The mystery regarding the missing and dead scientists and personnel connected to top-secret U.S. nuclear programs continues.
On Saturday, New Mexico State Police announced the remains of a woman who was found by a hiker at the Carson National Forest have been identified as a former employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory who went missing last year.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory serves as a research institute for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which is most notable for being the place where the first-ever atomic bomb was created.
Fox News provided the full scoop on the investigation and identified the woman:
One of the bodies of the 11 mysteriously missing persons that had potential ties to U.S. nuclear secrets or rocket technology has been discovered by a hiker in a New Mexico national forest.
ADVERTISEMENTPolice have identified the remains of Melissa Casias, 54, a missing Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) worker. Her disappearance became part of a wider swirl of speculation over scientists and lab-linked employees who vanished or died under unclear circumstances that spurred President Donald Trump’s attention and a House Oversight Committee investigation.
The New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau was informed Thursday that the hiker found Casias in the McGaffey Ridge area of the Carson National Forest with a handgun alongside her remains, according to a NMSPBI Facebook post late Saturday night.
“The cause and manner of death have not yet been determined,” according to police, which noted the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) identified the remains as those of Casias and are conducting “further anthropological examination.”
Casias, from Taos, New Mexico, and Anthony Chavez worked at LANL, a leading nuclear research facility in New Mexico, and both were among those marked as suspiciously missing by FBI and House Oversight investigations.
“The New Mexico State Police extend their deepest condolences to the Casias and Mondragon families during this difficult time,” the agency wrote in its release.
Casias was reported missing June 25, 2025, after she failed to arrive at work and did not return home after visiting her daughter at work, police said. Her family later found that her purse, identification and cellphones had been left behind, prompting concern for her welfare and a missing person investigation.
Here was the last known video of Casias before she went missing:
Human Remains of Missing Los Alamos Lab Employee Found in New Mexico Forest
Human remains believed to be those of Melissa Casias, a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee who disappeared in June 2025, have been discovered in New Mexico’s Carson National Forest. Investigators… pic.twitter.com/3dKmURdOux
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 1, 2026
Here’s one of the last photos she posted on social media:
Remains found in a New Mexico national forest have been identified as those of Melissa Casias, a worker at the Los Alamos National Laboratory who disappeared last year, authorities announced over the weekend.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 1, 2026
The New York Post shared a detailed list of people who have been connected to U.S. nuclear or military projects who have gone missing:
Casias is one of four people who have gone missing or died suddenly in recent years with links to US defense and nuclear programs.
They include former Los Alamos employee Anthony Chavez, 79, who vanished without a trace after leaving his home on foot on May 4, 2025, just seven weeks before Casias.
Steven Garcia, a government contractor working for a major facility in Albuquerque, also disappeared after walking out of his home on Aug. 28, 2025, carrying only a handgun and no identification.
The string of mysterious deaths and disappearances in recent years began in 2023 with the death of experienced NASA scientist Michael David Hicks, according to officials.
Hick, 59, who worked at the Agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for nearly 25 years, died July 30, apparently of natural causes.
However, the following year, two others connected to JPL died or disappeared.
In 2024, space research specialist Frank Maiwald died in Los Angeles at age 61.
Monica Reza, a 60-year-old aerospace engineer who served as the director of the NASA Lab’s Materials Processing Group, disappeared while hiking in a Los Angeles forest in June 2025.
Retired Air Force major general William Neil McCasland hasn’t been seen since leaving his home in Albuquerque on Feb. 27, leaving behind his phone, prescription glasses, and wearable devices.
ADVERTISEMENTThe FBI is now involved in the search for McCasland, 68, who was involved in some of the Pentagon’s most advanced aerospace research and once headed up the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
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