Who Was Melissa Casias Remains Of Missing Lanl Employee 53 Found In New Mexico Forest

The remains of a national laboratory staffer have been found in New Mexico after she disappeared in 2025. Melissa Casias disappearance was linked with a larger group of US scientists, government employees and contractors who went missing under mysterious circu... The remains of a national laboratory staffer have been found in New Mexico after she disappeared in 2025. Melissa Casias’ disappearance was linked with a larger group of US scientists, government employees and contractors who went missing under mysterious circumstances. New Mexico State Police said that a hiker found the body of Casias in Carson National Forest, NewsNation affiliate KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reported. According to authorities, a handgun was found next to the remains. A cause of death has yet to be determined. The remains were found in the McGaffey Ridge area of the Carson National Forest on Thursday, state police said in a press release, per Santa Fe New Mexican. The single-lane dirt road — Forest Road 437 — is accessible from N.M. 518 in Talpa, which is where security camera footage captured Casias’ last known sighting on June 26. An official statement fromCasias’ family was shared by the Facebook page ‘Find Melissa Mondragon Casias’. The statement reads, “We confirm that the remains found in Rio Chiquito are Melissa. There will be more information to come but what we can tell you now is she was located in an area previously searched. This is a lot to process, our hearts are heavy and we fully intend to continue to pursue answers for justice." Casias, 53, was an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She was last seen on June 26, 2025, about 70 miles away in the resort town of Taos, her family members said in the past. She had met up with her daughter at a mall. Casias had reportedly worked from home that day, before heading out to take lunch to her daughter by car. After she went missing, her belongings, including her vehicle and her purse, keys, wallet and phones, were found. Read More | 10 US scientists researching UFOs, nuclear power dead or missing since mid-2023; Trump admin speaks out Interest in Casias’ disappearance grew earlier this year when observers noticed what is being considered a disturbing trend where more than a dozen people with ties to national defense or aerospace technologies had either died under violent or mysterious circumstances, or disappeared. Among some of the high-profile individuals who have disappeared is retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William McCasland, 68, who vanished February 27 from his Albuquerque home, as well as Monica Reza, an aerospace engineer who went missing last summer while hiking in the Los Angeles forest. Sumanti Sen covers everything that’s happening in the US, from politics to entertainment, but her expertise lies in covering crime news. She has comprehensively chronicled the Idaho student murders, the Laken Riley and Iryna Zarutska cases, and the killing of Charlie Kirk, among other incidents. Over the years, she has interviewed several victims/families of victims of