2 days ago
Authorities successful New Mexico person identified quality remains which they precocious discovered arsenic those of a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) worker who had been missing for much than a year.
In a statement released complete nan weekend, authorities constabulary said nan remains belonged to Melissa Casias, a 53-year-old resident of Taos, New Mexico, who was past seen stepping eastbound on a authorities road connected 26 June 2025.
A hiker had discovered Casias’s remains successful nan McGaffey Ridge area of nan Carson nationalist wood connected 28 May 2026, according to nan connection from Saturday.
“Investigators besides learned that a handgun was located alongside nan remains,” nan authorities constabulary connection said.
Casias’s lawsuit was among that of astir a twelve US scientists who were linked to space, defense and atomic investigation – and had either died aliases vanished successful caller months. Some of those deaths person been ruled suicides aliases are different intelligibly explainable. But nan cases collectively person fueled a surge of online speculation and conspiracy theories, gaining legislature members’ attraction and moreover prompting Donald Trump to nonstop nan US authorities to investigate, saying it was each “pretty superior stuff”.
Police said they identified Casias done coordination pinch nan New Mexico aesculapian investigator’s office. They said her origin and mode of decease had not instantly been determined.
Meanwhile, authorities constabulary added, nan investigation into Casias’s anterior disappearance remains ongoing.
In a July 2025 question and reply with NBC’s Dateline program, Casias’s husband, Mark, said he past saw her astatine astir 6.15am connected 26 June. She had dropped him disconnected astatine nan LANL wherever they some worked, a installation which helps support nan US’s stockpile of atomic weapons.
According to Mark, Melissa said she planned to recreation to different location wrong nan laboratory’s 40-square-mile field for a activity assignment. He said he had asked her to return nan family car by 11am because he needed it later that day.
“That was beautiful overmuch nan past I said to her that day,” Mark said of his wife, who told him she would return nan car by nan clip he needed it.
Investigators later learned that Melissa unexpectedly returned to nan family’s location successful Ranchos de Taos that morning, much than an hr from LANL. Melissa’s daughter, Sierra, told Dateline she recalled asking her mother why she had travel backmost astatine astir 7.45am, and Melissa replied that she had forgotten her badge.
However, Mark told Dateline: “You’ve sewage to show your badge to get successful – and … she showed her badge.”
According to Sierra, Melissa appeared normal and said she had decided to “either activity from location aliases telephone retired for nan day”.
Later that day, Melissa delivered a sandwich to Sierra astatine her workplace successful a section business halfway and concisely said pinch her betwixt 12.50pm and 12.57pm earlier leaving, Dateline reported. Sierra said her mother’s behaviour “wasn’t retired of nan ordinary”, adding: “She whitethorn person been a small much quiet, but still, thing that caught maine disconnected guard.”
When Melissa did not return nan car by 11am, Mark initially assumed she had go engaged pinch activity until Melissa’s supervisor called him to inquire wherever she was.
“She says, ‘Is Melissa OK?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, she should beryllium astatine work,’” Mark told Dateline. “And that’s erstwhile she told me, ‘Well, she isn’t astatine work.’”
According to investigators, Melissa’s past confirmed sighting was astatine astir 2.18pm, erstwhile a family acquaintance saw her stepping eastbound on New Mexico authorities road 518 adjacent Talpa, a mini colony successful Taos county.
Investigators besides said that “all belongings, including Melissa’s purse and mill reset phones, were recovered wrong [her] home”.
Melissa’s remains were yet discovered astir six miles from her home.
In a statement reported by nan New Mexico news outlet KRQE aft nan betterment of her remains, Casias’s family said: “There will beryllium much accusation to travel but what we tin show you now is she was located successful an area antecedently searched.
“This is simply a batch to process, our hearts are dense and we afloat intend to proceed to prosecute answers for justice.”
