — resulting in the world’s first nuclear weapons.
News Media has reached out to the lab for comment.
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